Best Oils For Frying Chicken

You will best enjoy your fried chicken when juicy and soft inside and then crispy and golden inside. You may have been using the inappropriate oil to do your frying if your result does not align with the above.

The oil that will give you a very high smoking point is the oil that can be best to fry your chicken. Recommended are peanut, avocado, or vegetable oil and you may also use oil blends, sunflower oil, and high oleic safflower oil.

How to Choose the Best Oil for Frying Chicken

We have different types of oil and it could be quite difficult to select a preference. Some oils can generally be brilliant for frying while others are excellent to help make vinaigrettes or drizzle salads. There are things you will need to consider:

Flavor

Some oils are flavorless which is perfect for many people who prefer the oil not to have any flavor. Others, however, will like their oil to have a slightly nutty flavor.

Smoke Point 

Your oil’s temperature to fry your chicken has to be around the temperature of 350°F. You need to use the oil whose smoke point is high, most especially to deep-fry chickens. Every oil possesses a smoke point and it is usually detected by watching out for when the oil begins to smoking or burn and this will result in having rancid oil. The temperature reached at this point is known as the smoke point. Rancid oil will have an off taste and also lose several of its good properties.

 

The Best Oil for Frying Chicken 

Check out our top seven best oil for frying chicken:

Rank (S/N)	Oil Type	Smoke Point (s)
1.	Mazola Pure Corn Oil	450°F
2.	Oléico – High Oleic Safflower Oil	450°F
3.	Chosen Foods Organic Blended Oil	490°F
4.	Native Harvest Expeller Pressed Sunflower Oil	475°F – 520°F
5.	LouAna Peanut Oil	450°F
6.	Happy Belly Vegetable Oil	450°F
7.	BetterBody Foods Pure Avocado Oil	500°F

1. Mazola Pure Corn Oil 

This corn oil is good for both stir-frying as well as deep-frying. It is generally one of the most popularly used oils for the purpose of deep frying because it is widely available and also for the suitable properties for cooking at high heat. Its recommended temperature is 375°F but it has a smoke point that is higher and this means the chance that it will burn is very low. The oil heats up to a very high temperature and that makes your chicken crispy and light. Check below for some of its key features:

• The oil has no additive and it is 100 percent pure.
• The fat per serving is 0 grams.
• It is free of cholesterol.

Smoke Point: It has a smoke point of 450°F.

Benefits: Apart from the fact that its smoke point is high, it has a mild flavor and that makes it many people’s favorites. It might not be the healthiest for frying but it contains vitamin E in high constituent and it helps to slow down the process of oxidation which could take place when your corn oil gets exposed to high heat for too long. The oil is versatile and can also be used in baking and salad dressings.

 

2. Oléico – High Oleic Safflower Oil

This variety can be considered the most neutral to use for frying chicken. It is considered to be expeller-pressed and that is why it is healthier than some other variety of vegetable oils not gotten through this method. The oil has a high content of healthy fats because of the squeezing method to derive the oil. Check below for its key features:

• The oil is very versatile as it can be used for some other purposes such as using in vinaigrette and baking.
• The oil has a high content of vitamin E.
• It has no flavor or odor.
• It does not contain any genetically modified organism.
• Contained in it is more than 75% constituent of monounsaturated fats that makes it very stable as well as suitable for use to cook at high heat.

Smoke Point: Has a smoke point of 450°F

Benefits: Instead of using oil that has been exposed to the process of hydrogenation, this oil is an excellent alternative. Hydrogenated oils contain high constituent of trans fats. This variety of oil being discussed has trans fat of 0g because it is gotten without using chemicals.

The oil also contains has a shelf life that is very long and can be kept in the pantry without a rush.

 

3. Chosen Foods Organic Blended Oil 

This oil is a unique one and it is a mix of organic coconut oil, safflower oil, and organic avocado oil. These three oils are suitable to be used for cooking on high heat and it makes this variety of oil perfect to fry chicken. Check below for some of its key features:

• The oil does not contain artificial preservatives or genetically modified ingredients.
• The oil contains healthy fats; majorly omega-9 fatty acids.
• It has a mild and light flavor.

Smoke Point: The smoke point is 490°F

Benefits: The smoke point is high and that makes it excellent for cooking high heat dishes. Coconut oil, safflower oil, and avocado oil have smoke points 450°F, 510°F, and 520°F respectively. If you use them separately, they are great to use to fry chicken and it means their blend is even a better choice.

Avocado oil contains a high content of monounsaturated fats that is usually very stable for high heat cooking. Furthermore, coconut oil is also healthy for use to deep-fry chicken with over 90% of its fatty acids being saturated and it will not produce any unhealthy element when high heat is exposed to it. Safflower oil has no flavor unlike the other two and its smoke point is still high, these are properties excellent for use to fry chicken.

 

4. Native Harvest Sunflower Oil 

If you want an oil that has a neutral taste, this is an excellent option for you. This oil can be considered to be expeller-pressed and that means that chemical solvents aren’t used for the production of the oil. The expeller press is used to extract the oil by physically squeezing it.

There is also a higher content of oleic in the sunflower oil because of the method of production and it makes this variety of sunflower oil slightly preferred to the conventional type of sunflower oil. It is healthier due to the lower trans fats level but it is slightly more costly. Check below for some of the key features:

• The flavor is delicate and will not affect the dish.
• The monounsaturated fats are in high amount and that makes it suitable to use to cook high heat food.
• It is 100 percent naturally derived and does not contain GMOs.

 

Smoke Point: Between 475 and 520°F

The Benefits: Sunflower oil does not have any flavor which will help give you a juicy chicken and crispy skin. Its smoke point is also very high and it will not turn rancid or go burn.

 

5. LouAna Peanut Oil 

This particular oil is considered to be peanut oil that is 100% pure. It is suitable to be used to deep-fry fish, chicken, or turkey because the smoke point is high. It possesses a flavor unlike the likes of soybean oil or canola oil but the flavor is not harsh. The flavor is mildly nutty that may be noticed or may not. Check below for some of its key features:

• It is perfect to be used to deep fry chicken because the smoke point is high.
• It has no additive making it 100% pure.
• Per serving, you can find 0 grams of trans fat.

Smoke Point: 450°F

Benefits: The oil is one of the cheapest oils. Also, the flavor is not transferred when you use it for the purpose of deep-frying. The flavor gets transferred when the flavors from the fried foods stay inside the oil and then transfer itself into other items that will be fried after. When you use peanut oil, chicken, onion rings, and French fries can be fried in the same oil batch.

 

6. Happy Belly Vegetable Oil 

If you have your deep fryer, vegetable oil can be an excellent option for you and the temperature when used to fry chicken could reach about 375°F. Vegetable oil could, however, get heated to about 450°F. This particular type of oil; Happy Belly vegetable oil can be gotten from soybeans and its flavor is neutral and this means you may need to season your chicken before you fry it because the oil will not add any flavor to it.

Ensure the vegetable oil is kept hot enough for the fried chicken not to be greasy and it will make the chicken thighs and wings not to absorb too much of the oil. Check some of the key features below:

• It is non-greasy.
• You can easily use it to deep-fry and other purposes of cooking.
• It has a light taste.

Smoke Point: About 450°F

Benefits: Some vegetable oils cannot be considered healthy to deep-fry, but people usually choose this for different reasons. It is much more budget-friendly. It is really ideal to use to fry chicken and it will not overshadow the meat or butter’s taste because it is tasteless.

7. BetterBody Foods Pure Avocado Oil 

This oil gives a slightly nutty flavor. This flavor will get transferred into the chicken. The oil is also naturally refined by the use of mechanical processes and not by chemical ones. Its shelf-life is longer because it is naturally refined. Check below for some of the key features:

• The oil can be used diversely. You may use it for frying as well as sautéing salad dressings.
• It has a smooth and mild flavor that helps to enhance other ingredients’ tastes
• The oil doesn’t contain any GMO.
• It is gluten-free.

Smoke Point:  500°F

Benefits: Avocado oil can be classified as one of the safest oils for frying because the smoke point is very high and can be used in very high heat cooking. The oil also contains monounsaturated fats of over 50% and this makes it more stable. Unlike polyunsaturated fats, monounsaturated fats do not combine with oxygen whenever they are exposed to heat and thus, it will not make the oil harmful for deep frying.