A neutral oil is a cooking oil that has very little to no flavor of its own, meaning that it will not impart any flavor to a dish, making it ‘neutral.’ Most neutral cooking oils tend to have high smoke points, making them kitchen workhorses that can stand up to pretty much any type of cooking, including high heat deep frying. Among olive oil, coconut oil, avocado oil, peanut oil, and butter, the only neutral oil is peanut oil. Below, you will find further explanation, including a list of neutral and very neutral oils.
- What Makes a Neutral Oil “Neutral”?
- What Is Removed From a Neutral Oil?
- 5 Somewhat Neutral Oils (Less Refined)
- 5 Very Neutral Cooking Oils
What Makes a Neutral Oil “Neutral”?
To make a cooking oil that has little to no flavor of its own, it must be highly refined. All cooking oils are refined, but neutral cooking oils go through extra steps to make them devoid of odor, particles, and color, and to make them color-stable in cold temperatures (i.e. to not turn cloudy).
What Is Removed From a Neutral Oil?
While some oils like olive oil can be minimally refined to produce a ‘virgin’ oil, other seed or fruit oils must be highly refined as their crude oil cannot be consumed without heavy refining. Examples of these oils are corn, soybean, palm, and canola (from rapeseed). Refining removes nutrients as well but produces an oil with more favorable characteristics for cooking.
Many sources will tell you about the danger of ‘refined’ cooking oils while not mentioning that any oil must be refined to some extent to be useful in cooking at all. Aggressive chemical refining can remove nutrients and even create potentially toxic byproducts. However, it removes a host of other products you would not want in your oil as the quality and stability would be, frankly, terrible, including (natural products and contaminants):
- free fatty acids
- unsaponifiable matters
- waxes
- pigments
- solid impurities like fibers
- oxidation products (peroxides, aldehydes, ketones, alcohols, and oxidized fatty acids)
- pesticides
- heavy metals
- solvents
- aflatoxins
- Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAH)
Regardless of the drawbacks of the refining process, most consumers expect affordable cooking oils that are neutral in flavor and colorless. And, although they may not realize it, they expect a cooking oil to be somewhat clear, i.e. limpid. Oqaque cooking oils would be offputting to consumers, even if they were usable for high-heat cooking. 1Gharby S. Refining Vegetable Oils: Chemical and Physical Refining. ScientificWorldJournal. 2022 Jan 11;2022:6627013. doi: 10.1155/2022/6627013. PMID: 35069038; PMCID: PMC8767382.
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5 Somewhat Neutral Oils (Less Refined)
While several cooking oils are generally regarded as neutral, some of these impart a bit more flavor to foods than others. Here are some refined oils with a bit more flavor:
- Avocado oil: avocado oil has a mild flavor of its own but a nicely high smoke point of 520° F
- Peanut Oil: peanut oil can impart a slight peanut taste but this can be desirable in certain instances such as when making stir-fries or deep frying chicken or french fries. In my experience, peanut oil turns out crispier fried chicken than canola or vegetable oil. It has a smoke point of 450° F.
- Corn oil: corn oil doesn’t have much flavor but it does have some. It is one of the cheaper oils and has a smoke point of around 410° F.
- Refined Coconut Oil: Virgin coconut oil tastes strongly of coconut and is solid at room temperature. Refined coconut oil has much less flavor. The smoke point of a refined coconut oil will be at least 400° F, while virgin coconut oil smokes at 350° F.
- Refined Olive Oil: The typical olive oil we usually buy, Extra Virgin Olive oil, it not neutral, but there are highly refined varieties known as “light olive oil”. These have little flavor and a high smoke point. Note that the terms “light” and “extra light” for Olive Oil refers to the taste, not a reduction in fat or calories.**
**While refined olive oils are available, they are not always easily found in stores and most consumers will purchase an extra virgin olive oil. EVOO is certainly not a neutral oil but can stand up to high-heat cooking quite well, meaning there is little need for a highly refined version.
5 Very Neutral Cooking Oils
The following are oils with almost no taste at all and high smoke points.
- Canola Oil: derived from Rapeseed, this is one of the most popular cooking oils both for its price and versatility. It has no flavor to speak of and has a smoke point of 435° F.
- Safflower oil: less refined versions are available but usually sold as a highly refined oil with no flavor and a high smoke point of 450° F, making it great for high-heat cooking. This is a more expensive cooking oil.
- Sunflower oil: Also available in first press virgin varieties or less refined versions, the most refined type has very little flavor and one of the highest smoke points of 450° F up to 490° F , but also more expensive.
- Grapeseed oil: Grapeseed oil is made from the seeds of grapes and is relatively low in saturated fat, being dominated by Linoleic Acid (Omega 6). Because of this high Omega 6 content, some sources advise against using it for deep frying. However, it has a high smoke point of 420°F to 485°F and imparts no flavor to food. It’s often used in salad dressing when a flavorless oil is desired.
- Vegetable oil: most oil labeled ‘Vegetable Oil’ is soybean oil. It has no flavor and a high smoke point of 450° F. There are some brands that contain a mixture of neutral oils, such as canola, sunflower, soybean, etc. Vegetable oil can be used in place of any neutral cooking oil with good results.
