Olive Oil vs Avocado Oil: Which to Use, and When
Olive oil vs avocado oil is one of the most common questions in a modern kitchen, usually asked by someone standing in front of two bottles and a claim on each. Avocado oil is sold as the high-heat, clean-label newcomer; olive oil as the old Mediterranean standard. The honest answer is less dramatic than either label suggests. The two oils have remarkably similar fat profiles, avocado oil has one genuine practical advantage, and olive oil has something avocado oil does not yet have: decades of human research and a mature system for policing what goes in the bottle. Here is how they compare, and which to reach for when.
For our own oil, see our cold-pressed organic Marrakech olive oil.
The Short Answer
- Extra virgin olive oil and avocado oil are both fruit oils dominated by oleic acid, a monounsaturated fat — roughly 70% of each in USDA composition data. On fat profile alone, neither is a clear winner.
- Refined avocado oil tolerates higher heat and tastes of very little, which makes it genuinely useful for searing and very hot stir-frying. That is its real advantage.
- For everyday frying and roasting, smoke point matters less than it looks: in a 2018 heating test of ten supermarket oils, extra virgin olive oil produced fewer breakdown compounds than the avocado oil tested.
- The evidence gap is large. Extra virgin olive oil was the fat at the centre of PREDIMED, a Spanish trial of 7,447 people; avocado oil has no human outcome research of comparable size.
- Purity is a real concern: a 2020 UC Davis analysis found 82% of avocado oil samples sold in the US were oxidised before their date or mixed with other oils.
- A sensible kitchen can hold both: extra virgin olive oil as the everyday oil for cooking and finishing, a refined high-heat oil for the occasional very hot pan.
Olive Oil vs Avocado Oil at a Glance
Olive oil and avocado oil both come from the flesh of a fruit rather than from seeds, and both are mostly oleic acid. The practical differences come down to heat tolerance, flavour, the weight of human evidence behind each, and how reliably the label matches the bottle. The table sets these out side by side.
| Factor | Extra virgin olive oil | Avocado oil |
|---|---|---|
| Source | Pressed from olive fruit | Extracted from avocado flesh |
| Main fat | Oleic acid (monounsaturated), roughly 70% | Oleic acid (monounsaturated), roughly 70% |
| Typical grade on shelf | Extra virgin (unrefined) widely available | Mostly refined; virgin grades less common |
| Heat tolerance | Handles normal frying and roasting well | Refined grades tolerate higher heat |
| Flavour | Fruity, grassy, often peppery | Refined: near-neutral; virgin: mild and buttery |
| Human outcome research | Extensive, including the PREDIMED trial | Limited; most research is on the whole fruit |
| International standard | Long-established grading and testing standards | Added to the Codex named-oils standard in 2024 |
Fat Profile: Closer Than the Marketing Suggests
Much avocado oil marketing implies a nutritional leap over olive oil. The composition data does not support one. In USDA FoodData Central, both oils come out at roughly 70% monounsaturated fat, with avocado oil carrying slightly more polyunsaturated fat and slightly less saturated fat than olive oil. The exact figures vary with the fruit, the region and the database, and the differences are small enough that they should not decide your purchase.
The real difference is what travels with the fat. A fresh extra virgin olive oil carries a well-characterised family of olive polyphenols — hydroxytyrosol, oleuropein derivatives and oleocanthal among them — that are specific to the olive and largely stripped out by refining. Most avocado oil on the shelf is refined, so whatever minor compounds the fruit contained are mostly processed away.
Heat and Smoke Point: Where Avocado Oil Has a Real Edge — and Where It Doesn't
Here is the concession, stated plainly: refined avocado oil tolerates more heat than extra virgin olive oil. Its commonly quoted smoke point sits well above the roughly 190–210°C range usually given for a fresh extra virgin olive oil, and its neutral taste suits food that should not taste of oil. For a steak seared in a smoking-hot cast-iron pan, or a wok over a fierce flame, a refined high-heat oil is the practical choice.
For the rest of cooking, smoke point is a weaker guide than it looks. De Alzaa, Guillaume and Ravetti, writing in Acta Scientific Nutritional Health in 2018, heated ten supermarket oils, avocado among them, and held them at 180°C for six hours. Extra virgin olive oil finished with the lowest level of polar compounds — the standard marker of breakdown — at about 8.5%, against about 11.6% for the avocado oil. That avocado sample also smoked at around 197°C, below the olive oil tested.
Two honest caveats. The laboratory is an Australian olive-oil industry service, and the paper does not say whether the avocado oil was refined or virgin. It is one study, not a verdict. But it fits the chemistry: oleic acid resists oxidation, and olive polyphenols protect the oil as it heats. Our guide to olive oil at high heat covers the temperatures in full.
The Evidence Gap: Decades of Olive Oil Research vs Very Little on Avocado Oil
This is where the comparison stops being close. Extra virgin olive oil sits at the centre of the largest body of research on any culinary fat. The best-known example is PREDIMED: Estruch and colleagues, in a trial republished in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2018, followed 7,447 Spanish adults at high cardiovascular risk and reported roughly 30% fewer major cardiovascular events in the Mediterranean-diet groups — one supplemented with extra virgin olive oil — than in a reduced-fat control group.
That result needs its limits stated alongside it. PREDIMED tested a whole dietary pattern, not olive oil on its own, and it was republished after irregularities in how some participants were randomised; the reanalysis reached broadly the same conclusions. The EU register of authorised health claims also includes one specific to olive oil polyphenols, tied to a minimum polyphenol content and usable only for olive oil. Our article on olive oil and heart health looks at the research in more detail.
Avocado oil has nothing comparable. Most human research on avocados studies the whole fruit, with its fibre intact — not the oil. That is an absence of evidence, not evidence of harm.
Purity and Labelling: The Avocado Oil Problem Few Articles Mention
The most useful finding in this comparison rarely makes the top search results. In 2020, Hilary Green and Selina Wang of the University of California, Davis published an analysis of 22 avocado oils sold in the US in the journal Food Control. Fifteen were oxidised before their best-before date, six contained large amounts of other oils, and three bottles labelled "pure" or "extra virgin" were almost entirely soybean oil. In all, 82% of the samples were either stale before their date or mixed with other oils.
Part of the reason was regulatory. At the time, avocado oil had no international compositional standard to test against. That changed in 2024, when the Codex Alimentarius Commission added avocado oil to its Standard for Named Vegetable Oils — a real step, but a recent one.
The fair objection is that olive oil has its own long history of fraud and mislabelling. It does. The difference is that olive oil has a detailed, long-established grading system — extra virgin, virgin, refined — with chemical and sensory tests behind each grade, which gives regulators and careful buyers something to check a bottle against.
Which to Use, and When
For most kitchens, the practical split is simple. Use each oil where its strengths actually matter:
- Salad dressings, dips and finishing: extra virgin olive oil — the flavour is the point, and nothing is lost to heat. See our guide to olive oil for salad.
- Everyday sautéing, shallow frying and roasting: extra virgin olive oil handles these temperatures comfortably.
- Searing and very hot wok cooking: refined avocado oil, or another refined high-heat oil.
- Baking where the oil should not be tasted: refined avocado oil or a mild olive oil.
- Mayonnaise: a neutral oil, or a blend with some olive oil, since a robust olive oil on its own can taste bitter when blended at speed.
For skin and hair, both oils are used as simple emollients, and the evidence for either is modest. Our articles on olive oil for skin and olive oil for hair set out what is and is not known.
How to Choose a Good Bottle of Either
The same habits protect you whichever oil you buy. Choose a stated grade — "extra virgin" for olive oil, "refined" or "virgin" for avocado oil — rather than a bottle that says only "pure". Look for a named origin, a harvest or best-before date you can read, and dark glass or a tin, since light degrades both oils. Finish it within a few months of opening.
For olive oil specifically, our guide to choosing a quality olive oil walks through labels, grades and freshness in detail.
Why Sidr & Stone
We should be open about our position: we grow and sell olive oil, not avocado oil. That is exactly why this article concedes avocado oil's real advantage at very high heat. What we can speak to is the olive side of the comparison, because every property that makes an olive oil worth choosing — grade, freshness, polyphenols, a traceable origin — is decided in the grove and at the press.
- Single-estate — Sidr & Stone's olive oil comes from our own family-owned farm near Marrakech, Morocco; we control every step from tree to bottle, with no blending across origins.
- Rain-fed — no irrigation; the trees take what the season gives.
- Organically grown — no synthetic fertilisers, pesticides, or herbicides (not yet certified; certification is in progress).
- Single harvest — a small, limited batch; once it is gone, it is gone until the next harvest.
- Cold-pressed within hours of harvest — flavour, aroma, and polyphenols preserved.
- Unfiltered extra virgin — minimally processed; natural sediment in the bottle is normal.
- 100% natural — a single ingredient, nothing added.
- Dark glass with a gold label — protective packaging against light.
- 10% of profits to charity — Sidr & Stone's brand-wide commitment.
- Fulfilment in the UK, EU, and US.
We will not tell you Sidr & Stone is the best olive oil — that would be the very kind of claim this article warns against. 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 evidence of that care is in the taste, the colour, and the small single-harvest batch.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is olive oil or avocado oil better?
Neither wins outright. Their fat profiles are very similar; refined avocado oil handles very high heat better, while extra virgin olive oil has far more human research behind it and a more established grading system. Most kitchens are well served by extra virgin olive oil for everyday use.
Is avocado oil healthier than olive oil?
There is no good evidence that it is. Both are mostly monounsaturated fat, but extra virgin olive oil has decades of human research, including the PREDIMED trial, while avocado oil's evidence is mostly compositional or based on the whole fruit.
Which oil is better for high-heat cooking?
For searing and very hot wok cooking, refined avocado oil. For ordinary frying and roasting, extra virgin olive oil performs well — in one 2018 heating test it produced fewer breakdown compounds than the avocado oil tested.
Can I substitute avocado oil for olive oil?
Yes, one for one by volume in most recipes. Expect a milder flavour from refined avocado oil — an advantage in baking, a loss in dressings where olive oil's character is the point.
How does Sidr & Stone's olive oil compare with a typical supermarket avocado oil?
Ours is an unfiltered, single-estate extra virgin olive oil, cold-pressed within hours of harvest; most supermarket avocado oil is refined. They suit different jobs — ours is for everyday cooking and finishing, not the very highest-heat searing.
Is avocado oil a seed oil?
No. Like olive oil, avocado oil comes from the flesh of the fruit, not from seeds. Whether a given bottle is refined is a separate question worth checking on the label.
Where can I buy a good extra virgin olive oil?
Look for a stated grade, a named origin, a readable date and dark glass. Sidr & Stone's single-estate Marrakech olive oil is available to pre-order directly from us, 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
The olive oil vs avocado oil question is usually framed as a contest, and the framing flatters avocado oil. On fat profile the two are close. On very high heat, refined avocado oil has a real, useful edge, and there is no reason not to keep a bottle for the occasional searing job. On almost everything else — flavour at the table, the depth of human evidence, and a grading system that gives a label meaning — extra virgin olive oil is the better-documented everyday choice.
Our cold-pressed organic Marrakech olive oil — single-estate, rain-fed, and cold-pressed within hours of harvest — is available to pre-order now as a limited 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 compares olive oil and avocado oil using published research and composition data available at the time of writing; research findings and product specifications may change, 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.