Avocado Oil for Frying and the Smoke Point of Cooking Oils

Avocado oil is a very heat stable cooking oil and one of the best for high-temperature frying in your kitchen.

It also tastes great and is full of beneficial monounsaturated fats and other nutrition.

Here’s why it’s worth changing from unhealthy processed oils, like soy and corn, and even the healthier ones like olive oil, to cooking with avocado oil.

How the Smoke Point of Oils Affects Your Health

It is very important to consider the smoke point of the cooking oil you are frying with. This is the temperature at which the oil starts visibly smoking in the pan.

At this point the structure of the oil begins to break down. Not only are nutrients lost and the flavor changed, but damaging compounds, such as toxic aldehydes, can be created.

Even a healthy culinary oil, like extra virgin olive oil, changes structurally and becomes unhealthy when it reaches its smoke point.

A List of Cooking Oil Smoke Points

• Refined avocado oil — 520 F (271 C)
• Cold pressed avocado oil — 480 F (248 C)
• Corn oil  — 450 F (232 C)
• Soy oil — 450 F (232 C)
• Peanut oil — 450 F (232 C)
• Refined olive oil — 430 F (221 C)
• Cottonseed oil  — 420 F (215 C)
• Canola oil — 400 F (204 C)
• Extra virgin olive oil — 383 F (195 C)
• Coconut oil — 350 F (171 C)

Certain healthy oils, like high nutrition pumpkin seed oil or flaxseed oil for weight loss, should never be heated as they have very low smoking points.

Others, like processed soy oil and corn oil, do have acceptable burning points. However, they are extracted with high temperatures and chemicals, and are considered unhealthy by many nutritionists.

Their bland flavor is also no match for a high quality avocado oil, like this rich and buttery tasting cold pressed and organic oil I use in my kitchen.

The Smoke Point of Olive Oils

Many people use olive oil for cooking and it is a much healthier oil than regular vegetable oils (though not as healthy as avocado oil).

Unfortunately, olive oil’s smoke point varies greatly, depending on its grade and level of processing.

Extra virgin olive oil, the type considered the healthiest and best tasting, has a low smoke point of 383 Fahrenheit (195 Celsius). This makes it unsuitable for high temperature frying.

Despite this, many people do use unrefined olive oils to fry with, thinking they are being healthy.

Once these oils start smoking in the pan though, toxic compounds can be formed that are quite unhealthy.

Other lower grades of ‘light’ olive oil have a higher smoke point of 430 F (221 Celsius). These are suitable for cooking with, though lower in nutrition and have a bland taste compared to EVOO.

Avocado Oil Smoke Points

Refined avocado oil has a smoke point of 520 F (271 C), making it the most heat stable cooking oil for high-temperature frying.

Cold pressed and extra virgin avocado oil has a smoke point of 480 F (248 C). This is still higher than the majority of processed vegetable oils.

It’s recommended to keep unrefined avocado oil under 400 Fahrenheit when frying with it to be safe. You shouldn’t need to go that high on your hotplate very often anyway.

Burnt foods have their own unhealthy compounds, like polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, so avoid frying at too higher temperatures, even if avocado oil does have a very high smoke point.

Healthier Frying and Better Tasting Food

Using a high quality extra virgin avocado oil, like this organic one I use almost every day, makes good sense if you value your health.

Not only is it great for high temperature frying, it has many other benefits, such as a superior fatty acid profile and good levels of phytosterols and antioxidant vitamin E.

To top it all off, this culinary oil tastes far better than anything you’ve ever cooked with before. Better than olive oil and certainly much better than bland and unhealthy processed vegetable oils.

If you’d like to try avocado oil for frying in your kitchen, here’s where to buy cheap, bulk and organic oils online at a much lower price than in supermarkets.