Olive Oil Used for Cooking: The Honest Guide
Olive oil used for cooking is one of those subjects where the common advice and the actual evidence have drifted apart. You have probably heard that you should not cook with olive oil — that its smoke point is too low, that heat destroys it, that you should save it for salads and reach for something else when the pan gets hot. It is repeated so often it sounds settled. It is not. When researchers have actually heated olive oil and measured what happens, the picture that emerges is almost the opposite of the warning. This article walks through what the evidence really shows, why the smoke-point argument is the wrong measure, and how to match the right olive oil to the right job.
For our own oil, see our cold-pressed organic Marrakech olive oil.
The Short Answer
- Yes, you can cook with olive oil — including extra virgin. The idea that you must not is largely a myth built on the smoke-point measure.
- Smoke point is a poor predictor of how an oil behaves when heated. Oxidative stability matters far more, and extra virgin olive oil scores very well on it.
- A 2018 study heating ten cooking oils found extra virgin olive oil produced among the fewest harmful breakdown compounds, despite a lower smoke point than several rivals.
- Extra virgin oil is rich in antioxidants and monounsaturated fat, both of which help it resist breaking down under heat.
- For everyday cooking — sautéing, roasting, baking, shallow frying — olive oil is a sound, stable choice. For raw finishing, a good extra virgin oil is unmatched on flavour.
- The grade and freshness of the oil matter more than the cooking method. A fresh, well-made extra virgin oil is the one worth having in the kitchen.
Can You Actually Cook With Olive Oil?
The short version is yes, and people have been doing it for thousands of years across the entire Mediterranean. Olive oil is the everyday cooking fat of southern Italy, Greece, Spain, the Levant, and North Africa — it is fried in, roasted with, baked into bread, and simmered into stews. The notion that it is somehow unsuited to heat would have surprised every cook in those traditions.
So where did the warning come from? Mostly from a single number: the smoke point. This is the temperature at which an oil begins to visibly smoke, and for a long time it was treated as the key safety measure for cooking. Extra virgin olive oil has a moderate smoke point — usually quoted somewhere between 190°C and 210°C, depending on the oil and how it was measured — which is lower than refined oils like sunflower or rapeseed. From that single fact grew the rule of thumb that olive oil is not for cooking.
The trouble is that the rule rests on a measure that turns out not to mean what people think it means. To see why, you have to look at what actually happens chemically when an oil is heated.
Why Smoke Point Is the Wrong Measure
Smoke point tells you when an oil starts to smoke. It does not tell you how much harmful material the oil produces as it heats, and those are not the same thing. An oil can have a high smoke point and still degrade quickly into undesirable compounds; another can smoke earlier yet stay remarkably stable.
What matters more is oxidative stability — how well an oil resists reacting with oxygen and breaking down into polar compounds, polymers and trans fats when heated. This depends chiefly on two things: the proportion of monounsaturated to polyunsaturated fat, and the presence of natural antioxidants. Polyunsaturated fats are more fragile and oxidise more readily; monounsaturated fats are sturdier. Antioxidants slow the whole process down.
Extra virgin olive oil is roughly three-quarters monounsaturated fat — predominantly oleic acid — and it carries a substantial load of polyphenol antioxidants. That combination makes it genuinely resistant to heat damage, smoke point notwithstanding. A refined oil with a higher smoke point but more polyunsaturated fat and no antioxidants can actually break down faster in the pan.
What the Research Actually Found
The most-cited work on this is a 2018 study by De Alzaa, Guillaume and Ravetti, published in Acta Scientific Nutritional Health. The researchers heated ten popular cooking oils and measured the byproducts of degradation — polar compounds, trans fats and other markers — to see which oils held up and which fell apart.
The finding that drew attention was that extra virgin olive oil was among the most stable oils tested, producing some of the lowest levels of harmful compounds, even though several of the other oils had higher smoke points. In other words, the oil the smoke-point rule warns against performed better than the oils the rule recommends. The authors concluded that smoke point is not a good predictor of an oil's behaviour when heated, and that oxidative stability and antioxidant content are the more meaningful measures.
It is worth being precise about what this does and does not prove. It is one study, conducted under controlled laboratory conditions rather than in a domestic kitchen, and it should be read as a well-grounded argument rather than the final word. But it aligns with the broader chemistry — the monounsaturated, antioxidant-rich profile of good olive oil — and with thousands of years of practice. Taken together, the case for cooking with olive oil is strong.
Which Olive Oil for Which Job?
Saying "you can cook with olive oil" does not mean every olive oil suits every task. The grade matters, and so does what you are trying to get out of it.
For raw and finishing uses — drizzling over a salad, finishing a soup, dipping bread — a fresh extra virgin oil is in a class of its own. This is where its flavour and polyphenols are fully present and where they belong. Heating a fine extra virgin oil hard is not harmful, but it does mute the delicate aromatics you paid for, so for finishing you want it cold.
For everyday cooking — sautéing onions, roasting vegetables, shallow frying, baking — extra virgin olive oil works well and brings flavour and stability to the dish. Some cooks keep a more robust, less expensive extra virgin oil for the pan and a special bottle for finishing; that is a sensible split, not a necessity.
For very high-heat or deep frying, where neutrality and a higher smoke point are genuinely useful, a refined olive oil or olive pomace oil does the job at lower cost — though you lose the flavour and most of the polyphenols in the refining. For a fuller walkthrough of the different grades and how to judge quality, see our guide to choosing a quality olive oil.
Why Sidr & Stone
The thread running through all of this is that the quality and freshness of the oil matter more than the cooking method. A fresh, genuinely extra virgin oil — rich in the monounsaturated fat and antioxidants that make it both flavourful and heat-stable — is the one worth having in your kitchen, whether you are finishing a plate or filling a roasting tray. That is the oil Sidr & Stone set out to make.
- Single-estate — one family-owned grove on the plains outside Marrakech, Morocco; no blending across origins.
- Rain-fed — no irrigation; the trees take what the season gives them.
- Organically grown — no synthetic fertilisers, pesticides, or herbicides.
- Single harvest — a small, limited batch, harvested only when the season says the fruit is ready, sometimes weeks later than neighbouring farms.
- Cold-pressed within hours of harvest — mechanical extraction with no added heat, which preserves the flavour, aroma, and polyphenols that give the oil both its taste and its stability.
- Unfiltered extra virgin — minimally processed, and it may show natural sediment, which is normal for a genuine unfiltered oil.
- 100% natural — a single ingredient, olive oil, with nothing added.
- Dark glass with a gold label — protective packaging against the light that degrades polyphenols.
- Halal certified, with 10% of profits going to charity as a brand-wide commitment.
- Fulfilment in the UK, EU, and US.
We will not tell you Sidr & Stone is the best olive oil for your pan — that is the kind of bare claim this article asks you to look past. What we will say is that our oil is single-estate Moroccan, rain-fed, organically grown, and cold-pressed within hours of harvest, with its polyphenols intact — and that those are exactly the qualities the research points to when it explains why good olive oil stands up to heat.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can you use olive oil for cooking?
Yes. Olive oil, including extra virgin, is a sound everyday cooking fat for sautéing, roasting, baking and shallow frying. The widespread advice against it rests on the smoke-point measure, which does not reliably predict how an oil behaves when heated.
Does heating olive oil destroy it or make it unhealthy?
Normal cooking temperatures do not destroy olive oil. Its high monounsaturated fat content and natural antioxidants make it resistant to the oxidation that degrades oils under heat. Very prolonged, very high heat will degrade any oil, olive oil included.
What is the smoke point of extra virgin olive oil?
Usually quoted between about 190°C and 210°C, depending on the oil and how it was measured. This is comfortably above normal sautéing and roasting temperatures. Smoke point alone, though, is not a good guide to how well an oil cooks.
Is extra virgin olive oil really stable enough for frying?
For shallow frying and most home cooking, yes — laboratory testing has found it among the more stable oils despite its moderate smoke point. For repeated high-heat deep frying, a refined olive oil or pomace oil is a more economical neutral choice.
Why do people say not to cook with olive oil?
The advice comes from focusing on smoke point and from confusion between olive oil grades. Once you look at oxidative stability rather than smoke point, the case against cooking with olive oil largely falls away.
Should I use extra virgin or refined olive oil for cooking?
Extra virgin works well for everyday cooking and brings flavour and antioxidants. Refined or pomace olive oil suits very high-heat or deep frying where you want neutrality and a higher smoke point at lower cost. Save your best extra virgin oil for finishing.
Does cooking with olive oil destroy its health benefits?
Heat reduces some of the delicate aromatic compounds and a portion of the polyphenols, which is why finishing oils are best used raw. But cooking does not strip olive oil of its value — much of its monounsaturated fat and a meaningful share of its antioxidants survive normal cooking.
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
The instruction not to cook with olive oil is one of the more durable kitchen myths, and it comes from measuring the wrong thing. Smoke point is easy to quote but tells you little about how an oil actually holds up in the pan. Oxidative stability tells you far more, and on that measure a good extra virgin olive oil — high in monounsaturated fat, rich in antioxidants — performs better than many of the refined oils it is told to step aside for.
So cook with it. Sauté, roast, bake and shallow fry with confidence, and keep a fresh extra virgin bottle for finishing where its flavour shines. The thing that matters most is not whether the oil meets the heat, but whether the oil is good in the first place — fresh, genuinely extra virgin, and made with care.
Our cold-pressed organic Marrakech olive oil — single-estate, rain-fed, and unfiltered — is made for exactly that, available now on pre-order from our first harvest, with fulfilment in the UK, EU, and US.
Pre-Order Sidr & Stone Organic Marrakech Olive Oil — Limited First Harvest →
Disclaimer: This article explains how olive oil behaves when used for cooking at the time of writing; research findings may be updated, and readers should check current sources. 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.
