This tuna dip recipe with black olives and walnuts is inspired by a classic creamy tuna, walnut and black olive spread piled on crostini (canapé-size toasts) or crusty fresh bread slices to make an open sandwich or tartina. It’s a popular Venetian cicchetto or snack. Similar to Spanish tapas and Basque pintxos, cicchetti are Venice’s aperitivo finger food. This tuna, black olive and walnut dip is based on a cicchetto we love at a local Venice bàcaro (bar).
If you’re looking for a snack to make that you can quickly pull together from canned fish and other pantry staples — whether you’re having a casual gathering or feel like munching on something different — try this tuna dip with black olives and walnuts. It will transport you to Venice, where during aperitivo hour(s), local bars serve a creamy tuna, walnut and black olive spread piled on crostini or fresh bread to make an open sandwich called a tartina in Italian.
The popular cicchetto or snack is served at local bars or bàcari in Venice, including one of our favourites and one of the most popular bars with Venetians, Cantina Aziende Agricole. It’s so popular, it’s standing room only in the early evenings when locals drop by for a drink and bite on their way home from work. We’d squeeze in for the affordable cicchetti as much as for the convivial atmosphere.
Before I tell you more about our tuna dip recipe, we’ve got lots more recipes for dips here, as well as a guide to how to make a dip out of almost anything. But before you scroll down, I have a favour to ask. Grantourismo is reader-supported. If you’ve enjoyed our recipes, please consider supporting Grantourismo. You could buy a handcrafted KROK, the best mortar and pestle ever; or book a cooking class or meal with locals on EatWith; or buy something on Amazon, such as these cookbooks for culinary travellers or classic cookbooks for serious cooks.
Looking for more cooking inspiration? We’ve got thousands of recipes in our archives from around the world from places we’ve lived, worked, travelled, and loved. And note that you can save your favourite recipes in a private account by clicking on the heart on the right of the post. Now let’s tell you all about this tuna dip recipe with black olives and walnuts and Venetian cicchetti.
Tuna Dip Recipe with Black Olives and Walnuts for a Classic Venetian Cicchetti Favourite
When we first visited Venice on our inaugural trip to Italy way back in the summer of 1999, like most travellers we immediately became smitten with La Serenissima – ‘the most serene’, as the tranquil city of islands has been known since it was officially named the Most Serene Venetian Republic when it was founded in 697 AD.
We fell in love with Venice’s elegant pastel-painted palazzi that appear to float on the canals, the ornate art-filled churches and museums housing some of the greatest masterpieces of Italian painting, the exquisite statues and carvings that embellish buildings and bridges, and the glorious Grand Canal itself, bustling by day, silent at night.
We also fell in love with Venetian food and Venice’s culinary culture. We loved observing the old ladies shopping the lively Rialto market in the morning, its stalls brimming with glistening seafood from the surrounding lagoon and beautiful fresh fruit, vegetables and herbs grown on its islands.
On that first trip, and our longer stays in Venice that followed over the years, when we’d rent palazzo apartments, we enthusiastically adopted local habits, from shopping the markets in the morning and partaking in a post-market aperol spritz to lingering over long lunches at restaurants hidden down alleyways that Venetians loved, and munching on salty crisps washed down with cold beers with the students on buzzy Campo Santa Margherita.
But, just as we enjoyed other small plate cultures that involved snacking on the move, from grazing on Spanish tapas on tapas bar hops in Madrid in Spain to Basque pintxos crawls through the old city lanes of San Sebastian in Basque Country, one of our favourite rituals in Venice was joining the locals at a buzzy backstreet bàcaro for an ombra, a glass of wine, and a cicchetto or two or three.
I’d planned a series on our favourite cicchetti recipes when we were in Venice for two weeks on the year-long global grand tour that launched Grantourismo way back in 2010. But while Terence shared recipes for poached eggs with asparagus and pancetta for his Weekend Eggs series and bigoli con salsa for The Dish, I was busy seeking out Venetian boutiques and designers, local artists, and artisans such as bookbinder Paolo Albi.
So, as cicchetti are affordable to make, I’m still in Australia taking care of my mother who eats like a sparrow, and this has turned out to be another year of living frugally thanks to the cost-of-living crisis, I thought now is as good a time as any to share that cicchetti series. Just a few tips to making this tuna dip recipe with black olives and walnuts as it couldn’t be easier.
Tips to Making this Tuna Dip with Black Olives and Walnuts
I only have a few tips to making this tuna dip recipe with black olives and walnuts, as it’s quick and easy.
The Ingredients
Let’s start with the key ingredient, the tuna.
Canned Tuna
As tuna is the key ingredient in this tuna dip, use a good quality canned tuna in brine or olive oil. Fortunately a good quality can doesn’t necessarily have to be expensive. Don’t use any of those flavoured tunas, which are popular now, as you’re going to be adding other ingredients and seasoning it to add plenty of flavour.
Walnuts
Make sure your walnuts are fresh and crunchy. Use a mortar and pestle to roughly crush the walnuts so you have a mix of chunky pieces to stir through the tuna dip, and walnut crumbs to sprinkle on top.
Black Olives
Likewise, you want really good quality black olives. I prefer plump and juicy. They’re not Italian, but we love the Greek Kalamata olives, which are great in this tuna dip. If the olives aren’t already pitted, to de-pit them by using a knife on its side to squash down the olives. If the pits don’t pop out, you can easily pull them out.
Making the Tuna Dip
First drain the tuna, then transfer it to a mixing bowl, and use a fork to break up any large chunks. Add the crushed walnuts, chopped pitted black olives, chopped fresh parsley, a little extra virgin olive oil, a good creamy mayonnaise, and salt and pepper.
Use a fork to combine the lot well so ingredients are evenly distributed, but the tuna dip still has some texture, then refrigerate the dip until you’re ready to serve it the flavours meld together.
Serving the Tuna Dip
If making tartinas or open sandwiches, toast four slices of crusty bread (Terence’s herb and olive sourdough bread would be wonderful) or eight baguette slices for crostini if serving smaller snacks. These portions assume you’ll very generously pile on the tuna, but you could spread on half as much and stretch the servings to double if you’re feeding a crowd.
When ready to serve, pour a little extra virgin olive oil into a small dish and use a pastry brush to brush it onto the toasts, and generously spoon the tuna dip on top of each toast. Sprinkle on the remaining chopped olive pieces, crushed walnuts and parsley, drizzle with extra virgin olive oil and serve immediately.
And you could always serve the tuna dip in a bowl with crisps, crackers, croutons, crostini, or slices of good fresh sourdough bread on the side and let guests help themselves.
Tuna Dip Recipe with Black Olives and Walnuts
Ingredients
- 4 tbsp walnuts - crushed roughly in a mortar and pestle
- 370 g canned tuna - two 185g cans of tuna in olive oil or brine, drained,
- 16 black olives - good quality, such as Kalamata, pitted, roughly chopped
- 3 tbsp fresh parsley - roughly chopped
- 3 tbsp creamy mayonnaise - or more to taste
- 2 tsp extra virgin olive oil - and more for the toast and drizzling
- ¼ tsp salt
- ¼ tsp cracked black pepper
- 4 crusty bread slices - toasted, or 8 baguette slices
Instructions
- In a small mortar, use a pestle to roughly crush the walnuts so you have a mix of chunky pieces to stir through the tuna dip, and crumbs to sprinkle on top. Set aside.
- To a mixing bowl, add the drained tuna and use a fork to break up any large chunks. Then add three tablespoons of crushed walnuts (save finer nut crumbs for sprinkling); all but a tablespoon (for garnishing) of chopped pitted black olives; all but a teaspoon (for garnishing) of chopped fresh parsley; two teaspoons of extra virgin olive oil; and the mayonnaise, salt and pepper.
- Use a fork to combine the lot well so ingredients are evenly distributed, but the tuna dip still has some texture, then refrigerate so the flavours meld together.
- Toast four crusty bread slices if making tartinas or open sandwiches, or eight baguette slices if serving smaller snacks. These portions assume you’ll generously pile on the tuna, but you could spread on half as much and stretch to double the portions if you’re feeding a crowd.
- When ready to serve, pour a little extra virgin olive oil into a small dish and use a pastry brush to brush it onto the toasts, and generously spoon the tuna dip on top of each.
- Sprinkle on the remaining chopped olive pieces, crushed walnuts and parsley, drizzle with extra virgin olive oil and serve immediately. You could also serve the tuna dip in a bowl with crackers or crostini on the side and let guests help themselves.
Nutrition
Please do let us know in the comments below if you make this tuna dip recipe with black olives and walnuts, as we’d love to hear how it turns out for you.
