Mediterranean Charcuterie Board with Homemade Olive Tapenade

This post features my Mediterranean Charcuterie Board with Homemade Olive Tapenade recipe. This post is sponsored by Crunchmaster crackers. Please see my disclosures.

Today I want to show you how I put together this beautiful gluten-free Mediterranean Charcuterie Board, and how all the ingredients came together to make this board sing!

I suppose a real charcuterie board would have meat on it, but in my house, we don’t mix meat and milk, so this is a vegetarian charcuterie board that is full of flavor despite not having traditional processed meats found on most Mediterranean-inspired charcuterie boards.

My Mediterranean charcuterie board is loaded with Middle Eastern dips, including my homemade olive tapenade recipe.

You’ll love snacking on every aspect of this board, which is held together by my go-to gluten-free crackers by Crunchmaster, which hold up well for dipping and taste fabulous too!

Mediterranean Charcuterie Board Ingredients

I included the following ingredients on my Mediterranean charcuterie board:

• Fresh mozzarella (bite-sized, marinated)
• Dolmades (stuffed grape leaves)
• Hummus
• Grapes
• Roasted eggplant
• Grape tomatoes
• Olive tapenade (recipe below)
• Crunchmaster crackers

You could, of course, add other wonderful Middle Eastern-inspired ingredients such as:

• Dried fruits
• Hard cheeses
• Feta
• Thin-sliced meats
• Cucumber slices
• Greek salad
• Cauliflower Tabbouleh Salad (note most tabbouleh is not gluten free, my version is)
• Falafel
• Figs
• Berries
• Olives, variety
• Jams, jellies and honey
• Grilled peppers and eggplant

Here are a few tips to making your charcuterie board shine:

(1) Include an assortment of savory and sweet foods Fresh and dried fruits will add sweetness and temper the briny taste of the olives.

(2) Keep all food items small and bite-sized. Fresh mozzarella balls are both pretty and easy to handle since they’re bite-sized. You could also cut feta into large chunks (crumbles) for easy handling.

(3) Be sure to include plenty of crackers to fully accommodate all the dips; the crackers are essential for scooping. I recommend the roasted garlic-flavor Crunchmaster crackers if you can find them. They hold up well when scooping dips (no breakage), and they enhance the overall flavor of the snack board.

How to Make Olive Tapenade

I don’t like store-bought olive tapenade because I feel like the olives are always pureed. I personally like my olive tapenade a little chunky, so I recommend skipping the food processor and instead chopping everything by hand.

Start by gathering your ingredients. You’ll need:

• 1/2 cup green olives (I used manzanilla olives)
• 1/2 cup kalamata olives, pitted
• 2 tbsp capers
• 2 tbsp parsley
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1/2 lemon
• 2 tbsp olive oil

Next, coarsely chop the green olives, kalamata olives and capers. Then finely chop your parsley and garlic cloves, then combine all the ingredients in a bowl, top with the juice of a 1/2 of lemon and olive oil. That’s it. Easy. Beautiful. Fresh. Tasty. This is my kind of recipe!

As mentioned, I love homemade olive tapenade the best because the olives are chunky (vs. pureed) and they have a more fresh feel to them. I hope you enjoy making this recipe. With so many fresh ingredients, how could it not be delicious?!?

You might enjoy these recipes for your Mediterranean charcuterie board too:

• Lemon Dill Hummus
• Gluten-Free Falafel Recipe
• Cauliflower Tabbouleh Salad without the Gluten
• Gluten-Free Greek Salad

And try these charcuterie / snack board too:

• Gluten-Free Bruschetta and Crackers Snack Board
• Baked Brie with Walnuts, Pomegranates and Honey