Keto Means
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What can I fry on keto?

The best cooking oils for the keto diet are olive, avocado, and coconut oil. Additionally, animal fats like butter, ghee, lard, and tallow are great choices.

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Here are 6 of the best keto-friendly oils and cooking fats, along with 5 to avoid, as well as some helpful instructions regarding shopping for cooking oil. However, it can be difficult to know which cooking oils are best suited for keto. All oils are pure fat and don’t contain any carbs, but from a health perspective, some are better than others ( 1 ). Keto is a low carb, high fat diet, but sometimes the “high fat” part can be a challenge — especially if you’re new to eating keto and unused to eating so much fat. To ensure you get enough of this macronutrient, you can be more generous with cooking oil on your food.

1. Coconut oil

Coconut oil is a unique plant-based oil made from coconut flesh. It’s solid at room temperature because of its high saturated fat content, which is typically only seen in animal fats ( 2 ). This oil has a relatively low smoke point, which is the temperature at which an oil begins to smoke, of 350°F (177°C). As such, it may be more suitable for baking and low heat cooking rather than high heat cooking like frying or stir-frying (3). However, one drawback of coconut oil is that it imparts a coconut taste to foods that are cooked with it. If you want a flavorless coconut oil, look for one that’s labeled “refined.” Refined coconut oil also has a higher smoke point of 450°F (232°C). Yet, this product is more processed than unrefined coconut oil (4).

2. Olive oil

Olive oil is made from the oil pressed from olives, which are naturally high in fat. It’s widely considered one of the healthiest oils available and possibly even one of the healthiest foods overall ( 5 ). Look for extra virgin olive oil, which is the oil that’s extracted from the olives on the first press. It’s generally the least processed and the highest in quality.

3. Avocado oil

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Avocado oil, which is made from pressed avocados, is another excellent oil choice. It has a rich, nutty flavor that complements sautéed and pan-fried foods, and its high smoke point of approximately 500°F (260°C) lets it create extra-crispy fried foods without burning them (4). One drawback of avocado oil is that it’s more expensive than both olive and coconut oils.

4. Butter

Butter is a solid fat made from dairy cream. While it’s not technically an oil, it’s used in cooking the same way that many oils are. Butter adds a rich flavor to dishes, but it also browns very quickly — and therefore can burn rapidly. It’s not suitable for high heat cooking, especially if the food will be cooked for a long time.

5. Ghee

Ghee is made by heating butter and removing the milk proteins that accumulate during the heating process. The result is a flavorful clarified butter that solidifies at room temperature. Ghee is often used in Indian cooking ( 9 ). Because the milk proteins are removed, some people who are sensitive to dairy report that they can eat ghee with no issues. However, if you have a dairy allergy you should still avoid ghee in case it contains traces of the dairy proteins that trigger your allergy. Ghee doesn’t burn as easily as butter, so it’s more suitable for high heat cooking.

6. Animal fats

Animal fats aren’t technically oils but rather solid fats at room temperature. Still, they’re suitable for keto cooking. They can impart a unique, meaty flavor to dishes, and they’re fairly stable when heated, making them great for high heat cooking, roasting, and frying ( 10 ).

Some examples of animal fats include:

bacon grease

lard (pig fat)

tallow (beef fat)

duck fat

Note that these choices are high in saturated fat. As such, it may be best to moderate your intake.

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