Can You Use Extra Light Olive Oil For Deep Frying

If you are looking for a healthy oil to deep fry with canola is a great option.

Can you use extra light olive oil for deep frying.

And we re not made of money. We know because we hear the myth that it can t be done. Regular olive oil and extra light tasting olive oil are the most cost efficient for frying. Light olive oil with a smoke point of 460 f can be used to deep fry but deep frying with olive oil does not make food healthier than frying with other kinds of polyunsaturated oils.

This is an assumption based on the idea that any oil with a low smoking point will not hold up and will become altered and bitter. In general when olive oil is used for cooking it s best kept to pan frying only. In one study researchers used several commercial oils for deep frying and took samples of each oil every three hours. Compared to commercial vegetable oil blends extra virgin oil had lower levels of oxidation 22.

However choosing the right types of olive oil for cooking is important. Deep frying with extra virgin olive oil is a hot topic. Light olive oil by comparison has a high smoking point meaning you can make it pretty hot. If you re going to deep fry light refined olive oil is a good way to go.

It is often claimed that the health benefits start to break down as soon as it is heated but this is simply not true. There is a lot of culinary myths surrounding olive oil and one of the most common is that it cannot be used for frying. Heating olive oil will neutralize much of the flavor. Another olive oil deep frying myth is that due to its lower smoking point olive oil cannot be used for repeated frying.

Much lower concentrations of aldehydes form when shallow frying fish in extra virgin olive oil compared to sunflower oil 23. Yes you can deep fry with extra virgin olive oil try french fries or churros. Extra light virgin olive oil. Extra virgin olive oil smoking point is only 320 f making it unsuitable for deep frying.

Don t worry that your food will taste like olives. Extra virgin olive oil and canola oil are more in the middle you can stir fry or bake with them but don t deep fry. The smoke point of extra virgin olive oil and virgin olive oil is 250 degrees fahrenheit considerably lower than the 350 f you need to fry your doughnuts. Mediterranean cooks however have been deep frying foods in extra virgin olive oil for a long time.

High quality extra virgin olive oil is pricey and dumping six cups of it in a dutch oven to fry some chicken instead of something more affordable like vegetable oil.