Best Oil for High Heat Cooking: Smoke Points and Uses

What does smoke point actually mean?

Smoke point is the temperature at which a heated oil starts to give off a steady stream of visible smoke. Below it, the fat is hot and stable enough to cook with. At and above it, the oil is breaking down: it starts to taste acrid, the smoke stings your eyes and the kitchen fills with a smell that lingers.

The number depends mostly on how much of the oil isn't pure fat. Free fatty acids, tiny bits of fruit or seed, proteins and flavor compounds all smoke sooner than the fat itself. Refining strips most of them out, which is why a refined oil smokes far higher than the cold pressed version of the same plant, and why it tastes of almost nothing. Butter is a special case. Its milk solids and water burn long before the butterfat does.

Two more things move the number. Oil that's been used for frying smokes a little lower each time, because every batch adds food particles and free fatty acids. And smoke point isn't the only measure of how an oil holds up. How easily it oxidizes matters too, which depends on its mix of fats and its natural antioxidants. A high smoke point tells you an oil won't burn at searing heat. It doesn't tell you which oil tastes best in a given dish, and that's half the decision.

Smoke point chart for common oils and fats

The table gives a working range for each fat, its flavor and the job it does best. Read the numbers as approximate, not exact.

Smoke points vary by brand, refinement, freshness and the way the test was run, so published figures for the same oil can disagree by 50°F or more. That's why every entry is a range. Notice the pattern rather than the decimals: refined oils and clarified fats cluster above 400°F, while unrefined oils and whole butter sit lower.

Your pan tells you more than any chart. Oil that shimmers and flows like water is hot and ready. A few thin wisps mean you're at the top of its range, which is right for a hard sear and wrong for anything slower. Steady gray smoke means it has gone too far.

Which oil is best for searing meat and fish?

A hot pan surface for searing runs somewhere between 400 and 500°F, so pick a fat that smokes at the top of that band: refined avocado oil, refined peanut oil, light olive oil or ghee. All four stay clean long enough to build a deep crust. The pan seared scallops use a tablespoon of avocado or grapeseed oil in a skillet heated for 2 minutes, then switch to butter only after the scallops come out and the heat drops to medium.

A wisp of smoke can be your cue, as long as the oil can take it. The honey soy glazed salmon heats a neutral oil until it just starts to smoke before the fillets go in skin side down. Do that with unrefined oil or butter and you'll taste burnt fat in the finished fish. Use a thin film, about a tablespoon in a 12 inch pan, and pat the food dry so the oil fries the surface instead of steaming it. Our guides to searing meat without sticking and caring for a titanium pan cover the pan side of the job.

High heat on meat has a separate question attached. The National Cancer Institute notes that meat cooked above about 300°F, as in grilling or pan frying, or cooked for a long time, forms more of the compounds called HCAs and PAHs. It also says human studies have reached mixed conclusions. Its practical suggestions are easy to follow:

• Avoid long cooking times at high heat.
• Turn meat often over a high heat source.
• Trim off charred portions before serving.

Is extra virgin olive oil OK for roasting?

Yes. Extra virgin olive oil smokes somewhere around 350 to 410°F, and an oven set to 425°F sounds like it should push it over the edge. In practice it doesn't, because the oil coating a vegetable is never as hot as the oven air. While the vegetables still hold water, evaporation keeps their surface well below the oven setting, and the oil sits on that surface.

That's why the oven roasted root vegetables toss carrots, parsnips, squash and beets in extra virgin olive oil and roast at 425°F for about 40 minutes without any smoke. The crispy brussels sprouts with balsamic go a step further and land on a sheet pan preheated for 10 minutes. The cut sides brown hard, and the olive oil holds up because the sprouts are wet and the pan is crowded with food rather than bare metal.

Where olive oil does struggle is an empty, very hot surface. A thin slick of it in a dry skillet over high heat smokes in a minute. For that kind of work, swap to light olive oil, avocado oil or ghee and save the good bottle for the end.

A few habits keep roasting clean whichever oil you use. Spread the pieces in a single layer, use enough oil to coat rather than pool, and line the pan with parchment if your oven runs hot. Excess oil puddling on the pan is what smokes first.

Which oil should you use for deep frying?

Deep frying asks something different of an oil. The temperature is moderate, usually 350 to 375°F, but the oil stays hot for a long time and in a large volume, so cost and neutral flavor matter as much as smoke point. Refined peanut oil and canola are the usual choices. Both sit comfortably above frying temperature, taste of very little and can be strained and reused. Refined avocado oil works just as well if the price doesn't bother you.

Use a heavy, deep pot so the oil holds its heat when food goes in; a Dutch oven is ideal. Then keep these rules in mind:

1. Fill the pot no more than halfway, so the oil has room to bubble up.
2. Clip a thermometer to the side and keep the oil between 350 and 375°F.
3. Fry in small batches; too much food at once drops the temperature and gives greasy results.
4. Strain cooled oil through a fine sieve and store it covered, away from light.
5. Discard it when it darkens, smells stale, foams or smokes at normal frying heat.

Potatoes deserve a note. The FDA explains that acrylamide forms mainly in plant foods such as potato and grain products during high temperature cooking like frying, roasting and baking, and that boiling and steaming don't typically form it. The agency's broad advice is a balanced diet rather than cutting those foods out. In the kitchen, frying fries to golden rather than dark brown is a simple step that limits browning and tastes better too.

Butter, ghee and clarified butter: when does each one work?

Whole butter is about 80% fat, with the rest water and milk solids. Those solids are what brown and then burn, somewhere around 300 to 350°F. That makes butter right for medium heat, for eggs and pancakes, and for basting a steak or scallops in the last minute or two. It's wrong for the opening sear.

Clarified butter is butter with the water and milk solids removed. Melt it gently, skim the foam, then pour the clear yellow fat away from the white solids at the bottom. What's left smokes around 450°F or higher and still tastes like butter, which makes it a lovely fat for searing fish or sautéing potatoes.

Ghee goes one step further. The butter cooks longer, until the milk solids turn golden brown before they're strained out, so it picks up a nutty, toasty flavor. Its smoke point is similar to clarified butter's, and it keeps for weeks at room temperature in a sealed jar.

The old trick of adding a spoonful of oil to butter helps less than people think. The milk solids still brown at the same temperature; the oil only dilutes them a little and buys a few seconds. If you want butter flavor at real searing heat, use ghee or clarified butter, or sear in oil and add whole butter once the heat comes down.

Finishing oils: toasted sesame, good olive oil and coconut

Some oils are bought for flavor, and heat is the fastest way to lose it. Toasted sesame oil is the clearest example. It's pressed from roasted seeds, so it already tastes deep and nutty, and a hot pan turns that flavor bitter quickly. Use it by the teaspoon in marinades, dressings and glazes, or drizzle it over a finished stir fry. Light sesame oil is a different product: refined, pale and mild, and fine for frying.

A peppery extra virgin olive oil works the same way. Cook with an everyday bottle and keep the best one for the table, poured over soups, beans, grilled bread and vegetables just before serving. A swirl over a bowl of Tuscan white bean soup with kale is the whole point of that bottle.

Coconut oil splits along the same refined and unrefined line. Refined coconut oil is neutral and handles roasting and frying. Unrefined, often sold as virgin, tastes clearly of coconut and smokes lower, so it belongs in medium heat cooking and baking where that flavor fits.

A simple kitchen setup covers nearly every job: one neutral high heat oil, one everyday olive oil, one finishing olive oil, butter, and a small bottle of toasted sesame oil. Store them away from the stove, since heat and light make oil go stale faster.