Blue Cheese Stuffed Olives

Blue Cheese Stuffed Olives are an easy appetizer, but can also be a delicious cocktail garnish for martinis and Bloody Marys. Fill green olives with a mixture of creamy, sharp blue cheese and add them to cheese boards or cocktails — or both.

You’re either an olive person or you’re not. (Is there even an in-between?)

I’m one of those “I could eat olives all day” types.

The same is true for blue cheese, which is another divisive food. I love it, too.

But together? Often served next to each other on cheese plates, nachos and salads alike, olives and blue cheese are a formidable pair full of flavor.

Blue Cheese Stuffed Olives recipe

Blue cheese stuffed olives combine these two strong flavors to make a delicious appetizer or cocktail garnish.

The sharp, piquant flavor of blue cheese combined with salty, buttery olives are a wonderful combination.

And they’re incredibly easy to make. All you need is a bowl, a mixer or whisk and a piping bag.

What are stuffed olives?

Stuffed olives are cured, pitted olives that have been preserved in brine with something stuffed inside each one.

Most pitted olives aren’t stuffed, but most of the ones that are green and contain pimentos. Pimento peppers are a type of red pepper with a sweet flavor and very little heat, and they pair well with salty green olives.

However, olives can be stuffed with cheese, almonds, onion or other pickled veggies like pickled jalapeños or pickled garlic.

They are most often used as garnishes in the martini and the classic Bloody Mary, but they can be enjoyed as an appetizer as well.

You can buy stuffed olives at the store, but in my experience, they are usually overpriced and aren’t stuffed all that well.

Ingredients

You only need three ingredients to make blue cheese olives.

Green olives

Pick up a jar of pitted green olives. The bigger, the better. The olive is our key ingredient, so it’s important to get the olives right.

My favorites to eat are Castelvestrano, which are buttery and soft, but sadly they aren’t flavorful enough for stuffing with pungent blue cheese. (More for me to eat, then!)

Spanish Queen Olives are the most popular for martinis. They’re firm, meaty and large and have lots of room for fillings.

Spanish Manzanilla Olives are another classic option, though a bit smaller than the Queen olive.

Both of these Spanish olives should be available at any of your local grocery stores.

However, if your grocery store has an olive bar, you may wish to sample a few and find a new favorite type of gourmet olives!

If you happen to buy pitted olives, don’t worry! You can use an olive pitter tool to remove the pits (helpful for making cocktail cherries too!), or you can try one of these methods for pitting olives without a pitter.

Blue Cheese

Blue cheese contains blue mold formed by the Penicillium culture, which is usually injected into the curds or into formed cheese, which gives it its statement crumbly texture. The mold gives the cheese a sharp flavor.

According to the Dairy Farmers of Wisconsin, there are dozens of varieties of blue cheese out there, made in many countries and a growing number of styles. The four classic types of blue cheese are French Roquefort, English stilton, Italian gorgonzola and Spanish cabrales.

As such, not all blue cheeses are created equal. Soft and creamy blue cheeses aren’t as strong in their flavor as the firmer ones. Crumbly ones are the strongest, with hard blue cheeses falling somewhere in the middle.

Best blue cheese for stuffed olives

Depending on how sharp or mild you’d like your olives to be, look for one of these cheeses:

• Mild flavor: Gorgonzola or Danish Blue
• Medium flavor: Stilton
• Sharpest flavor: Roquefort or Maytag

Heavy Cream

You’ll need a little bit of heavy cream, half-and-half or milk to soften the blue cheese in the mixer and give it a spreadable consistency.

Olive Oil

If you’re serving these as an appetizer, you’ll want to toss them in a little bit of extra virgin olive oil before serving. This makes them nice and shiny but also gives them a boost of olive flavor.

Skip this ingredient if you’re making stuffed olives for cocktails.

How to make Blue Cheese Stuffed Olives

First, use a slotted spoon to remove olives from the brine and place them on a plate.

Then take your blue cheese and mix it with a little heavy cream in an electric mixer until it is a spreadable consistency. You may need to use more cream if needed.

Use a pastry bag or a zip-top bag with a cut corner to fill the cavity of each olive with the creamy blue cheese mixture. Stuff them as full as you like!

For cocktails: Skewer the olives with cocktail picks for drinks. You can add them to your favorite martini, whether that’s a dry martini or a dirty martini! You can also add them to the many savory cocktails you can make with Bloody Mary mix.

For an appetizer: You can put them on any plate — I love this olive plate that comes with tongs and olive forks.

Before serving, add a drizzle of olive oil and toss to coat olives. You can add a sprinkle of sea salt if you like. Be sure to serve with toothpicks or appetizer tongs!

If serving as an appetizer, the olives are best enjoyed within a couple of days. Regardless, enjoy within a week.

Variations and substitutions

If blue cheese isn’t your thing, try one of these cheeses instead:

• goat cheese
• feta cheese
• cream cheese

You can add fresh herbs to the mixture. Rosemary, dill or thyme would be delicious.

Feel free to dice up some pickled garlic or pickled jalapeños to add to your cheese mixture as well.

More Cheesy Appetizer Recipes

Olives go hand-in-hand with cheeses. Follow my friend Chrissie’s cheese platter tutorial for tips on cheese, olive and fruit pairings.

These spicy cheese straws are a tasty addition to any appetizer tray.

Melty and sweet, this caramelized pear baked brie is served warm and will disappear from your appetizer table in no time.

A blue cheese ball is a delicious appetizer you can make ahead. Blue cheese lovers will be so happy!

Served with soft pretzels, this easy beer cheese dip is a warm appetizer that will delight guests.