Olive Oil Spray: What to Look For and How to Use It
The working pantry, issue two. On seasoning with a lighter hand.
A bottle of olive oil pours. A good olive oil spray mists, and the difference is not convenience but control. A single press lays down a thin, even veil of oil across a salad, a fillet of fish or a sheet of vegetables, reaching every leaf without pooling anywhere. It is the same idea as finishing with a pinch rather than a spoon: less of something better, placed exactly where it is wanted.
What to look for on the label
Most of what is sold as cooking spray is not olive oil at all, or is olive oil thinned with water, lecithin, alcohol and a propellant to make it fly. That is the product to avoid. A spray worth keeping on the counter should read like a bottle of oil would.
- Extra virgin olive oil first, and ideally only, on the ingredient list. If the oil is flavored, the flavor should be real: lemon, not lemon aroma.
- A fine, dry mist rather than a jet. The point is coverage, not volume.
- Provenance. The sprays we carry are made in Italy by Fratelli Mantova, a family firm that has been pressing and bottling oil since 1905.
- A size you will finish. Oil oxidizes once opened. A 5 to 8 oz spray used daily is better than a large one used rarely.
Where a spray is better than a pour
- Salads. Mist the leaves, then the acid. A dressed salad without a wet bottom.
- Grilled and roasted fish. A pass of Sicilian lemon olive oil over branzino, cod or shrimp just off the heat.
- Sheet-pan vegetables. Two seconds of spray coats a whole tray evenly, so the edges brown instead of stew.
- Bread, toast and focaccia. Before the oven and again after, with a pinch of fleur de sel.
- Air fryers and grill grates. Where a pour is wasteful and a brush is slow.
- Tomatoes, burrata and carpaccio. A veil of oil that lets the ingredient stay the point.
What a spray is not for: deep frying, or searing in a very hot pan. Keep a bottle of extra virgin olive oil for that. The spray belongs at the end.
The Spray Pantry
We built The Spray Pantry around four Mantova sprays that cover most of a week’s cooking.
- Sicilian Lemon Extra Virgin Olive Oil Spray: the everyday one, for fish, vegetables, salads and grilled chicken.
- Italian Dressing Spray: extra virgin olive oil and Balsamic of Modena together, for tomatoes and greens in one gesture.
- Poke Soy Sauce Spray: for rice bowls, avocado toast and steamed vegetables, without the puddle.
- Butter Taste Ghee Oil Spray: for eggs, pancakes and the inside of a pan.
The three savory sprays are also gathered as The Lello Spray Trio, a useful gift for a new kitchen. For the table rather than the stove, Château d’Estoublon’s Duo Couture presents Provençal olive oil and organic balsamic in two perfume-style atomizers, made to be passed around like a decanter.
Keeping it
Store sprays as you would oil: upright, closed, away from heat and light, and used within a few months of opening. If the nozzle slows, wipe it with a warm cloth. A spray that has lost its fragrance has lost its point; replace it.
Questions about which spray suits your cooking? Ask Lello.