Best Oil for Cooking

As someone who teaches wellness and a big foodie for a while. I'll try to clarify.
Someone mentioned that coconut oil is bad. Not true. It's one of the healthiest oils around. Best to use raw and more like butter or for baking.
Canola is a great choice for cooking. There is a high heat Canola oil that is designed just for this. Olive oil is a great choice. Regular virgin is best for cooking. Extra virgin to be used for salads and such.
Peanut is the least desirable.
Hope this helps,
L. M.

2 moms found this helpful

It really depends on what you are cooking.
Canola is a good all around basic cooking oil, and is supposed to be healthy. To me, it has no taste.

Olive oil is a good/healthy oil, and it also adds a great flavor to certain dishes. I, despite the cost, buy the extra-virgin-olive-oil because I want a certain "flavor" to my dishes and I prep them a certain way or if I am making marinades, or want to roast vegetables or caramelize them.

Peanut oil, is usually used for frying... because it has a high heating point. This is what Asian cooking uses and many Chefs.

Each oil, has a different heating point/threshold. So, you ideally need to go according to that... and depending on what dish you are making.

I use, various oils, depending on taste/dish/what I am cooking/purpose.

All the best,
Susan

1 mom found this helpful

The best oils for you are olive, sunflower, safflower, canola, & flaxseed.

Extra virgin olive oil is what I use for just about everything. Yes everything. Never had a problem with deep frying with it. I suppose if you use a good grade you should be fine. I buy the "big" bottle of it from Sams. It also doesn't "go bad" like the other oils and start to smell rancid if left on the shelf for awhile.
C.

Hi
I too read about the canola oil issues :-( and decided not to use it as it is banned in some countries (think UK) so now use Corn oil for general stuff and frying and olive oil for salad dressing, italian cooking, bread (as bake my own bread) etc

My mother used to use sunflower oil but its too expensive here

it depends.....i use grape-seed oil for high smoke point and olive oil for saute/others all from trader joe's.....coconut oil is not good for you, from what i read.

Don't listen to the negative hype. Found this info on Wedmd about Canola Oil:

Debunking Canola Oil Myths

Stories have been circulating on the Internet claiming that canola oil is made from the rapeseed plant, and contains substances that are toxic to humans. The rumor claims that these toxins can lead to ailments ranging from respiratory distress to blindness in humans.

Canola is often confused with rapeseed. The rapeseed plant contains high levels of erucic acid, a substance that in large quantities can be toxic to humans. However, canola is produced from the canola plant, which contains levels of erucic acid well below the FDA's standards.

For me, Canola is the best oil(health-wise) to use for frying since the flavor of olive oil is overpowering(when deep frying) and much more expensive. There are costlier and milder in flavor "California" Olive Oils on the shelf but I can't afford to fry anything in it--just use it for sauteing and dressings. I had a friend bring over eggrolls fried in olive oil(Sooo not tasty!). She just didn't know any better. There's peanut oil(great for frying) but allergies and cost are an issue with it. I only use Canola oil for frying and occasionally vegetable oil if it is on sale at the store. I've seen some Canola Oil blends out there. They might be good, but I've never tried them. Don't plan to.

Hope this helps. Good luck!!

I'm using canola oil for frying, and olive oil for everything else.
I know there are other good oils to cook with, like I think walnut oil,
but to expensive !
I think you just have to watch for the oil not to get rancid.

I use olive oil for frying, for the higher temperature items. I sometimes use spray corn oil for frying food with some oil/fat content and use stick margarine for items that do not fry well in oil, like eggs.

Peanut oil or vegetable oil. I think coconut oil is the unhealthy one, but I could be wrong.