Avocado Oil

Avocado Oil: Nutrition and Complete Cooking Guide

Avocado oil is extracted from the flesh (not the seed) of the avocado (Persea americana), making it one of the very few edible oils pressed from a fruit's flesh rather than a seed. It is produced primarily in Mexico, Kenya, Chile, and New Zealand, with Mexico — the world's dominant avocado producer — rapidly expanding its avocado oil industry. Cold-pressed extra virgin avocado oil has a distinctive rich, buttery flavour and deep green colour (from chlorophyll and carotenoids) that makes it an excellent finishing oil and salad dressing base. Refined avocado oil is paler, with a more neutral flavour and exceptional heat stability. Avocado oil has become increasingly popular in premium cooking and health food contexts since the 2010s, valued for its high smoke point, mild buttery flavour, and oleic-acid-rich fat profile similar to olive oil.

Nutritional Value and Fat Composition

Avocado oil provides 884 kcal and 100 g of fat per 100 g, with 11.6 g of saturated fat. The fat is approximately 70% monounsaturated (oleic acid), 13% polyunsaturated, and 12% saturated — very similar in composition to olive oil. The smoke point of refined avocado oil is approximately 270°C — one of the highest of any cooking oil, making it exceptional for high-heat searing, stir-frying, and grilling. Cold-pressed avocado oil contains carotenoids (lutein) and vitamin E.

How to Use Avocado Oil

Refined avocado oil is ideal for very high-heat applications where its smoke point excels — searing, wok cooking, deep-frying at high temperature. Extra virgin avocado oil suits salad dressings, finishing dishes, drizzling over ceviche and raw preparations, and light dipping. The buttery, avocado-inflected flavour of extra virgin avocado oil suits Mexican-inspired preparations, salads with citrus, and anywhere a rich, slightly fruity finishing oil is appropriate.