Marinated Olives in Garlic and Olive Oil

When friends come over for an impromptu dinner, I never know what to cook. But then I remember my go-to quick dinner involves no cooking at all! Wine, cheese and charcuterie meals are my saving grace for dinners like this and one of my favorites because there’s a nice variety to choose from. One dish you can prepare ahead of time is marinated olives. It’s super easy and takes no time to prepare!

This recipe (if you can even call it that) is adapted from Mark Bittman. Marinating your own olives is so much tastier than your typical jarred olives and you can pretty much add what you like, as long as you have olive oil in there. I like to add a lot of olive oil in the marinating process for dipping my bread but use what you prefer. Serve the olives with a bottle of wine, cheeses, meats and other appetizers and you’re good to go!

Click for recipe…

Marinate the olives and the rest of the ingredients covered for a few hours or overnight.

Serve with your favorite cheese, charcuterie and bread...or alone as a snack!

Marinated Olives Recipe

3/4 cup Kalamata olives, or a mixture of green & black

4-6 tablespoons olive oil, or preferred amount

2 whole garlic cloves, crushed

1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes

1/2 teaspoon dried thyme

1 whole dried bay leaf

salt and pepper, to taste

Combine all of the ingredients in a bowl. Store covered in the fridge up to 4 hours or overnight. When ready to serve, take out and bring to room temperature with a sprinkle of salt and pepper on top. Serve with bread, cheese and charcuterie, or simply on its own as a snack.

Total Time: 5 minutes (plus time to marinate)
Yield: makes 1 cup
print recipe