You can make olive oil at home. For a complete overview, see our Olive Oil Gastronomy: Cooking, Baking & Culinary Uses guide.For a complete overview, see our Cooking Properties guide.The quantity will be small — a few liters at most from a substantial quantity of olives — and the process requires specific equipment. The oil you produce will not rival the quality of commercial premium EVOO unless you have access to freshly Harvested olives and a proper mill. But the process itself is straightforward enough for determined home producers, and the result is genuinely fresh olive oil with flavor you won't find in any store1.
This guide covers what is actually realistic to accomplish at home, what equipment you need, and the shortcuts that produce acceptable results.
Home olive oil production is constrained by two realities:
Yield: Olives contain 10–20% oil by weight. That means you need 5–10 kg of olives to produce 500ml of olive oil. A single mature olive tree can produce 30–80 kg of olives in a good year — so one tree can theoretically yield 3–8 liters of oil. For context, a commercial olive oil producer might process 10,000 kg of olives per day.
Equipment: The biggest constraint is the mill (press). Without mechanical assistance, producing oil from olives at home is extremely labor-intensive. The options range from hand-powered small-batch crushers to countertop-style home presses.
You need fresh olives with as little delay as possible between harvest and processing. If you live in an olive-growing region (California, Mediterranean climates, parts of Australia), you can harvest from a single tree or purchase olives from a local producer.
Olives for oil production should be harvested when they begin to turn from green to purple — this is "early harvest" for oil, when polyphenol content is highest. Fully black, ripe olives yield more oil but with lower polyphenol content and milder flavor.
Never use olives that have been sitting in bags for more than 24 hours — fermentation begins quickly and degrades the oil.
Remove leaves, twigs, and any damaged or moldy olives. Wash the olives thoroughly in clean water. Remove as many stems as possible — stems contain bitter compounds that can affect flavor.
You need a crusher. Options, from simplest to most elaborate:
Option A: Hand-powered bowl and crusher (e.g., manual domestic olive crusher): Add olives and crank. Works for small quantities (1–2 kg batches). Produces a rough paste with uneven particle sizes. Minimal heat generation.
Option B: Blender or food processor: Works for very small quantities (500g–1kg). Must be done in short bursts to avoid heating the paste, which degrades polyphenols. The particle size is too fine, producing a lower-quality result.
Option C: Dedicated home olive mill: Available from specialty suppliers. Produces consistent paste with proper temperature control. The best option for serious home producers. Prices range from $200–800.
The goal is to rupture the olive cells and release the oil, while keeping the paste temperature below 27°C (80°F) to preserve polyphenols.
Transfer the crushed paste to a container and let it sit, stirring occasionally, for 20–45 minutes. This allows the small oil droplets to coalesce into larger ones that can be separated more easily.
Temperature matters here too: if your crushing process heated the paste, the malaxation will proceed faster but the quality will be lower. Keep the paste cool if possible.
This is the hardest step at home. Options:
Option A: Hydraulic press: The most effective home method. Place the olive paste in a press bag or between press plates, and apply pressure. The liquid (oil and water) runs out. Requires purchasing or building a hydraulic press.
Option B: Cheese press: A simpler, smaller-scale version of the hydraulic press. Works for very small batches. Limited pressure means lower yield — you'll leave significant oil in the pomace.
Option C: Centrifuge: Commercial olive oil production uses horizontal decanter centrifuges. Home-scale centrifuges exist but are expensive ($1,500+).
Option D: Simple gravity separation: For small quantities, you can let the paste settle and then strain it through fine mesh. The oil separates from the water and pomace over time. Very low yield, but requires no equipment.
The liquid you collect is a mixture of oil, water, and small solid particles. The oil separates from the water over time since oil is less dense.
For small batches: pour the liquid into a large glass jar and let it settle for 24–48 hours. The oil floats to the top and can be carefully poured or siphoned off. The water and solids settle to the bottom.
For cleaner oil: filter through a fine cloth or paper coffee filter. This removes suspended particles that could cause the oil to go cloudy.
From 5 kg of olives (a reasonable personal harvest), you might produce 500–800ml of olive oil. This is not a practical way to replace commercial olive oil — it is an occasional, artisanal production for personal use.
The quality of home-produced oil depends entirely on the quality of your starting olives and the speed of your processing. Olives from a single tree, processed within hours of harvest, will produce oil with more polyphenols and better flavor than any commercial oil you can buy — simply because of freshness.
Home-produced oil should be:
- Stored in sealed glass containers
- Kept in a cool, dark place (refrigerator is ideal, it will cloud but this is normal)
- Used within 3–6 months for best quality
Without the nitrogenblanketing and temperature-controlled storage of commercial production, home oil degrades faster.
Can you make olive oil at home? Yes. Should you? Only if:
- You have access to a meaningful quantity of fresh olives (5kg+)
- You can process them within 24 hours of harvest
- You have access to at least a simple press
If all three conditions are met, the result will be genuinely fresh olive oil with flavor complexity that commercial products cannot match — simply because no commercial product can be as fresh as something you press this morning.
Technically yes — making olive oil at home from grocery store olives is not recommended because olives sold for eating are not the same variety used for oil production, and the oil content is too low. True olive oil production requires a decanter centrifuge or press, temperature control, and the ability to process olives within 24–48 hours of harvest. The olives used for oil production (like Frantoio, Leccino, Moraiolo) are specifically harvested when they have the highest oil content. Eating olives have too much water and too little oil to produce meaningful quantities of oil.1
"Cold-pressed" technically means extraction at temperatures below 27°C (80°F), preserving the maximum polyphenol fraction. Modern centrifugal extraction systems use the same temperature parameters but cannot legally use the term "cold-pressed" — they use "cold-extracted" instead. The key distinction is temperature during extraction, not press type. Both methods can produce excellent EVOO if temperature is controlled. "Cold-pressed" on a label indicates a traditional press system that was operated correctly, not necessarily superior quality.1
Home-produced olive oil lacks the filtration, nitrogen storage, and temperature control of commercial production. Without proper storage (stainless steel under nitrogen, controlled temperature), quality degrades within weeks to months. Commercial olive oil maintains quality for 12–18 months unopened under proper storage. After opening, both homemade and commercial olive oil should be used within 2–3 months for optimal quality. The same degradation factors (light, heat, oxygen) apply regardless of production scale.1
1. USDA FoodData Central. "Oil, Olive, Extra Virgin." https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/fdc-app.html
References
- https://www.internationaloliveoil.org/our-products/olives/
- https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/fdc-app.html