Tangy, salty green olives replace much of the fat normally found in traditional hummus. If you like olives and hummus, you’ll love this low-fat green olive hummus.
If you are beginning to think my family lives on hummus, you’re very close to being right. We use hummus for just about everything around here: a snack with veggies and crackers, a salad topping, a sandwich filling, and dinner with pitas, tabouli, and other Middle Eastern dishes. We love hummus.
We also love olives: Kalamata olives, green olives, and those jumbo black olives that my husband swears have no taste (but E and I love them anyway).
So you won’t be surprised to hear that green olive hummus is our very favorite type of hummus. I don’t make it often, because olives are high in sodium, but when I do, it doesn’t last very long.
This recipe uses less tahini because the olives contain fat and cuts down on the spices so that the olives carry the flavor. If you like olives as much as we do, you’ll love this hummus!
Want More Hummus?
I have about 20 hummus recipes and recipes that use hummus. Find them all here!
Green Olive Hummus
Ingredients
- 3 large cloves garlic
- 2 cans chickpeas (or 3 cups cooked chickpeas,) rinsed and drained
- juice of one lemon
- 1/2 cup green olives stuffed with pimentos (about 10-12 olives depending on size)
- 2 tablespoons water or vegetable broth
- 1 tablespoon tahini optional
- 1/4 teaspoons sumac optional
- 1/8 teaspoons cayenne pepper
- salt to taste
- 5-6 more olives
Instructions
- Chop the garlic in the food processor. Add the chickpeas and lemon juice, and coarsely chop. Add the green olives, water or broth, tahini, and seasonings, and process until everything is mixed. (This will not be a smooth type of hummus, but all ingredients should be well-distributed.)
- Taste for saltiness, and add salt if needed (the olives make it pretty salty already.) Process to blend in the salt, and then add the remaining 5-6 olives. Pulse a few times just to barely chop the olives. Serve with crackers, pita bread, or crudités or as a sandwich filling.
Notes
Nutritional info is approximate.
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DeAnna
September 13, 2009 at 10:35 amI'm very glad I found your blog! great recipes & professional photographs!
Bluemarvel
November 19, 2009 at 3:20 amI come back to this blog regularly. Thanks Susan for all these scrumptious recipes. The olive hummus is a favourite, though I leave out the salt & often substitute a teaspoon or two of tamarind paste for the sumac. It always tastes wonderful!
Mary
May 5, 2010 at 10:20 amWhy isn’t there a print tag with this recipe? It took 3 pages and it printed all the comments.
SusanV
May 5, 2010 at 10:25 amSorry! I wish you’d asked before you printed. I can add a print page, or you can select just the text you want to print and then choose “Print Selection.”
Tommy
May 24, 2011 at 10:47 amHi,
Great site, thanks! I just wanted to give you a suggestion for the hummus: I find that the texture is much nicer if you first mix the tahini, lemon juice and a bit of water to a fine whitish cream in a blender, and then add the spices and the chickpeas little by little.
Much love!
Gena
August 11, 2012 at 12:29 pmHi! Exactly the recipe I was looking for, however, you say “add the remaining olives.” Are you referencing the remaining olives in the jar? Or did you just add part of the 1/2 cup olives listed in the recipe at first, and then the rest at the end? Sorry! Just wanting to make sure!
Susan Voisin
August 11, 2012 at 12:42 pmGena, I meant add the 5-6 additional olives mentioned at the end of the ingredients list.
AnnR
October 16, 2012 at 1:00 amBest hummus ever! I used garlic stuffed olives for an extra garlicky kick. It was so good that I was tempted to lick the food processor blade!
MarieRoxanne
April 29, 2013 at 1:32 pmCan’t believe I didn’t see this one! I love olives. I just pinned it to my kitchen and cooking board! Thank you!
Ty
May 31, 2013 at 9:22 pmSounds great, Susan!
Olive Taste
March 20, 2018 at 6:05 amGreen Olive hummus is always a preferred choice for me. I used to make green olive hummus at home when i get off from my job.
Cindy
February 28, 2020 at 8:42 pmI made this recipe today! It was delicious!!! Thank you for sharing!!