According to Daddy (my father-in-law), any snack tastes better fried. For this particular recipe he came up with, I tend to agree. We recently served feta stuffed olives at a dinner party. At the end of the evening, there was still a bowl full of the black olives leftover. Daddy challenged me and said they would have been all gone had I deep-fried them. The following day, I coated the cheese stuffed olives in a fritter batter and gave them a bath in boiling oil.
An entire bowl of fried olives never really made it to the dining table; they were devoured as soon as they were ready. What makes fried olives so tasty is that ther’re perfectly crisp on the outside, but still remain soft on the inside. The key to success with these fried appetizers is to make sure you allow the excess batter to drip back into the batter bowl, then place the olives one at a time in the hot oil. I’m big enough to admit it; Daddy was right!
1. Info for Fried Feta Cheese Stuffed Olive Recipe
- Cook Time: 15 mins
- Total Time: 30 mins
- Servings: 6
- Calories: 314 kcal
2. Ingredients for Fried Feta Cheese Stuffed Olive Recipe
- 16 ounces kalamata olives, pitted
- 4 ounces feta cheese, diced
- 10 tablespoons all-purpose flour, as needed
- 2/3 cup buttermilk, chilled, as needed
- 1-½ teaspoons smoked paprika
- 1-½ teaspoons cumin, freshly ground
- ¼ teaspoon red chili flakes
- 1/8 teaspoon turmeric powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 3 cups peanut oil (or regular vegetable oil), for deep frying, as needed
- 1 cup pomegranate dressing (recipe follows in the tip section)
3. Directions:
- Prepping the olives: Place a small cube of feta cheese inside each olive.
- In a large bowl, combine ½ cup flour, red chili flakes, paprika, turmeric powder, cumin and salt. Add buttermilk and whisk until incorporated. Do NOT over-mix; it’s okay if the batter is still lumpy. It should have the consistency of pancake batter. Allow to rest for about an hour.
- Place the rest of the flour in a deep dish plate. Roll the olives in the flour.
- Layer a cooling rack, lined with paper towels, on top of a baking sheet (for easy clean-up of the drained oil).
- In a small pan (or any regular deep-fryer), heat the oil for about 2 minutes over high heat. There should be at least a 2-inch-high level of oil. Wait until the oil is slightly bubbly (not too hot).
- Test the oil by dropping a teaspoon of batter into the hot oil. It should float but not swell.
- Remove the excess flour from the olive, then dip it into the batter to coat completely. Allow the excess batter to drip back into the bowl and place in the hot oil. Repeat the same procedure for the rest of the olive fritters.
- Fry in batches. Make sure the olives don’t touch each other. Lower the heat to medium. Deep fry for 2-3 minutes per batch. Use a splatter screen to prevent the oil from jumping everywhere . Flip each piece using a spider skimmer and cook for about a minute more until golden on both sides.
