• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Home
  • About Us
  • All Posts
  • Ghee Reviews
  • Shop
Pure Indian Foods, The Ghee Spoon Blog

Pure Indian Foods, The Ghee Spoon Blog

A collection of recipes and videos

Extra Virgin Olive Oil Not Suitable For High Heat Cooking

September 11, 2013 by Sandeep Agarwal 2 Comments

In today’s kitchen one can almost always find a bottle of extra virgin olive oil. With its subtle nutty flavor, home cooks these days love to use this oil when making salad dressing, lightly sauteing vegetables, and sometimes even in baking as a substitute for butter. However, how does this oil fare in recipes that call for moderate or high heat cooking? 

 
Because of its high percentage of monounsaturated fats, olive oil will smoke quite easily at any temperature over 370 degrees Fahrenheit. This roughly translates to cooking above “medium” or “medium high” heat on the stove top. When an oil smokes, it is actually breaking down the glycol, or sugar, compounds which are the molecular backbones of free fatty acids, or triglycerides. This will also result in a burned taste and smell. Therefore, not only will allowing an oil to smoke have the consequence of changing the flavor of the oil, but it will also change the molecular makeup of the oil as well. This may result in changing the nutrition or health benefits too. 
 
Traditional Indian recipes have found a way around the smoke point problem by cooking with ghee for all recipes that require high heat. Ghee has a smoke point of around 485 degrees Fahrenheit, or an equivalent of “very high” or “high” heat on a stove top, which makes it suitable for all of your cooking needs, even deep frying. This high smoke point insures that both the subtle flavor and the molecular makeup of ghee will remain stable throughout cooking, which will ultimately add to the nutrition and flavor of the final dish. 
 
An added benefit of cooking with ghee is the additional nutrients and fat-soluble vitamins that you may not get if cooking with an oil that has a lower smoke point, such as olive oil. The high percentage of saturated fat that ghee has is not only what makes it suitable for high heat cooking, but is also what aids in the absorption of fat-soluble vitamins. Since ghee will solidify at room temperature, it is also much more shelf-stable than olive oil and does not require any refrigeration. In fact we estimate that properly stored ghee will last approximately 9 months without any refrigeration from the date of purchase, while experts recommend that extra virgin olive oil will need to be refrigerated in order to prevent rancidity. 
 
In the future, please remember to consider the smoke points of any oil that you will be cooking with. If ever in doubt, please know that ghee will maintain its flavor and nutritional content even while cooking at high heat and will also not go rancid if left without refrigeration for months after you have purchased it. For these reasons, ghee is our preferable oil to cook with! 

Filed Under: Healthy Oils, High Heat Cooking, Learn About Ghee

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Charu says

    September 17, 2013 at 1:31 pm

    No doubt Extra Virgin Olive Oil has a relatively lower smoke point of 180° C. However, Extra Virgin is only one grade of Olive Oil. Olive Oil (also called Pure Olive Oil) and Olive Pomace Oil have smoking points of 220°C and 238°C, respectively. Pomace is higher than other edible oils like Sunflower-226°C, Safflower- 232°C, Soybean- 232°C, Rice Bran Oil- 237°C, etc.) and is best suited for the high-heat cooking and frying common in Indian kitchens. It is also half the price of Extra Virgin and neutral in flavor. Olive Oil contains 73% monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFA), which is highest level as compared to other oils. This aids in improving blood cholesterol & insulin levels and blood sugar control. It is also known to be loaded with antioxidants in the form of polyphenols and tocopherols, including Vitamins A, D, E, K and B-carotene. Olive Oil is therefore an excellent choice for cooking in the Indian kitchen – just choose the right grade!

    Reply
  2. Akriti Sharma says

    February 6, 2019 at 1:41 am

    Extra virgin olive oil is a beneficial food in a healthy diet, it is almost used in almost all cooking applications. But the quality of the oil depends on the freshness of oil and how it is stored. When we repeatedly heat the oils or heat for longer periods of time, oil starts to break down and it gets damaged. So we need to take care of smoke point, higher smoke point i.e. more than 220 degree Celsius is not safe for any oil.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Recipe Search






About Us

Hi! We are Sandeep and Nalini Agarwal. We are passionate about sourcing and producing high-quality organic products that nourish, as well as taste delicious! We work with small farmers in both the United States and India. Since 1889, our family has been in the ghee business in India, and since 2008 have been making grassfed, organic ghee in the United States. We handcraft many spiced ghees and ayurvedic herbal ghees. Thank you for stopping by!

Recent Posts

  • Maple and Chai-Spiced Granola
  • Grain-Free Creamy Kitchari
  • Roasted Broccoli with Curry and Garam Masala
  • Simple, Nourishing Warm Milk Kefir
  • Easy Homemade Garlic Naan
  • Einkorn Chai-Spiced Chocolate Chip Cookies
  • Anjeer-Kefir Smoothie with Dates and Raw Honey
  • South Indian Summer Sambar
  • Dark Chocolate Cardamom Ice Cream
  • Ayurveda-Style Almond Milk with Spices
  • Comfort Custard
  • Quinoa Kitchari
  • Tropical Kokum Fruit
  • Food Additives and The Human Gut
  • Ghee Scrambled Eggs with Black Seed, Cumin and Curry Leaves
  • Mung Dal Buckwheat Kitchari
  • Indian-Spiced Chicken with Cashew Nuts
  • Pumpkin Streusel Muffins with Ghee and Spices
  • Wise-Woman Moon Milk with Shatavari Ghee and Fennel
  • Growing Up with Worcestershire Sauce
  • Heart-Warming Arjuna Moon Milk with Rose Petal Jam
  • Rest-Easy Brahmi-Ghee Moon Milk with Saffron
  • All-Around Magical Moon-Milk
  • Body-Boost Ashwagandha Moon Milk
  • Double Curry Dal with BEST HING EVER
  • Gluten-Free Flaxseed Muffins with Buttermilk, Ghee and Spices
  • Darjeeling Green Tea Latte
  • Darjeeling Iced Green Tea with Lime, Honey and Fruit
  • Ayurveda Cardamom-Citrus Immune Support Tea
  • Tandoori Seared Chicken Legs
  • Dave’s Stuffed Peppers
  • Indian Rice with Saffron, Spices and Cashews
  • Simple Chickpea Curry with Garlic Ghee
  • Pear Salad with Roasted Walnuts and Mango-Primal Dressing
  • Kick-Spiced Mini Turkey Muffins
  • What’s for Breakfast? Kapha Dosha
  • What’s for Breakfast? Pitta Dosha
  • What’s for Breakfast? Vata Dosha
  • Moringa Honey Coconut Ice Cream
  • Healing Carrot Ginger Soup with Ashwagandha Ghee
  • Munching on Mukhwas
  • Moringa, Date and Almond Treats
  • Organic Cardamom-Scented Maple Mukhwas
  • Classic Holiday Eggnog
  • No-Egg, No-Sugar Holiday “Nut-Nog”
  • Spiced Pears
  • Pumpkin Spice Bread with Honey-Cream Cheese Spread
  • Easy dabeli/samosa pinwheels (baked/air fried)
  • Basmati Rice and Oatmeal Breakfast Cereal
  • Red Palm Oil for cooking
  • The West has Bastardized Soy
  • Thandai, a Favorite Indian Cooling Summer Drink
  • Kitchari Cleanse – Panchakarma and Balance
  • Kabuli Chana and Kala Chana
  • Kabuli Chana Salad
  • Kala Chana Curry
  • Hawaiian Sandalwood
  • Re-thinking Avocado Oil
  • There’s No Fooling Mother Nature!
  • WHAT’S UP, DAAL?
  • Injipuli
  • Black Darjeeling? Green Darjeeling? Here’s the Difference
  • India’s Gift of Shampoo
  • Spinach Stew (Instant Pot Recipe)
  • Broccoli with Radicchio
  • Wild-Blueberry Spelt Pancakes
  • Kashmiri Deviled-Egg Appetizers
  • Beet Salad with Curry Dressing
  • Ghee-Roasted Carrots and Brussels Sprouts
  • Spicy-Nutty Chocolate Treats
  • Saffron-Curry Roast Chicken
  • Saffron Butter with Fresh Herbs
  • Whole Grain Ginger Kitchari
  • Mango Muse
  • Italian Style Zucchini Red Pepper Sauté
  • Easy Lentil Curry
  • Shamburak: Kurdish Meat Hand Pie – Great for leftovers!
  • Gluten-Free Banana-Oatmeal-Chocolate-Chip Cookies Using Digestive Ghee
  • Homemade Biscuits
  • Popcorn on Stove
  • Sprouted Mung Beans
  • Okroshka Soup
  • A Word About the Quality of Our Turmeric
  • Why you’ve never tasted the world’s most delicious mango
  • Saffron Fish Soup
  • Kashmiri-Saffron Risotto Alla Milanese
  • Almond Saffron Halwa
  • Kashmiri Saffron Kheer with Almonds
  • What does it mean to be Demeter Certified Biodynamic®?
  • Twice-Cooked Spiced Cauliflower
  • Kashmiri Saffron: the world’s most precious spice
  • 25 Uses for Jaggery
  • Sweet Potato Hummus with Artichokes and Black Sesame Seeds
  • Open-Faced Cucumber Cream Cheese Sandwiches
  • Grilled Sesame Tuna Steaks
  • Vegan Tofu “Cheese” Pancakes with Mango Dip
  • Roasted Beet Hummus with Feta and Black Sesame Seeds
  • Spinach, Feta and Sundried-Tomato Muffins
  • Baked Pumpkin with Cheese, Thyme and Sesame Seeds
  • Homemade Sesame Tahini

Footer

Pure Indian Foods
New Jersey

  • Disclaimer

Search

Copyright © 2025 Pure Indian Foods