Throw Olives Into Your Air Fryer And You'll Never Look Back

One ingredient that you'll find on most charcuterie boards is briny olives. These tasty morsels pair well with cheese, wine, and fruit, making them ideal for combining into a great snack. Plus, they're delicious all on their own!

If you want to enhance their flavor even further, however, you can turn them into roasted olives using your air fryer. Doing so enhances their meaty flavor, adds richness, and makes them more fragrant. What's more, when you cook them in the air fryer, they'll brown slightly. This browning is due to a process called the Maillard reaction, which adds a toasty, nutty flavor to your olives.

To make this snack, just turn on your air fryer, heating it to between 300 and 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Then, roast your olives for five to 10 minutes and get ready to bite into an elevated snack that's perfect for adding to a charcuterie board with unique ingredients.

The first step to making air fryer olives is to select a type. There are many kinds of olives, such as black, green, niçoise olives, and kalamata. All can work well as roasted olives, although they each have their own unique tasting notes. Green olives, for instance, have a noticeably nutty taste, while kalamata olives are noted for being fruity. Whichever you choose, it's best to use pitted olives. That way, you don't have to worry about biting into a tough seed when you're ready to start snacking! Alternatively, you can use stuffed olives. Cheese-filled olives, in particular, can lead to a melty, flavorful bite.

Once you've chosen your olives, it's time to think about seasoning. Blot off the excess brine, then toss the olives in a bowl with a bit of olive oil and your preferred seasonings. Garlic, salt, and rosemary are all options that can enhance their flavor and add some subtlety to your final snack. If you're using spices and herbs to add extra flavor, it pays to know that larger olives are the best pick. That way, they soak up all the seasonings for a tastier snack. Alternatively, you can leave them plain to focus on the taste of the olive itself. Then, fry them up for a few minutes, and you're ready to start munching! You can also garnish them with more herbs or a sprinkling of cheese for even more flavor.

While air frying your olives can be as simple as popping straight olives into the air fryer pan, you can also try breading them. The breading adds a crunchy texture and also, since it's made in the air fryer rather than the deep fryer, leads to a lighter bite that still has a toasty flavor.

The best part about breading your olives is that you can play around with different breading styles, too. Breadcrumbs can work just fine for getting a bit of crunch, but if you want something even flakier and crustier, panko might be a better pick. Or, you can use cracker crumbs to add more flavor to your dish — crushed-up Ritz crackers, for instance, can add a buttery flavor to your olives.

Finally, with the breading, you can mix in additional seasonings. Parmesan cheese can add nutty and salty notes to the olives, for instance. Or add some dried herbs to ramp up the fragrance of the snack. Whether you go for breaded olives or just add seasoning without the breading, air-fried olives are the perfect way to get a meatier, more flavorful addition to your charcuterie board.