Ingredient

Extra Virgin Olive Oil Recipes

53 recipes with extra virgin olive oil for weeknights, meal prep, and quick ingredient searches. Choose by time, cuisine, and what is in your kitchen.

41 recipes

What can I cook with just one more ingredient? →

High-Fiber White Bean & Chickpea Skillet

🌊MediterraneanAdvanced

Vegetable and Mushroom Dishes

High-Fiber White Bean & Chickpea Skillet

White beans and chickpeas in a garlicky tomato base with smoked paprika and wilted spinach — one skillet, 25 minutes, around 18 g of fiber per serving. This is the kind of dinner that looks simple and then keeps you full for four hours. No meat, no gluten, and genuinely good enough to make on a weeknight without thinking of it as a compromise. Serve with crusty bread or flatbread to drag through the sauce.

25 min380 kcal4 serves

🌱Vegan🌾Gluten-free💪High protein

★4.6

🇹🇷TurkeyMedium

Breakfast and Brunch

Çılbır (Turkish Eggs)

Poached eggs on a bed of thick, garlicky yogurt, finished with warm spiced butter or olive oil. Çılbır (pronounced chil-bir) dates to the Ottoman court of the 15th century. The combination sounds unusual — cold yogurt with hot eggs — but the contrast is exactly the point: the cool, tangy, creamy yogurt cushions the egg, the runny yolk breaks into it, and the red-tinted butter pools on top and sizzles when it hits the yogurt. This is one of those dishes that takes fifteen minutes and tastes like it took an hour. Bread is mandatory. You will not leave a drop.

15 min390 kcal2 serves

🌿Vegetarian🌾Gluten-free⚡Quick

★4.9

🇮🇹ItalyMedium

Cereal and Pasta Dishes

Pasta alla Puttanesca

A bold, briny Neapolitan pasta sauce built entirely from pantry staples: anchovies, olives, capers, garlic, and canned tomatoes. The name translates roughly as 'in the manner of a prostitute' — the exact origin is disputed but the dish is genuinely Neapolitan, from the Spanish Quarter, and dates to at least the mid-20th century. What makes it work is the combination of four distinct salty elements — the anchovy dissolves into the oil, the capers add a floral brine, the olives add a fruity richness, the tomato provides acidity — and none of them taste quite right alone, but together they produce something complex and deeply savory in under twenty minutes. Do not worry about the anchovies: they disappear completely into the oil and leave no fishy taste. Only their umami remains.

25 min490 kcal4 serves

⚡Quick🌶️Spicy

★4.8

🇫🇮FinlandMedium

Cereal and Pasta Dishes

Baked Feta Pasta

A whole block of feta baked in the center of a dish of cherry tomatoes and olive oil until golden and soft, then smashed together with roasted garlic and fresh basil into a creamy, tangy sauce that gets tossed with pasta. This dish went viral in Finland in 2019 under the name uunifetapasta (oven-baked feta pasta), created by food blogger Jenni Häyrinen. It hit TikTok in 2021 and caused a global feta shortage. The reason it works is simple: baking concentrates the tomatoes into something sweeter and more intense than fresh, and the feta bakes from a crumbly block into a soft, creamy, salt-forward mass that forms a sauce without any effort. The whole dish requires almost no technique — just one baking dish, one pot for pasta, and about 40 minutes of oven time.

45 min610 kcal4 serves

🌿Vegetarian🌶️Spicy

★4.8

🇬🇷GreeceEasy

Appetizers and Sandwiches

Saganaki

A slab of firm Greek cheese dredged in flour and pan-fried in olive oil until the outside forms a thin golden crust and the inside becomes soft and yielding. The dish takes about 8 minutes from start to finish and must be eaten immediately — the crust stays crisp for only a few minutes before it softens as the cheese cools. A squeeze of fresh lemon over the hot cheese just before serving cuts through the richness and is not optional. Saganaki is the name of both the small two-handled frying pan traditionally used and, by extension, the dish itself.

10 min340 kcal2 serves

🌿Vegetarian⚡Quick

★4.9

Chimichurri Rojo (Argentine Red Chimichurri)

🇦🇷ArgentinaMedium

Sauces and Dips

Chimichurri Rojo (Argentine Red Chimichurri)

Chimichurri rojo is the red sibling of Argentina's foundational herb sauce. Roasted red pepper and smoked paprika shift the colour and add a quiet smokiness that the green version does not have. It goes on steak the same way green chimichurri does, but also works as a marinade, a spread, and a dressing. Made in minutes. Better after resting. Keeps for two weeks.

15 min180 kcal8 serves

🌱Vegan🌾Gluten-free⚡Quick

★4.6

Gazpacho Andaluz (Classic Spanish Cold Tomato Soup)

🇪🇸SpainMedium

Soups

Gazpacho Andaluz (Classic Spanish Cold Tomato Soup)

Gazpacho is not a recipe — it is a summer habit in Andalusia. Ripe tomatoes, cucumber, green pepper, garlic, sherry vinegar, and a generous pour of olive oil go into the blender raw and come out as a cold, silky, bright-tasting soup that is consumed by the glass as much as by the bowl. The quality of the tomatoes decides everything. Needs at least two hours in the fridge before it tastes right.

20 min145 kcal4 serves

🌱Vegan🌾Gluten-free⚡Quick

★4.7

🇺🇸USAMedium

Sauces and Dips

Green Goddess Dressing

Green Goddess was invented at the Palace Hotel in San Francisco in 1923. The formula: mayonnaise, a serious amount of fresh herbs, tarragon, garlic, anchovy for depth, and lemon to hold it all together. The result is vivid green, herb-forward, and complex in a way no bottled version gets close to. Doubles as a dip, a sandwich spread, and a sauce for grilled fish or chicken. Makes in 10 minutes.

10 min120 kcal8 serves

🌾Gluten-free⚡Quick

★4.9

Whipped Feta with Hot Honey and Pistachio

🇬🇷GreeceMedium

Sauces and Dips

Whipped Feta with Hot Honey and Pistachio

Whipped feta with hot honey and pistachio is a creamy salty-sweet mezze dip — block feta blended with Greek yogurt, lemon zest, and olive oil into a fluffy spread, then drizzled with chili-infused honey and topped with toasted pistachios. The contrast is the whole point: salty fermented sheep's milk against sweet floral honey with a slow chili burn, and crunchy pistachio against the silky base. Comes together in under 15 minutes in a food processor and serves six on a mezze board with warm pita, crackers, or sliced pear. The hot honey is easy to make at home if you cannot find it in shops.

15 min230 kcal6 serves

🌿Vegetarian💪High protein⚡Quick

★4.5

Watermelon Feta Mint Salad with Honey-Lime Dressing

🌊MediterraneanMedium

Salads

Watermelon Feta Mint Salad with Honey-Lime Dressing

Watermelon feta mint salad is the classic Mediterranean summer dish where sweet cold watermelon meets salty creamy feta, lifted by fresh mint, cucumber, and a honey-lime dressing. The combination dates back at least 2000 years across Greece, Turkey, and Cyprus, where karpuz peyniri (watermelon with white cheese) is a daily summer staple. The trick is contrast: salt amplifies the watermelon's sweetness, watermelon water tames the sharpness of feta, and mint plus lime cut through the heaviness with brightness. Active work is 15 minutes — no cooking, just precise prep and a few small techniques that separate a great version from watery mush. Serves 6 as a side dish for grilled meats, fish, or as a light starter.

15 min180 kcal6 serves

🌿Vegetarian🌾Gluten-free⚡Quick

★4.8

Branzino al Sale (Italian Salt-Crusted Whole Sea Bass)

🇮🇹ItalyMedium

Fish and Seafood Dishes

Branzino al Sale (Italian Salt-Crusted Whole Sea Bass)

Branzino al sale is the classic Italian salt-crusted sea bass — a whole fish buried under coarse sea salt mixed with egg whites, baked at 200°C for 30 minutes, then cracked open at the table. The salt forms a hard dome that turns the oven into a sealed steam chamber: the fish cooks in its own moisture and the aromas of lemon, thyme, and rosemary. Despite the dramatic amount of salt, the flesh emerges perfectly seasoned, never salty — the scales act as a natural barrier. Restaurant-style Mediterranean seafood in its simplest form: high-protein, gluten-free, keto-friendly, and entirely hands-off once in the oven. Active work 10 minutes, bake 30 minutes. Serves 4 from two 700 g fish.

40 min280 kcal4 serves

💪High protein🌾Gluten-free🥑Keto

★4.9

Aïoli (Traditional Provençal Garlic and Olive Oil Sauce)

🇫🇷FranceEasy

Sauces and Dips

Aïoli (Traditional Provençal Garlic and Olive Oil Sauce)

Aïoli is the classic Provençal garlic and olive oil sauce — a thick, glossy, intensely garlicky emulsion made from raw garlic, egg yolk, and extra virgin olive oil. Its name comes from Occitan: alh (garlic) and òli (oil). The authentic 'aïoli véritable' uses no egg and relies purely on garlic's emulsifying compounds, but Larousse Gastronomique and modern French restaurants now standardize the egg-yolk version as 'aïoli'. In Provence, this sauce is the centerpiece of Le Grand Aïoli — a Friday lunch of boiled vegetables, salt cod, and hard-boiled eggs all dipped into a communal bowl. Vegetarian, gluten-free, keto-friendly. Active work 15 minutes, no cooking. Yields 250 ml, serves 8.

15 min220 kcal8 serves

🌿Vegetarian🌾Gluten-free⚡Quick

★4.8

Ingredients

Goes well with

Other ingredients that appear most often alongside extra virgin olive oil across the archive. Pick one to drill deeper.

olive oil tomato eggs garlic parmesan basil spaghetti anchovy fillets eggplant capers tomatoes feta cheese