Description
Crispy on the outside with cream cheese and roasted garlic stuffed on the inside, these vegan fried olives are bite-sized, sharable, and ADDICTING! They are a great appetizer or snack to bring to a party like the Fourth of July.
Ingredients
- 1 head of garlic
- 8-ounce jar of pitted green olives
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- The equivalent of 3 eggs using egg replacer (I like Bob's Red Mill egg replacer)
- 3/4 cup Panko breadcrumbs
- 1/2 teaspoon oregano
- 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1/4 teaspoon white pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- Canola oil
Instructions
- In preparation for this recipe, preheat your oven to 400° F to roast the garlic. Remove the outer skin of one head of garlic so it still remains intact. Cut the top 1/4 inch off, drizzle with olive oil, and wrap in aluminum foil. Cook for 40-50 minutes until the garlic is golden brown and tender. Set aside to cool until ready to stuff your olives.
- Drain the olives and pat them with a kitchen towel, so they are completely dry (this will allow the breading to stick to the olives).
- For the cream cheese filling, add the cream cheese to a Zip-Lock bag and cut the tip-off of one corner. Pipe cream cheese into each olive. For the garlic filling, use a toothpick to stuff the roasted garlic inside each olive.
- Set up your dipping station with three different bowls - one bowl with the flour, one bowl with the "egg," and another bowl with the breadcrumbs and spices.
- Taking a few olives at a time, first cover them completely in flour (this will ensure they are super dry), then dip them in the egg mixture, and finally in the breadcrumb mixture*. Place on a plate until you have dipped all of your olives.
- Heat a couple of inches of oil in a castiron skillet or non-stick pan until it reaches 350° F*. If you don't have a thermometer, you can test the oil heat by throwing a breadcrumb in it. If the breadcrumb sizzles, your oil is good to go. If the oil doesn't sizzle, give it a couple more minutes to heat up.
- Place all of the breaded olives into the oil. Let the olives brown on one side for 1-2 minutes, then flip them to the other side to brown for 1-2 more minutes until the olives are golden brown and crispy on all sides!
- Transfer the olives to a paper-lined plate using a slotted spoon to let the excess oil fall off.
- Serve with vegan garlic aioli, and enjoy!
Notes
I find it helps to keep one hand for your wet ingredients and the other hand for your dry ingredients, so your breadcrumbs don't get all soggy in the bowl.
If you want a healthier option, I did try baking the olives, and they turned out golden brown and crispy too! To bake the olives instead of frying them, complete steps 1-5, then bake on a lined cookie sheet for 20 minutes at 400° F, flipping once halfway through.
You can plan ahead and meal prep these as they will keep in the refrigerator for a couple of days. Place in the oven at 400° F for 5 minutes to warm up.
- Prep Time: 25 Minutes
- Cook Time: 5 Minutes
- Category: Appetizer
- Method: Fry
- Cuisine: Mediterranean
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 4 olives
- Calories: 259
- Sugar: 2g
- Sodium: 1005mg
- Fat: 12g
- Saturated Fat: 2g
- Carbohydrates: 28g
- Fiber: 3g
- Protein: 7g
- Cholesterol: 29mg
