Find the right oil or fat for any cooking method. Filter by cooking temperature to see which oils are safe to use without burning or degrading.
🌡️ What is the smoke point? The temperature at which an oil begins to smoke and break down, producing acrolein and other harmful compounds. Oils above their smoke point taste bitter and lose nutritional value. The smoke point is not a hard cutoff — degradation begins below it, just more slowly.
🏭 Refined vs unrefined: Refined oils have higher smoke points because impurities and free fatty acids (which burn at lower temperatures) have been removed. Extra virgin olive oil has a lower smoke point than refined olive oil. "Cold pressed" and "extra virgin" labels generally indicate lower smoke points.
🫒 Olive oil myth: EVOO is not as heat-sensitive as often claimed. Studies show it's stable at common cooking temperatures (180–200°C). However, its flavour compounds do degrade at higher temperatures, making it wasteful for high-heat applications. Use light olive oil for frying, EVOO for finishing and low-heat cooking.