Let me set the scene: your guests are arriving and all that’s left to whip up is the salad dressing. You don’t need a recipe, you just throw in the usual suspects... a dash of vinegar, a tablespoon of mustard, a few cracks of pepper, maybe a bit of honey, and of course, a few glugs of oil.

Everything’s going smoothly until your hand slips on the olive oil bottle and you dump half of it into the dressing. Panic ensues. Sound familiar? No? Just me? Whether you’ve encountered that scenario, we all know what it’s like to accidentally pour too much oil into a dish. There’s nothing worse than ruining a recipe because you went overboard while eyeballing the EVOO.

But take a scroll through food TikTok and you’ll probably notice your favorite creators are sporting a bright green, plastic-y squeeze bottle, Graza Extra Virgin Olive Oil, in the background. I tend to be skeptical of most products promoted over social media—but then I tried it.

Before it landed in my kitchen, the only thing I knew about Graza was that it had squeeze bottle packaging. The idea takes a page out of the chef playbook, designed to emulate the squeeze bottles that chefs constantly use in their restaurants. But I didn’t really get why that mattered much, so I turned to one of our resident culinary experts, Haley Laube, Milk Street's eCommerce Culinary Coordinator.

“In every kitchen I've worked in, olive oil is kept in squeeze bottles,” Haley says. “There are a handful of reasons, but most notable is that the narrow tip allows for tons of control.” It was a point I hadn't really considered.

“It's a simple hack that makes all the difference to easily measure a precise tablespoon—avoiding the fast glugging when pouring from a bottle—or drizzle a small amount of oil over a finished dish.” With that in mind, I set out to test it for myself.

While a small green nozzle and a pliable bottle may seem like extraneous details, it turns out, they really do have impact. The minute I started integrating Graza into my normal cooking, it finally clicked why chefs have been using this method for years. I was surprised not only at how easy it was to control the amount of oil I was using, but also at how much I appreciated having that control. I hadn’t thought about how many times I’d overdone it on the olive oil until I had a bottle in my hand and noticed that cooking with precision, even just portioning out good olive oil, really does improve a dish. My fried eggs are lacier, my Caprese salad pops more, my vinaigrettes are more balanced, my steaks sear better. Who knew a squeeze bottle could be such a powerful tool?

I would be remiss though if I said my infatuation with Graza was only due to the squeeze bottles. The flavor is pretty spectacular too. “Drizzle” is designed for finishing—it’s full of attitude, grassy and peppery, with a spicy pop that finishes a dish with punchy flavor. I love it for finishing pastas and roasted vegetables, and that zip is perfect over popcorn or ice cream. Plus, it makes me feel like a fancy chef. “Sizzle” on the other hand, is for everyday cooking and made from more mature, juicy olives. They make the flavor mellower and milder—though still with a grassy, peppery bite—which is just right for roasting meat, pan-frying chicken cutlets, baking an olive oil cake, or adding to a marinade. I love it especially for frying eggs; it brings bright flavor, but doesn’t overpower like other oils I’ve tried.

So if you’re in the market for a new olive oil, whether it’s because you’ve experienced your own disastrous over-pouring scenario, or are just looking to hone your skills, I highly recommend jumping on the Graza train. This is one of those few products that can truly change how you cook every day. And showing off the cute green bottles on your counter doesn’t hurt either.

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