Using Olive Oil for Breakfast: Our Top Five Tips

Posted by Olivia on Wed, August 24, 2011

Most home cooks have a bottle or two of extra virgin olive oil on hand for using in lunch and dinner recipes. But did you know that olive oil has its own place in every breakfast meal? Read on for our top five tips on using olive oil for the everyday breakfast.

Scrambling eggs and more

Not just scrambled eggs, but anything in a skillet, really—ham, eggs, tofu, potatoes … Extra virgin olive oil can withstand temperatures of around 400°F, so it’s perfectly suitable for using in your breakfast sautés. In fact, by replacing your usual butter or “vegetable” oil with olive oil, you’ll be adding a more balanced, heart-healthy monounsaturated fat to your breakfast.

Drizzle into oatmeal

Is there anything oatmeal can’t do? It’s been shown to prevent heart disease and certain cancers by reducing LDL cholesterol and providing beneficial fiber. Pump it up even more with a handful of seasonal fruits and a finishing drizzle of extra virgin olive oil. Olive oil not only adds more heart-healthy benefits to your oatmeal, but fat helps your body absorb the vitamins found in the fruit and oatmeal itself—so you get even more nutrition out of your meal.

Use in pancake batter & morning breads

For the lovers of pancakes, waffles, and all things sweet bread for breakfast, you can benefit from using extra virgin olive oil in your batter. It will make your breads moist, tender, and ever so soft—plus, you can even bake with it. Check out ourbutter-to-olive oil conversion chart for your baking recipes. And we’ve heard raves from customers about using our Blood Orange Oil in waffle batter!

Make a new breakfast sandwich
Reinvent the McMuffin sandwich with a much healthier breakfast sandwich. We take the Spanish-inspired route with this one, and we’ve never looked back: sliced avocados, ripe tomatoes, and a pinch of sea salt, all layered over lightly toasted bread. Finished with just a drizzle of olive oil, the result is nothing short of artisanal perfection. You’re going to love this new breakfast idea!

Replace butter for your heart

A recent study published in the journal Atherosclerosis showed that eating walnuts and olive oil for breakfast did not have the same inflammatory effect on the heart as a butter-based breakfast did. Once again, nuts and olive oil have been proved to reduce inflammation, so make sure your breakfast is heart-protective. Try drizzling a bit of olive oil over your toast with jam instead of the usual butter standby.