This Italian Olive Salad recipe is made with briny olives- green and black olives, garlic, crunchy celery, red onion and fresh herbs in a tangy wine vinaigrette with little prep time. It’s a delicious and versatile Vegan, low-carb and gluten-free side dish or easy appetizer.

If you like Olive Tapenade, you’re sure to love this tasty olive dish! Italian Olive Salad Recipe

Italian olive salad is a Mediterranean delight and tribute to the region’s tasty olives. It tastes wonderful on a hot summer day with your favorite wine, cheeses and some fresh crusty bread!

Enjoy it as a side dish to grilled meat, as a flavorful appetizer or grind it up into a tasty olive sandwich spread. If you like rich olives, you will love this recipe.

This dish as little prep time and because you need to let it sit so the flavors can meld, it’s a great make ahead dish for parties.

Italian olive salad is perfect for putting on an antipasto platter! It tastes great alongside roasted red peppers, marinated mozzarella balls, pepperoncini peppers and tangy artichoke hearts.

Italian Olive Salad Recipe

This Italian olive salad is an easy appetizer because you only have a few things to chop and throw together before letting it sit so the flavors can meld. Therefore, it’s great to make ahead for parties or small get togethers.

Use good quality ingredients for this dish. Because the olives are a key ingredient to this dish, the better quality of the olives, the better your olive salad will taste.

Therefore, search of the finest possible ingredients. Depending where you live, you may be able to find good quality olives in your grocery store or you may have to order them online. Good olives are pricy but, worth it.

My first cousins, who live in southern Italy, have beautiful olive trees lining their properties. They make their own extra virgin olive oil and it’s spectacular!

Every Christmas, they send me a canister of homemade olive oil. I’ve used it to make this olive salad recipe and it’s absolutely bursting with olive flavor!

Muffaletta Sandwich

You can put this olive salad into a food processor and use it as an olive spread to a Muffaletta sandwich. Muffuletta (or muffaletta) is a type of round Sicilian bread with sesame seeds, as well as a popular sandwich, created by a Sicilian immigrant who popularized the sandwich in New Orleans, Louisiana.

It’s a classic New Orleans sandwich made with Italian deli meats.

Of course, this olive salad recipe isn’t just good for Muffuletta sandwiches, it would also be a delicious sandwich spread for an Italian hoagie or sub! It’d taste great on a grilled chicken sandwich too.

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Ingredients

*The printable full recipe is in the recipe card at the bottom of this post. Consider doubling this recipe for larger groups.

Italian green olives (such as Castelvetrano) or Greek olives, pitted but reserve some brine
Kalamata olives, pitted
celery ribs
red onion
extra virgin olive oil
dried oregano
fresh parsley
red wine vinegar
black pepper
garlic cloves

Instructions

Add all ingredients to a large mixing bowl. Stir well, cover and store at least three hours before serving to allow flavors to blend. As it sits, the olives will pick up the flavors of the garlic, red onion, fresh herbs, olive oil and red wine vinegar.

Although you can use only green olives to make this dish, adding some black olives, such as Kalamata olives, not only adds more color but, also adds more depth of flavor.

Muffaletta Sandwich Spread

Add all ingredients to a food processor and pulse until you obtain desired consistency for sandwich spread.

Additions and Substitutions

Use regular onions to make this dish but, red onions give it more color and are a bit less harsh on your breath, if you know what I mean.
For more color and crunch, add a quarter cup of chopped red bell peppers to this dish or substitute them for the celery.
Substitute finely chopped carrots for the celery, if that’s your preference.
Add some red pepper flakes if you like a bit of spicy heat.
Add some crumbled feta cheese for some extra flavor!

What to serve with Italian Olive Salad

Parmesan Bowtie Pasta Salad
green salad such as Arugula Salad with Lemon Vinaigrette
sliced cheeses, such as provolone
crusty Italian bread

Leftover Italian olive salad can be chopped and served as a flavorful olive tapenade appetizer to put on top of crostini. This recipe will keep for several days in an airtight container in your refrigerator.

This Italian olive salad recipe is versatile! It’s a delicious side dish, easy appetizer or sandwich spread. Because you can make it days ahead, it’s a great recipe for parties that can stay out at room temperature. That’s always a plus when you’re fighting over refrigerator space.

Bring a taste of Italy to your dinner table and enjoy the delicious culinary delights of Italian cuisine with this easy Italian olive salad recipe! It just may become a family favorite!

Easy Italian Olive Salad Recipe (and Sandwich Spread)