13 Mistakes People Always Make With Olive Oil

You can't really call yourself a foodie if you don't have a bottle of good olive oil somewhere — we're sorry, guys, we don't make the rules. The thing is, though, is that even folks who are brand new to cooking likely have olive oil in their kitchen. Olive oil is one of the most common cooking oils in both the United States and the world, with the U.S. market size for olive oil coming in at well over $1.1 billion in 2023, according to Horizon Grand View Research. That's a lot of bottles flying around, creating a lot of scope for people to use this staple ingredient very badly.

Wait, what? How hard can using olive oil really be? Well, you'd be surprised. Olive oil is versatile, readily available, and easy to work with, but one false move and things can go drastically wrong. One of the more temperamental cooking oils out there, olive oil is prone to burning at high temperatures, and it's also surprisingly susceptible to degradation from heat and light sources. It's also incredibly easy to purchase the wrong type, or assume that you're going for an olive oil that's better than it actually is. Plus, are you really using it correctly in your food? We got to grips with every mistake people make with olive oil and we're putting the lid on them today.

Olive oil bottles come in loads of different shapes, sizes, materials, and colors. Unfortunately, that last thing is something you really need to consider. Olive oil that comes in clear bottles, be they plastic or glass, is more susceptible to breaking down over time. Clear bottles expose the olive oil to light, which can degrade the oil inside over time — especially if you're keeping it under fluorescent lighting or in direct sunlight. This light damage can result in the oil turning rancid and ruining its flavor.

In addition, you'll generally want to lean towards buying glass bottles instead of plastic ones for your olive oil. The reason for this is simple: Olive oil packaged in plastic bottles may end up with microplastics inside, that leach from the bottle to the liquid. These microplastics can then end up compromising your oil's quality. Additionally, while plastic bottles are reusable, they tend to be less long-lasting than glass ones, which can then increase your overall environmental footprint. We'd always recommend going for a dark-colored glass bottle for your olive oil.

We all know the drill: We put the pan on the stove, turn the heat on, add in the olive oil, and start cooking. However, if you wait too long to tumble your ingredients in, you may end up with quite a nasty shock. Olive oil, like other cooking oils, is designed to be heated up — but the level that you can do that to is lower than you think. Olive oil has a smoke point of between 374 and 450 degrees Fahrenheit, and above that it can start to break down.

When it breaks down, things can go really bad, really quickly. As you've probably gathered, the "smoke point" of an oil is the temperature at which it starts to smoke, and when this happens the oil will release thick, rancid-smelling plumes into your kitchen. Any food you've started cooking it in will rapidly take on an acrid, unpleasant taste and scent, and will turn unsalvageable. That's why you should always err on the side of caution with olive oil, using it only for lower- and medium-temperature dishes. Some olive oils can take the heat, but you might not be entirely sure how delicate yours is, and pure extra virgin olive oil is especially fragile. If you're deep-frying something at a high heat, stick to using avocado or soybean oil, both of which have a high smoke point. Bear in mind, though, that soybean oil is one of the unhealthiest oils to cook with. 

There's a general school of thought that tells us that extra virgin olive oil, or EVOO, is the king of all olive oils. This olive oil is pretty much the best you can get, and is made with a cold extraction technique that keeps its flavor rich, fruity, and complex. Regular olive oil, on the other hand, has a slightly more neutral flavor and is made with a combination of different oils, with some of them extracted using heat.

Now, naturally, one of these sounds better than the other — but it's a mistake to assume that EVOO is always the best choice. The thing about extra virgin olive oil is that its flavor can be incredibly pronounced and punchy, with spicy, fragrant notes running through it. This can make your food taste much better, or it can distract from the very thing that you're trying to improve and overwhelm your dish with nutty, fruity flavors. If the item you're cooking with olive oil has a delicate taste profile, you may be better off using regular olive oil.

It makes sense to keep your olive oil near the stove: After all, you need it to hand when you cook, right? It's no use to you sitting on the other side of the kitchen when you're trying to work quickly. Unfortunately, though, keeping your oil near your stovetop is a surefire way to ruin it. You should generally keep your olive oil at around 65 degrees Fahrenheit to ensure that it maintains its lifespan. Temperatures around the stove can go way higher than that, and heat your olive oil up to temperatures that will increase its ability to go rancid more quickly.

When oil goes rancid, its flavor begins to, quite simply, suck. Your olive oil will start to taste bitter and sour, with an off flavor and smell that will ruin your food. Rather than experience this, it's best to keep your olive oil in a cupboard far away from your stove, and only pull it out when you're ready to cook. We know this is kinda annoying, but it could keep your olive oil in good shape for months longer than if you place it somewhere warm.

Olive oil is generally seen as the starting point of a lot of cooking, the first thing that your pot or sheet pan meets before the rest of your food is added. However, in some situations, it's best to hold off a little longer than you think. Adding olive oil to your food too early can infiltrate its flavor in a way you might not want. Olive oil, like other types of oil, is pretty flavorful, and your food can easily soak up its notes before the ingredients themselves have a chance to blossom and develop their own taste.

In addition, adding olive oil to certain foods too early can cause them to cook poorly. Take roasted vegetables, for instance. When you roast veggies without adding olive oil first, they dehydrate slightly, which makes them crispier and gives them a more concentrated flavor. However, if you add your olive oil first, you can trap the moisture in the vegetables, causing them to turn soggy and mushy. Holding off on adding olive oil also makes the vegetables more absorbent to the oil itself, thereby helping the two marry together more easily.

We've all seen darker olive oil: You know, the type that's jade-green and pours out of the bottle in thick, unctuous ropes. It's easy to assume that these dark oils are somehow much better quality than the lighter ones — and they often have the price tag to match. The thing is that darker olive oils really aren't any better than lighter ones. "Consumers mistake color for indication of quality," says Whole Foods Market buyer Lauren Winstead, over at Women's Health Magazine. "Color is only an indicator of when the olive was harvested and when oil was pressed."

Olives that are harvested early have more chlorophyll in them, which gives them a more vibrant green color. As the olives age, though, this chlorophyll tones down slightly, with the oil becoming clearer and more yellowish. Both olive oils will taste good, and both can be used to cook your food just as well. While it may be true that a more expensive darker oil may be better quality than a lighter, cheaper one, if two varieties are the same price, there may not be much between them.

Olive oil, especially good quality extra virgin olive oil, isn't something most people want to rush through. This oil is hardly cheap, after all, and given how hard some varieties are to find, you likely want to keep it around for as long as possible. This impulse not to use it too quickly is reinforced by the belief a lot of people have that olive oil can somehow last forever, as a fat that you can store at room temperature and use over the course of several months.

The thing is, though, it doesn't. Olive oil, like all types of food, will eventually go bad. Thankfully, many olive oils can last for up to two years if kept in optimal conditions, but exposure to light or heat can cause them to lose quality quicker. Extra virgin olive oil degrades more rapidly than regular olive oil, and you generally have around 12 to 18 months before it goes bad. Don't get us wrong, it's a good amount of time to enjoy your product — but it'll go more quickly than you think, so don't skimp on using it.

Olive oil is typically associated with Mediterranean countries like Spain, Italy, and Greece, and it's often assumed that's where the best products come from. As a consequence, many folks prefer that their olive oil originates in these regions, and check the origins of their products accordingly. However, a lot of people don't look carefully enough at the labels on their olive oil, which can lead to them ending up with a lower-quality product than expected. The origin of an olive oil is different from where it's bottled: Some olive oils can be bottled in Greece or Italy, but made somewhere entirely different, which may leave you with a poorer product. Suspiciously cheap olive oils may reveal on closer inspection that they come from a slightly random place or country.

This attention to detail when it comes to your oil is important, as olive oil fraud is rife. The price of olive oil was never super cheap, but in recent years it's become even more expensive, leading to rogue producers and suppliers mislabelling and mis-selling their products. In 2024, there were 50 potential cases in the EU of olive oil fraud in the first three months alone.

Olive oil is one of those fats that seems to go well with pretty much everything, so people tend to assume that you can use it in place of any other cooking oil. While it's definitely true that it's one of the more adaptable oils out there, it's a mistake to assume you can use it in any dish or for any cooking style. For example, olive oil is generally a poor swap for butter, both because of its flavor and its texture. In baking recipes, you need the solidity of butter to properly cream it, which adds to the texture of your eventual dish. It also has a fruitier, more peppery flavor than butter, which is smooth and rich.

To add to this, you should avoid using olive oil in dishes that call for a specifically flavored oil that is used as a finishing ingredient, like with a drizzle of sesame oil. You should also steer clear of it if you're looking for a non-intrusive oil, as it does have a pronounced flavor. For dishes where you want the food itself to be the star of the show, use a neutral-flavored canola or vegetable oil.

Look, we don't wanna ruin anyone's day here. We know that olive oil is expensive, and not all of us can afford to buy the good stuff. Unfortunately, though, this is one of those ingredients that you really should invest in if possible. Cheap olive oils, and particularly cheap extra virgin olive oils, can have a pretty poor flavor and quality. Cheaper olive oils are generally made by using lower-quality olives sourced from multiple countries, or else olives that have become overripe and almost past their prime. This gives these oils a slightly murky flavor and makes them less suitable for cooking. It also means that they have less freshness and a slightly duller taste and scent.

The texture of cheaper olive oil can also be fairly unpleasant, and have a greasiness that lingers in the mouth and on the tongue. You also generally get poorer packaging with cheaper olive oil, which can mean that it deteriorates faster and can absorb plastics from the bottle. Try to go for at least a mid-quality olive oil that has an established origin.

Olive oil is one of those things that doesn't feel that important to close properly. We understand why people don't do it: After all, it sits at room temperature without any problems, so why does it matter if it's exposed to the air? The problem is that olive oil can oxidize pretty quickly if left open. When olive oil is exposed to oxygen, it can start to turn rancid and lose any good flavor it once had. It can also start to shed its antioxidants, which makes your oil way less nutritious.

To avoid this, after using your olive oil, we would always recommend sealing it tightly. It's important to do this even if you're mid-recipe: Before you know it, an hour or two has passed while your oil is waiting to be used next, during which it's been exposed to the air around it. If you're decanting your oil into another bottle, make sure that it has an airtight seal.

Olive oil can be used for a lot of things — but baking isn't one of them, right? It's something a lot of us are taught fairly early on in our baking journeys, with the reason being that olive oil's rich, fruity taste can be a little too distracting for cakes and cookies. Instead, we're advised to use neutral vegetable oil, or good old-fashioned butter.

However, it's a serious mistake to assume that you can never bake with olive oil. In fact, doing so can produce some delicious dishes, like olive oil cake. Olive oil's peppery, fruity, rich notes are a perfect fit for more mature-tasting bakes that seek to deliver complexity. Its texture also delivers a more tender crumb than some other oils, and it's more nutrient-rich than refined fats.

When baking with olive oil, it's useful to think about the variety you're using. Spanish Arbequina olive oil works well with sweeter bakes thanks to its buttery notes, whereas Hojiblanca has a spicier taste that makes it better suited to savory options. Rather than shy away from extra virgin olive oils, we'd recommend you opt for them instead of light or blended oils. The whole point of using the oil is that you wanna notice it, after all, light olive oils will be bland and tasteless.

Drinking olive oil has been a practice that people partake in for longer than you might think. Although doing so is pretty fashionable nowadays, people have been drinking olive oil for various reasons for centuries, both for its potential nutritional benefits and its ability to cure ailments like sore throats. Perhaps because of this, some people have come to assume that it's somehow better to drink it than to eat it, and doing so will give you more of its nutrients.

However, that's not the case. "To date, no study has shown that drinking oil in the morning is more effective than using it as a condiment in main meals," says nutritionist Conetta Montagnese, via House and Garden. Montagnese goes on to point out that while it's tempting to assume that olive oil is some kind of magical curative, it's actually the use of it in combination with other components of the Mediterranean diet that will help. It's best to consume it raw, though, to get the best results.