Sliced Black Olives

One US cup of sliced black olives weighs between 128 and 142 grams (4.5 to 5 ounces), depending on how the cup is filled and which source measured it. Use 130 grams (4.6 ounces) for drained sliced olives. Every figure behind it is below, with the method each source used.

Also called sliced ripe olives, sliced ripe black olives, black olive slices, canned sliced olives, sliced olives.

Chopped vegetables compared: cup weights side by side, the source behind each, and why they differ.

A cup of sliced black olives, drained, weighs 128 to 142 g (4.5 to 5 oz). Every label that gives a weight prints 16 g for 2 tablespoons, 128 g per cup; USDA's tablespoon of canned ripe olives works out to 134 g; King Arthur gives 142 g. The 11% spread is just over the 10% tolerance, so this entry publishes the range; 130 g is a sound working figure.

Sliced black olives are California-style ripe olives: green olives cured in lye, darkened by exposure to air with an iron salt to fix the colour, pitted, sliced into rings and canned in brine. They are mild and soft, nothing like brine-cured Kalamata or oil-cured black olives. USDA puts canned ripe olives at 80% water and 10.9% fat, so the flesh weighs close to water, a little less where the oil is.

The labels agree with each other exactly. Early California, Kroger, and Albertsons' Signature Select and O Organics all print 2 tablespoons as 16 g, and Lindsay's label, as transcribed by diet-tracking sites, does the same. USDA SR Legacy "Olives, ripe, canned (small-extra large)" (FDC 169094) gives 1 tablespoon as 8.4 g, which scales to 134 g per cup. King Arthur gives 1 cup of sliced olives as 5 oz, 142 g.

The physical check: 128 to 142 g in a 237 mL cup means the olive fills 54 to 60% of it, a tight fill for cut vegetables. It fits the shape. Sliced olives are flat rings of even thickness, and flat pieces stack like coins, filling the cup far more completely than sliced mushrooms (57 to 98 g per cup) or diced onion. The hole in each ring is small next to the gap a loose pile of chunks leaves.

Draining decides the rest. Slices measured straight from the can, still wet with brine, weigh more than slices drained in a sieve, and pressing them into the cup closes the gaps between rings. King Arthur's 142 g is the same round 5 oz its chart gives for four diced vegetables, and here it sits 6% above USDA and 11% above the labels. That is the heavy end of what a firmly filled cup can reach, not an impossible figure, so it is accepted inside the range rather than corrected.

The labels are kept with one caution: they are small servings, and the identical 16 g across brands may come from one shared measurement rather than four. USDA's tablespoon, an independent figure, lands between the labels and King Arthur.

Whole olives are measured differently. USDA's school Food Buying Guide counts about 8 large pitted olives in a quarter cup, and Health Canada weighs 2 jumbo olives at 16 g. For a recipe that lists whole olives, count them; for one that lists sliced olives by the cup, use the figures here.

Practical guidance: use 130 g per cup of drained sliced olives, 65 g per half cup, and about 8 g per tablespoon. A 2.25 oz (64 g) can of sliced olives, the common small can, holds about half a cup; a 3.8 oz (108 g) can holds a little over 3/4 cup. Drain the slices well and pat them dry before measuring for pizza, salads or dips, since brine adds weight and water to the dish.