6 Olive Oils At Trader Joe's, Ranked Worst To Best

Olive oil is one of those pantry items that most people toss in their shopping carts without even thinking twice about. But just like choosing a good bottle of wine (check out these white wines ranked from Trader Joe's), having a little bit of expertise goes a long way. Nowadays, most supermarkets and grocery stores are overcrowded with niche olive oil brands sporting confusing labels that might send some shoppers spiraling when deciding which bottle to choose. As a professional chef, I made it my mission to help. I visited one of my favorite grocery store chains in the U.S., Trader Joe's, to see what consumers were working with.

The store is well-known for having a great selection of olive oil, ranging from single-origin and flavored varieties to everyday cooking workhorses that help guide you through simple kitchen tasks. Putting the cult-favorite grocery store chain to the test, I picked six olive oils that were either unflavored or extra virgin so I could evaluate each one purely on its own merit without any added flavoring or ingredients to influence the tasting. I ranked them based on factors including flavor and aroma to figure out which olive oil is the best one on store shelves. With that being said, here are six olive oils from Trader Joe's ranked worst to best.

Trader Joe's Imported Olive Oil is exactly the type of oil you should buy if you're looking for a no-fuss, dependable everyday cooking oil. Now let's get one thing straight: This olive oil isn't an extra-virgin olive oil — it's technically a regular olive oil, meaning it has been refined and processed, so it has a higher smoke point and a neutral taste. This isn't the type of olive oil you'll want to drizzle over a caprese salad or dip a slice of bread into — it's purely meant to be a workhorse oil in your kitchen that you can use to sauté, fry, or bake with.

That being said, its flavor is quite mild, it has a neutral scent, and its color lacks the vibrant green hue you'll find in most extra-virgin olive oils. All in all, it's definitely worth its price tag of $9.99 as a cooking oil, but just keep in mind, it's just not designed to be used as a finishing oil or savored on its own. If you're on the hunt for olive oil that you can drizzle over a platter of grilled veggies or serve alongside a salad, definitely skip this olive oil and pick up another one of Trader Joe's lovely extra-virgin olive oils instead.

Trader Joe's Italian President's Reserve Extra Virgin Olive oil by far delivered the sharpest, most spicy and peppery kick. After the first sip, it left my mouth completely dry, so much so that I immediately reached for a glass of water to reset my palate and wash away the overwhelming spiciness. It's worth noting that a peppery flavor can be a good sign since it's an indicator that the olive oil was recently pressed and contains high levels of oleocanthal, a natural compound that's most concentrated in young olives. Thankfully, the oleocanthal gradually dissipates as the oil ages, turning into a much smoother finish. So maybe in a few weeks to a month, the flavor of the olive oil will change, but as of now, its sharp, peppery, spicy kick ultimately didn't win me over.

Beyond flavor, on the nose it had a fairly neutral scent with lingering hints of freshly cut grass and fruit. It's one of the chain grocery store's 100% Italian olive oils, with the back label stating the olives used were grown and harvested in Italy; however, it failed to include any information about the varietal of olive used or when the actual olives were harvested. It's priced at $12.99. Bottom line, if you favor an olive oil with a peppery sharpness, then this bottle is for you; however, if you want a smoother finish and don't want it to wait for it to mellow out, then definitely reach for another bottle instead. 

Living in Italy, I go through what seems like hundreds of bottles of olive oil within a few weeks. I use it to sear chicken thighs and marinate meat, and I even prefer to fry my eggs in it in place of butter. When doing these mundane kitchen tasks, I'm not going to reach for the most high-quality olive oil in my pantry; I'll reach for something like this one — Trader Joe's Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Liter. This olive oil is a perfect example of what you can have sitting by your stovetop, ready to do anything from crisping up some slices of sourdough bread to drizzling over vegetables before they get tossed in the oven.

It has a relatively mild flavor with a slightly astringent, peppery flavor and a subtle, lingering buttery finish. The nose leads with delicate notes of spice and pepper that sort of round out its overall flavor profile, providing just enough complexity to keep things interesting. Bear in mind, while it has a fairly decent flavor profile, I wouldn't use this olive oil as a finishing oil to garnish a bowl of pasta or salad — think of it like an elevated everyday cooking oil. At my local Trader Joe's, it's priced at $10.99, which is a pretty fair price for the amount of olive oil you're getting. So if you're looking for an everyday olive oil that's a bit higher in quality than Trader Joe's Imported Olive Oil, I recommend going for this one.

Trader Joe's Sicilian Selezione Extra Virgin Olive Oil leans the heaviest on the fruit side, with each sip so fresh and full of flavor it almost tasted like biting into a Giada de Laurentiis favorite olive — the juicy Castelvetrano. Despite the bottle noting a "distinctive peppery finish," that characteristic sadly never came through across multiple separate tastings. The olive oil is packed in a clear bottle, which isn't the best since it exposes the contents to more light, causing photo-oxidation. This causes the olive oil to degrade over time, harming beneficial antioxidants and causing the oil to oxidize faster, leading it to have a rancid or stale flavor.

Beyond its packaging and flavor, the olive oil does have a lovely aroma with subtle notes of freshly cut grass and tomato leaves. I would totally use it to drizzle over this Green Bean And Tomato Panzanella Salad. Its fresh, fruity flavor would make it great as a dipping sauce for bread, grilled meat, and vegetables. Coming in at $10.99, it's a fairly decent bottle of olive oil for the price, especially if you're looking for one with a fruity flavor profile — just make sure to keep it out of direct sunlight.

Coming in at second place is Trader Joe's Premium Extra Virgin Olive Oil. At first, the olive oil has a lovely fruity, almost sweet flavor, then as it warms in your mouth, it gives off subtle notes of pepper and spice. On the nose, it has a lovely green, floral scent, making me assume that the olives used were harvested early in the season while they were still young and at their peak. The label indicates that it was cold-pressed, meaning that it was produced without the use of heat or chemicals with either a traditional stone press or a mechanical centrifuging machine, at a temperature below 80 degrees Fahrenheit. The method helps to preserve the oil's natural flavor, distinctive green color, antioxidants, and nutrients, ensuring a high-quality and well-rounded olive oil.

Coming in at $12.49, it's one of Trader Joe's more expensive olive oils. Unlike its Sicilian counterpart, this olive oil is properly packaged in a dark, tinted bottle. Each bottle is 32 fluid ounces, so it's a pretty good deal given its robust flavor profile and aroma. You can use it for salads, bread-dipping, or meat marinades or as a finishing oil over a bowl of pasta. It's definitely a great find at Trader Joe's, and if you're looking for well-rounded extra virgin olive oil that you can use to sauté and make salad dressing from, then this one is your best bet.

Out of all of the olive oils I tried, the Novello Italian Reserve Extra Virgin Olive Oil was my favorite, and honestly, one of the best grocery store olive oils I've come across in the U.S. while visiting from Italy. As soon as I opened the bottle, its tomato leaf and herbaceous aroma took me back to the summers I spent on my partner's olive oil farm in Tuscany. Its intensely green taste and notes of green tomatoes and artichoke took me back even further to the first autumn I ever spent in Tuscany, where olive oil harvest is at the center of everyone's attention, and young, early-harvest olive oil is on display at nearly every restaurant.

The label states the olive oil is made with the finest Italian olives that are cold-pressed, unfiltered, and unrefined, which explains its bright green color and cloudy appearance. Oftentimes, producers filter the olive oil to remove any pulp or water, increasing its shelf life. Trader Joe's went the opposite direction with this olive oil by leaving it unfiltered, giving it a stronger flavor and shorter shelf life, resulting in its cloudy appearance. I definitely recommend buying this olive oil. At $15.99, it's the most expensive on the list, but I think it's well worth it. Its flavor and versatility are unmatched — you can use it for everything from garnishing a bowl of pasta to sautéing some veggies or including in a baking application.

All six olive oils were bought at Trader Joe's at their normal price. Each one was kept in a cool, dry, dark storage room before tasting. Keeping it simple, I evaluated each bottle of olive oil on three criteria: flavor, scent, and whether the price actually was worth what you're getting.

Each one was tasted using the "4 Ss" method, where you swirl the olive oil in a dish to release its aromas, sniff it to detect its scent, slurp it through your teeth to aerate the oil and coat the mouth, then finally, swallow it to check its pungency. This method is frequently used by professionals and recognized by the International Olive Council (IOC), ensuring a full evaluation of its sensory characteristics, identifying its flavor profile, and determining its level of quality. Based on my taste test results, the olive oils that had the mildest or astringent flavor and aroma ranked lower on the list, while those with a fresh, fruity, well-balanced flavor profile and aroma ranked higher.