Easy Marinated Olives & Cheese Ring Appetizer

Entertaining doesn't have to be complicated.

This easy marinated olives and cheese ring appetizer is beautiful and delicious.

It is the perfect appetizer for the holidays, parties, or wine night!

Make it for your next special occasion!

*This is a sponsored post by Musco Family Olives. All opinions are my own.

I love it when a dish looks fancy and complicated but was secretly easy to make… 

This is one of those recipes. The Marinated Olives and Cheese Ring really only takes a few minutes to create.

It does marinate for one hour or more before you can serve it.

Waiting is the hardest part about this recipe.

Watch video how to make

Ingredients

You will need the following ingredients to make this beautiful marinated olives and cheese ring.

• white wine vinegar-You can substitute with red wine vinegar. However, it will change the color of the cheese.
• olive oil- When you refrigerate the cheese to marinate it, the olive oil may clump up. Don't worry. In a matter of a few minutes of setting it out at room temperature, the olive oil will melt into the dressing to the right consisitency.
• sugar
• celery salt
• basil
• red chili flakes- Omit if you do not want the additional spiciness.
• cream cheese block
• mozzarella cheese block
• Monterey Jack cheese block
• Kalamata olives
• Stuffed green olives

Steps

Impress your friends with this lovely appetizer by following these easy steps on how to make marinated olives and cheese ring :

1. Make the marinade dressing mix of white wine vinegar, olive oil, sugar, celery salt, basil, and red chili flakes. Set aside.
2. Cut cream cheese block in half lengthwise. Cut into ¼ inch slices.
3. Next, cut mozzarella and Monterey Jack cheese into ¼ inch slices.
4. On a platter, arrange cheese slices upright in a ring with one slice of mozzarella, one slice of Monterey Jack, and one slice of cream cheese until you form a complete circle.
5. Mix drained olives together and add to the center of the circle.
6. Drizzle dressing mix over the entire dish making sure to cover olives and cheese.
7. Finally, cover and marinated one hour or more. Serve.

About the olives

For this recipe, I used Pearls® Specialties Olives. These little gems are harvested in Greece creating the best olives.

They are incredibly reasonably priced and a great value for the quality.

The olives have a lovely firmness with a great taste and crunch.

The Red Pepper Stuffed Green Olives would be great garnished in my AMAZING, BEST EVER Bloody Mary Vodka Infusion recipe  .Just saying!!!

The Garlic Stuffed Queen Olives are nice and large.

The garlic is not overpowering like they can be in other garlic stuffed olives.

The Pitted Kalamata Greek Olives taste as good as the olives from the high end over-priced olive bar for a fraction of the price!!!

You can snack on them for a healthy, gourmet snack, or make my pretty cheese ring!

I personally think the best green olives to use in this recipe are Pearls® Specialties Garlic Stuffed Green Olives.

It gives it an extra bite of flavor. But if you are not a huge garlic fan, you can use their Red Pepper Stuffed Green Olives.

(The red color would also brighten the cheese ring.)

ARE OLIVES HEALTHY?

Did you know that olives not only taste great, but they are a super healthy food to snack on?

• Olives contain a high amount of vitamin E and other powerful antioxidants.
• Similar to olive oil, olives are rich in monounsaturated fats which are linked to decreasing inflammation and fighting heart disease.
• They also are a good source for iron.

ARE GREEN OLIVES HEALTHIER THAN BLACK OLIVES?

Surprisingly, there is no nutritional differences between green olives and black olives.

 They have all of the same healthy benefits of vitamin e, antioxidants, iron, and monounsaturated fats.

Therefore, you can eat whichever flavor you like best… or better… both!

Do you love olives as much as I do?

Here are some other recipes that these Pearls® Specialties Olives will taste great in:

• Mediterranean Tuna Pasta Salad with Capers and Olives 
• Homemade Olive Pimento Cheese Spread
•  Cheesy Chicken Enchilada Casserole
• Mediterranean Quinoa Salad
• Greek Seven Layer Dip
• Spicy Cream Cheese Taco Dip
• Halloween Spider Deviled Eggs
• Spanish Orzo Salad