Should I cook with olive oil?

You may have heard that olive oil, and especially extra virgin olive oil, is good for you - but that there are concerns about cooking with it because of its “low smoke point”. What does this actually mean, and when should you or should you not, cook with it?

One oil to rule them all.

Olive oil, and particularly extra virgin olive oil is the cooking oil with the best reputation, and the more we research it (I say we, I obviously don’t do food research - but I like to pretend I’m part of the crew) it looks like that reputation is a well earned one.

Some cooking oils that were thought to be healthy for a hot minute, like coconut oil, have turned out to not be so good for us (as it contains a high level of saturated fat, read more about this in my “Fat Is Not The Enemy” post).

There are other cooking oils that aren’t so bad by the looks of it, but they do tend to be a bit expensive, like avocado oil. Sesame oil is not bad either, but has a strong flavour to it, so is best for stir fries or other similar food (often Asian-inspired).

Canola oil is also a good alternative, and has a high smoke point (which is why it’s often used for frying). Olive oil is known for having a low smoke point and you may have heard that this makes it less than ideal for cooking. But actually, “smoke point” literally means the point at which the oil starts to burn and give off that smoky smell. And that is a pretty high temperature! I use extra virgin olive oil for nearly all of my cooking unless something needs to cook at a very high temperature (then I usually use a bit of vegetable oil). I find that extra virgin olive oil is perfect both raw in salads, to grease my bread tins and to fry or bake main courses in, and I also spray it on top of my homemade fish&chips for extra crunch.

Just beware of getting to that smoke point (pure olive oil, as opposed to extra virgin, actually has a high smoke point), and to be honest I think you should try to avoid that as most cooking doesn’t need you to get to those insanely high temperatures anyway - mostly just deep frying. And if you are deep frying all your food… You might want to reconsider your cooking habits!

And do keep in mind that though extra virgin olive oil has great health benefits, it is a fat and is high in calories. There’s no shame in calories, but it is better to be informed, if you are trying to cut down on your calorie intake.

What is your go-to cooking oil? Share your thoughts in the comments or on Instagram and tag me @TheFromScratchBody and use the hashtag #TheFromScratchBody so I don’t miss it!