Grilled Olives Recipe

White narrow dish filled with grilled green olives with olive tree leaves next to it, on dark wood background.

5 from 1 vote

Grilled Olives are an incredibly tasty, fun and unexpected appetizer. Always a crowd-pleaser, they're fantastic for both outdoor barbecues and indoor dinner parties.

Prep Time10

Cook Time5

Total Time15

Course: Appetizer

Cuisine: American

Keyword: cooking with olives, grilling olives

Servings: as an appetizer

Calories: 49kcal

Author: Valentina K. Wein

Equipment

Ingredients

30 large green olives
salt and freshly ground black pepper
extra virgin olive oil for the grill

Instructions

Prepare the olives. Drain the olives, and if they not in oil, pat them dry with a paper towel. Otherwise, it's okay to leave them lightly coated with the oil after draining them. (And if they came in oil, save it!)
If they're not already pitted, use an olive/cherry pitter tool to pit them.
Skewer the olives. "Thread" about ten olives on each skewer and if desired (depending on how they taste out of the jar), sprinkle lightly with salt and pepper.
If you use wooden skewers, soak them for at least 15 minutes in warm water before using them.
Grill. Place a stovetop grill over high heat, dip a paper towel in olive oil and rub it on the grill -- should look shiny. (Don't do this if your olives were in oil.) Once the grill is very hot, place the skewers on it. You should hear a sizzling sound when they touch down -- if you don't, wait for it to get hotter. (If it's not hot enough, they won't char properly.) After the first minute or so, turn the heat down to medium.
Grill the olives just until they're marked with the grill, about 3 minutes on the first side, and 2 on the second. To "flip" them, use a small fork to spin the olives over. On each side at some point, very gently press down on the olives with a flat-bottomed spatula.
Cool and serve. Let them cool a bit and then use a fork to slide the olives off the skewers and into a bowl. Serve with toothpicks or tiny forks. (Alternately, put them in a jar with olive oil and store in the refrigerator for about 2 weeks. If they were originally in oil, reuse it rather than adding new oil.)

Notes

Nutritional information is only an estimate.

Nutrition