I chose the topic for this post because I have a genuine interest in what ACTUALLY constitutes a good cooking oil. There’s a lot of hearsay around the topic, with many people swearing by this or that oil, but no actual idea why it’s better than the rest. Certain people will tell me that they’ve heard a particular oil is best for high heat cooking, but when I pose questions relating to smoke point and oxidation, the response is a sort of panicked confusion and a rapid change of topic.

And let’s face it, if you’ve gone paleo, primal, or just about any diet which realizes that saturated fat is a GOOD thing, oils are your best friend in the kitchen (and elsewhere, of course!). It’s time to know their strengths and weaknesses so you can enjoy all their benefits without denaturing their nutrients or pouring carcinogenic compounds into your body.

Let’s start with the basic questions that you need to ask when choosing the right cooking oil.

What type of fat is it?

There are two types of oil you can buy on supermarket shelves: saturated and unsaturated. Saturated fats are the simplest of these two groups, and the most stable. A good way to tell whether you’re dealing with a saturated fat is knowing that they turn solid at room temperature. Commonly used saturated fats include:

coconut oil
palm kernel oil
butter
ghee
lard
chicken fat
tallow

Unsaturated fats are a little more complicated, and come in the form of either monounsaturated, polyunsaturated, and trans unsaturated. Commonly used unsaturated fats include:

canola oil
flaxseed oil
soybean oil
nut oils
avocado oil
hemp oil
sunflower oil
olive oil

You get the idea. While every oil contains varying ratios of each kind of fat (olive oil contains 73% monounsaturated, 14% saturated, and the rest polyunsaturated, for example), generally speaking the saturated fat group contains primarily animal-based oils, plus coconut and palm kernel. The rest is primarily unsaturated.

Another useful thing to know is that saturated fats and monounsaturated fats are more resistant to heating or cooking. This is due to the fact that they have less bonds, and are therefore less susceptible to chemical reactions which occur under high heat conditions. Polyunsaturated oils, like corn, walnut or sunflower oil, have multiple bonds and so are more likely to become denatured under heat. Trans unsaturated fats (look for the word “hydrogenated” in the ingredients of a product) should just hands-down be avoided.

What is the oil’s smoke point?

An oil or fat’s smoke point is the temperature at which it starts to produce smoke. Pretty straightforward so far, right? Treat this smoke as a warning sign (Tolkien fans might like to envisage the famed Beacons of Gondor, if reality is a little to dull for their taste) – it signifies the point at which your oil is beginning to break down due to heat.

When the oil or fat reaches this point, the free glycerol groups contained within it begin to get converted into acrolein. Acrolein is one of the chemicals found in cigarette smoke, and has been classified as a carcinogen. Thus breathing in the smoke from oil when it reaches it’s smoke point may be similar to breathing in the smoke from a cigarette. Nasty.

Here’s a list of oils and their corresponding smoke point, for some light bedtime reading:

Image source: http://blog.paleohacks.com/complete-guide-cooking-oils/

The U’s in brackets next to some oils indicates that they are unrefined, while the R indicates refined. You’ll notice that the refined oils have a much higher smoke point than unrefined oils. Many paleo people may also be somewhat dismayed to see the low smoke point of butter, unrefined coconut oil and lard.

What is the oxidative stability of the oil?

While considering the smoke point of a cooking oil or fat is important, the oxidative stability of that same oil or fat is even more so. The oxidative stability of an oil refers to its ability to resist oxidation. Oxidation occurs when a fat molecule loses a hydrogen atom, allowing it to turn into a free radical.

Free radicals are highly volatile, and due to the way they interact with and attack our cells, can be seriously detrimental to our health. An increase in free radicals in your body means an increased risk of developing a wide range of diseases, and speeding up the aging process.

When oxidation occurs, an oil or fat becomes rancid. People know when an oil has become rancid due to oxidation as it tastes “off”, has a bad smell, or looks a bit weird.

Choosing the right oil for the task at hand

After reading the above, it’s possible you’re even more confused than before. Sorry about that. The point is, there’s no standalone winner when it comes to oils and fats – each has it’s own quirks, and can even vary considerably depending on whether it’s refined, unrefined, expeller pressed, cold pressed or chemical-extracted. You have to weigh up the various attributes of each and only use a given oil when it doesn’t have a high risk of oxidizing or smoking.

To help you in your quest, here’s a few pointers to keep in mind to ensure you get the best (not the worst) from your oil:

Temperature: no matter what the oil, the lower the cooking temperature, the better. Know your oil’s smoke point, and stay well below it.
Light: the sun’s wavelengths can increase the rate of oxidation. Try to buy oils which come in dark bottles (not really possible for coconut oil, but then it is fairly resistant to oxidation anyway), and store your oils in a cool dark place to increase their shelf life.
Re-use: try to avoid re-using your cooking oil, as each time it is cooked with it’s smoke point lowers.
Antioxidants: considering things like heating, air and light exposure can accelerate your oil’s rate of oxidation (rancidity), choose oils with higher levels of antioxidants. These antioxidants, found in high numbers in oils like avocado, olive, coconut and butter, actively offset the destructive damage free radicals wreak on your body. They can therefore help to neutralize the creation of free radicals during the process of oxidation.

Our top paleo-friendly cooking oil picks

With the proviso that, based on the above, there’s no clear-cut winner in the cooking oil contest, we DO have a few top picks. Here’s our thoughts:

Avocado oil: a good all-rounder. Has a high smoke point, particularly in the case of it’s refined form (520ºF), and is loaded with antioxidants (particularly vitamin E) so it doesn’t oxidize easily. Use for things like pan frying, grilling, roasting and in salad dressings and marinades.
Butter: delicious and loaded with an amazing range of nutrients when it’s from grass-fed sources, butter is unfortunately not great for cooking. It has a low smoke point, so should only be used for low heat cooking such as baking or slow-cooking. Has a short shelf-life and can become rancid quickly, so consume ASAP and store in an airtight container in the fridge.
Coconut oil: Once again, high in antioxidants, and very resistant to oxidation. Has a long shelf life, but should still be stored in a dark place if possible. It does have a low smoke point, however, so stick to low-heat cooking. Switching to refined coconut oil means you can cook at medium heat without creating smoke, but you lose a lot of the antioxidants so it’s a bit of a trade-off. Good for baking and smoothies!
Ghee: if you were disappointed at butter’s low score in the cooking department, ghee is your savior. Ghee retains much of the delicious richness of butter, has a slightly sweeter taste, and most importantly has a very high smoke point. This means it’s great for high heat cooking like pan frying or grilling, and has a long shelf life. Go for grass-fed ghee, if possible.
Lard and tallow: not great in terms of nutritional profile, but otherwise a great option for medium-heat cooking, due to their smoke point of around 390ºF. They’re also fairly resistant to oxidation, particularly in the case of tallow (beef fat). Really only good for cooking (it’d be a little weird to drizzle some warm lard on your garden salad).
Olive oil: despite claims, olive oil is still a good option for cooking, however the smoke point differs considerably between olive oil types. Extra virgin olive oil is the healthiest choice in terms of lack of refinement and therefore level of nutrients, which incidentally means it is highly resistant to oxidation. It does, however, have a low smoke point at 320ºF, making it suitable only for slow cooking or sautéing (great for salads and marinades though!). Virgin olive oil is slightly more refined and so has less nutrients and is a little more prone to oxidation. With a smoke point of 420ºF, however, it’s great for medium-heat cooking such as pan frying and roasting. Only buy olive oil in dark bottles and store them in a dark place to avoid rapid rancidification!

That’s a lot of info to take in, but I hope it helped to clear things up a little. Next time someone asks you which oil you think is best, you can bedazzle them with your oil and fat know-how.

If you’re experimenting with any sort of real food, whole food, ancestrally-based eating regime, you may have found that you feel sort shackled to your kitchen. Planning, shopping and preparing meals every evening can be a lot of work.

Personally I have breakfast and lunch at work during the week so when I get home after work I have to make dinner for that night, plus breakfast and lunch for the next day.

I can imagine with kids this would take on a whole new level of difficulty, because of the sheer volume of food needing to be prepared, and also the time that’s needed every evening. I kind of understand why my mum used to just pop a frozen pizza in the oven sometimes…

But, once you’ve experienced how a paleo-type diet can majorly boost and repair your health, you can’t really just go back to those frozen pizzas! Luckily there are ways to “hack the system” of meal prep to achieve your paleo eating goals without blowing your budget or your evenings on food.

Hacking the paleo meal prep system

The key is planning out your meals in advance, and then having a concentrated shopping session and prep session. Planning first allows you to be a lot more efficient with the whole operation. You mastermind the whole week first, and then never have to think about it again. No coming home and thinking “what’s for dinner…” and standing in front of the fridge for 10 minutes trying to come up with something.

Shopping all in one go means you save a whole lot of time, rather than popping to the store or the market in dribs and drabs whenever you need something. Then, prepping or cooking all in one session, all according to your meal plan of course, gets you all set up for the week. That way on each day during the week you only have to “assemble” your meals, rather than make them.

The 4 stages of fast paleo meal-making

This is a basic process on how to make your path to eating tasty paleo meals fast, painless and stress-free.

STEP 1: Plan

Put together a plan for what you’ll be eating each day for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks. Then write out a shopping list corresponding to the plan so that you’ll have all the ingredients.

SMART TIP: Write the list in the order of the areas of the supermarket, or grouped under “fish store”, “farmer’s market”, “Whole Foods” etc, according to where you shop. That way it’s much easier to keep track as you work through the list.

ANOTHER SMART TIP: Subscribe to a service like 20 Dishes, which produces your meal plan and shopping list for you, based on how many people you’re feeding, and any special requirements like if you’re on the autoimmune protocol or low FODMAP. Their meal plans are specifically configured so that you can make a week’s worth of meals in 1 hour!

They also provide an “action plan” to make your time most efficient. This takes away the problem of wrestling with 5 recipes at once trying not to burn anything. 20 Dishes provides a step by step roadmap to prep everything at once in an organized and efficient way.

STEP 2: Shop

Armed with your list, make the circuit of your supermarket or local shops to collect all your goods in one fell swoop.

STEP 3: Prep & Store

This is where that 20 Dishes meal prep action plan really helps; all the mental work is done already so there’s no need to flounder around trying to get things done. It’s proven to take only 60 minutes so I know I don’t need to make any more time than that in my day. All the meat gets cooked, veggies get chopped, and salads get prepped. Then everything goes in the fridge or freezer in pre-planned containers so it’s very grab-and-go.

SMART TIP: Get enough food storage containers (preferably glass!!) so each family member has their designated breakfast, lunch and snack container. That way you can just make an assembly line and slap it all together. Here are some great containers that are non-toxic: Glasslock 18-Piece Assorted Oven Safe Container Set

STEP 4: Assemble

Each day when you get home, just pull out all your pre-prepped goodies, heat up any parts to be heated, and assemble on the plates. That’s it! So satisfyingly fast and easy.

SMART TIP: For those parts that need to be heated (ie meat), you definitely want to be storing in glass (as mentioned above) as this will skip even another step for you – those glass containers can go straight in the oven! That way you’re avoiding the yuckiness of the microwave as well. Coooooool.

Well, that’s about it folks. You’ve got my basic fast paleo meal prep system laid out here, and then if you’re wanting to save some more time and mental sweat on getting those meals planned and prepped for each week, I definitely recommend checking out 20 Dishes. Even just thinking about it I can feel that burden lifting off my shoulders…ahhh. :) The image below will take you to more info.

Tag Archives: cooking

All You Need to Know About Cooking Oils