Does Olive Oil Break a Fast? It Depends What Your Fast Is For
Does olive oil break a fast? In the strict sense, yes: a tablespoon of olive oil carries around 120 calories, and a fast that allows no calories ends the moment you swallow it. But most people asking this are doing intermittent fasting, where the real question is narrower — does a spoonful of fat undo whatever the fast is meant to achieve? That depends on the goal. A fast for calorie control, for blood sugar, for gut rest and for religious observance each draw the line in a different place, and olive oil lands on a different side of each one. This article works through them one at a time, with the studies named, the limits stated, and a clearly separate section on the Ramadan fast, where the answer is not a matter of degree.
For our own oil, see our cold-pressed organic Marrakech olive oil.
The Short Answer
- Olive oil is almost pure fat, at about 9 calories per gram — roughly 120 calories in a 13.5g tablespoon and 40 in a teaspoon. By a zero-calorie definition, it breaks a fast.
- Fat on its own draws a much smaller insulin response than carbohydrate, which is why some intermittent fasters allow a little. That is a physiological point, not evidence that it preserves any benefit of fasting.
- No published trial has tested whether a spoonful of olive oil during a fasting window changes the results of intermittent fasting. Claims that it "protects autophagy" or "boosts fat burning" in a fast are not backed by human studies.
- Two randomised trials — TREAT (116 adults, 12 weeks) and a 2022 New England Journal of Medicine trial (139 adults, 12 months) — found that eating within a time window did no better for weight than comparison groups. Total intake mattered more than the clock.
- For the Ramadan fast, the answer is plain: eating or drinking anything between dawn and sunset breaks it, olive oil included.
- Olive oil fits well in the eating window — Sidr & Stone's is a single-estate, cold-pressed extra virgin oil from our own farm outside Marrakech.
What "Breaking a Fast" Actually Means
Olive oil breaks a fast if your fast means no calories, because a tablespoon supplies about 120. It may not meaningfully disrupt a fast whose goal is keeping insulin low, since fat alone raises insulin far less than carbohydrate. It does break a religious fast. The honest answer therefore starts with a question back: what is your fast for?
"Fasting" has become an umbrella word. A water-only fast, a 16:8 eating window, a 5:2 week of two low-calorie days and the Ramadan fast share a name but not a rulebook. Online advice often blurs them, which is why the same question gets a confident "yes" on one site and an equally confident "no" on the next.
In fairness to the "no" camp, few intermittent fasters are chasing a literal zero. But there is no agreed threshold either. The widely repeated idea that anything under 50 calories "doesn't count" is a rule of thumb from fasting forums, not a figure drawn from a trial.
The Calorie Question: About 120 Calories a Tablespoon
Olive oil is essentially all fat, and fat supplies about 9 calories per gram. A level tablespoon weighs around 13.5g, which puts it close to 120 calories; a teaspoon is roughly a third of that. Extra virgin, refined and "light" olive oils are all the same on this count — "light" refers to colour and flavour, not calories.
For a clean, zero-calorie fast, that settles it. A spoonful of oil is a small meal of fat. For a looser fast, 120 calories is not trivial, and it adds up quickly if a spoon in the morning coffee becomes a daily habit. Our guide to drinking olive oil covers what taking it neat involves in practice.
Does Olive Oil Break Your Kind of Fast? A Quick Guide
The table below maps the common reasons people fast against what the evidence can and cannot say about a spoonful of olive oil.
| Fasting goal | Does olive oil break it? | What the evidence says |
|---|---|---|
| Zero-calorie "clean" fast | Yes | About 120 calories per tablespoon |
| Calorie control (16:8, 5:2) | It counts towards your total | Trials suggest total intake matters more than timing |
| Keeping insulin low | Less than carbohydrate would | Fat alone draws a small insulin response; not tested as a fasting strategy |
| Autophagy | Unknown | No human study has measured this |
| Gut rest | Yes, in practice | Any fat prompts digestion |
| Ramadan fast | Yes | Any food or drink between dawn and sunset |
Autophagy — the cell's recycling process — is the most cited reason for keeping a fast strictly clean. It is also the hardest to test. Most of the research sits in cells and animals, and no human study we could find has measured whether a spoon of olive oil switches it off. Anyone telling you a precise answer either way is guessing.
Insulin, Blood Sugar and the "Fat Fast" Idea
The case for allowing olive oil rests on insulin. Carbohydrate and, to a lesser degree, protein prompt a clear insulin rise; fat on its own prompts much less. Some intermittent fasters reason that if insulin stays low, the fasted state is broadly intact — hence "fat fasting" and oil or butter in black coffee.
The research that exists looks at olive oil with food, not during a fast. In a crossover study, Violi and colleagues (Nutrition & Diabetes, 2015) gave 25 healthy adults a Mediterranean-type lunch with or without 10g of extra virgin olive oil. Two hours later, the olive oil meal produced lower blood glucose and LDL cholesterol — and a higher insulin level, not a lower one. In a second comparison, extra virgin olive oil did better than corn oil on the same measures.
The limits are real: 25 people, a single meal, measurements over two hours. It says nothing about olive oil taken alone in a fasting window. What it does show is that "olive oil has zero effect on insulin" is too tidy. Olive oil is a food, and the body responds to it as one.
What the Intermittent Fasting Trials Actually Found
If the worry is that a spoon of oil will spoil the results of intermittent fasting, it helps to know what those results look like in controlled trials.
The TREAT trial (Lowe and colleagues, JAMA Internal Medicine, 2020) randomly assigned 116 adults with overweight or obesity to a 16:8 eating window or to three structured meals a day for 12 weeks. Weight fell by 0.94kg in the time-restricted group, and the difference between groups was not significant. The trial ran largely through a phone app, and only 50 participants had in-person measurements — both genuine limits.
A larger, longer trial (Liu and colleagues, New England Journal of Medicine, 2022) put 139 adults with obesity on the same calorie-restricted diet for 12 months, with half also eating only between 8am and 4pm. Both groups lost weight — 8.0kg with the time window and 6.3kg without — and the difference was not significant. It was carried out in China, and 118 of the 139 completed the year.
Neither trial is about olive oil. Together, though, they suggest that the calories you eat carry more weight than exactly when you eat them. On that reading, 120 calories of olive oil matters the same way inside or outside the window: it counts.
Religious Fasting Is Different: Olive Oil and the Ramadan Fast
Everything above concerns fasting as a health practice, where people set their own rules. The Ramadan fast is not that, and it should not be blurred with it. For Muslims, the fast runs from dawn to sunset, and eating or drinking anything in that time — a date, a sip of water or a spoonful of olive oil — breaks it. The boundaries are set in the Qur'an: "And eat and drink until the white thread of dawn becomes distinct to you from the black thread [of night]. Then complete the fast until the sunset." (Al-Baqarah 2:187, Sahih International).
There is no calorie threshold and no "fat fast" in this sense of fasting. The same passage of the Qur'an also makes allowance for those who are ill or travelling to make up the days later (Al-Baqarah 2:185), so anyone with a medical condition should speak to their doctor and a scholar they trust. Detailed questions — such as oil on the skin or hair while fasting — are matters for a scholar, not for a food article.
Where olive oil does belong is at the two meals either side of the fast. Honoured in the Prophetic Sunnah, it is a natural part of a suhoor before dawn or an iftar after sunset. Our guides to the prophetic foods and to dates cover that tradition more fully.
How to Use Olive Oil Around a Fast
If you are doing intermittent fasting, the simplest approach is to keep the fasting window clean and use olive oil generously when you eat. A few practical points:
- Break the fast with a proper meal — vegetables, pulses, eggs or fish dressed with olive oil — rather than a spoon of oil on its own.
- If you do take oil during the window, count it. A teaspoon is about 40 calories; a tablespoon about 120.
- Expect fat on an empty stomach to unsettle some people, with nausea or loose stools. Start small.
- Choose a fresh extra virgin oil in dark glass with a harvest date; our guide to choosing a quality olive oil explains what to look for.
- If weight is the goal, read our look at drinking olive oil for weight loss before adding spoonfuls to your day.
Why Sidr & Stone
Whether you fast for health or for faith, olive oil does its work in the meals around the fast — so the oil you pour at those meals is worth choosing carefully. That is the part we control from tree to bottle.
- Single-estate — Sidr & Stone's olive oil comes from our own family-owned farm near Marrakech, Morocco, with no blending across origins.
- Rain-fed — our trees are not irrigated; they take what the season gives.
- Organically grown — no synthetic fertilisers, pesticides or herbicides are used on our farm.
- Single harvest — each batch is small and limited, picked when the fruit is ready.
- Cold-pressed within hours of harvest — which protects flavour, aroma and polyphenols.
- Unfiltered extra virgin — minimally processed, so it may show natural sediment, which is normal.
- 100% natural — one ingredient, olive oil, nothing added.
- Dark glass with a gold label — packaging that protects the oil from light.
- 10% of profits to charity — a brand-wide Sidr & Stone commitment.
- Fulfilment in the UK, EU, and US.
We will not tell you Sidr & Stone's oil makes a fast work better — no olive oil can honestly claim that. What we will say is that our oil is single-estate Moroccan, rain-fed, organically grown and cold-pressed within hours of harvest, and that the care shows in the taste and colour of the small single-harvest batch.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does olive oil break a fast?
Yes, if your fast allows no calories — a tablespoon has about 120. For looser intermittent fasting, it counts towards your daily intake, and no trial shows a spoonful protects the benefits of fasting.
Why do some people say olive oil doesn't break a fast?
Because fat on its own raises insulin much less than carbohydrate. That is true as physiology, but it has not been tested as a fasting strategy, and olive oil still supplies calories.
How much olive oil can I have without breaking a fast?
For a strict fast, none. The popular "under 50 calories" rule has no trial behind it; if you use one, a teaspoon (about 40 calories) is the realistic ceiling.
Does olive oil in coffee break a fast?
Yes, in the same way as olive oil on its own. A tablespoon stirred or blended into coffee adds about 120 calories.
Is Sidr & Stone olive oil different for fasting?
No oil changes the rules of a fast. Ours is a single-estate, rain-fed, cold-pressed extra virgin oil, best used in the meals that open or close your fast.
Does olive oil break the fast in Ramadan?
Yes. Eating or drinking anything between dawn and sunset breaks the Ramadan fast. Questions about oils on the skin or hair while fasting are best put to a scholar you trust.
Where can I buy Sidr & Stone olive oil?
Our current single-harvest batch is available to pre-order online, with fulfilment in the UK, EU, and US.
Is olive oil a medicine?
No. Olive oil is a food, not a medicine. It has a long traditional history — including being honoured in the Prophetic Sunnah — and a substantial body of modern research, particularly around polyphenols, cardiovascular health, and the Mediterranean diet pattern. It can be a worthwhile part of a healthy routine, but it does not cure diseases and is not a substitute for medical care. Be cautious of any olive oil marketed with specific disease-cure claims.
Final Thoughts
Olive oil breaks a fast in the plain sense: it is food, and about 120 calories a tablespoon. Whether that matters for intermittent fasting depends on what you are fasting for, and the honest position is that nobody has tested the spoonful-in-the-window question directly. What the trials do suggest is that the total you eat matters more than the clock.
For the Ramadan fast there is no grey area at all. Keep olive oil for suhoor and iftar, and let it do its work in real meals rather than as a loophole.
Our cold-pressed organic Marrakech olive oil — single-estate, rain-fed and pressed within hours of harvest — is available to pre-order from the current single-harvest batch, with fulfilment in the UK, EU, and US.
Our extra virgin olive oil is grown organically on our own single-estate farm on the plains outside Marrakech: we control every step from tree to bottle, and no synthetic pesticides, herbicides or fertilisers are used. It is not yet certified organic — certification is in progress, and we will publish it as soon as it comes through.
Pre-Order Sidr & Stone Organic Marrakech Olive Oil — Limited Single-Harvest Batch →
Disclaimer: This article explains what is known about olive oil and fasting at the time of writing; research findings may change, and readers should check current sources. It does not give religious rulings; for questions about Ramadan or other religious fasts, consult a qualified scholar. Anyone with diabetes, a medical condition, or who takes regular medication should speak to their doctor before fasting. Olive oil is a food, not a medicine, and is not a substitute for medical treatment of any condition. For any health concern, consult a qualified medical professional.