What happens to olive oil when you cook it hot?
Thermal-Induced Alterations in Phenolic and Volatile Profiles of Monovarietal Extra Virgin Olive Oils
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Surprising Findings
Hydroxytyrosol acetate increases during heating — a compound that wasn’t present in raw oil.
People assume heating only destroys healthy compounds — but here, a new one emerges, suggesting complex chemical reactions we didn’t expect.
Practical Takeaways
Use EVOO for low-heat cooking (sautéing, drizzling) and reserve cheaper oils for high-heat frying.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Surprising Findings
Hydroxytyrosol acetate increases during heating — a compound that wasn’t present in raw oil.
People assume heating only destroys healthy compounds — but here, a new one emerges, suggesting complex chemical reactions we didn’t expect.
Practical Takeaways
Use EVOO for low-heat cooking (sautéing, drizzling) and reserve cheaper oils for high-heat frying.
Publication
Journal
Foods
Year
2024
Authors
D. Klisović, A. Novoselić, M. Lukić, Klara Kraljić, Karolina Brkić Bubola
Related Content
Claims (7)
When you cook olive oil too hot, it starts producing chemicals that smell rancid — like old nuts or grease — and these chemicals can be used to tell if the oil has been overheated.
Different types of olive oil react differently to heat — one kind (Buža) keeps more of its healthy compounds when cooked, while others lose more, because of their natural chemical makeup.
When you heat olive oil, the smell changes mostly because of how hot it gets — not because of what kind of olive it came from.
When olive oil gets really hot, one of its healthy compounds — hydroxytyrosol acetate — goes up, which might be a clue that the oil has been overheated.
Cooking olive oil at a very high temperature for an hour almost completely destroys the fresh, grassy smell that makes good olive oil taste good.