fbpx Skip to content
Olive oil > Guide to buying and using olive oil from Provence > Olive oil for cooking ?

Olive oil for cooking ?

crop faceless chef pouring oil in pan

Olive Oil and Cooking Have Never Mixed in Discussions, and oddly for the wrong reasons ! The steam from the’olive oil for cooking does it give you cancer ? Is frying oil a deadly poison ? Absolutely not ! It is true that olive oil is not the best for cooking but not because of these unfounded reasons. We will explain everything to you.

Can you cook in olive oil??

It is quite possible to cook in olive oil. It also holds up very well to cooking since it heats up to more than 210°C.. But it is from this temperature that it will begin to deteriorate. You should know that the temperature of frying is around 190°C. L’extra virgin olive oil no problem cooking.

Compared to butter, which does not exceed 130°C, olive oil behaves better. Above 130°C, the butter will blacken and smoke ; it will become toxic unlike olive oil.

Here are some comparison temperatures :

  • butter : 130°C
  • linseed oil: 107°C
  • unrefined rapeseed oil: 107°C
  • unrefined grapeseed oil: 150°C
  • refined grapeseed oil: 215°C
  • virgin olive oil: 210°C
  • peanut oil: 220°C

Frying in olive oil causes cancer ? 

Like all extra virgin oils or fatty substances, if we exceed their “smoke point”, that is- say the maximum temperature before the creation of smoke, they will develop carcinogenic toxins. But as we saw earlier, in the kitchen it will be unlikely to exceed 190°C.

It is therefore quite possible to cook or even fry in extra virgin olive oil, as long as she doesn't smoke !

Is it a good idea to cook in olive oil? ?

Olive oil is rich a monounsaturated fatty acid, vitamins E and in antioxidant, which is a very good thing for our cells. The problem, Which one’olive oil loses most of its benefits from 70°C but also its aromas. So there is no taste interest, nor financial to this choice of cooking. Better to use a cheaper and more suitable product such as sunflower oil or clarified butter.

Some organic olive oils, or not, mention “first cold pressing“. At the oil mill, if the olives are triturated and cold pressed, i.e. without exceeding 27°C, it is to keep all the nutrients of the fruit. So cooking it behind would have been useless, is not it ?

Olive oil cooking tips (bio)

To keep the taste and the benefits of’extra virgin olive oil cooking, it is best to cook with sunflower oil and only use your good bottle of olive oil at the end of cooking. Once your vegetables, your fish or meat is cooked, turn off the heat and drop a drizzle of olive oil on your dish just before serving.

Second method, for those who are stubborn and who really want to cook with olive oil … Always have a bottle of olive oil on hand infamous retailer and add a olive oil from Provence at the end of cooking. It would be a shame to use PDO olive oils expensive and lose all the nutritional benefits and taste.