This Deliciously Versatile Olive Oil Makes Meal Prep So Much Easier — and It’s On Sale
As home cooks, bakers, and recipe developers, we get pretty excited about ingredients around here. Case in point: olive oil. We’ve raved about direct-to-consumer brand Brightland for years and taste tested more than 30 different bottles of grocery store olive oil to find the best one in our Essential Groceries list. (Spoiler alert: it’s a favorite of Ina Garten!) Basically, we’re always on the lookout for new oils to try and see whether they’re worth adding to your kitchen, too. And with new-to-the-scene Graza and their set of squeeze bottle olive oils, we’ve found yet another favorite.
Olive oil has been getting the DTC treatment over the years, and it might all feel a little overwhelming at first. How much variation is there between your local grocery store olive oil from one of these pricier bottles anyway? Turns out, quite a lot. Thankfully, Graza does a great job of teaching us the ropes, whether you’re a novice or expert in the kitchen.
To start, Graza keeps it simple with just two oils which you can buy separately or in a combo pack. There’s Sizzle, a mellow 100 percent extra-virgin olive oil meant for cooking. It’s ideal for everyday roasting, searing, pan frying, sautéing, marinating — you name it. And then there’s Drizzle, a bolder olive oil that’s great as a simple dip for crusty bread and as a finishing oil on top of pizza, soup, or ice cream (more on that later!). What sets Graza apart is their focus on fresh olives that are all picked and bottled in Spain — there’s no blending of olives here.
Possibly the most show-stealing aspect about Graza is the squeeze bottle. Initially, this is what drew me to the brand — I was excited by the prospect of being able to squeeze olive oil into a pan or on top of a dish that needs a little finishing, rather than fumble with a cap and potentially pour way too much. I love using Sizzle when I’m cooking because I never overdo the olive oil (unless I want to!), and it makes me feel like a real chef when I’m cooking, mimicking the bottles used in many professional kitchens. The opaque bottle even does double duty by protecting your oil from light.
So far, I’ve used Sizzle every time I cook, whether it’s for stew, roasted veggies, pan-fried chicken, and more. And there’s no such thing as using too much EVOO because it just tastes so good. I love detecting the mellow grassy flavor in a spoonful of soup or a bite of fried eggs.
However, the very best way I’ve used these oils is on ice cream. I once had olive oil ice cream at a restaurant in Boston’s North End and have dreamed about it ever since. So as soon as I opened a bottle of Drizzle, I topped a bowl of pistachio ice cream with a generous squeeze and couldn’t believe how heavenly it tasted together.
While some of the more fancy olive oils can be expensive, the Sizzle and Drizzle Combo Pack is $35 for a one-time purchase while a recurring subscription drops the price down a bit to $31.50. Not only do I plan on buying another set for myself, but I’m also eyeing these beautifully packaged bottles as fantastic gifts for my friends who love to cook.