Slow Cooker Marinated Olives

Made with fresh garlic, herbs, lemon peel, and a variety of olives, this Slow Cooker Marinated Olives recipe is sure to be a hit with your guests! Simply toss everything in the slow cooker and you’ll have an easy and delicious appetizer that’s perfect for entertaining!

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If just thinking about Slow Cooker Marinated Olives made with briny olives combined with garlic, lemon, and dried herbs makes your taste buds sing, welcome, you’re in the right place.

Salty, tangy foods are practically a food group in my house.

We love pickles, olives, and other vinegary/brined stuff so much, it takes up the entire top shelf of my fridge!

Some backstory on the origination of these olives – I used to buy marinated olives at Trader Joe’s.

They tasted good, but the texture of the olives were a little mushy. Also, those pouches of olives get pricey for how little you get.

Solution? I started making them myself and now there’s no turning back!

These flavorful olives are not only SUPER easy to make, they are better than the Trader Joe’s version!

Ingredients needed for this recipe (scroll down to recipe card for complete recipe):

Olives – I like to use a variety
Lemons
Olive oil
Garlic
Crushed red pepper flakes
Herbs – dried thyme, dried oregano, bay leaf

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What kind of olives should I use?

I used a combination of kalamata olives, pimento-stuffed manzanilla olives, and Castelvetrano olives because they each have their own uniqueness.

Kalamata olives are more on the salty/briny side.
Pimento-stuffed manzanilla olives are great all-purpose, small olives, and Castelvetrano olives are mild and buttery. Together they make a beautiful and tasty combination!
Olives with pits in them provide a better textured olive. Olives without their pits tend to be softer and sometimes, mushy.

How to make Slow Cooker Marinated Olives:

Simply add the olives, dried herbs, lemon peel, garlic, spices, and olive oil to the slow cooker.
Stir everything and put the lid on. That’s it! After a couple hours, your house will smell delicious and your olives will be so full of flavor.
If you want to serve them warm (my favorite), turn your slow cooker to the warm setting and your guests can serve themselves.

📍The full recipe with exact ingredient amounts and instructions is on the recipe card at the bottom of the post.

How to serve Marinated Olives?

You can serve these flavorful olives warm, cold, or at room temperature, but my favorite way to eat them is warm right out of the slow cooker!

These olives are great with cheese boards, antipasto platters, Mediterranean meals, and if you’re like me, snacking. Who can resist a warm, herby olive…or five?

How long are the olives good for?

Keep leftover olives in an air-tight container in the fridge and use within a week.

If you’re a fellow olive lover, you’re gonna want to check out my Slow Cooker Chicken Provencal recipe! Olives, capers, lemon juice, garlic, and butter unite for a fabulous slow cooker chicken dish!

A similar, but cold appetizer, Marinated Cheese & Olive Antipasto, is another fan favorite for parties and holidays!

It has olives, chunks of cheese, diced red bell pepper, and pepperoncini all tossed in a homemade vinaigrette. (shown below)

NOTES:

I used kalamata, manzanilla, and Castelvetrano olives, but feel free to use your favorite olives in this recipe.
If you don’t like spicy foods, feel free to omit the crushed red pepper flakes.