Italian Olive Salad Recipe

Tap to Read ➤ As the name rightly suggests, Italian olive salad is made of olives, vegetables, and a host of other ingredients. This story provides the recipe for making this salad. Sonia Nair

Italian olive salad is an indispensable ingredient of muffuletta , which is the most popular sandwich originated from New Orleans. This salad with an Italian flavor is responsible for the distinct taste of the sandwich. Other than its use in muffuletta, this salad is also perfect with pepperoni, pasta, panini, or as a pizza topping.

Due to its immense popularity, various brands of ready-made Italian olive salad are available in the market. Even though, you can use store-bought olive salad, homemade ones are always preferred. You can easily prepare it at home, if you know the right method.

How to Make Italian Olive Salad

In general, it can be said that this salad is a blend of olives, vegetables, herbs, spices, and olive oil. At least two types of olives - black and green, are used in this salad. Other ingredients include carrots, capers, cauliflower, celery, garlic cloves, oregano, baby corn, and pimento. Given below is a simple recipe for preparing this salad. As per this recipe, you can make around one gallon of this salad.

Ingredients Pimento stuffed green olives (large size) - 1 gallon Large black olives (pitted) - 1 pound Giardiniera - 1 pound Pepperoncini (left whole) - 1 jar Capers - 2 small jars Celery seeds - 1 small jar Pickled baby corn - 1 pound

Oregano - 1 small jar Pickled cauliflower - 1 quart jar Cocktail onions - 1 jar Fresh garlic - 1 large head Carrots (large) - 4 Celery stalk - 1 Freshly ground black pepper - 1 tsp. Olive oil - as required

Preparation Method Once you are ready with all the required ingredients, drain the green olives, pickled carrots, capers, giardiniera, cocktail onions, and baby corn. The next step is to chop the olives (both types), cauliflower, celery, baby corn, and carrots. Peel and mince the garlic.

Take a large bowl and combine all the ingredients, and fill them in a clean and sterilized jar. Add enough olive oil (around half a cup) to coat the ingredients. Some people use equal amounts of olive oil and vinegar, especially red wine vinegar. After adding olive oil, secure the jar tightly, and refrigerate it for at least 24 hours before serving.

This Italian olive salad can be served after a few hours of refrigeration, but a longer period is always preferred. You can also add grated cheese or lettuce slices to this salad, just before serving.

This is one of the simplest and easiest recipe to prepare this salad. However, you may also add other ingredients, like marinated artichokes, basil, thyme, and pepper flakes. If you do not like pimentos, replace them with chopped red or green bell pepper or crushed red pepper flakes.