Cooking with Olives
Recipes with Olives — The Everyday Jewel of the Moroccan Table
Olives (zaytoun) are on every Moroccan table, morning to night — a bowl to nibble with bread, a handful to finish a tagine, a heap sold glistening from great pyramids in the souk. Morocco is a major olive grower, and its markets offer a dazzling range: violet, green, tan and black, cracked and whole, plain and spiced with harissa, lemon, herbs or garlic. In cooking, olives bring a salty, savoury note that balances rich meat and tangy preserved lemon. This guide covers the dishes olives define, which type to reach for, and how to buy and prepare them.
How Moroccans use olives
Olives play two roles: as a table olive, marinated and set out to snack on with bread or before a meal, and as a cooking olive stirred into tagines and salads. In cooking, meaty picholine-style green and violet olives are favoured because they hold their shape and their bite through braising. They are added toward the end so they warm through without going bitter or turning the sauce too salty. A quick blanch or rinse tames very salty olives before they go in. Their brine and flesh add a savoury backbone that makes preserved-lemon tagines sing.
The best Moroccan recipes with olives
Chicken tagine with preserved lemon and olives — the national dish, where green olives are indispensable. Olive and orange salad — sliced oranges, black olives, a little onion and argan or olive oil. Zaalouk and taktouka — cooked salads sometimes finished with olives. Meat tagines with olives and potatoes. Marinated olives — cracked green olives tossed with garlic, harissa, preserved lemon, cumin and coriander as a starter. Start with the chicken-and-olive tagine; the olives and preserved lemon together are the heart of Moroccan flavour.
Choosing olives and taming the salt
For tagines choose firm green or violet olives that keep their shape — soft black olives can disintegrate and muddy the sauce. If olives are very salty or sharp, blanch them in boiling water for a minute or two, or soak in a few changes of water, before cooking; this stops them overpowering the dish. Add them in the last ten to fifteen minutes of a tagine so they warm through but stay plump. For marinated table olives, crack green olives lightly so the marinade of garlic, herbs, lemon and spice penetrates the flesh.
Buying and storing olives in Morocco
The olive stalls of any Moroccan market are a spectacle — mounds of every colour and cure, sold loose by weight so you can taste before you buy. Pick firm, glossy olives and ask for a taste to judge saltiness and seasoning. Prices are low and quality high. Keep loose olives in the fridge submerged in their own brine (top up with lightly salted water if needed) and they last for weeks. Spiced or oil-dressed olives are best eaten within a week or two while their fresh garlic and herbs are still lively.
Cook's tips
- Use firm green or violet olives for tagines — soft black ones can fall apart in the sauce.
- Blanch or soak very salty olives before cooking so they don't overpower the dish.
- Add olives in the last 10-15 minutes of a tagine to keep them plump.
- Crack green olives lightly so a garlic-and-spice marinade can soak in.
- Store loose olives submerged in brine in the fridge; they keep for weeks.
Questions about cooking with Olives
Which olives are best for a Moroccan tagine?
Firm green or violet olives of the picholine type are the classic choice, because they hold their shape and bite through braising and balance the sauce with a clean, savoury saltiness. Soft, fully ripe black olives can disintegrate and turn a tagine muddy, so save those for salads and the table.
How do I make Moroccan olives less salty?
Blanch them in boiling water for a minute or two, or soak them in a few changes of cold water for an hour, then taste. This draws out excess salt before they go into a dish, so they season rather than overwhelm it. It is especially worth doing before adding olives to a tagine that also has preserved lemon.
How do Moroccans marinate olives?
Cracked green olives are tossed with crushed garlic, chopped preserved lemon, harissa or chilli, cumin, coriander, parsley and a little olive oil, then left a day or two for the flavours to soak in. Served as a starter or with bread, they are a fixture of the Moroccan table and of café snacking.
Are Moroccan olives different from other olives?
Morocco grows several distinctive varieties, notably the meaty green picholine marocaine and dark, wrinkled oil-cured black olives. What stands out most in the souk is the sheer range of cures and seasonings — cracked, whole, plain and spiced with harissa, lemon or herbs — all sold loose and freshly turned.
How should I store loose olives?
Keep them in the fridge submerged in their brine, topping up with lightly salted water if the level drops, and they will last for weeks. Make sure the olives stay under the liquid to prevent spoilage. Spiced or oil-dressed olives with fresh garlic and herbs are best eaten within a week or two.
Cook these dishes with a local in Marrakech
Learn to handle olives the Moroccan way in a hands-on cooking class, or taste it across the medina on a guided food tour.