If you’re a fan of cooking with olive oil, you’ll be pleased to know there’s a simple hack to help you pour it more precisely – and it involves the lid
16:19, 29 Jan 2026
Home cooks are only just discovering a simple olive oil trick hidden in the bottle lid(Image: Getty)
It’s a culinary essential we grab countless times whilst preparing meals, but folk are just now uncovering a genius method for using olive oil – and the answer is hidden in the lid. Anyone who regularly cooks with olive oil at home will know the annoyance of accidentally tipping too much into the pan.
Yet this familiar over-pouring dilemma can be simply solved using a lesser-known technique that users are calling a “life changer”. The TikTok account @cookingcards has posted a clip explaining how to stop olive oil spillages and enhance pouring precision by smartly utilising the cap, reports the Express.
Upon opening a new bottle of olive oil, you’ll need to pull off the ring tab to reach the contents, but rather than chucking it away, give it a new purpose. The trending tip recommends that rather than discarding the ring pull, you should turn it over and pop it back into the bottle’s opening.
The tab then seals the wide aperture at the top, creating just a slim channel around the sides for the oil to pass through. This ensures that when you tip your olive oil, the stream is much gentler, enabling you to accurately measure how much oil enters your pan and creating considerably less wastage during cooking.
A TikTok video shows how keeping and flipping the bottle’s ring tab can help control olive oil pouring and prevent spills.(Image: Getty)
In the comments below, other TikTok users expressed their reactions to this tip, with many stunned they hadn’t discovered it earlier. @zachariamiller posted: “Omg, how did I not know this. @shakeupcocktailclasses commented: “This is genius!” @josh469 added: “Brilliant, I just used this. It’s life-changing.”
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The culinary specialists at Tasting Table also endorse the technique, describing it as the ideal solution for sealing the bottle’s rim without getting your fingers oily. Nevertheless, it’s important to note that this approach has certain drawbacks.
It won’t function with glass bottles lacking the internal “teeth” in their cap, as the ring pull requires something to grip onto.
In such situations, you might consider using something like a cruet, a purpose-built glass vessel, for achieving the ideal pour.
A recent report by the Daily Record highlighted a clear consensus among nutrition experts on the best cooking oils.
While a range of oils were considered, extra-virgin olive oil (EVOO) emerged as the top choice, with avocado oil recommended as a strong alternative for high-heat cooking.
Contrary to common belief, EVOO is not just for salads or drizzling over dishes, it can be used for everyday cooking.
Erin Viljoen, a Nutritional Therapist at W-Wellness, explained: “Cold-pressed extra-virgin olive oil is suitable for most everyday cooking, as well as dressings and finishing dishes.”
Registered nutritional therapist Aliza Marogy, founder of supplement provider Inessa, agreed, noting that olive oil was once thought to become “toxic” when heated, which gave rise to the misconception that it should be avoided in cooking.
She added: “It is a great option for sautéeing, roasting, and pan frying, and is the oil I reach for at home for the majority of my cooking.”
Dietitian Dr Sarah Schenker added that EVOO is “quite stable at most cooking temperatures,” while highlighting that avocado oil is ideal for higher-heat cooking, as it has a “similar fat profile to EVOO” and even contains more vitamin E.