Kalamata Olive Dip is a quick easy dip that will get your party started! Use simple ingredients to whip up this homemade dip in your food processor!
Similar to our Black Olive Dip, Blue Cheese Yogurt Dip and Green Olive Dip recipes at times we need sophisticated dips with effortless style. Serve with crispy Air Fryer Pita Chips!
What goes well with Kalamata Olives?
Kalamata Olives are perfect to serve with cheese, bread, meats and veggie sticks.
Some pairings ideas are:
- olives and feta
- bread, dipping oil and olives
- olive tapenade
- roasted olives
- cured meats and olives
- chargrilled peppers
- cheese and olives
All types of olives go well on our Grazing Platter and they work perfectly to fill any gaps on a Crudite Platter.
What cheese goes with Kalamata Olives?
If you are looking to serve olives and cheese for a starter, a bold strong flavoured cheese works well.
The texture of the olives is soft, so it is always good to pair them with a contrasting texture like cheddar cheese cubes or firm sticks of mozzarella.
Feta, haloumi and blue cheese are also good options as they offer diversity in taste.
Ingredients
This recipe uses simple, easy to find ingredients. You can see exactly what you need in the photo below:
The recipe calls for:
- kalamata olives
- cream cheese
- olive brine
- dried onion
- garlic power
These 5 simple ingredients are all that is needed to pack flavour, texture and taste into our dip!
How to make Cream Cheese Kalamata Dip
To make the dip, we start by roughly chopping the olives in the food processor.
- Add olives to the food processor bowl (Photo 1)
- Roughly blitz -up to 5 seconds (Photo 2)
- Add remaining ingredients (Photo 3)
- Blitz again to combine for 5-10 seconds (Photo 4)
This recipe is SO quick and easy, you will want to make your own homemade dip again and again!
I am a fan of some store bought dips, so I can't say you will never again want to purchase one from Coles or Woolworths.
But I can say, if flavour, texture and simplicity is your desire, this will tick ALL of your boxes!
One of my favourite ways to serve this recipe is like the photos in the post is with crunchy homemade Pita Chips.
Kalamata Olive Dip quick info:
About the recipe:
- We use pitted whole Kalamata olives
- Purchase in brine olives as we use some of the brine
- Drain the olives and reserve the liquid
- That liquid is olive brine and we need 1 tbs of it for the recipe (you can use 2 tbs if you are an olive lover!)
FAQs about cream cheese Kalamata olive dip
- I use pitted Kalamata olives in a jar from Aldi
- The garlic powder and dried onion will be in the spices section of the supermarket
- The dip can be made ahead of time and refrigerated
- Pair with vegetable sticks, pita chips or crackers
For serving suggestions try the easy Crostini or Homemade Pita Chips recipes.
Your quick questions answered:
- This is a quick, easy to bring together recipe!
- The dip is served cold
- Try and keep the texture of the chopped olives, chunky
- This recipe is VEGETARIAN
Expert tips:
This is what I have learnt that will help you master the recipe from the 1st time and every following time:
- Remove the cream cheese from the fridge to start as this allows it to soften
- It is best to blitz once with only the olives as we want a choppy texture
- The brine has a unique typical olive flavour
- You can make the dip ahead of time and refrigerate, remove just before serving
Easy Olive recipes
Let the olives kick start the party with these tasty recipes:
- Green Olive Dip
- Spicy Olive Dip (these are my favourite olives!)
- Black Olive Tapenade
- Sun-dried Tomato Tapenade
- Artichoke Olive Tapenade
- Olive Tapenade
- Roasted Olives
Learn to use your oven to make bread to serve with your dips in my How to Toast Bread in the Oven guide.
As I mentioned in our Grazing Platter recipe, it is best to go for thick chips or crackers.
This will ensure no one cracks it mid dip, haha!
More Easy Appetizer Recipes
If you have plenty of guests to serve, you might enjoy one of the following recipes.
- Chicken Liver Pate that works as a dip or spread.
- Coconut Prawns (for an elegant entrée!).
- Fun and super easy Mini Quiches (12 different ways).
Or if olives are your thing, then check out How to Cook Olives showcasing 10 Olive based recipes.
With many of us spending more time at home these days, it is a great opportunity to take your favourite dips and make a homemade version!
Some of these ingredients are long lasting and will keep in the fridge or pantry till the party gets to your place!
Dippy chippy, snacky for your my friends with a bit of cream cheese in there for good measure.
Adrianne xx
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Kalamata Olive DIp
Equipment
- Food processor
Ingredients
- 250 grams Kalamata olives Note 1, reserve 1 tbs olive brine
- 250 grams cream cheese Note 2
- 1 tbsp olive brine Note 3
- 1 tbsp dried onion Note 4
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
Instructions
- Add olives to the bowl of a food processor, blitz for approximately 5 seconds to roughly chop
- Add remaining ingredients to food processor. Blitz for another 10 seconds to combine
- Serve with pita chips or crackers
Video
Notes
- Note 1 We use olive brine for this recipe, which is simply the liquid that the olives comes in. If you buy olives in a jar, drain most, but reserve 1 tablespoon. If you have no liquid in your olives at all, it is ok to omit this ingredient.
- Note 2 Grab the cream cheese out of the fridge to start with as it will be much easier to work with if it is soft (room temperature).
- Note 3 I always use dried onion now. It saves time and tears and gives you spot on delicious onion flavour. You will find it in the herbs and spices section of the supermarket.
Caitlin says
Any chance I could use whipped cream cheese instead??
Adrianne says
Sorry but no!!! That is super sweet and light and fluffy and doesn't have the density of cream cheese. It would not be a great alternative.