All About Cooking Oils (& Butter, Baby)

What you should have stocked and what to use it for.

One of the major benefits of a home-cooked meals is that you can control the oil you use. Restaurant oils are problematic, to say the least. The issue isn’t necessarily that they’re seed oils, but that they’re highly refined seed oils, stripped of any nutrients, oxidized, and likely made from poor quality seeds (read: heavily sprayed with pesticides).

Seed oils, like canola, sunflower, rapeseed, soybean, peanut, etc. are generally used in processed foods and at restaurants because they are cheap and have a high smoke point. They are high in omega-6 fatty acids, which are essential to the diet, but can cause inflammatory issues when they are over-consumed or of poor quality. Without making this a post about seed oils (we can do that in a later post though, if you want!), my recommendation is to stop eating ultra-processed foods, read labels, and cook more at home. I’m not saying don’t eat out, just try to eat more home-cooked meals than restaurant-cooked meals, and avoid fried food (which are almost always friend in canola oil) when you do go out.

Here are my oil recommendations for a healthy, cookable pantry.

OLIVE OIL
My favorite cooking oil. I would drink good quality olive oil, and in fact, I have. Olive oil is full of polyphenols (read antioxidants) and anti-inflammatory omega-9 fatty acids. It’s great for your skin too. Sometimes Ozzie will come home from school with a scratch on his knee and he’ll tell me his teacher put olive oil on it, which for some reason makes me irrationally happy about our preschool choice.

That said, not all olive oils were created equal, and many are cut with other (cheaper) oils. A good trick I just learned to know if your olive oil is “cut” is to check the country of origin; if there is more than one country listed, it’s probably not just olive oil.

Fresh, quality olive oil has a high smoke point (so you can cook at 400+ degrees) and just tastes better; it’s creamier, nuttier, and spicier. If you’ve ever dipped focaccia in good olive oil at a nice Italian restaurant you know what I mean! It does have flavor though, so it lends more to Mediterranean-style dishes. It’s not a neutral oil, but we’ll get to that.

I am fortunate to live in California where I can buy fresh olive oil in bulk at the farmers market (it’s truly the best value and the most delicious), but here are a few of my favorite store-bought olive oils: Brightland, Flamingo Estate, and Thrive Market.

AVOCADO OIL
Avocado oil was my neutral cooking oil of choice until I discovered Westbourne’s organic extra virgin avocado oil, which isn’t neutral at all. It a category all on it’s own and tastes like a ripe avocado, with all it’s nuttiness and luscious texture. It’s truly divine. Use a finishing oil, savor it in a salad dressing, or drizzle on top of vegetables with a pinch of salt.

Back to the neutral avocado oils. This is what I use for Asian cuisine and often for baking, or any recipe that calls for canola oil. Westbourne does has a neutral tasting option, or you could try Nutiva’s organic avocado oil.

ALT OILS
There’s a new class of “better for you and the planet” neutral cooking oils emerging. Zero Acre is made from fermented rain-fed sugar cane (it has no sugar, btw), which creates a healthy and sustainable oil with a smoke point of 485 degrees. Another option: Algae Cooking Club, which is made from (you guessed it) algae, well microalgae to be exact. It’s full of heart-healthy fats, has a lower carbon footprint than traditional oils, and can be heated over 500 degrees (!!).

BUTTER
I f*ing love butter. Especially really good cultured butter. There’s nothing better. Technically not a cooking oil (oils are liquid at room temp and fats are solid), but we use it to cook, so I’m including it!

For all my fellow butter lovers out there, I have good news for you. Butter actually has some nutrients, like butyrate, which is good for digestion and reducing inflammation, and vitamins A and E, among other nutrients. Cultured butter, which tastes better, trust me, is fermented so it has the added benefits of probiotics. When buying butter, I would look for grass-fed and organic, or something from Europe. Trader Joe’s surprisingly has a great one, but you can also try Vermont Creamery, Maple Hill Farms, Organic Valley, or my personal favorite, Frentel.

SEED OILS
There is one seed oil that I think is an absolute pantry must: toasted sesame oil. This is a finishing oil that will give so many of your dishes (especially Asian flavors) that extra zhuzh of flavor to really push it over the top! Look for an organic cold pressed, unrefined option like that from Kevala, Eden Foods, or Trader Joe’s (again!).

If there are other seed oils you just must have in your pantry, try to find organic, cold pressed, unrefined options (when possible). My dad, for example, despite my yearly plea, refuses to make latkes in avocado oil, so we’ve settled on an organic grapeseed oil. La Tourangelle, widely available in grocery stores and good ol’ Amazon, is a great brand. They have a regenerative organic certified sunflower oil (!!!), among other options.

Now that you’re an expert on cooking oils, use this as an opportunity to check your condiments and pantry to see what oils are in your everyday foods like mayonnaise, salad dressings, popcorn, etc. Primal Kitchen, Lesser Evil, and Chosen Foods are a few brands that use high quality oils in their products.