Green olive pasta with lemon and breadcrumbs

Amazingly delicious green olive pasta recipe! Easy yet luxurious vegetarian pasta with green olives, lemon, and breadcrumbs.

Course dinner, pasta

Cuisine American, Italian

Keyword spaghetti, vegetarian

Prep Time 20

Cook Time 20

Total Time 40

Servings servings

Calories 457kcal

Cook the pasta noodles according to package directions until al dente. Reserve 1 cup of the pasta cooking water before straining. Set aside.
While the pasta is cooking, reserve 6 Tablespoons of the green olive brine. Halve one cup of the olives.
While the pasta is still cooking, make your green olive sauce. Combine the 2 cups of whole olives, olive brine, parsley, dill, basil, garlic, olive oil, and a pinch each of salt and pepper in a food processor. Process until smooth like a pesto. Set aside.
In a large non-stick skillet, toast your breadcrumbs. Heat the breadcrumbs in the skillet over medium heat, stirring often, until they are lightly browned and fragrant. Remove from the pan and set aside.
Place the skillet back on your burner and reduce the heat to medium low. Melt the butter in the pan and then add the shallot and the 1 cup of halved green olives. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the shallot has browned, about 5 minutes.
Add the lemon zest and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add the green olive sauce along with the reserved pasta water to the pan. Stir together, then toss in the cooked pasta noodles and heat until warmed through.
Taste the pasta and season with salt and pepper to your liking.
Serve the pasta topped with toasted breadcrumbs and parmesan cheese.

If you can't find castelvetrano olives, go ahead and swap for your favorite pitted and unstuffed green olive. Or try kalamata olives!
Make sure that the olives are unstuffed and pitted.
Keep the heat to medium low when cooking the olives and shallot in the butter so it doesn't burn.
Try adding toasted pine nuts or walnuts to the breadcrumb mixture!
I like spaghetti noodles for olive pasta, but any pasta you choose will work.
Add a protein of your choice to make it more filling!