6 Common Cooking Oils - When To Use Which?
If you’re like me you probably grew up cooking with whatever oil was in the house, not giving it a second thought. For me, that meant everything was cooked with olive oil except for the occasional brownie mix which used vegetable oil. It wasn’t until I hit the real world that I realized there’s actually a lot of oils to choose from. Here’s when things started to get complicated…when do you which oil? Does it even really matter?
It turns out which oil you use does in fact make a big difference. In short, oils take different amounts of heat before they begin to smoke (AKA stop being good for cooking), so depending how you plan to cook will dictate which oil you should use.
Here a quick overview of how to properly use 6 common cooking oils:
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Most common, extra virgin olive oil is best used for medium or low-heat cooking. With a smoke point of 325-375ºF, olive oil is best for pan frying only (definitely not deep frying because it has too low of a smoke point and will overheat).
Avocado Oil
Avocado oil has gained popularity in recent years. It has a very high smoke point (520ºF) making it ideal for searing, browning, or baking foods.
Vegetable Oil
Vegetable oil should be used when cooking at high temperatures (400-450ºF), such as deep frying and stir-frying. In addition, vegetable oil has practically no taste so it’s great for baked goods.
Canola Oil
Canola oil has a high smoke point of about 400ºF, making it helpful for high-heat cooking. But be warned, canola oil tends to be highly processed (especially in the United States) which means fewer nutrients overall. I personally would avoid it when possible.
Coconut Oil
For coconut oil, it depends which kind you’re working with. Unrefined coconut oil has a smoke point of about 350ºF, whereas refined coconut oil has a higher smoke point of about 450ºF.
Ghee
Ghee, a substitute for butter, has a high smoke point of 450ºF. Recently, it has become a trendy butter alternative for people who are dairy free.
I hope this brief oil overview was helpful! Want to know about an oil I didn’t include? I found this Masterclass article super helpful.
