Long story short, there is no one best all-around cooking oil. It depends on many things, including personal preferences, smoke points, the kind of food you are cooking, and your budget. So instead, I’ve picked six of what I call ‘the essentials’ that are always in my kitchen cabinet, that cover pretty much everything! They are:
- Extra virgin olive oil
- Sesame oil
- Butter
- Coconut oil
- Avocado oil
- A neutral, refined oil such as canola or vegetable.
Top Picks for the Best All-Around Cooking Oils
- EVOO, or extra virgin olive oil, is a staple in my kitchen. I enjoy its flavor on salads, soups, and as a dipping sauce for bread. It not only tastes good, but it’s also beneficial for your health. This oil is perfect for enhancing the flavors of dishes from Greece, the Mediterranean, and the Balkans.
- For Asian cuisine, sesame oil is my go-to. It’s an essential ingredient in many recipes, especially those from South East Asia, contributing a distinctive taste that’s hard to replace.
- When it comes to French and Indian cooking, butter is a must. Even though it might not be the healthiest choice, its delicious taste is hard to resist. In Indian dishes, it works as a great substitute for ghee, or you can even make homemade ghee with it.
- Unrefined coconut oil does wonders in sweet treats like bars, balls, vegan frosting, and chocolate ganache. The oil helps bind everything together while adding a pleasant consistency and flavor. Moreover, it doubles as a moisturizer for my legs when they’re dry!
- Avocado oil is another favorite, thanks to its subtle yet pleasant flavor. It’s excellent in blended dressings and dips (like green goddess dressing and guacamole), where EVOO can sometimes overpower. Its high smoke point makes it ideal for cooking at high temperatures.
- Lastly, a neutral and budget-friendly refined vegetable or canola oil is handy for tasks like greasing muffin tins and pans and for the occasional frying.
Nutritional Profiles of The Best Cooking Oils
Per serving of one tablespoon (15mL):
- Extra Virgin Olive Oil: Dominant fat – monounsaturated 10g
- This oil is rich in fat, particularly the type linked to improved health. It also provides essential nutrients and a wealth of antioxidants.
- Butter: Dominant fat – saturated 6.4g
- It contains vitamin D, crucial for bone growth and development, and calcium, vital for maintaining bone strength.
- Avocado Oil: Dominant fat – monounsaturated 9.9g
- This oil is abundant in Vitamin E and essential fatty acids. It also contains trace amounts of Magnesium, Copper, Iron, Vitamin A, B1, B2, and B3.
- Unrefined Coconut Oil: Dominant fat – saturated 13g
- Coconut oil contains lauric acid associated with various health benefits. It also has medium-chain triglycerides (MCTs), which are known for promoting weight loss.
- Canola Oil: Dominant fat – monounsaturated 8.9g
- Rich in omega-3 fats (9%-11%) and high in monounsaturated fat (63%), a type of healthy fat.
- Vegetable Oil: Dominant fat – polyunsaturated 7.8g
- The term “vegetable oil” refers to oil produced from a blend of different refined oils such as corn, soy, or canola.
- Sesame Oil: Dominant fat – polyunsaturated 5.7g
- High in vitamin E and phytosterols, sesame oil contains compounds like lignans and sesamol, which help combat free radicals in the body, potentially reducing the risk of chronic diseases.
Choosing the Right Flavored Oil for Your Culinary Creations
- Canola or vegetable oil, with its subtle taste, is ideal for recipes where you don’t want the oil to interfere with other flavors.
- Unrefined coconut oil has a gentle yet distinct taste that mirrors its natural form, making it a wonderful companion for white fish, scallops, and prawns. It also works well in curries and raw desserts, lending a mild tropical flavor.
- With its rich texture and slightly bitter, peppery undertones, extra virgin olive oil is a staple in Italian and Mediterranean cooking. It’s great for pasta dishes, salad dressings, and dips.
- Unrefined sesame oil, with its strong nutty essence, tastes very much like sesame seeds or tahini. It’s potent, so a small amount can add a lot of flavor. Dark or toasted sesame oil has an even deeper flavor profile, making it a favorite in Asian marinades and stir-fry dishes.
- With its understated nutty, and creamy notes, avocado oil is versatile enough for everything from spring salad dressings to baking. It’s great for Mexican cuisine, roasting vegetables, and even a butter substitute for homemade popcorn.
- With its unique taste, butter is creamy, rich, and slightly sweet. This is why the term “buttery” is often used to describe other foods. It’s perfect for French cuisine, Southern comfort food, and both sweet and savory dishes. It’s worth noting that the flavor can vary depending on the source. For instance, farm-fresh sheep butter might have a more pungent taste than cow butter from a grocery store.
Understanding the Importance of Smoke Points in Cooking Oils
When it comes to cooking, knowing the smoke points of your oils is highly important. The higher the smoke point, the more heat it can take before it catches on fire.
Using oils whose smoke points are too low for what you’re doing can oxidise your oils, making your food tasty funky at best and causing a serious kitchen hazard at worst. If you are cooking with oil that has reached its smoke point, it will affect the flavor of your food and release free radicals, which can damage your health.
- EVOO: 350 degrees, suitable for raw and low-heat cooking.
- Sesame oil: 350-450 degrees, suitable for raw, low and medium heat cooking.
- Butter: 300-350 degrees, suitable for raw, low and medium-heat cooking.
- Coconut oil, unrefined: 350 degrees, suitable for raw, low and medium heat cooking.
- Avocado oil: 520 degrees, suitable for all types of cooking, from raw to high heat!
- Refined canola oil: 445 degrees, suitable for raw to high-heat cooking.
Finding the Best All-Around Cooking Oil Without Breaking the Bank
If budget is a consideration for the best all-around cooking oil, then these are the average prices in 2023!
- Vegetable oil: $0.10 – 0.20 / fl oz and very common in stores
- Canola oil: $0.13 – 0.30 / fl oz
- Butter: a little over $3 / pound (around $0.19 / oz)
- Coconut oil: typically $0.30 – 0.75 / fl oz
- Avocado oil: usually around $0.45 / fl oz
- Sesame oil: around $0.60 – 0.90 / fl oz
- EVOO (extra virgin olive oil): averages $1/fl oz but can be as low as $0.24/ fl oz depending on the brand.
FAQs
It can be! Cooking oil helps add essential vitamins and minerals to your diet and can help prevent health issues like heart disease, cancer, and inflammation. However, it’s essential to consider the type of cooking oil you use, as some are healthier than others.
Chefs typically use different kinds of cooking oil depending on the dish they prepare. For general purposes, they often choose refined oils like soybean, canola, safflower, vegetable and corn oil.
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