Choose the Right Olive Oil for Cooking

Medieterranean diet

Great extra virgin olive oil elevates everything it touches with its complex, delicious flavor—salads, raw and grilled veggies, meat, seafood, soups, stews, pasta, risotto, and even desserts. Dishes go from good to extraordinary with the addition of the magical elixir.

Olive oil is the culinary and spiritual foundation of the Mediterranean Diet, and one of the most beloved cooking ingredients. In fact, the Cleveland Clinic recommends 1-4 servings of a tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil a day, and The Culinary Institute of America claims that olive oil is both the healthiest and most sustainable choice when it comes to choosing an oil for cooking. Chefs, medical experts, nutritionists, and scientists agree, and yet some misperceptions about cooking with olive oil, especially extra virgin olive oil linger.

But what about Smoke Point?

Cooking with oil photo by cottonbro studio

There’s a myth that olive oil’s smoking point makes it a poor choice for frying, but it’s been widely debunked. First, olive oil’s smoke point is similar to most other cooking oils—the smoke point of extra virgin olive oil is between 350⁰ F and 410⁰ F, which is comparable to canola oil.

But smoke point is not the most important factor to consider in cooking oil. The North American Olive Oil Association writes, “Researchers found that the smoke point of an oil did not correlate to the oil’s performance when heated.” In fact, the antioxidants in extra virgin olive oil helped it retain its stability in heat. Extra virgin olive oil is rich in monounsaturated fats (MUFAs), which are quite heat stable and less likely to undergo oxidization, making it a healthy choice for cooking even with relatively high heat.

Nick Coleman

Although high heat indeed damages some of the flavor compounds and healthy polyphenols in EVOO, it doesn’t destroy everything. A study by the University of Barcelona found that olive oil still retains large amounts of its healthy compounds. Nick Coleman, founder of Grove and Vine, says, “My advice is to put oil in a cold pan and warm it slowly, simmering it gently, so that you don’t destroy the oil’s flavor. Cook with a mid-priced oil and save your expensive oil for drizzling and finishing.”

Choose the Right Flavor for the Dish

Roberta Klugman

It follows that the most expensive, nuanced olive oil should be saved for finishing, dipping, and drizzling rather than cooking, so that its flavors can really shine. “There are super premium EVOOs that really stand apart,” says Lori Levy, CEO of My Global Table. “They are more expensive to farm and produce and hence are costly.” Nothing awful will happen if you cook with a top shelf bottle, it’s just like making a complicated cocktail with your finest whiskey.

Roberta Klugman, who runs Klugman & Associates in Oakland, CA, has served on the Board of the California Olive Oil Council (and received their Pioneer award) is an expert in olive oil, switches up her oil selection based on what she’s making. “I have a fruity medium density EVOO, not the most expensive, for sautéing,” she explains, “Last night I chose a more peppery one to pan bake fresh wild salmon. Easy peasy and fast.”

For salads with stronger flavors such as anchovies, she ops for a full-flavored oil, “Robust, bitter and pungent. This is particularly nice when the salad has cheese, such as feta.” She adds a fruity, fresh oil to fresh baby greens and even sweet fruit salads.

Olio nuovo, also known as olio novello, is the year’s very first offering, super fresh olive oil. When Klugman gets her hands on a bottle, she uses it copiously over soft-boiled eggs. She also loves to showcase fresh, peppery olive oil on popcorn and corn on the cob.

Stock a Staple Oil & Special Oils

It’s unlikely you’d limit your wine cellar to one bottle of wine, and likewise, consider multiple bottles of olive oil and at a minimum 2 different styles, one milder and one more intense. When selecting bottles, consider how you want to use it. Levy advises that “olive oil is to enhance and elevate, not overpower.” Match robust oils with big, punchy flavors and more delicate oils with milder dishes.

If the fanciest oils are reserved for finishing, stock up on an everyday extra virgin olive oil for cooking. “These are the workhorses of your kitchen, the EVOO that can do a multitude of things from cooking to dressings to marinades,” says Levy.

It’s hard to flip through a cookbook without discovering a multitude of ways to put your olive oil to excellent use. I use olive oil in pesto and to dip the fluffy focaccia from my local bakery. It’s my go to simple salad dressing, along with flaky sea salt. When we go through our “workhorse” bottles fast, I know I’ve been doing a lot of cooking. It’s my staple for roasting potatoes and veggies, marinading chicken, and frying eggs. Since olive oil is best used fresh, indulge in smaller amounts of a variety of oils and use them frequently.

Extra virgin olive oils Klugman is using currently includes:

Recommended olive oils

Seka Hills Taggiasca It’s fruity and delicate from an elegant Ligurian variety, grown, milled, and bottled by the Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation in Capay Valley, California.

Bondolio An organic Sicilian blend of biancacolla, cerasuloa and nocellara, hand harvested and milled on site. It’s mild and fruity with some bite on the finish.

Piro a high antioxidant oil from Tuscany. It’s a very bold and peppery blend of local varieties primarily olivastra seggianese, with leccino, moraiolo, and frantoiano. Hand harvested and milled on site.

Olive Oil in Desserts

Ice cream with arbequina olive oil by In Praise of Sardines is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.)

Anyone who has enjoyed a slice of tender olive oil cake knows that you can bake with EVOO, too. It’s also a great addition to banana bread and apple muffins— because EVOO is liquid at room temperature, it creates baked goods that don’t dry out even after a few days. Olive oil can be used in place of butter in many recipes, including cookies, cakes and brownies, but consult this conversion chart to know how much to use. My olive oil mentor Steven Jenkins introduced me to drizzling bold olive oil over vanilla ice cream. I dare you to try it; I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.