Green Olive Tapenade

A delicious green olive tapenade recipe that is oil free, only five ingredients, vegan and dairy free and made in five minutes! A healthy traditional green olive spread that is light in taste and supports low cholesterol.

Vegan Green Olive Tapenade

I love olive tapenade. ALL olive tapenades. But since they are almost always made from black olives, I decided to buck the trend and make them from green.

Green olives tend to be saltier, so I reduced the normal amount of capers that typically found in tapenades. I also did not use oil to make my olive spread lighter in taste, after-taste and calories. Here, I served it on a whole wheat roll with tomatoes, mushrooms, kale, micro greens and it was perfect!

How Olives Support Low Cholesterol

Both black and green olives are superb at stopping cholesterol from forming. That's because they actually have compounds that blocks its oxidation.Those compounds include Oleic acid and vitamin E.

Both work in tandem to bring down the LDL (low-density lipoprotein) cholesterol. This the bad cholesterol that your arteries do not want.

However, high salt intake is not great for your heart so olives, which are quite salty, should be eaten in moderation. But as a sandwich spread, as a tapenade, is the perfect way to eat olives in moderation.

What is Green Olive Tapenade?

It is a paste of olives, traditionally capers, anchovies and olive oil. My version does not have anchovies because my recipe is plant-based and anchovies are a fish. And it doesn't have extra olive oil because I decided to just depend on the olives for the oil and it worked wonderfully.

Where Does Olive Tapenade Come From?

I love to investigate the history of traditional recipes, especially Mediterranean foods since my father's side of the family is from that part of the world.

Olive tapenade is a Mediterranean recipe that originated in France nearly 100 years ago. The word comes from the French language. It is a paste or spread, and oddly is often confused with pesto.

The Difference between Olive Tapenade and Pesto

Is tapenade the same as pesto? No, but there are loads of similarities.

Pesto is a paste that is made by crushing (see the word pestle in there?) things like leaves and nuts and garlic. And the result is a sauce, often an uncooked sauce for pasta and other dishes. And generally pesto does not involve olives, more leafy greens.

Tapenades are spreads. They seem similar to pesto, however tapenade ingredients are more often based on olives. The overlap with pesto is that they both often contain garlic and herbs. Tapenades are also uncooked and served on breads and crackers and in sandwiches.

The Difference between Olive Tapenade and Bruschetta

Oddly olive tapenade is also sometimes confused with bruschetta. Bruschetta is a bread that is topped with things like olives or pastes like tapenade. So now you know the difference? Haha, you probably already knew the difference

What Does Green Olive Tapenade Taste Like?

A dream. Light and not oily. Olive-y. Like a stroll through Tuscany. Haha. I've never been there, only read about it.

How to Make Green Olive Tapenade

My green olive tapenade is very easy to make. I made mine in five minutes flat.

Just add the drained olives and capers to the blender jar (or food processor).

Chop the parsley and garlic and add those. Add the lemon juice. Blitz and store in refrigerator. That is if you don't eat it all in one sitting. I have only done that seven times once.

What Should I Put Tapenade On?

Oh, let me count the ways..

• • bread
  • crackers
  • celery
  • roasted veggies
  • a spoon
  • pasta (move over pesto!)

How Healthy is This Olive Tapenade Recipe?

My green olive tapenade has only five ingredients: olives (obvs!), capers, parsley, garlic and lemon juice. So let's talk about the nutritional contributions of each ingredient to this recipe.

Green olives are fruits from a tree, in case you didn't know. They are high in vitamin E and super high in antioxidants. Some studies push them higher for heart and disease protection. The healthy fats in olives come from, duh!, olive oil which has long been considered incredibly healthy, and is a vital part of the popular Mediterranean diet. Read more about the nutrition of olives here.

Obviously olives, thus tapenade, are fairly high in sodium,  so take care regarding your situation and needs to balance sodium.

Another superfood ingredient in this recipe is garlic, a veggie so lauded for its therapeutic effects, and high in vital vitamins and minerals.

Parsley is nutritious and considered a strong detoxer. Lemon juice has vitamin C. Even the capers are good for you, with a strong ability to fight disease, according to ScienceDaily.

Let me know if you try my easy olive tapenade recipe.

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Green Olive Tapenade (oil-free, vegan)

Created by Dee Dine

In five minutes, you can make this healthier version of the traditional green olive paste is full of salty olive flavor and garlic, yet light in taste, and calories because it is oil-free. It is also vegan, so only veggies in this delicious spread.

5 from 2 votes

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 5 mins

Total Time 5 mins

Cuisine Mediterranean, vegan, dairy-free, gluten-free

Servings 8

Ingredients

 

US Customary - Metric

• 3 cups green olives
• 1 tsp rinsed capers
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 cup chopped parsley
• 2 tbsp lemon juice

Useful Equipment

• Blendtec with Small Twister Jar

Instructions

 

Prep

• Drain the olives. Drain a tsp of capers. Peel and crush 2 garlic cloves. Chop roughly the parsley.

Make olive tapenade

• Process until all ingredients until smooth. I use both a smaller blendtec twister jar, and a food processor. The twister jar is remarkable for pastes that might be harder to incorporate. I linked to the blender above, but a food processor will work too.

  For this recipe, I used green olives from a can. Whole Foods-brand bpa-free cans of green olives without pits but you can obviously use any olives you want.
• Keep refrigerated in air-tight container; lasts about a week

Nutrition

Calories: 78kcalCarbohydrates: 3gProtein: 1gFat: 8gSaturated Fat: 1gSodium: 799mgPotassium: 63mgFiber: 2gSugar: 1gVitamin A: 831IUVitamin C: 12mgCalcium: 38mgIron: 1mg

Keyword low calorie spread, olive tapenade, sandwich spread, tapenade, vegan spread

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Dee Dine

Dee Dine is founder of Green Smoothie Gourmet, a plant based recipe blog, and author of the recent cookbook, Crazy Healthy with 4 Ingredients and another immunity-boosting smoothie shot book, 4-Ingredient Smoothies + Juices , due out in January 2021. On this blog you'll find incredibly easy recipes with hidden veggies for anyone wanting to eat healthier, regardless of diet. Dee has graduate degrees in sciences and  journalism, editor at The Feedfeed and a nutritional expert at WikiHow. More about Dee Dine here.