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There are some discrepancies about how long ago the olive was being grown and produced for it’s oil. One thing is agreed upon, it dates back before Christ when Israel’s 12 tribes overtook the land of Canaan (Israel).
The first recorded oil extraction is from the the Bible, in the 13th century B.C., during the Exodus from Egypt. It’s many uses spread from present day Israel, Syria and Turkey to the Mediterranean basin during the Roman Empire. Since then it’s not only been used for food but ceremonially to anoint, medicinally for health, and topically for beauty.
Present day, olive oil continues to be the oil of choice for many parts of the Arab world and the Mediterranean. It’s climates have optimal temperatures where olive trees live for thousands of years. Spain, Italy and Greece are the major producers of olive oil producing more than 75% of the world production.
Can You Heat and Cook with Extra Virgin Olive Oil?
One of the most confusing “suggestions” I’ve seen within the real food and health communities are the explanations on how to use extra virgin olive oil. Many people suggest you only use extra virgin olive oil raw or slightly heated. Drizzled on vegetables, to finish off dishes, and used to make vinaigrettes for salads.
Being that I come from a Spanish traditional family, it’s been slightly difficult to stomach considering my family has used extra virgin olive oil in all of their cooking for generations. I’m referring to thousands of years. It’s my number one oil of choice and I use it in sauteing, frying, and eaten raw.
So, What’s the Issue?
The issue concerns the smoke point of extra virgin olive oil. The temperature at which olive oil burns, turns rancid, and in turn lets out free radicals which act as carcinogens. Yes, this is true. Extra Virgin Olive Oil does not have as high of a smoke point as lard or coconut oil. However, do we ever truly reach it’s smoke point while cooking with it?
An Experimental Video
I’ve created a video talking about my feelings towards some of these olive oil suggestions and test how high I typically heat my olive oil to cook a traditional Spanish dish, papas fritas con huevos (fried potatoes and eggs).
In this video I talk about how olive oil should be used, how to cook with it the right way so that you never reach it’s smoke point, and a trick on how to always know when your olive oil is brought up to temperature and ready to cook with.
Did I reach the smoke point of extra virgin olive oil while frying potatoes and eggs?
Not even close. This was such a fun experiment for me as it really tested how high of a temperature olive oil comes to when cooking main staples within a typical Spanish, Mediterranean diet.
5 Points from the Video to Take Away
- The quality of the extra virgin olive oil is important.
- Never use extra virgin olive oil for typical American dishes such as deep fat frying chicken. Use lard.
- Whenever you cook with olive oil (or any kind of oil) raise the temperature of your oil gradually. Never heat your oil at high heat… it will burn.
- When raising the temperature of the olive oil gradually, how do you know when it’s up to heat and ready to cook with? Use the traditional bread method as explained in the video.
- Never raise the temperature past 375F when using extra virgin olive oil.
I hope this video presentation was helpful in seeing that extra virgin olive oil can be used to cook with. When using it to cook just be aware to never deep fat fry with it. If it’s an American staple, use an American fat… pure pork lard. Do you use extra virgin olive oil to cook with? What’s your oil of choice? If you enjoyed this post, feel free to pin it on pinterest. Pin It
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Diana Bauman
As a first generation American, Diana shares her family’s traditional Spanish and Mexican recipes. As a mami and urban homesteader she also writes about her faith, family, organic gardening, raising backyard chickens and preserving the harvest.
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35 Responses to How to Cook with Extra Virgin Olive Oil the Right Way Including an Experimental Video
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I love a hot cup of coffee in the morning. Spanish and Mexican food live in my corazón. I love to sit at a bar in Spain with nothing to do but breathe in the Spanish air. I love listening to my children laugh and to teach them new things. I love to play in the dirt and have an insatiable appetite to create. Most importantly, I love Jesus and am on a journey to living a simple life.
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Thank you for explaining this!
Terrific post Diana. I am working on a series for my blog about fats and oils, and was just writing up the olive oil part. I am so happy we’re in agreement, and I’ll be adding a link to this post within mine
Winnie recently posted..Chickpeas with Delicata Squash, Kale, and Coconut Milk
Thanks Winnie! I’m so honored that you’re going to include a link on your post. Have a great weekend!
GREAT POST, Diana. Growing up in an Italian family, all we ever cooked with (and often baked with) is extra virgin olive oil. I have been so confused these past few years because of some of the points you bring up in your video. So thank you! I will be sharing this!
Jenn @LeftoverQueen recently posted..Burns Night: Haggis
Thanks so much Jenn for the comment and sharing! I feel the same way as you do. I think it’s just a little difficult for some to understand when they’re not from a country that has used olive oil traditionally in most of their cooking. You know, the flavor alone is so representative of European cuisine and to substitute it would change everything about the food and in essence, the culture. Can’t imagine my food without EVOO, lol!! Huge hugs!!
Thanks for this info. Just a note: The music in the video detracts. It would be better without it. Thanks again!
Thanks for the comment Tamara and the advice. I’ll definitely think about the music next time
Funny, someone commented on my shared link on facebook that they loved the music!
Jenn @LeftoverQueen recently posted..Burns Night: Haggis
Once I read the thing about the music, I figured you must have had Ozzy playing in the background, so I watched the video. I thought the music was lovely and I don’t feel like it was disruptive at all!
[...] I am happy to see that Diana of A Little Bit of Spain in Iowa wrote a post and made a video about the right way to cook with extra virgin olive oil. Note that to preserve the healthful properties of olive oil, it’s very important to bring it [...]
Thanks a lot for this post! I love the video, the explanation and the background music
Oh and the way you grab that piece of bread with your bare hand, hehe. That’s a real cook 
Ben recently posted..Wordless Wednesday – Blue Corn Tlacoyos
Thanks for stopping by Ben! I love your blog by the way!! Have a great weekend!
Thanks Diana!
Thank you Diana! This really clears up some confusions that I’ve had also. I cook alot with olive oil because I can buy a large container of it here without paying an arm and leg! LOL. Another question… do you ONLY use extra virgin olive oil for everything? I just recently started using regular olive oil for cooking and extra virgin for uncooked things because of all the confusions. I am thinking I’ll just go back to using extra virgin for all my cooking and salads, but I do use coconut oil too ;o)
Mare @ just-making-noise recently posted..Sourdough Journel #13: Chili Beef Sourdough Pot Pie
Hi Mare! I do use extra virgin for pretty much everything. You can still get a good quality of regular olive oil, but note that it’s not from the first pressing so many of the nutrients are gone. Also, be aware of where the olive oil is coming from. Is it a “blend.” Meaning from different countries? What’s the brand? Yes, I love coconut oil to and mostly use it for baking and asian type dishes (when we make them).
I cook with olive oil all the time. I tend to use a lower heat because of the smoking. I love the taste though.
meemsnyc recently posted..A Chocolate Craving
Just came across this interesting article! http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow/fried-food-heart-risk-myth-according-researchers-181122532.html
Oh yeah, we use evoo for everything. Anytime a recipe calls for vegetable oil we use olive. So, all of our muffins, sweet breads, crackers, etc. contain olive oil. We also use a lot of butter and, as you say, lard (we render ourselves from a local farmer… we are so lucky to have access to that) for traditional American dishes.
annie recently posted..The Non-Disposable, No Waste Life and Baby… Post Birth Update
Very informative, I was never knew you could use extra virgin oil for frying. You also mentioned that we should never start frying oil at high heat which I do sometimes when I am in a hurry.
I use olive oil all the time – it’s my oil of choice. I didn’t grow up with it, but I cook so differently from my mom – lots of Italian, vegetarian, etc.
Diana, I am so glad you posted this!! I have been baking tilapia drizzled with olive oil under the broiler for years! It almost always smokes, I had no idea it was bad for you. I honestly just chalked it up to not being a good cook. Do you have any suggestions on what I should use instead? (Maybe I shouldn’t be using anything).
Thanks!!!!
I am so glad you posted this. Being a real food lover I have grappled with the idea of not cooking with olive oil, but I used to use it for many dishes, especially my eggs. Coconut oil for eggs doesn’t bother me, but my husband can’t handle it. I am very happy to know I can safely grab that bottle of EVOO and make my husband a breakfast he’ll appreciate. I love your blog, thanks for your work! ~Rachael
Rachael Resurreccion recently posted..Egg Drop Soup with Leeks
I’m glad to hear that Rachael! Thanks for stopping by
Great job on the video, and I liked the music (you can tally votes at the end I guess). Super helpful to see the demo because all the conflicting info on olive oil has been confusing. My husband has made things smoke, but I think he is using heat that’s too high. Good to know that we can easily change the heat level, and continue to use the olive oil we love in a healthy way.
City Share recently posted..No-Noodle Lasagna
Thank you so much for this! I could never find any evidence to back up people’s claims that you shouldn’t cook with olive oil, but I felt like I was talking into the wind. Thank you so much for this informative post and video that proves it is indeed safe like i always thought. Now I have something to point people to!
Anne @ Quick and Easy Cheap and Healthy recently posted..Sizzlin’ Soups: Creamy Chicken and Rice Soup
thank you so much for clearing this up! I have heard conflicting things about olive oil, but no one ever explained it this well. I will feel so much better about using it now.
I am so glad you finally cleared up the Olive Oil mess for me! I had been avoiding it recently, because I just couldn’t figure out what to believe, but this makes perfect sense! Thank you!
I would love for you to come share this recipe on my link-up, Make-ahead Mondays, at Raising Isabella!
http://naturalparentingunnaturalworld.blogspot.com/2012/02/make-ahead-monday-6.html
Hope to see you there!
Raising Isabella recently posted..Make ahead Monday #6
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LOVE. I am always telling people this and if I use it in recipes they FREAK out. Great post.
Thanks! Excellent video showing what my hunch has always been in terms of using olive oil. This is what I tell my clients. Looking at traditional cultures that primarily use it, I felt it must have been a scare not to use it for cooking. Important to use all sorts of fats as they all have different properties and to remember quality is extremely important.
One more question: I noticed you use a lot of oil in the pan with the cast iron skillet. What do you do with the leftover oil? Do you reuse it? It can get very expensive to use that much oil and discard it all the time. I know you can strain through a cheese cloth, but didnt know how much you can actually reuse it with the fats remaining healthy. Any advice you can offer would be great!
Thanks,
Deena
Deena Barselah recently posted..Tips for healthy travel part 2
Deena, I do re-use my oil. If I’m making a tortilla espanola or fried potatoes and eggs, I will definitely save it for another use. However, if I’m frying something breaded up, I’ll ditch it.
The main olive oil I’m using now is from Trader Joes. It’s a 100% Spanish Olive Oil. It’s 1 liter for $5.99. Not bad at all and tastes great!
To save my oil, I use oil saving strainers from Spain. I have some similar to these (http://www.amazon.com/Cook-Home-2-Quart-Stainless-Storage/dp/B00318C5P6/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1332896310&sr=8-7) and ceramic ones as well. A cheese cloth into a mason jar would work just fine as well
Thanks for such an informative post. I come from a Greek background and although I don’t cook much traditional Greek food I do use extra virgin olive oil for pretty much everything. That’s just how we’ve always done it. I was even lucky enough to have a few large containers of olive oil shipped to me directly from a family farm this year in Greece (it’s divine)!
Question for you, when you do something like the fries (which I have many fond memories of from childhood), do you reuse that oil or just use it once?
Thanks!
Hi Gina. Yes, when I make fries, I definitely save the oil. Olive oil from Greece sounds fantastic!
[...] 6. Gradually, bring oil to cooking temperature over medium heat. (To ensure you don’t overheat your olive oil, watch my video on cooking with olive oil the righ…) [...]