Olive and almond tapenade – the ultimate 5-minute vegan spread

When you browse the internet for recipes and food inspiration, titles like this one are quite often. I mean the “5 minute”, “3 ingredients” moment. Seems that people have everything but time to prepare quality food and I completely understand & relate to this situation.

You can rest assured this is no click-bait. Tapenade is an olive-based dish, usually combined with a cheese plate, served as a spread and whatnot. And it really requires 5 mins of your time, several ingredients and a blender.

Which ingredients?

Well, this can really be up to you. My tapenade version is a mixture of different kinds of olives, roasted almonds, garlic, and herbs. Yes, exactly. If you’re an olive fan, this one is a must-try.

You can prepare this tapenade with one olive type if you like. It can be two. This is what I usually do, but for the sake of the diversity of flavors, sometimes I go with three. And this time, it was the combination of regular green, dried black and Kalamata olives.

It doesn’t really matter which option you decide to go for. Mixing it with almonds, basil, garlic, arugula and a dash of olive oil is your ticket to a perfect appetizer!

Whether this savory olive and almond spread will be grainy or smooth, depends on your blender and the amount of nuts you use. To make a spread texture, skim on the almonds and pulse the mixture a bit longer. If you wish your olive and almond tapenade to be a bit coarse, just do quite the opposite 🙂

As for the herbs, feel free to use different ones. This recipe suggests fresh basil, but oregano and thyme go equally well with juicy olives and zesty garlic.

Among the ingredients, you will also see lemon juice and olive oil. The lemon is optional, yet combines perfectly, while the olive oil is there to bind all the other ingredients. Feel free to skip both if you like. The olive & almond tapenade will be perfect without them, too.