Super savory and incredibly easy to make, these marinated olives and feta are an incredibly low lift and delicious appetizer perfect for all of your house parties and get-togethers.
Team them up with some crackers or crusty bread or feature them on a charcuterie board, along with some pickled cherries, and you’re sure to get lots of compliments with this crowd-pleaser.
I’ve recently been entertaining quite a lot, which means I’m spending much more time in the kitchen now, experimenting with new appetizers.
My garlic butter baked brie and tomato garlic confit have both been super hits, but I really wanted to try something different this time, something with olives. And that’s when I thought of this recipe.
Quick Look: Marinated Olives and Feta
- 🔪 Prep time: 5 minutes.
- ⏲️ Cook time: 5 minutes.
- 👪 Servings: 3.
- 📋 Main ingredients: Feta cheese, olives, olive oil, garlic, lemon zest, Italian seasoning, red chili flakes.
- ♨️ Cooking method: Infuse the oil → add the feta and olives → gently warm → cool and serve.
- ⭐ Difficulty: Very easy.
- 🥣 Serving ideas: Serve with crackers, crusty bread, spinach and feta crisps, or as part of a charcuterie or Mediterranean mezze board.
Jump to:
- Quick Look: Marinated Olives and Feta
- What's So Great About the Recipe?
- Recipe Ingredients
- Substitutions & Variations
- How to Make Greek Marinated Olives and Feta
- 💭Top Tip
- Tips & Tricks to Nail the Recipe
- How to Serve Marinated Olives and Feta
- Troubleshooting & FAQs
- More Appetizer Recipes
- Marinated Olives and Feta
What's So Great About the Recipe?
- It’s savory, salty, and tangy, and thanks to the chili flakes, it has a nice bit of spice too.
- It's perfect to make and feature on a holiday appetizer table. Use up the leftovers to make some fried stuffed olives or an easy olive tapenade.
- This low-effort appetizer comes together in just 10 minutes- it really makes it perfect for all those days when you don’t want to spend too much time cooking.
Recipe Ingredients
Feta cheese: Start off with some good quality feta cheese.
Olives: Choose either black or green olives- whatever you have at hand. I like to use pitted olives.
Olive oil: I would recommend using extra virgin olive oil here for the best flavor, but you could also use regular olive oil or even lemon infused olive oil if you want to.
Lemon: Zest from fresh lemon brings a beautiful citrusy flavor to this appetizer.
Garlic: Fresh garlic cloves lend the appetizer that savory, umami deliciousness.
Seasonings: To add some extra flavor, I used some crushed red pepper flakes (for the spice) and a dash of my homemade Italian seasoning mix.
Rosemary: This one’s optional, but I also added a couple of sprigs of rosemary because I had it at hand.
See recipe card for quantities.
Substitutions & Variations
- Italian seasoning is just a mix of dried thyme, oregano, rosemary, and other herbs. If you don’t have it, you can just add any of these mixed herbs or use an infused salt like garlic parsley salt.
- Kalamata olives are also a great choice for this recipe. Try using a mix of two or more olives if you want to bring a bit of variation to the dish.
- For extra flavor, use Air Fryer roasted garlic instead of regular raw garlic cloves.
How to Make Greek Marinated Olives and Feta
Step 1: Heat the olive oil in a pot over medium heat. Add in the rosemary, garlic, and seasonings.
Step 2: Next, add the cubed feta cheese and olives.
Step 3: Let this cook for 5 minutes over medium heat. Add in the lemon zest.
Step 4: Take it off heat, let it cool and serve!
💭Top Tip
If you can, prepare this dish a day ahead of time. This allows the flavors to infuse well and the marinade to taste even better!
Tips & Tricks to Nail the Recipe
- Don’t have the fresh garlic that the recipe calls for? Use some garlic powder or garlic granules instead. For extra flavor, you can also use some homemade garlic bread seasoning.
- If you can get your hands on them, use Castelvetrano olives, which are known for their buttery flavor and texture.
- To add an extra bit of flavor to this absolutely delicious appetizer, add a dash of balsamic vinegar into the mix after you take it off heat.
- You can also add roasted bell peppers, oven-dried tomatoes, capers, and your favorite herbs into the mix to give it a unique twist.
How to Serve Marinated Olives and Feta
While you can always enjoy this Greek-style marinated olive appetizer on its own, with Turkish cheese rolls, or pairing it with some pita bread.
Your leftovers can be tossed into a simple pasta salad or used as a filling for wraps and sandwiches along with your favorite meats. I also love serving this (and sometimes my molasses-marinated olives) as a side with my favorite Mediterranean Sumac roasted chicken.
Troubleshooting & FAQs
Crumbled feta cheese might end up mixing together with the olive oil. To tackle this, you can blend the cheese until it becomes nice and smooth, and then top it with the marinated olives and serve it as you would.
Your leftover marinated olives and feta can be refrigerated and stored for up to 2 weeks. Remember to transfer them to a clean glass jar or an airtight container and let them cool down and come to room temperature before you pop them in.
More Appetizer Recipes
Looking for other recipes like this? Try these:
If you tried this marinated olives and feta or any other recipe on my website, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how it went in the 📝 comments below. Thanks for visiting!
Marinated Olives and Feta
Ingredients
- 1 cup feta cheese cubed
- 1 cup olives pitted
- ½ cup olive oil
- 2-3 garlic
- ¼ teaspoon lemon zest
- ½ teaspoon red chili flakes
- ¼ teaspoon Italian seasoning
Instructions
- Heat the olive oil in a pot over medium heat. Add in the rosemary, garlic, and seasonings.
- Next, add the cubed feta cheese and olives.
- Let this cook for 5 minutes over medium heat. Add in the lemon zest.
- Take it off heat, let it cool and serve!
