Oils and fats are not created equal.
One of the biggest mistakes I made when beginning my journey to health was cooking with olive oil. The next mistake I made, once I had transitioned to cooking with coconut oil, was using coconut oil for the occasional frying that I do.
While olive oil is super for salads, and coconut oil is preferred for cooking, there are better fats for frying - those with higher smoke points. I now use palm shortening when I fry foods: read my review for palm shortening here.
What is a smoke point?
A smoke point is the point at which an oil or fat (shortening, butter) gives off smoke. Smoking is an indicator the fats have turned rancid.
Smoke Points for Oils and Fats
I am not endorsing all the oils/fats listed here (for example I would never recommend consuming canola or soybean oils). This is for reference only. Beside the names I have listed their smoke points.
Best not Heated - although fine to top over hot food
Canola Oil - 225°
Flaxseed Oil - 225°
Hemp Seed Oil - 320°
Safflower Oil (semi-refined) - 320°
Sunflower Oil (refined) - 320°
Olive Oil - 320°
Peanut Oil - 320°
Soy Oil - 320°
Vegetable Shortening (emulsified) - 325°
Walnut Oil - 320°
Safe for Cooking/Baking - 350° maximum
Butter - 350°
Canola Oil (semi-refined) - 350°
Coconut Oil - 350°
Lard - 380°
Sesame Oil - 350°
Soy Oil (semi-refined) - 350°
Vegetable Shortening - 350°
Safe for Frying - 400° and higher
Almond Oil - 425°
Avocado Oil (refined) - 520°
Canola/Rapeseed Oil (refined) - 400°
Canola/Rapeseed Oil (unrefined) - 435°
Corn Oil - 410°
Corn Oil (refined) - 450°
Cottonseed Oil - 450°
Ghee (clarified butter) - 425°
Grapeseed Oil - 400°
Hazlenut Oil - 430°
Macadamia Nut Oil - 390°
Palm Oil - 445°
Palm shortening - 450°
Peanut Oil (refined) - 445°
Rice Bran - 490°
Sesame Oil (refined) 410°
Sesame Oil (semi-refined) - 450°
Safflower Oil - 500°
Safflower Oil (refined) - 450°
Soy Oil (refined) - 450°
Soybean Oil - 495°
Sunflower Oil - 440°
Sunflower Oil (semi-refined, refined) - 450°
Tallow - 420°
Walnut Oil (semi-refined) - 400°
What do you use to fry with? Comment below!
I now use Palm Shortening from Tropical Traditions. I will be hosting a giveaway for Tropical Tradition’s palm shortening soon - look for that post!
Sources: Good Eats, What’s Cooking America
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| Lea Harris founded Nourishing Treasures in 2006. A mom passionate about her family's health and well-being, Lea believes education is power. Encouraging others to take baby steps in the right direction of health for their families, Lea's goal is to raise awareness of what goes into our mouths and on our bodies, providing natural alternative information that promotes health and prevents disease by using traditional foods and nature's medicine.
Lea is a Certified Health Coach graduate from Beyond Organic University, and a Certified Aromatherapist graduate from Aromahead Institute. "Like" Nourishing Treasures on Facebook, join the Nourishing Treasures Group on Facebook, follow @NourishTreasure on Twitter, and subscribe to our newsletter. You can also find me on Learning About Essential Oils forum, and Fido Fermentation Facebook group. Disclaimer: I use affiliate links wherever possible. So if you click on a link, and make a purchase, I might make a small commission, but it doesn't cost you any more. |
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I like olive oil, but it’s not my favorite.
I do use it when sauteing veggies sometimes.
But, your’re right - palm shortening is the way to go. I fry everything in it now. Yum!!!
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I am wrapping up a post on Palm Shortening - and it will include a giveaway. Stay tuned!
NaturaLEA recently posted..Sesame Chia Green Apple Salad
We use EVOO/unrefined coconut oil/bacon grease/butter for everyday stovetop cooking. I try to use medium heat, but honestly, how can one tell how many degrees medium heat is? The only time I see smoke is occasionally when I use butter alone. I noticed it seemed to happen at lower heat than other oils so I began to add a dash of EVOO when I used butter on the cooktop and the smoking stopped. After reading the temps listed here, I’m a bit confused as to why that worked as it looks like butter has a *lower* smoke point. We used to use grapeseed oil on the cooktop but a friend started giving us EVOO for free so I quit buying it. Also, did you notice that peanut oil is listed 3 times and on here in 2 categories? I see that it says not intended for frying with a smoke point of 320 AND is safe for frying at 2 different temps…could you clarify? I do have Hain expeller pressed peanut oil in the pantry that I assumed was safe to fry with but now am not so sure.
Thanks for catching that error - I need to edit that. The peanut oil listed with a smoke point of 320 is unrefined. The peanut oils listed at 440 and 450 is for refined. During my research I found slightly different smoke points for some of the oils - peanut oil was one of them. I am going to edit it now to state “Peanut Oil (refined) at 445″ to be safe
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The thing that frustrates me about this whole topic is that the smoke point number changes depending on who you’re getting your information from, and even the experts can’t seem to agree on the numbers. I just fry with whatever fat (olive, coconut, butter, shortening) seems to work best with my particular recipe and needs at the time. OTOH, I never deep-fry; I’m mostly talking about sauteing onions and garlic. If I were to deep fry, I’d probably go with the palm shortening, too.
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your readers might be interested in this podcast by the gals at balancedbites.com http://balancedbites.com/2011/09/balanced-bites-podcast-episode-4.html [at 6:20 in the podcast] “Diane & Liz have a discussion of fats & oils, proper oils for cooking and why, irrelevance of smoke point to a degree, rancid oils, trans-fats and Omega 3 supplementation.
Very good information!! And a good compliment to this article.
I use Mustard oil..I think its good for health.
I wasn’t aware of these stats.Thanks for sharing.
I haven’t tried palm-shortening. But we usually use canola oil for frying. I really thought virgin coconut oil is good for cooking. I was looking for almond oil because I heard of good reviews about it. Maybe I should try to look for palm oil.
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For pie crusts, I use a combination of olive oil and flaxseed meal in place of lard or butter. It does get pretty hot, but this family can demolish a chicken pot pie in no time. We use flaxseed meal in cookies, too. The kids love their Peanut Butter Omega Cookies, and we pop them right into the freezer from the cooling rack to keep them from spoiling.
From what I understand, any oil that is refined is normally not good, correct? Someone told me to use grapeseed oil because it has a higher smoke point, but someone else told me recently that it is not good because it may be rancid when heated. I LOVE garlic infused grapeseed oil, but don’t want to use it if is carcinogenic. I just started using coconut oil too; I am pleased so far. Any feedback is appreciated, and thanks in advance!
Unrefined is best, yes. My favorites are coconut oil and palm oil and shortening. I do use olive oil on salads, though.
Grapeseed oil for frying/stovetop and Coconut oil for baking
Flaxseed for salad, but I’d love to try hemp.
What about homemade lard? I saw tallow
On there but not Lard.
I do cook with olive and avocado oils rarely, if making something Italian or Mexican flavored. Though I try to make it fast and low-heat frying when using them.
For the most part, it’s butter, bacon grease, lard and/or coconut oil for almost all cooking.
I keep sesame or safflower oil around for the rare case of hubby baking as melting coconut oil is too complicated for him.
For me, coconut oil for frying. When I still had a french fryer, I set it to 350. Now, I just start fries in a cast-iron skillet in coconut oil, then finish them in the oven at 350. This wouldn’t work if making LOTS of fries, but there’s only two of us, so coconut oil works out.