Spicy Feta Stuffed Olives
Feta stuffed olives are a delicious appetizer or snack to make for your next dinner party! They’re spicy and zesty, and always a crowd pleaser.
I came across a feta stuffed olive recipe last year from Kathleen Ashmore and I’ve been hooked ever since. These olives are so delicious as a snack or appetizer when you’re hosting a crowd, and the perfect thing to make if you have a few extra olives lying around.
The olives are stuffed with feta cheese, then marinated in a mixture of olive oil, lemon zest, chili flakes and sumac.
You can stuff them with goat cheese or your favorite cheese variety, and play around with the spices and herbs you add to the marinade.
They’re the perfect little snack to serve at a dinner party, and are packed with flavor!
What you’ll need to make spicy feta stuffed olives
- The olives: pitted, Castelvetrano olives are ideal for this recipe since they’re large enough to stuff. You can use a whole jar, or as many as you would like to stuff
- The cheese: I love stuffing the olives with feta cheese, but a few other options are goat cheese, blue cheese, or a truffle cheese. Block feta cheese is the easiest to use since you can cut it into strips, making it easier to stuff. I only had crumbled feta, so I used a glove to easily press the cheese into each olive
- The marinade: the simple marinade is made from olive oil, zested lemon, grated garlic, red pepper flakes and sumac
The olives can be enjoyed right away, or prepared a few days in advance. I suggest letting the olives reach room temperature before serving since the marinade can firm up after refrigerating.
Feta stuffed olives are truly so delicious, I know you guys are going to love them! You can tag me on Instagram if you try them!
Other snack/appetizer recipes you’ll love:
Whipped Feta Dip with Honey Walnuts
Balsamic Mushroom Rice Fritters
Buffalo Smashed Potatoes
Spicy Feta Stuffed Olives
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups Castelvetrano olives, pitted (25-30 olives)
- Feta cheese, about 1/3 cup
- 1/3 cup olive oil
- 2 tsp lemon zest
- 2 cloves grated garlic
- 1 tsp red pepper flakes
- 1/2 tsp sumac
- Pinch salt
Directions
- Stuff the olives with about 1/4 tsp of feta cheese using your finger or a toothpick. If using a block of feta, cut about 1/2 inch sticks and press them into the olives. Repeat until all olives are filled.
- In a large glass jar or container, combine the olive oil with the lemon zest, spices and garlic and mix together.
- Add the olives into the marinade and toss together.
- If serving right away or the same day, you can leave them at room temperature.
- Refrigerate the leftovers for up to 5 days, and let the olives reach room temperature before serving since the oil may firm up in the fridge.
I made one batch of 30 to start with and they were so good I made four more for a total of 150 stuffed olives! I have three olive trees in my back yard that were supposed to be “fruitless,” but have been picking and curing olives for almost 15 years now. This year I pitted some before curing and although not as pretty as the Castellanos, they taste amazing stuffed with feta and flavored with my own meyer lemon zest and the seasonings contained in the recipe. Thanks for another way to enjoy my bumper crop of olives!
That’s a lot of olives! So glad you enjoyed this recipe
Whipped these up in under 10 minutes and they were gone even faster! Everyone loved them. Sumac was a great touch. Ended up mixing the feta with lemon zest and olive oil and put into a ziploc bag to pipe into the olives. So easy!
So happy to hear that, Alyssa. Love the use of the piping bag!
I didn’t have sumac so I skipped but I did everything else and they were absolutely amazing.
So happy to hear that!