Lemon Olive Oil: How It’s Made and How to Use It
Lemon olive oil is extra virgin olive oil with the fragrance of lemon peel built in. It does the work of a squeeze of lemon and a drizzle of oil at once, without the sharpness of the juice: a finishing oil for fish, salads, vegetables and pasta, and a baking oil for one of the best cakes there is. Here is how it is made, how to use it, and what to look for.
Two ways to make lemon olive oil
Crushed together. The traditional method, called agrumato in Italy, mills whole lemons with the olives, so the oil from the peel and the oil from the fruit come out of the press together. It is the most aromatic and the most expensive kind. The story goes that it began in Abruzzo, where millers crushed lemons with the last olives of the season to clean the stones.
Infused or flavored. Most lemon olive oils are made by blending finished extra virgin olive oil with lemon flavor. The result is bright and consistent, keeps as long as the base oil, and costs less. Il Boschetto’s lemon olive oil is made this way, on Italian extra virgin olive oil, by a house on the Maremma coast of Tuscany. So is Mantova’s Sicilian lemon olive oil spray, which puts it in a mister for salads and grilled fish.
How to use lemon olive oil
- Fish and shellfish. Drizzle it over grilled or roasted fish at the table, or toss it with shrimp, as in our garlic butter shrimp scampi with lemon olive oil.
- Pasta. Spaghetti al limone needs little more than lemon oil, butter, Parmigiano and pasta water. The Lemon Pasta Supper packs the three pantry pieces it asks for.
- Salads and vegetables. Use it in place of the oil and some of the lemon in a vinaigrette, over steamed green beans or asparagus, or over tomatoes and burrata.
- Cakes. Lemon olive oil cake and French yogurt cake both take it in place of plain oil; see our lemon olive oil cake and French yogurt cake with lemon olive oil.
- Finishing. A few drops over ricotta, vanilla ice cream or a bowl of white beans, or on avocado toast with a pinch of Sicilian lemon sea salt.
Cooking with it
Heat dulls the lemon. Cook with plain olive oil and use lemon olive oil raw or at the very end. Baking is the exception: in a cake, the lemon comes through the oven well.
Can you make lemon olive oil at home?
You can warm olive oil gently with strips of lemon peel, leaving the white pith behind, then cool and strain it. Treat the result as perishable: homemade oils made with fresh ingredients belong in the fridge and should be used within four days. Commercial lemon oils are made to be shelf-stable, which is why they keep as long as the oil itself. More in Does Olive Oil Expire?
Questions
Is lemon olive oil the same as lemon-infused olive oil? Usually. Infused and flavored lemon oils are blended after milling; agrumato, or crushed, lemon oils are milled with whole lemons.
Is lemon olive oil extra virgin? In a good one the base oil is extra virgin olive oil; the label should say so.
How long does lemon olive oil last? As long as the extra virgin it is built on: at its best within a few months of opening, kept capped and away from heat and light.
More infused oils: basil olive oil and lavender olive oil. Shop all infused olive oils and vinegars, or browse our olive oil gift sets.