Healthiest fat for cooking/baking?

[SollysMom]

I know mainstream sources would say EVOO for sure, but I'm sold on butter being good for you too.  Canola oil is highly processed right?  And I know coconut oil is good but some things won't work with the flavor and also it's pretty expensive.  So, what do you consider the healthiest fat for cooking/baking?  TIA for any replies!

[serenbat]

that is a loaded question

and EVOO is great for certain things and you really can not equally compare baking to cooking

what is OK for one simply is not for the other

lards is wonderful but there are certain baked items it does not work for- same for butter, EVOO,etc

"fats" are not interchangeable especially with baking and subbing one for another can be a disaster. you can't just say this is healthier and therefor it will work in a given recipe - you really must weigh each recipe and decide

[cristeen]

For cooking, we do not use olive oil at all.  In our house OO is a cold only oil, which relegates it to salad dressings.  Heat damages it, and then why bother using it.

For stovetop cooking, depending on the recipe, I might use butter, coconut oil, lard or bacon grease. 

For baking, it's usually butter, lard or CO. 

Like Serenbat said, you kind of have to go recipe by recipe to figure it out, but CO is my go-to.  And I haven't found any recipe so far that the flavor of the oil came through (was noticeable).  But if you're concerned about that, buy refined, it has no flavor.  As for the price, the larger the amount you buy, the cheaper it is.  If you're buying it a pint at a time, and using it a lot, it adds up fast.  I bought a 5 gallon bucket last time, with free shipping, and I've been working on it over a year already, and it's not even half gone.  A single gallon usually lasts me 8 months or so. 

Canola is GMO, and is not a healthy oil to begin with, so is not something we use.  We also avoid soy oil for the same reasons.  For other applications, I keep several nut oils on hand (walnut, macadamia, etc.), and for a neutral flavor, I keep sunflower seed oil.  These are almost exclusively used in salad dressings/mayos, where we can enjoy the flavor and the health benefits. 

[SundayCrepes]

I've recently discovered avocado oil. It is at least as healthy as olive oil, but it has a smoking point of 520 degrees. I've made bread balls, roasted cauliflower, and hash browns with it and they all tasted great. Tonight I decided to experiment and see if it's mild enough for use in chocolate frosting. It was a total failure. Avocado oil is expensive, though it's significantly cheaper at amazon.com than it is in our local whole foods.

Most seed oils use hexane to get the oil out of the seed. Grapeseed oil can be expeller pressed, but it is high in omega 6. I find coconut oil to be too strong a taste for most baking. I need to do more research on how healthy the refined is. 

[vermontgirl]

I recently changed out oils.

For salad dressings, organic extra virgin olive oil. For baking and frying, coconut oil or butter.

[cristeen]

Originally Posted by SundayCrepes 
Most seed oils use hexane to get the oil out of the seed. Grapeseed oil can be expeller pressed, but it is high in omega 6. I find coconut oil to be too strong a taste for most baking. I need to do more research on how healthy the refined is. 

Like anything, you need to read your labels.  I buy expeller pressed nut/seed oils, which are made without hexane.  Most will say on the label if they're expeller pressed, if it doesn't say it, then assume they're not. 

As for the refined, again, you have to read labels.  I use Tropical Traditions, which is expeller pressed and then steam deoderized.  They never use chemicals or solvents in their processing.  But the only thing I use the refined for is frying, and usually in combination with pasture raised lard.  Spectrum also claims to refine without chemicals, although they're a bit short on the details.  Those are the only 2 refined COs that I have tried, since Spectrum is available locally and I order in lg quantity from TT. 

[SundayCrepes]

Originally Posted by cristeen 

Like anything, you need to read your labels.  I buy expeller pressed nut/seed oils, which are made without hexane.  Most will say on the label if they're expeller pressed, if it doesn't say it, then assume they're not. 

As for the refined, again, you have to read labels.  I use Tropical Traditions, which is expeller pressed and then steam deoderized.  They never use chemicals or solvents in their processing.  But the only thing I use the refined for is frying, and usually in combination with pasture raised lard.  Spectrum also claims to refine without chemicals, although they're a bit short on the details.  Those are the only 2 refined COs that I have tried, since Spectrum is available locally and I order in lg quantity from TT. 

I have TT coconut cream concentrate. Maybe I'll try their refined oil.

[sosurreal09]

We are dairy free (DD is intolerant) so I use walnut oil for cooking mostly and lard. I usually bake with EVOO....what should I be baking with? We use CO to eat and as skin care but I don't like the flavor in cooking...

[cristeen]

Originally Posted by sosurreal09 

We are dairy free (DD is intolerant) so I use walnut oil for cooking mostly and lard. I usually bake with EVOO....what should I be baking with? We use CO to eat and as skin care but I don't like the flavor in cooking...

You can use the walnut or the lard either one in baking.  Or you can go with refined CO.  I do wonder what brand you're using though, since the flavor intensity varies from brand to brand. 

[Imakcerka]

Big fan of Grapeseed oil.  I use it with everything.  OO just seems like a dressing to me.

[katelove]

We use olive oil, grapeseed oil and butter depending on what we're making.

[SundayCrepes]

I was using grapeseed, but I just learned the amount of omega 6 is unreal.

Here's a great chart I found:

http://theconsciouslife.com/omega-3-6-9-ratio-cooking-oils.htm

[Imakcerka]

I can't open that link where I'm at.  What do you mean by being "unreal'?
 

Originally Posted by SundayCrepes 

I was using grapeseed, but I just learned the amount of omega 6 is unreal.

Here's a great chart I found:

http://theconsciouslife.com/omega-3-6-9-ratio-cooking-oils.htm

[sosurreal09]

Originally Posted by Imakcerka 

I can't open that link where I'm at.  What do you mean by being "unreal'?
 

676.1 : 1   that's in 6:3 ratio

[McGucks]

Don't have time to read the prior responses, but wanted to chime in to say that, with many baked goods (not delicate ones, but stuff like brownies) you can substitute about half of the oil with applesauce.  No joke.  I have been doing it for years...must've read it somewhere or other.

[Imakcerka]

we do applesauce in cookies and cakes all the time.  My mom always did it. 

[MamaFern]

i use canned applesauce that we make in the fall, and coconut oil. or butter...

[SundayCrepes]

Originally Posted by sosurreal09 

676.1 : 1   that's in 6:3 ratio

I misread this at first. Yes, 676 omega 6's to every 1 omega 3.

Here's the actual chart from that site http://theconsciouslife.com/omega-3-6-9-ratio-cooking-oils.htm:

COOKING OIL	SFA (%)	MUFA (%)	PUFA (%)	Ω-6 (%)	Ω-3 (%)	Ω-9 (%)	Ω-6:3 RATIO	SMOKE POINT
Almond oil	8.2	69.9	17.4	17.4	0	69.4	Not a source of Ω-3	420°F (216°C)
Avocado oil	11.6	70.6	13.5	12.5	1.0	67.9	13.1 : 1	520°F (271°C)
Beef tallow	49.8	41.8	4.0	3.1	0.6	36.0	5.2 : 1	400°F (204°C)
Butter	63.3	25.9	3.8	3.4	0.4	24.6	8.6 : 1	250–300°F (121–149°C)
Butter oil, anhydrous	62.3	28.9	3.7	2.3	1.5	25.2	1.6 : 1	485°F (252°C)
Canola oil	7.4	63.3	28.1	19.0	9.1	61.7	2.1 : 1	400°F (204°C)
Coconut oil	86.5	5.8	1.8	1.8	0	5.8	Not a source of Ω-3	350°F (177°C) (extra virgin)
Corn oil	13.0	27.6	54.7	53.5	1.162	27.3	46.1 : 1	450°F (232°C) (refined)
Cottonseed oil	25.9	17.8	51.9	51.5	0.2	17.0	259.4 : 1	420°F (216°C)
COOKING OIL	SFA (%)	MUFA (%)	PUFA (%)	Ω-6 (%)	Ω-3 (%)	Ω-9 (%)	Ω-6:3 RATIO	SMOKE POINT
Flaxseed oil	9.4	20.2	66.0	12.7	53.3	20.2	0.2 : 1	225°F (107°C)
Grapeseed oil	9.6	16.1	69.9	69.6	0.1	15.8	676.1 : 1	420°F (216°C)
Hazelnut oil	7.4	78	10.2	10.1	0	77.8	Not a source of Ω-3	430°F (221°C)
Lard	39.2	45.1	11.2	10.2	1.0	41.2	10.2 : 1	370°F (188°C)
Macadamia oil	12.5	83.5	4.0	2.0	2.0	83.0	1.0 : 1	413°F (210°C)
Mustard oil	11.6	59.2	21.2	15.3	5.9	11.6	2.6 : 1	489°F (254°C)
Olive oil	13.8	73.0	10.5	9.8	0.8	71.3	12.8 : 1	375°F (191°C) (extra virgin)
Palm oil	49.3	37.0	9.3	9.1	0.2	36.6	45.9 : 1	455°F (235°C)
Palm kernel oil	81.5	11.4	1.6	1.6	0	11.4	Not a source of Ω-3	450°F (232°C)
COOKING OIL	SFA (%)	MUFA (%)	PUFA (%)	Ω-6 (%)	Ω-3 (%)	Ω-9 (%)	Ω-6:3 RATIO	SMOKE POINT
Peanut oil	16.9	46.2	32.0	32.0	0	44.8	Not a source of Ω-3	450°F (232°C) (refined)
Rice bran oil	19.7	39.3	35.0	33.4	1.6	39.1	20.8 : 1	490°F (254°C)
Safflower oil	7.5	75.2	12.8	12.7	0.1	74.8	133.1 : 1	510°F (266°C) (refined)
Sesame oil	14.2	39.7	41.7	41.3	0.3	39.3	137.0 : 1	450°F (232°C) (semi-refined)
Soybean oil, refined	15.3	22.7	57.3	50.3	7.0	22.6	7.1 : 1	460°F (238°C) (refined)
Sunflower oil	13.0	46.2	36.4	35.3	0.9	46.0	39.4 : 1	440°F (227°C) (refined)
Tea seed oil	21.1	51.5	23.0	22.2	0.7	49.9	31.8 : 1	485°F (252°C)
Walnut oil	9.1	22.8	63.3	52.9	10.4	22.2	5.1 : 1	400°F (204°C) (semi-refined)
Wheat germ oil	18.8	15.1	61.7	54.8	6.9	14.6	7.9 : 1	225°F (107°C)

Legend:
SFA: Saturated fatty acids
MUFA: Monounsaturated fatty acids
PUFA: Polyunsaturated fatty acids
Ω-3: Omega-3 fatty acids
Ω-6: Omega-6 fatty acids
Ω-9: Omega-9 fatty acids
Ω-6:3 Ratio: Omega-6 to omega-3 ratio
Smoke Point: The temperature at which a cooking oil starts to burn and produce chemicals that are potentially harmful.

[cristeen]

Interesting chart.  Thank you for sharing.  Looks like I need to get back to buying macadamia nut oil again, since it's actually balanced.  It's interesting that almost every one of them is skewed to O6. 

[SollysMom]

Thanks for the continued replies, very informative.  I'm bummed to hear that olive oil isn't good for cooking, because I cook with it all.the.time.  A splash added to the cooking water for rice/pasta, for roasted veggies (which I make frequently), for baking chicken, for sauteeing veggies/beans to mix with pasta.... several times a week for sure.  I'm thinking of trying avocado oil; I didn't see any at Wegmans today but maybe I'll check out Amazon.  Thanks again!