Manzanilla Olives substitute

Best substitute

Capers or Caper Berries

Use ½ the volume for capers, 1 caper berry for every olive

Best for Cuban picadillo

Taste and texture differ

The smartest swap for cooking, because manzanillas in a cooked dish are there for salt and brine rather than for olive flavor. Capers deliver both with more intensity, plus a mustardy, floral note that olives do not have, so a picadillo made with capers tastes a shade sharper and more perfumed but unmistakably correct. Caper berries keep their crunch and are the right size for skewers.

Other manzanilla olives substitutes

Ranked, with the exact amount to use

2Picholine or Other Firm Green Olives
Close match
Use the same amount
The closest all-round match on the two things that matter most, firm bite and clean saltiness.
What changes
Picholine is grassier and more herbal than a manzanilla, so a martini or a tapas plate tastes slightly greener and more vegetal, but in cooking the difference disappears. Any small firm brine-cured green olive from Spain, France or Greece works the same way.
Best for
martinis and cocktail garnish, tapas plates and pintxos, cooking in rice and stews, salads, chopping into dressings
Buy them with pits and pit them yourself if you can, since pitted olives sit in brine longer and go softer. Squeeze the pit out with the flat of a knife.
3Castelvetrano Olives
Different taste
Use the same amount
Bright green, buttery and crisp, and a favorite for a reason.
What changes
They are considerably milder and sweeter than manzanillas with much less salt and no bitterness, so a picadillo made with them tastes gentler and less punchy, and a martini garnished with one is noticeably softer. Excellent for eating and for salads, slightly underpowered in cooking.
Best for
snacking and cheese boards, salads, tapas plates, mild dishes where olives should not dominate
If you use these in a cooked Spanish or Cuban dish, add a teaspoon of capers or a splash of olive brine to make up the missing salt and sharpness.
4Green Cerignola Olives
Different taste
Use the same amount by weight, so use fewer
Very firm, very large and quite mild, with a clean flesh that chops well.
What changes
Because each olive is several times the size of a manzanilla, counting them one for one will overload a dish. The flavor is sweeter and less salty than a manzanilla, so the result tastes rounder and less briny.
Best for
chopping into rice and stews, salads, antipasto and tapas boards, stuffing
Pit and chop rather than using whole. One Cerignola roughly equals three to four manzanillas by volume.
5Kalamata or Other Black Olives
Taste and texture differ
Use the same amount
Available in every shop, but a genuine change rather than a like-for-like.
What changes
They are softer, fruitier and winier, and they leach purple-brown color, so a pale rice dish or a light picadillo will look muddy and taste of red wine and prune more than of clean brine. Perfectly good if you like that, and fine where color does not matter.
Best for
tomato-based stews and sauces, dark rice dishes, pasta, when green olives are unavailable
Rinse them to reduce the dye and the strongest of the vinegar, and add them late so they do not bleed through the whole dish.
6Pickled Cocktail Onions or Cornichons
Different taste
Use 1 for every olive
For a martini, a skewer or a gilda, these deliver the same job, a sharp briny snap that cuts through fat or spirit.
What changes
They do not taste remotely of olive, and a martini garnished with a cocktail onion is a Gibson rather than a martini, which is a fine drink but a different one.
Best for
martini and cocktail garnish, skewers and pintxos, charcuterie boards, salads
Only use these where the olive is a garnish. In a cooked dish they add cucumber or onion flavor that does not belong.

What is Manzanilla Olives?

Manzanilla Olives is Manzanilla olives are small firm green olives from the Seville region of Spain, brine-cured so they stay crisp and taste briskly salty with a faint almond bitterness, and they are the standard pimiento-stuffed cocktail olive.

Cooking tips

Pimiento-stuffed manzanillas are already salty and the strip of pimiento adds a little sweetness, so if you swap in plain green olives you are removing both. Taste the dish before adding any salt, and consider a small piece of jarred roasted red pepper to replace the sweetness.
The trick that makes Cuban picadillo taste right is chopped manzanillas plus a spoonful of their brine. When you substitute, keep the brine step: a tablespoon of olive or caper liquid stirred in near the end gives the sharpness that the olives themselves are only half responsible for.
Manzanilla is also the name of a bone-dry sherry from Sanlucar de Barrameda. If a Spanish recipe says a splash of manzanilla, it means the wine, and if it says a handful of manzanillas, it means the olives. This trips people up constantly.
Rinse and dry olives before folding them into an empanada filling or any dough-based dish. Wet olives release brine into the filling as it bakes, which makes the pastry soggy and the seam split.
Salt-cured and oil-cured olives are not a substitute for brine-cured manzanillas. They are shrivelled, leathery and several times more intense, so a handful of them in a rice dish tastes like a completely different, much heavier recipe.

Frequently asked questions

Can I just leave manzanilla olives out?

It depends on the dish. In picadillo, arroz con pollo or a Spanish stew, the olives are supplying salt and a briny counterpoint to the sweetness of raisins or tomato, so leaving them out makes the dish taste flatter and sweeter. A teaspoon of capers or a splash of brine covers most of that gap. On a tapas plate or in a martini, the olive is the thing, so you need to substitute rather than skip.

Are manzanilla olives the same as Spanish green olives?

Manzanilla is the specific variety behind most olives sold as Spanish green olives, so in practice the two labels usually mean the same product. The other common Spanish green olive is the gordal, which is much larger and meatier. If a recipe says Spanish green olives or pimiento-stuffed olives, a jar of manzanillas is exactly what it wants.

Can I use the pimiento-stuffed kind if the recipe says plain olives?

Yes, and most home cooks do, since the stuffed jar is what supermarkets stock. The pimiento adds a small amount of sweetness and softness, which is barely noticeable in a cooked dish. If you want to be precise, pull the pimiento strips out, though it is rarely worth the effort.

Are capers really a good substitute for green olives?

In cooking, yes, and better than most people expect, because both are salty brine-cured things that provide acidity and a savory pop rather than substantial texture. In many Spanish and Latin recipes they appear side by side, which is the clue. Where capers cannot substitute is anywhere the olive's flesh matters, such as a skewer, a garnish or a plate of olives with drinks.

How long do opened olives keep?

Several weeks in the fridge as long as they stay submerged in their brine, which is the important part. Olives left exposed above the liquid dry out, go tough and can grow mould. If the brine is running low, top the jar up with a mix of water and a little salt so the olives stay covered. Do not treat this as home canning; keep them refrigerated.

Related substitutes

More vegetables & aromatics substitutes

Manzanilla Olives substitute

Other manzanilla olives substitutes

2Picholine or Other Firm Green Olives

3Castelvetrano Olives

4Green Cerignola Olives

5Kalamata or Other Black Olives

6Pickled Cocktail Onions or Cornichons