I’ve replaced deep frying with baking in some of my recipes, but some things are just better fried. What would be the best/most stable oil for deep frying and what would be the least healthy of them all?
Low cost vegetable oils are the worst: soybean, corn, canola, sunflower, and grapeseed. They are made of linoleic acid which is around 40x more susceptible to oxidation than oleic acid which are found in olive oils and avocado oils. When these oils oxidize they produce oxidation products which are toxic and give the fat a bad smell and flavor. A lot of studies show that they can increase the chance of getting cancer and accelerate brain degeneration.
If you have to choose to deep fry it, probably go for olive oil or avocado oil. Coconut oil and butter are the best but I don’t think you can deep fry with those two. But do try to avoid the cheap vegetable oil.
For high-heat cooking, such as frying, searing, grilling, stir-frying, or roasting: I suggest light (or refined) olive oil, avocado oil, clarified butter (also known as ghee), refined palm, or coconut oil. All have a high smoke point and are low in polyunsaturated fats.
Oils that are high in polyunsaturated fats (such as corn, soy, sunflower and other seed oils), form a harmful compound called HNE when they’re heated. That happens even in oils that are highly refined and have a high smoke point HNE ends up in the food that are cooked in the oil and is taken up in the body, where it can have damaging effects.
And the longer or more frequently you heat up oil, the more HNE it will contain, which is why it’s really not a good idea to reuse cooking or frying oil. Consider that one more reason to limit your consumption of fried foods. Most restaurants not only fry foods in polyunsaturated oils, but reuse the oil over and over again.
For medium-heat cooking, such as gentle sauté, stewing, baking, or braising: Any of the above would work fine. For extra flavor, you could also choose a filtered, extra virgin olive oil.
For use off heat, such as salad dressings or drizzling over a finished dish: For maximum flavor, choose an unfiltered extra virgin olive oil, unrefined or toasted nut and seed oils. If you want a neutral flavor, canola oil would be my choice, because it’s higher in monounsaturated fat and omega 3s than most other vegetable oils.
For stability, you want a fatty acid that is fully saturated - the double bonds that make up a unsaturated fatty acid are weak spots, and those are the points where exposure to heat and/or oxygen break the fatty acids into some ugly compounds known as aldehydes.
This is why deep frying was traditionally done with animal fats like tallow or lard; it holds up to the head pretty well so you don’t need to change is very often.
There is also the non-fat content of the oil; EVO is bad for deep frying because it has lots of compounds that burn.
This youtuber did a ranking of oils using his own… oilgorithm.
Just some at-home science but he explains his working. I’d also add that I believe a lot of the oxidation we worry about in oils comes from the restaurant/industrial use. Where it’s heated extremely high and re-used for ages. Replace often and you should be much better off. Or rather than deep-fry you could pan fry if that’s an option.
Edit: Forgot to add the link lol
As some already said before, do not use seed oils. They are basically the backbone of many current diseases.
There is quite a cool video explaining why vegetable/seed oils are bad: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQmqVVmMB3k
Depending on the dish you make coconut oil, olive oil or avocado oil could work. Avocado oil might be a bit too expensive though. Also maybe try shallow frying. You’ll need way less oil then.
You can also use ghee for frying. It doesn’t contain the solids that make butter brown and its quite easy to make yourself.
Summarised I’d say use oil with a low omega-6 content, shallow fry with moderate amounts of oil and don’t do it too often.
Best to abandon all frying for good health. Once I gave up fried foods, my inflammation markers were greatly reduced. This lessened my gout and arthritis systems. Covid-19 uses inflammation against you so lose weight if you fall in the overweight or obese category which I am. The CDC list obesity high on risk factors for hospitalization and death risk. All top risk factors listed are related to inflammation. Oils and sugar consumption increase inflammation in the body. Oils, fats, and sugars impact Nitric Oxide production and the cell’s lining blood vessels. Those cell s are called Endothelial Cells . Get to a library ( or remotely) read up on these cells. Afterwards you’ll question even brushing your tongue as bacteria on tongue are needed for NO production.
As some already said before, do not use seed oils. They are basically the backbone of many current diseases.
There is quite a cool video explaining why vegetable/seed oils are bad: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQmqVVmMB3k
Depending on the dish you make coconut oil, olive oil or avocado oil could work. Avocado oil might be a bit too expensive though. Also maybe try shallow frying. You’ll need way less oil then.
You can also use ghee for frying. It doesn’t contain the solids that make butter brown and its quite easy to make yourself.
Summarised I’d say use oil with a low omega-6 content, shallow fry with moderate amounts of oil and don’t do it too often.