Craving a salty and creamy snack or appetizer? Make a batch of our dairy free feta stuffed olives! These are completely dairy free and gluten free, and simple to assemble. These are perfect for parties, holidays, or for anytime snacking.
If you love a good savory snack or a delicious creamy and salty cheese and olive combo for appetizers, you’ll love our latest recipe: dairy free feta stuffed olives!
My husband loves the blue cheese and feta cheese stuffed olives and we usually get him some for special ocassions throughout the year. One day I was feeling a little sad about not being able to have some of them myself, and it dawned on me that I could make my own dairy free version with Violife feta.
Not sure why I never thought of it before, but they turned out amazing! The Violife feta works so well in this recipe since it’s easy to cut into pieces and holds it’s shape well to fit inside the olives.
Why we love this recipe
While this recipe takes more hands-on time to put together and a day or 2 to marinate, this recipe is still quite simple to make, using only a handful of ingredients and stuffing the olives is easier than it might look.
These marinated feta olives are a delicious snack or appetizer that anyone can enjoy, and I love them because the more you marinate them, the more garlic flavors soak into the olives, making them taste even more amazing over time!
How to make dairy free feta-stuffed olives
Here are the steps to make marinated dairy free feta olives. This process does take a day for these to marinate fully, but the result is delicious and well worth the work!
The full recipe card is at the end of the post!
- Find a jar of colossal pitted green olives of your choosing (I add some notes on what type below). I prefer the colossal Castelvetrano olives in this recipe. You want to get giant olives to make this easier.
- Pour out the brine into a dish or measuring container and save it. Don’t toss the brine. Remove the olives into a bowl.
- Cut your Violife feta cheese into pieces that will fit into the hollow center of the olive. Ours were slightly less than 1/4-inch square and about 1/2-inch long. Once the cheese is stuffed inside the olive, cut off any excess that sticks out.
- Once the olives are all stuffed with feta, return them to the olive jar (or add them to a new jar, like our clamp jars), laying 1 to 2 cloves of peeled garlic cut in half into the jar in between the olives.
- Add 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon dried Italian mix herbs into the jar and add the brine back into the jar. You can add a little bit of oil to the jar as well if you want some oil on our olives (I add some notes below on what kinds are best).
- Gently shake/swirl the olives and brine together and store in the fridge for 1-2 days to marinate before serving.
- Store leftover olives in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.
We have only tried this recipe so far with the Violife feta cheese and haven’t tried this with other brands of dairy free feta. I’d recommend sticking with a firm dairy free feta cheese (or other dairy free cheese) that will hold up to being soaked in liquid brine for days.
The wonderful thing about these olives is that the more they marinate, the more garlicky they get (especially if they are cut in half), which I love. It’s a great way to get the taste of garlic stuffed olives without eating whole garlic cloves if you have IBS.
I used dried herbs since that was what we had on hand, but you can use chopped fresh herbs in the brine if you like instead. Fresh basil, thyme, rosemary, etc. would all taste great with these olives.
What type of olives to use in this recipe
We tried this recipe with 2 different types of colossal green olives from Mezzetta (this brand has consistently firm colossal olives that work well in this recipe):
- Colossal pitted Castelvetrano olives are a milder, less tart olive that is more buttery and smooth tasting. I prefer our homemade feta-stuffed olives made with the Castelvetrano olives.
- Super colossal Spanish Queen olives are a more tart and bitter olive. The pitted ones usually come stuffed with pimentos, so you will have to remove the pimentos to add the feta.
There are lots of other brands and types of large pitted green olives available, but the Mezzetta olives are easy to find and have consistently good quality olives for stuffing. Some other brands I’ve noticed tend to be a little on the mushy side, which makes it harder to stuff and marinate them.
Olive oil or brine for these marinated olives?
I tried this out using all olive oil to soak the olives in and they ended up too oily and the oil solidified in the fridge, so I had to set out the olives at room temperature for about 30 minutes before I could eat the olives.
So if you want a little oil with your marinated olives, my recommendation is to use brine and then add a Tablespoon or teaspoon of olive oil to the brine. Just know that olive oil will still solidify in the fridge, and you’ll have to warm it up at room temperature for a bit before serving (20-30 minutes is probably sufficient for a small amount of oil in the brine).
Or you can add 1 teaspoon to 1 Tablespoon of light-tasting oil that isn’t olive oil that won’t get solid in the fridge, such as grapeseed oil. Just gently shake up or stir your olives before serving to coat them with a little oil.
If you want to use these olives for savory cocktails, skip using oil in the marinating brine.
Check out our recipe roundup for dairy free and gluten free appetizer recipes!
Marinated Dairy Free Feta Stuffed Olives
Ingredients
- 8 to 10 ounce dry weight jar pitted colossal green olives in brine (pitted colossal Castelvetrano olives are my favorite in this recipe)
- 2-3 ounces Violife dairy free feta cheese
- 1-2 fresh cloves garlic, peeled and cut in half
- ½ teaspoon Italian mix dried herbs (or fresh herbs)
- 1 Tablespoon grapeseed oil (optional)
Instructions
- Open your jar of colossal pitted green olives and empty the brine into a bowl or glass and save for later (don't toss it!).8 to 10 ounce dry weight jar pitted colossal green olives in brine
- Remove the olives and place them in a bowl. Set aside.
- Cut your Violife feta cheese into 1/4-inch thick slices, then cut each slice into small "sticks" that are about 1/4-inch square and about 1/2-inch long. You'll want to cut the feta cheese into pieces that will fit inside the pitted olives.2-3 ounces Violife dairy free feta cheese
- Press the feta cheese pieces into the pitted olives and cut off any excess cheese that doesn't fit.
- Peel 1 to 2 cloves of fresh garlic and cut each clove in half.1-2 fresh cloves garlic, peeled and cut in half
- Add the stuffed olives back to the olive jar (or a new jar), layering the cut garlic cloves among the olives in the jar.
- Add the dried herbs over the olives (or fresh herbs if using), and pour the saved brine over the olives until the brine covers the olives completely.1/2 teaspoon Italian mix dried herbs
- Refrigerate for 1 to 2 days to marinate the flavors into the olives and serve.
- If you want to add a little oil to the brine, you can add 1 Tablespoon of oil (like grapeseed oil) to the brine and gently shake everything together before serving.1 Tablespoon grapeseed oil
- You can use olive oil, but it will solidify in the fridge and will need to be set out at room temperature for about 30 minutes or so to warm up before serving.
- Store any leftovers in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.
Notes
Nutrition
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Sarah Jane Parker is the founder, recipe creator, and photographer behind The Fit Cookie which she founded in 2011. Sarah is based in Wyoming and has been managing food allergies for herself and her 2 children for over 20 years. Sarah was also a certified personal trainer for 12 years, as well as a group fitness instructor, health coach, running coach, and fitness nutrition specialist.