Keto is a low-carb, high-fat diet, but sometimes the “high-fat” part can be challenging, especially if you’re new to eating ceto and aren’t used to eating so much fat. To make sure you get enough of this macronutrient, you can be more generous with cooking oil in your food.
However, it can be difficult to know which cooking oils are best for keto. All oils are pure fats and do not contain carbohydrates, but from a health point of view, some are better than others.
Below are the best keto-compatible cooking oils and greases, along with 5 to avoid, as well as some helpful instructions on buying cooking oil.
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Best Cooking Oils for Keto
Coconut oil
Coconut oil is a unique vegetable oil made from coconut meat. It is solid at room temperature due to its high saturated fat content, which is usually only seen in animal fats.
This oil has a relatively low smoke point, which is the temperature at which an oil starts to smoke, at 350 ° F (177 ° C). As such, it may be more suitable for baking and simmering rather than cooking over high heat, such as frying or frying.
However, a disadvantage of coconut oil is that it gives a coconut flavor to the food that is cooked with it.
In addition, a recent review found that coconut oil consumption resulted in significantly higher (bad) LDL cholesterol compared to non-tropical vegetable oil consumption.
If you want a tasteless coconut oil, look for one with the label “refined.” Refined coconut oil also has a smoke point above 450 ° F (232 ° C). However, this product is more processed than unrefined coconut oil.
Olive oil
Olive oil is made from the pressed oil of olives, which are naturally high in fat. It is widely considered one of the healthiest oils available and possibly even one of the healthiest foods in general.
Look for extra virgin olive oil, which is the oil extracted from olives in the first press. In general, it is the least processed and the highest quality.
Avocado oil
Avocado oil, which is made with pressed avocados, is another excellent oil option.
It has a rich nutty flavor that complements sautéed and fried foods, and its high smoke point of approximately 500 ° F (260 ° C) allows it to create extra crunchy fried foods without burning them.
One downside of avocado oil is that it is more expensive than olive and coconut oils.
Butter
Butter is a solid fat made from dairy cream. Although technically not an oil, it is used in cooking in the same way as many oils.
Butter adds a rich flavor to dishes, but it also browns very quickly and can therefore burn quickly. It is not suitable for cooking over high heat, especially if the food will be cooked for a long time.
Ghee
Ghee is made by heating butter and removing milk proteins that accumulate during the heating process. The result is a tasty clarified butter that solidifies at room temperature. Ghee is often used in Indian cuisine.
Because milk proteins are removed, some dairy-sensitive people report that they can eat ghee without problems. However, if you have a dairy allergy, you should still avoid ghee if it contains traces of the dairy proteins that trigger your allergy.
Ghee does not burn as easily as butter, making it more suitable for cooking over high heat.
Animal fats
Animal fats are not technically oils, but solid fats at room temperature. However, they are suitable for cooking.
They can give a unique meaty flavor to dishes and are quite stable when heated, making them ideal for cooking, roasting and frying over high heat.
Examples of animal fats include: bacon fat (pork fat), sebu (beef fat), duck fat.
Keep in mind that these options are high in saturated fat. As such, it may be best to moderate your intake.
Here are some guidelines to help you choose a cooking oil.
Look for oils made from natural fatty foods
The more fat a food naturally contains, the less processing it takes to extract the oil.
That’s why you should favor oils made with foods that are naturally high in fat such as avocados, olives and coconuts.
On the other hand, vegetable oils made from foods that are not naturally high in fat, such as corn and soybeans, require extensive industrial processing to produce.
Check the label to make sure it is not an oil mixture
Avocado or olive oil products that are significantly less expensive than similar products can be blended, that is, they are cut with a less expensive oil (usually one of the industrial seed oils listed above).
Check the ingredient list to make sure the cooking oil you choose does not contain low quality oil.
Avoid margarines, herbal spreads and vegetable shortenings
Although widely used, most margarines, vegetable shortenings and vegan spreads are highly processed and made with industrial seed oils.
Butter and coconut oil are good alternatives for cooking and other cooking methods where you want a solid fat at room temperature.
The best cooking oils for the keto diet are olive oil, avocado and coconut oil. In addition, animal fats such as butter, ghee, butter and tallow are good choices.
Although all cooking oils are free of carbohydrates, industrial seed oils such as soybean and corn oils are highly processed and inflammatory, and can release harmful chemicals into the air and food when heated. .
Regardless of your diet, you should opt for cooking oils that require less processing.