Olive Oil vs Butter for Baking
You can swap olive oil for butter in most baked goods, and a good starting ratio is three parts oil to every four parts butter — so roughly 3 tablespoons of olive oil for every 4 tablespoons (55g) of butter. Because oil is pure fat and butter is only about 80% fat (the rest is water and milk solids), you use a little less. The result is a moister, longer-keeping crumb with a gentle savoury depth. It shines in cakes, muffins, quick breads and brownies; it struggles anywhere you need butter’s solid structure, like flaky pastry or a creamed, airy sponge.
Why the swap works (and when it doesn’t)
Fat does three jobs in baking: it carries flavour, it tenderises by coating flour proteins so less gluten forms, and — in the case of butter — it traps air when creamed with sugar. Olive oil handles the first two beautifully. It coats flour more thoroughly than solid butter can, which is exactly why oil-based cakes stay tender and moist for days while butter cakes tend to dry out and firm up in the fridge.
Where butter has the edge is structure. When you cream cold butter with sugar, the sugar crystals cut tiny air pockets into the solid fat, and those pockets expand in the oven to lift a classic sponge or pound cake. Oil is liquid, so it can’t hold that air — oil cakes rely on eggs and raising agents for lift instead, giving a denser, more even crumb rather than a light, fluffy one. Butter also sets hard as it cools, which is what makes shortcrust and puff pastry flaky and gives shortbread its snap. Try to make laminated pastry or a crisp biscuit with oil and you’ll get something greasy and soft. For those, keep the butter.
The other honest difference is flavour. Butter is sweet, creamy and familiar. Olive oil brings a grassy, peppery, faintly bitter note that can be lovely in the right bake. Use a milder, riper oil for delicate cakes and save the punchy, peppery extra virgin for things that can carry it — a chocolate cake, an orange and almond loaf, a rosemary olive oil cake. If you’re curious how those flavour differences arise, our guide to olive oil grades and flavour is a good next read.
Substitution ratios and what each fat does to texture
The table below is a practical starting point. Treat it as a guide rather than gospel — flours, ovens and recipes vary, so taste and adjust. The key idea is simply that butter is roughly 80% fat plus about 20% water, so when you replace it with pure oil you use a bit less oil and, in some recipes, add back a splash of liquid (milk or water) to compensate.
| Butter in recipe | Olive oil to use | Rough metric |
|---|---|---|
| 1 tbsp butter | about ¾ tbsp oil | 14g → ~11ml |
| 55g (¼ cup) butter | 3 tbsp oil | 55g → ~45ml |
| 115g (½ cup) butter | 6 tbsp oil | 115g → ~90ml |
| 225g (1 cup) butter | about ¾ cup oil | 225g → ~180ml |
And here is what you can expect to change in the finished bake:
| Quality | Butter | Olive oil |
|---|---|---|
| Crumb | Light, airy when creamed | Dense, even, tender |
| Moisture & keeping | Dries out sooner | Stays moist for days |
| Flavour | Sweet, creamy | Grassy, peppery, savoury |
| Structure / flakiness | Excellent (pastry, shortbread) | Poor — avoid for pastry |
| Best for | Sponge, pastry, cookies, buttercream | Cakes, muffins, brownies, quick breads, focaccia |
A few working tips. Skip the creaming step entirely — whisk oil straight into the sugar and eggs. Choose your oil to match the bake: mild and buttery for vanilla or lemon cakes, robust and peppery for chocolate, nut or herb bakes. If a recipe was written for butter and comes out slightly heavy, an extra half-teaspoon of baking powder usually restores the lift. And unlike butter, which you cream cold, olive oil goes in at room temperature, so there’s no softening or melting to plan for. On the nutrition side, olive oil swaps saturated fat for mostly monounsaturated fat and, as a plant oil, contains no dairy — handy for dairy-free baking — though this is general information, not dietary or medical advice.
Olive oil vs butter for baking: common questions
Can I substitute olive oil for butter in any recipe?
In most cakes, muffins, quick breads and brownies, yes — use about three-quarters as much oil by volume. Avoid it where you need solid fat for structure: flaky pastry, laminated dough, shortbread and buttercream all rely on butter setting firm, and oil can’t do that.
How much olive oil replaces a stick (115g) of butter?
Roughly 6 tablespoons, or about 90ml. The rule of thumb is three parts oil to four parts butter, because butter is only about 80% fat while oil is pure fat.
Will my cake taste like olive oil?
A little, and usually pleasantly so. A mild, ripe oil almost disappears; a peppery extra virgin is more noticeable. Match the oil to the bake — gentle oils for delicate flavours, bold oils for chocolate, citrus and nut cakes where the fruitiness is a feature.
Is olive oil healthier than butter for baking?
Olive oil replaces butter’s saturated fat with mostly monounsaturated fat and is dairy-free, which many people prefer. That said, both are fats with similar calories, so it’s more of a swap than a shortcut. This is general information, not medical advice.
Once you’ve baked with it a few times, olive oil stops feeling like a substitute and starts feeling like a choice. For more on picking the right bottle, see our olive oil buying and grades guide.