While certain oils are great for your health there are others that aren’t so great. If you aren’t aware of the top 3 oils for cooking, check this out.
The Top 3 Best Oils For Cooking
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Cold pressed extra virgin olive oil not only tastes great and packs a health-kick with its antioxidants great for your health, when used on salads but it’s also great for low-heat sautéing on top of the stove due to its high smoke point of 375 degrees. An oil’s smoke point is the temperature at which it begins to smoke and starts to break down and create carcinogenic substances that aren’t the best things for your health.
Avocado Oil
This culinary oil is extracted from the flesh (not the seed) of ripe avocados and, at about 520 degrees F, it has the highest smoke point of any plant oil. This makes it not only an excellent choice for cooking, at temperatures up 500 degrees, but it’s also good for salad dressings and sauces, etc.
Avocado oil is especially rich in monounsaturated fat, which is great for improving your cholesterol numbers. Avocado oil also supplies lutein, an antioxidant shown to aide eye health. In addition, the white coats at Ohio State University determined avocado oil can goose your dinner salad’s potency by improving the absorption of fat-soluble antioxidants like beta-carotene and lycopene present in vegetables.
Note: Store oils like olive and avocado in a cool, dark place away from the oven to delay rancidity and prolong shelf life.
Coconut Oil
While unrefined coconut oil (often labeled “virgin”) has a definite coconut taste, you may not always want your pan-seared meat tasting like a macaroon. On top of having less of a coconutty flavor and aroma, refined coconut oil also has a higher smoke point—about 400 degrees—than its virgin counterpart (375 degrees), which makes it a better option for sautéing and stir-frying.
