Avocado Oil Versus Olive Oil: Which is Better and Safer for Healthy Cooking?


Persea americanaIs avocado oil better than olive oil to use for cooking in your kitchen? And should you even be frying with extra virgin olive oil or can this be harmful?

Here are the key differences between these two culinary oils and which one is better and safer for cooking.

What is Avocado Oil?

Cold pressed avocado oil is one of the few cooking oils extracted directly from the fruit, rather than chemically derived from seeds.

Avocados have the highest fat content of any fruit. These fats are cold pressed out of the fruit pulp in a similar way to the method used to produce extra virgin olive oils.

The resulting oil is rich in beneficial monounstated fats and has good levels of antioxidants and other nutritional compounds.

Avocado oil also has a particularly high smoke point that makes it an great choice for frying with.

In all of these ways, a high quality cold pressed and organic oil made from avocados is superior to the more commonly used olive oil. Here’s why.

Extra Virgin Olive Oil Compared to Avocado Oil — Which is Safer?

Cold pressed avocado oil has a strong claim as the best cooking oil to use in your kitchen, especially compared to olive oil.

It has a very high smoke point of 480 Fahrenheit (248 Celsius). This makes it an ideal choice for grilling, frying, roasting and other high temperature cooking.

By comparison, extra virgin olive oil has a much lower smoke point of 383 Fahrenheit (195 Celsius). This makes it unsuitable for high heat frying.

Lower quality ‘light’ olive oil has a smoke point of 430 Fahrenheit (221 Celsius), which is okay for cooking. Unrefined avocado oil is much better for you nutritionally than heat extracted oils though.Avocados high fat fruit?

Fat Comparison

Cold pressing extraction produces high quality and great tasting oil from avocados, with very low acidity and many beneficial properties. Foremost of these are high levels of monounsaturated fats.

Cold pressed avocado oil is up to 76% monounsaturated fatty acids. This is even higher than olive oil’s at approximately 67%. It also has less saturated fat at 13%, versus 17%.

Monounsaturated fatty acids, from plant sources like avocados and olives, are some of the best dietary fats for improving circulatory wellbeing.

Oleic acid and other omega-9 fats are also important for maintaining good moisture levels within your skin’s epidermal layer.

If your skin is feeling dry and looking tired, switching to cooking with avocado oil may help to improve your complexion.

There’s a much faster way to improve your skin tone though — by using it as a face moisturizer.

Vitamin E Levels

Natural vitamin E is a potent antioxidant for combating free radical damage. It’s also beneficial for skin health and healing.

Cold pressed and unrefined avocado oil has high levels of alpha and gamma tocopherol. Extra virgin olive oil is also rich in vitamin E, though amounts can vary greatly depending on processing and growing region.

Higher Phytosterols

Phytosterols are beneficial compounds found in both of these culinary oils that may reduce cholesterol absorption during digestion.

Cold pressed avocado oil has the phytosterol beta-sitosterol in the highest concentrations. It also contains other phytosterols like campesterol and stigmasterol.

It has around twice the beta-sitosterol of organic olive oil and even more than the highly regarded saw palmetto.

Olive Oil Vs Avocado Oil — The Verdict

There’s many reasons to recommend switching to avocado oil in your kitchen, especially if you are currently frying with extra virgin olive oil at high temperatures. Cooking oils made from cold pressed avocados are clearly superior for this purpose.

Alongside its much higher smoke point, it also has more monounsaturated fats, more antioxidant vitamin E and more beta-sitosterol than olive oil.

Finally, and most importantly for many people, cold pressed and organic avocado oil tastes great with a rich and buttery flavor.

All in all, extra virgin olive oil is still very good for you, especially unheated. In many ways though, the lesser known avocado oil is healthier and much better for cooking with.


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Click Here to Leave a Comment Below 18 comments
Raj

very useful article.
Thanks

Reply
Robin

Started using it on my skin instead of olive oil, noticeable difference. Avocado oil works 24 hours, opposed to olive oils 10-12. I’m a truck driver and this is very important in a day I may change climates a few times !

Reply
Jim Dillan

Hi Robin and thanks for your comments.

I actually wrote an article on using avocado oil as a skin moisturizer here: https://superfoodprofiles.com/how-to-apply-avocado-oil-face-moisturizer

All the best,

Jim

Reply
Rui

What about it’s acidity (Avocado oil)? Is it alkaline or acidic?

Reply
Jim Dillan

Hi Rui,

Avocados are very alkaline.

All the best,

Jim

Reply
Joseph

Hey Jim
I am a smoothie enthusiast,try this one for help with elimination, almond milk with 2 medium sized avocados skinned and pitted of course, with a bit of honey or maple syrup for sweetness and coca powder not a strong chocolate taste but helps with the irregularity.

Reply
Jim Dillan

Hi Joseph and thanks for your recipe. Fresh avocados have a lot of fiber so I’m not surprised it’s good for this.

I’ve written a bunch of new smoothie recipes you might like here https://superfoodprofiles.com/tag/superfood-recipes/

All the best,

Jim

Reply
Matthew Graham

Can avocado oil be consumed directly each day? And if so, what would be a beneficial amount to consume, ie via a teaspoon or on bread?

Thanks

Matt

Reply
Jim Dillan

Hi Matthew,

Yes it can. The best way to use it is to replace unhealthy vegetable oil with it. If you wanted you could have it by teaspoon a few times a day, though I don’t recommend wheat bread for good health.

All the best,

Jim

Reply
Greg

I just tried Avocado oil for the first time and I love it.

Reply
morgan

Interesting. Faddist nonsense? No, Avocado oil is for real. Olive oil is and has always been somewhat controversial, but used worldwide, probably because it’s so available, but here comes a superior oil, and also widely available. Eating avocados has never been something I liked, and without some help from onions, tomatoes, etc., I find they gag me, but mixed with other things, all right and in a smoothie, great. We’re all looking for something beneficial, no matter be it taste, health, appearance, etc., so few things have a simple story, we create long dissertations when a simple fact sheet would do, for instance, sugar is toxic, as are so many things, mainly processed and fast food. Why were those ‘snake oil’ mentalities allowed to exist let alone prosper? People are, however, followers and often trust those who should never be trusted let alone accepted and even protected by law. For instance, 90% (a biased or unbiased figure, just guessing actually) of processed food is loaded with health damaging ingredients but nothing is done by the FDA/government who are supposed to protect us from those psychopaths or who embrace the psychopath’s mantra, which is profit no matter what. It’s nice to see something that appears to be a superior and healthful product get good reviews. I scrambled my eggs in avocado oil this am, threw in some raw chopped onions and found it delicious. Olive oil would have been somewhat overpowering by comparison.

Reply
Jim Dillan

Hi Morgan and thanks for your comments.

I agree with what you’ve written, though I love eating avocados myself.

Avocado oil is definitely great for cooking meals like scrambled eggs.

All the best,

Jim

Reply
Oskar

Which is the healthiest oil to cook bacon in
Coconut oil Olive oil or avocado oil ?

Reply
Jim Dillan

Hi Oskar,

Avocado oil due to it’s high smoke point and balancing omega-9 fats.

All the best,

Jim

Reply
Harsh Sheh

Hi – I do have some cholesterol issue (both good and bad cholesterol). Any suggestions between Olive and Avacado Oil? I am looking for basic cooking – to make curries and saute. Thanks,

Reply
Jim Dillan

Hi there,

As described in the article, avocado oil is the superior oil, especially for high temperature cooking. Though both are far better than unhealthy vegetable oil for cholesterol issues and general good health.

All the best,

Jim

Reply
Jim Dillan

Hi Lillian,

I’ve written some healing smoothie recipes worth trying for some of these conditions here https://superfoodprofiles.com/healthy-smoothie-for-hair-growth
https://superfoodprofiles.com/natural-smoothie-treatment-for-arthritis-painful-joints

All the best,

Jim

Reply
voyage CE Etats-Unis

J’ai bien aimé votre article, bravo, très juste.
j’apprécie énormément votre blog

Reply

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