Mix up an easy Italian olive oil dip to serve alongside a toasted French baguette or your favorite crusty bread. This easy olive oil bread dip is packed with flavor from dried herbs and a kick of spice from Calabrian chili paste.
If you're making an Italian-inspired meal and need an easy appetizer or side dish to serve alongside it, you have to make this olive oil bread dip.
In just 10 minutes you'll whip together a bread dipping oil filled with olive oil and balsamic vinegar, plus lots of spices and cheese.
This dipping oil is perfect served with a French baguette, focaccia, or any crusty bread that can soak up all of the delicious flavor.
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What You'll Learn In This Recipe
- My favorite type of bread to serve with dipping oil.
- How to pack a punch of heat in the olive oil dip.
- A pretty way to individually plate up and serve this dish.
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Ingredients You Need
Each of the ingredients in the balsamic dipping oil recipe plays an important role in the flavor. Let's chat about each ingredient:
- Balsamic vinegar: No need to buy expensive balsamic vinegar for this recipe. The balsamic adds a rich color to the dish and a bit of sweetness/tartness.
- Extra virgin olive oil: This is the base of our dipping oil. Feel free to add a touch more olive oil if there are too many spices for your liking.
- Lemon juice: Lemon juice adds a nice touch of acidity to the dish. I prefer freshly squeezed!
- Black pepper: Did you know freshly cracked pepper has more flavor than pre-ground pepper? Try freshly cracked in this dish - you won't be disappointed.
- Dried basil, oregano, and parsley: After testing the recipe with both fresh herbs and dried herbs, the dried ones won! This makes the recipe super easy because you can just pull out dried herbs from your pantry.
- Garlic: I suggest purchasing a whole garlic bulb, and mincing up a few cloves.
- Morton kosher salt: Feel free to adjust the salt to your personal taste.
- Parmesan cheese: Cheese is best when freshly grated. I love using a microplane to grate the cheese.
- Calabrian chili paste: This adds a kick of spice! You can adjust the amount of chili paste according to your preferred heat level.
For specific ingredient quantities, check out the recipe card below.
How To Make This Recipe
Here's a quick guide showing you how to make this olive oil dipping sauce:
There's not much work that goes into this recipe, which is part of the reason it's one of my favorite appetizers.
First, add balsamic vinegar, olive oil, lemon juice, black pepper, basil, oregano, parsley, garlic, salt, and parmesan cheese to a bowl and whisk to combine.
I prefer to plate up this dip so everyone has their own serving and nobody has to share germs or worry about double-dipping!
I use these individual serving plates, then pour a bit of the olive oil dipping sauce on them. Feel free to add more (or less) Calabrian chili paste as a garnish to each plate. Finally, finish it off with a few slices of French baguette.
What To Serve With This Recipe
There are many delicious dishes that could be served alongside the balsamic dipping oil. Here are some of my favorite ideas:
- Italian salad
- Cacio e pepe
- Lasagna
- Braciole
- Spaghetti and meatballs
- Pappardelle in ragu sauce
Expert Tips
- Always toast your bread in the oven before serving. This technique helps crisp up the bread and warm it up.
- For maximum flavor, purchase extra virgin olive oil for this recipe. Take a look at this video if you're interested in learning more about the different types of olive oil and how they should be used.
- Need to make this appetizer for a large group? The olive oil bread dip can easily be doubled or tripled for a large crowd.
Recipe FAQs
I find crusty bread is best! Something like a baguette, ciabatta, or sourdough loaf is my favorite!
I like to use California olive oil, but really any extra virgin olive oil will work for this recipe.
Yes, you can prep this dish a few hours ahead of time. Just be sure to store it in the fridge until you're ready to serve. If you make it days ahead of time, the oil might solidify in the fridge. Just take it out of the fridge and allow it to come to room temperature prior to serving.
You can make this recipe dairy free by omitting the parmesan cheese. It will still taste delicious!
More Appetizer Recipes
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Balsamic Dipping Olive Oil For Bread
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
- ½ cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- 2 teaspoons dried basil
- 2 teaspoons dried oregano
- 2 teaspoons dried parsley
- 2 cloves garlic finely minced
- ½ teaspoon Morton kosher salt
- ¼ cup finely grated Parmesan cheese
- 1 teaspoon Calabrian chili paste
- 1 toasted French baguette for serving
Instructions
- Add balsamic vinegar, olive oil, lemon juice, black pepper, basil, oregano, parsley, garlic, salt, and parmesan cheese to a bowl and whisk to combine.
- Transfer mixture to a shallow serving plate. Place Calabrian chili paste in the middle of the mixture.
- Serve immediately alongside a toasted French baguette.
Amanda
Ok wow, this is an amazing recipe!! Can’t beat the flavor and spice. This is going to be a staple for Italian night at my house!