What Are The Best Oils To Stock Kitchen?

Stock your kitchen with the best oils so that it is easy to make good choices.

When deciding what oils to stock your pantry with, there are three things to consider.

Oils To Stock Kitchen

When choosing your cooking oils think about more than just health benefits. Consider these three things:

1. Nutritional health benefits: Use the oils that add value to your health. Monounsaturated fats and polyunsaturated fats are the “good fats.” They are good for your heart, your cholesterol, and your overall health.
2. Flash or smoke point: How hot can it be heated and what types of cooking do you do? Many oils burn or smoke at temperatures too low to cook in a skillet.
3. Flavor: Intense flavors are good in some dishes and not others. Do you want your cake tasting like olives?

What Are The Best Oils To Cook With?

There are many good oils but to keep a kitchen supplied with all of them is impossible.

Pick out three or four basic oils that provide nutrition, favor and are good to cooking oils.

What Are The Best Oils?

These are the best basic oils to stock your kitchen with:

• Olive Oil: With a moderate smoke point, olive oil is one of the best all-purpose oils for your kitchen.

It is a good-for-you oil that has all the properties that are attributed to lowering cholesterol (mono & poly unsaturated fats). With a smoke point of close to 400 degrees, you can do most stir fry or skillet cooking with it.

Reserve the extra virgin for not-cooked recipes like salad dressings, as it has a lower smoke point and more intense flavor.

• Grapeseed Oil or Canola Oil

With a light clean flavor either of these are perfect for both baking and cooking applications especially when you do not want any flavor.

Both have the “good” properties that have been shown to reduce cholesterol levels when consumed daily.

• Vegetable Oil or Peanut Oil

Also almost flavorless, these oils have a higher flash and smoke point so would be used when deep frying at higher temperatures.

• Dark Sesame Oil: This flavorful oil will add flavor to any dish even when using very small quantities, making it a perfect way to stir fry.

The nutty flavor adds full fat mouth feel and flavor into your recipe with a low fat quantity.

It also makes intensely flavored sauces and dressings with very little fat added. Dark sesame oil is right up there with the other two in terms of value to your health.

There are many other good-for-you oils that, but unless you are a trained gourmet chef these are good kitchen basics which will meet all applications. Stay away from the solid shortenings whenever possible.