15 best olive oils that bring vibrancy to any dish

If you love those chunky and buttery nocellara olives as much as we do, you’ll also love this olive oil. Giving a fresh medium fruitiness, it’s well rounded, with a touch of butteriness.

It has a PGI (protected geographical indication) status, protecting the regional product, which comes from Sicily. It’s made from a single variety of olives and we think it sings best when used on simple white fish dishes and in leafy and pulse salads.

It comes in a rather dashing bright blue tin with gold embossed lettering, giving it that premium feel (while also not having a huge price tag) and it’s one that looks great left out on the kitchen worktop or shelf.

One of the most affordable litre bottles, this is even better value, considering it’s an extra virgin olive oil, and not just a blended oil, as you might expect for the price. It’s also the only plastic bottle on the list (which is entirely recyclable after a good rinse), though it wins points for its dark colour, protecting the liquid inside from degradation from sunlight.

Made using olives from Spain, the taste is very herbaceous to begin with, before building into a long peppery aftertaste. We think it’s best used for dipping, dressing and marinades and anything in your everyday food, considering its low price point.

Founded in 1988 by Monika Linton, you might know Brindisa best for its mini chain of Spanish delis and tapas restaurants, which began opening in London at a time when Spain had little representation in the UK. The brand’s name is derived from the word brindis, meaning to raise a glass in a toast.

Made using 100 per cent Arbequina olives from northern Spain’s Navarra region, this oil is delightfully rounded with quite bold flavours, including a fruitiness, with grassy hints of green tomato and a light peppery aftertaste. It’s one of our favourites for bread dipping, and we love the design of the tin.

A certified B-Corp, Belazu is one of the most recognisable olive oil brands you’ll see on the supermarket shelves. The early harvest press gives a more vibrant flavour, including hints of grass and almond, with a touch of pepper. ‘Early harvest’ means the olives are picked in early October, so you’re getting the best flavour of the olives – as they’re not fully ripe, you get a more intense flavour. For this reason, we think early harvest oils are best used drizzled on grilled fish and vegetables or over soups. This option is made in Catalonia, on a family farm that uses traditional huge granite stones to press the olives.

This is an intensely fruity olive oil, with bright notes of ripe green tomato and plenty of pepper throughout. It’s complex and well rounded, so it can stand up to hefty flavours, including red meat, tomato sauces and oily fish – drizzle it over a beef or sausage ragu at the end of cooking, or over a beef carpaccio.

The Guglielmi family has been making olive oil since the 1950s, using the very best Coratina olives, which are grown in Puglia. The bottle comes in a gift box, making it very gift-worthy, too.

Odysea has cemented itself as an excellent importer of high-quality Greek and Mediterranean foods since 1991, and this olive oil is no exception.

Coming with a PDO (protected designation of origin) status, it’s made using hand-harvested koroneiki olives, which are pressed just hours afterwards being picked. The olives are grown in the mountainous Kalamata region of Greece – an area renowned for its superior category of olive oil, which isn’t to be confused with the kalamata olive variety, which aren’t used in this oil.

It’s a full-bodied, herbaceous oil, with plenty of bitterness and a pepperiness throughout that stands out even against foods with big flavours, such as red meats and rich tomatoey sauces. 

From everyone’s favourite Italian deli (which began life back in 1944) comes this extra virgin olive oil in a hand-painted terracotta jug. It’s another great one for gifting, as well as refilling and keeping on the worktop, as it just looks so good.

Made with Apulian olives picked by hand, it’s cold pressed on the same day of harvesting, which helps give the oil an intense herbaceous and full, buttery flavour. You’ll also get hints of spicy notes in the aftertaste.

In true Italian style, it’s best enjoyed with pasta, whether that’s meat or fish based dishes; drizzled over grilled vegetables; and, of course, for dipping freshly baked focaccia. Choose between the splattered or striped bottle, both of which come with a wax-sealed cork, making these bottles feel extra special.

What this dinky 200ml bottle lacks in size it certainly makes up for in its sense of fun, with its bright yellow bottle and big eyes motif. The yellow bottle is unique to the lemon flavoured option – there are five others in the range, each with a different colour and flavour, including basil and chilli.

The oil is made on the Greek island of Crete, using the cold pressed method, and flavoured with real lemon, which gives it a well-balanced zing. We like it drizzled on everything but especially on simple grilled fish and green leaf salads, to give them an easy hit of citrus.

Instantly recognisable, thanks to its cylindrical metal tin, complete with Mediterranean design, this olive oil has far more to it than just a pleasing aesthetic. Hailing from the south of France, this oil is very light, with a floral hint and the slightest peppery aftertaste. Its fruitiness makes it a good option for adding to raw and cooked vegetables, salads, fresh pasta and fish, and is best used with a metal pourer, to avoid it getting stuck in the rim of the tin.

This oil is made using a secret 100-year-old recipe, using cold extraction of ripe olives, which are pressed using a traditional stone mill, helping to preserve their buttery mellow flavour.

B Corp Citizens of Soil aims to improve transparency within the olive oil market, by working only with regenerative farmers, while also offering refills and a take-back recycling scheme, and giving farmers a fairer deal by paying above market price.

This Croatian bottle is part of the extra rare range, which includes an oil from Portugal, too. Yes, it’s expensive at £30 for just 375ml, but it’s very worthy. Coming from the Istrian Peninsula, at the top of the Adriatic coast, just 1,100 bottles have been made (each label is numbered) and is made using olives from a family-owned organic farm.

It’s incredibly high quality with intensely fresh grassy notes and plenty of fruitiness, with a decent amount of pepper to it and plenty of green veg and green tomatoes. Pair it with rocket salads, vegetable risotto and soft cheeses – it’s certainly one to savour.

Spanish chef José Pizarro is often nicknamed the godfather of Spanish food in the UK, after his decades-long efforts to showcase the best of real Spanish food, with a number of restaurants, including the newly opened Lolo.

Pizarro has a range of Spanish imported foods on his website, including the famous leg of jamon and his own pimento spice, along with a range of oils. This Spanish extra virgin olive oil is the latest addition. It’s mild and builds into a real peppery aftertaste and is made using 100 per cent manzanilla cacereno olives, which are native to Madrid and known for their high quality.

As the name suggests, this brand’s raison d’être is to change attitudes towards fats (spoiler: they’re not the enemy). Instead, Good Phats wants to encourage shoppers to understand more about good fats, and steer away from using poor-quality fats that aren’t as good for our diets.

This is another bold oil, as it’s made with coratina olives from Puglia, which help give that big flavour profile, with notes of grass, tomatoes and a lengthy peppery finish.

As well as extra virgin olive oil, the range includes an organic oil, an avocado oil and even a ghee made from organic milk from grass-fed cows.

Puglia is one of Italy’s oldest olive-growing regions, and Bisceglie, where Galantino olive oil is made, is said to produce more olives than anywhere else in the world.

This is another oil with PDO status, and the family producing it has been doing so for three generations, since 1926. Traditional stone mills are used to press the olives, which provide a mild and medium fruitiness, with only a hint of bitterness. We like to drizzle this oil on salads and pasta, as well as dipping freshly baked sourdough into it.

Waitrose’s Duchy Organic range is known for its quality produce, and this olive oil does not disappoint. Made from olives grown on an organic farm in Italy, this oil is also one of the more affordable options available. It’s a milder oil, with fresh grassy and herby notes, with an almost citrus hint, and a nice peppery finish that’s great for seafood, pasta and salads.

Proceeds from each product in the range are donated to the King Charles III Charitable Fund, which has so far raised more than £30m towards helping good causes.

At less than £11 for 2l, this is a bargain tin of oil. Though, it’s important to note the reason for its low price point is it’s a blended oil, made up of 80 per cent sunflower oil and 20 per cent extra virgin olive oil.

It’s still a great option, however, as the olive oil used is excellent quality – Karyatis is the mainstream range from the Odysea brand (also featured in this list). The olives come from the southwestern Peloponnese region of Greece, giving the oil a pleasing and mild taste of green olives with a light peppery finish.

Sunflower oil has become the main alternative for shoppers lately, as olive oil prices continue to rise. This blended oil has a much thinner consistency than the 100 per cent olive oils included in this round-up, so, it isn’t the one we’d reach for when looking for something to drizzle over salads. Instead, it’s great for using in the pan when stir frying vegetables.