Your Boxed Brownies Deserve Olive Oil — Here's Why

The best brownies don't need any extra add-ins to make them delicious, but that doesn't stop us from sprucing up the kind that come from a box. From chocolate chunks to candied pecans, a little something extra brings a nice touch to boxed brownies — but olive oil will make the treat truly shine.

Every home baker and sweet treat aficionado knows to slightly alter the brownie box's instructions for a better product: Use three eggs rather than two for a fudgier finish; swap water for milk to make the brownies richer. Using olive oil in place of vegetable oil, however, is the tip you never knew you needed. The simple swap makes even the best boxed brownie mix taste homemade. Olive oil is earthy, a little spicy, and kinda fruity, easily giving your run-of-the-mill store-bought brownies a luxurious twist.

The fat automatically adds depth to the treat, and is the perfect ingredient to complement the complexities of dark chocolate in brownies. Best of all, it provides brownies with a delectably moist mouthfeel. Olive oil undergoes less processing than vegetable oil, giving it a thicker, velvety texture that results in richer desserts. When making the switch, use a 1:1 ratio of vegetable and olive oil.

The best type of olive oil to use in your brownies is also the best type of olive oil to use for cake — extra virgin olive oil. EVOO is entirely cold-pressed from olives, so compared to other types of olive oil, it's more robust in both taste and texture. If you don't want the fat to be too prominent in the treat, or simply want something more affordable, opt for the milder-tasting light olive oil instead of EVOO. Either way, flavoring the brownies with add-ins to complement the fat will make the treat even better.

Plenty of nuts work well in brownies, but pistachios are the perfect choice for adding to the olive oil-infused kind. The light green nuts are earthy like the oil, with a buttery sweetness to them that makes the chocolate treat sing. Practically any version of pistachios would be a great addition to olive oil brownies; the toasted variety adds a nice depth, while salted pistachios lean into the savory nature of the treat.

Speaking of savory, ice cream that doesn't fall completely into the "sweet" camp is an ideal topping for olive oil brownies. Goat cheese and honey ice cream bring a delightful tang to the treat, while vanilla-balsamic ice cream with cherries coaxes out the fruitier nuances in olive oil. To complement the oil's herbaceousness, whip up some lemon-thyme ice cream.