Olive Tapenade Stuffed Dates with Toasted Pine Nuts

I don’t have enough finger food recipes on my blog! If your holiday menu is still missing some vegan hors d’oeuvres (thank you, spell check), here is a very quick and easy solution. These kalamata olive tapenade stuffed dates are a unique little bite. They’re salty and sweet, with a fresh note from the herbs and a little bit of crunch from the toasted pine nuts.

I did some research on savory vegan stuffed dates and I found a lot of cashew cheese options, seitan or coconut bacon optional. Hey, there’s nothing wrong with that! But I wasn’t really in the mood for cashew cheese, or making anything more complicated than scooping a filling into a date. Kalamata olives were in the fridge and the rest is history.

I’ll admit that these aren’t the most attractive things in the world, which is why I spruced up the serving dish with a bunch of extra fresh herbs (parsley or basil are both great) and a pinch of red pepper flakes. Luckily, once you try them, I think you’ll agree that appearances aren’t everything. If I had some nice green olives on hand, I might have used them instead for some more color contrast. Or even black olives, instead of the purple ones. Hindsight twenty-twenty… also, I think adding little toothpicks would be a good serving idea for a crowd. 🙂

In the interest of fairness, I’ve given samples of these to a few people and some people loved them instantly while others were a little surprised by the flavor combination and took some time to come around. In particular, make sure the filling to date ratio is high enough. I used Medjool dates but deglet noor or a less caramelly date would be quite nice as well. Another option would be to chop up some dates and mix them into the tapenade, serving all of it with crackers. Up to you, but please experiment a little to suit your taste because while I adore these I did find that others had mixed feelings.

These tapenade stuffed dates can definitely be made in advance, but they only take a few minutes anyway, so it’s a good recipe to fit into your day/menu wherever there’s space.

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5 from 3 votes

Pine Nut and Olive Tapenade Stuffed Dates

Toasted pine nut and kalamata olive tapenade-stuffed dates. The perfect sweet, salty, crunchy bite for your vegan appetizer platter. Naturally gluten-free, grain-free, paleo recipe.

Course Appetizer

Cuisine American, gluten-free, grain-free, Mediterranean, nut-free, oil-free, paleo, refined sugar-free, vegan

Keyword tapenade stuffed dates

Prep Time 15 minutes

Total Time 15 minutes

Servings 15 dates

Calories 260kcal

Author Yup, it's Vegan

Ingredients

For the kalamata olive tapenade:

• 1 clove garlic finely chopped
• 2 tsp shallot finely chopped (optional)
• 1/3 cup fresh curly parsley loosely-packed to measure, then finely chopped
• 1 tbsp nutritional yeast optional
• 2/3 cup pitted Kalamata olives

For the pine nut and olive tapenade stuffed dates:

• 15 Medjool dates pitted
• olive tapenade (see above, or use your favorite recipe with parsley added)
• 3 tbsp toasted pine nuts

Instructions

For the kalamata olive tapenade:

• Add the garlic, shallot, parsley, and nutritional yeast to a blender or food processor (smaller is best since this recipe doesn't make a large quantity - I use my Magic Bullet). Pulse until the parsley is finely chopped.
• Add the kalamata olives, and pulse just until the olives are broken up into small pieces - you don't want to puree them.

For the pine nut and olive tapenade stuffed dates:

• Stir the toasted pine nuts into the olive tapenade.
• Open a date and scoop in enough of the tapenade mixture to fill it completely. Sample the first date and see if the date to filling ratio is what you prefer. Increase or decrease it for the rest of the dates, depending on the results. You can also slice them in half and make little boats, to give a higher ratio of filling.
• Leftovers keep pretty well in the fridge for a couple of days if needed.

Notes

Any tapenade recipe that you like will be delicious in these. Just make sure it's salty and tangy to stand up against the sweetness of the dates.

For a nut-free option, try toasted sunflower seeds or crisped breadcrumbs.

Although this recipe is designed to be without cheese, a little dollop of creamy cashew cheese can be quite nice if you have some on hand. A drizzle of extra virgin olive oil is another optional addition for richness and flavor.

Nutrition

Serving: 3stuffed dates | Calories: 260kcal | Carbohydrates: 37g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 13g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 6g | Monounsaturated Fat: 3g | Sodium: 524mg | Potassium: 565mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 25g | Vitamin A: 750IU | Vitamin C: 14mg | Calcium: 130mg | Iron: 2.2mg

*This kalamata olive tapenade stuffed dates recipe was originally published December 2014, updated December 2018 with new instructions and photos.

P.S. If you’re in need of additional recipes, Huffington Post put together an awesome list of Vegan Christmas Recipes.

More holiday-friendly appetizers from the blog:

Vegan spinach artichoke dip

Everything bagel shishito peppers