📋 Fried Stuffed Olives Recipe (Authentic Olive Ascolane)

Fried stuffed olives (Olive Ascolane) is a classic appetizer from Italy made using large green olives stuffed with meat, coated with breadcrumbs, and deep fried. With a delicious crispy coating, a rich salty bite of olives and meat mixed with many spices are hidden inside. They are the "posh" version of the ordinary bowl of olives, the perfect appetizer for game day.

Course Appetizer

Cuisine Italian

Keyword fried olives, olive ascolane, stuffed olives

Prep Time 40

Cook Time 30

Resting time 1

Total Time 2 10

Servings people

Calories 310kcal

Author Laura Tobin

Equipment

Ingredients

For the meat

9 oz lean beef
4.5 oz chicken chicken thigh
4.5 oz pork loin
1 tablespoon Cognac or dry white wine
2 tablespoon butter
1 carrot diced
1 celery stalk diced
1 onion diced
1 cup regular tomato sauce
2 teaspoon salt

For the stuffing

2 tablespoon freshly grated Parmesan
1 lemon zest
1 pinch freshly grated nutmeg
½ roll stale bread 1 oz - 100 gr
1 cup chicken stock can be made with cube stock

Olives

9 oz large green olives should be about 30 to 35 large olives
1 cup flour
2 fresh eggs
2 cups breadcrumbs
vegetable oil for frying
lemon wedges to serve

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Make the ragu

In a frying pan, stir fry the chopped meat of chicken, pork and beef with butter
Once the meat is seared, pour the cognac and let it simmer for few seconds
Add the vegetables and salt. Stir until the vegetables are slightly cooked
Add the tomato sauce, stir to combine and let it simmer for 20 minutes
Remove from the stove and let it cool down
Pour the chicken stock over the stale bread and let it soak for 30 minutes until it is completely soft

Mince the meat

Once the meat sauce is cold, pass it through a fine meat grinder
Then pass it again a second time to make sure the meat is finely ground

Make the stuffing

Mix all the ingredient for the stuffing making sure everything is well combined

Stuff the olives

Cut each olive into a spiral
Leave them in water to keep them moist
Place a small amount of stuffing inside the olive spiral and reconstruct the olives. The pulp of the olive should spiral around the stuffing.
Use enough stuffing to make an oval size of 1.5x1 in - 4x3 cm

Coating the olives and frying them

Place the flour, beaten eggs, and breadcrumbs into 3 separate bowls
Coat each stuffed olive first in the flour
Second into the eggs
Third into breadcrumbs
Deep fry the stuffed olives until golden in color
Place them on a kitchen paper towel to absorb the excess oil
Serve with lemon wedges and other fried finger food

Video

Notes

Very Important: the meat should be chopped into large chunks as it has to remain moist and juicy once cooked. If it is cut too small, it will dehydrate too much and the stuffing will be too dry.
If you don't have a meat grinder you can use a regular food blender but the texture will not be the same. The meat grinder will leave the meat structure intact, therefore giving it a better texture. The blender will transform it into mushy baby food.

Nutrition