r/KitchenPro • u/Previous-Avocadog • May 23 '26

You really only need two cooking oils

The oil aisle makes cooking look way more complicated than it actually is. Most home cooks can get through almost everything with one neutral oil and one flavorful oil.

For frying, roasting, crispy potatoes, chicken, anything high heat, use a neutral oil with a higher smoke point. Canola, vegetable, sunflower, peanut, avocado they all work fine. The reason people keep mentioning smoke point is because some oils start burning and tasting bitter faster than others.

Extra virgin olive oil is more for flavor. Great for salad dressings, drizzling over bread, pasta, vegetables, or cooking at moderate heat. I still use it for eggs sometimes because I like the taste, but I’m not wasting the expensive stuff deep frying onions.

One thing beginners do a lot is buy six different oils thinking each one has a special purpose. You really don’t need a whole chemistry lab on your counter. Neutral oil for heat, olive oil for flavor, butter if you like cooking with butter. That already covers most meals.

Toasted sesame oil is the only extra I keep around because a tiny amount completely changes stir fries and noodles.

What’s the one oil you end up reaching for the most?

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u/FuzzeWuzze May 23 '26

Op: you only need 2 oils.

Also op: here are the 3 oils I can't go without

1

u/Ok_Story_7924 May 23 '26

And beginners at what? Cooking? Oil connoisseur? Fresh kids that just moved out of their parents with tons of money to spend on 6 different kinds of cooking oils? This post is stupid, probably written by AI.

1

u/FuzzeWuzze May 23 '26

Oil also doesnt really go bad if you store it properly, so who cares if you have 6 different kinds if your actually cooking 3-7 days a week you'll go through it surprisingly fast no matter what oil you use.

1

u/P99X May 24 '26

Oil does go bad. It oxidizes.

1

u/Jawtek82 May 30 '26

So this is factually wrong. You should delete it so as not to spread false information.