Refined Vs Blended Oil: Which One's Best For Deep-Fried Recipes?

When shopping for cooking oil, most of us simply check what it's made from — whether it's olive, canola, or peanut oil — without giving much thought to how it's produced. Who cares if it's a blend or refined vegetable oil? Well, if you haven't before, you'll very much care the next time you go out shopping. This tiny, but crucial detail actually makes a big difference in your cooking, especially when it comes to deep-frying.

The key factor here is something called smoke point, which is the temperature where the cooking fat in question begins to break down. When the fat reaches this point, it doesn't just start puffing up smoke (as the name suggests), but it also releases bitter compounds that can ruin the taste of your food. This is particularly important for deep frying, which typically requires temperatures between 325 and 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Choose the wrong oil, and instead of crispy, delicious food, you might end up with a smoky kitchen and an unpleasant, bitter taste in your dishes. It's the same reason you never see anyone deep frying with butter — its low smoke point makes it great for sautéing but completely unsuitable for high-heat cooking.

Refined and blended oils handle very differently on the stove. So if you want to make extra sure that you buy the correct type for your kitchen, here's what you should know about either as candidates to go with your fryer.

It's not an exaggeration to say refined oils are the workhorse of the culinary world. When chefs need to fry something up, they often reach out for a jug of refined oil. These oils start with a single source, such as soybeans, canola, sunflower seeds, or peanuts. They then go through an intensive filtering process that removes all the impurities and particles that might affect their cooking performance. While this process does strip away most of the original color and flavor, what you're left with is a pure, neutral-tasting cooking oil.

The most impressive feature of refined oils is their remarkably high smoke point. Take canola oil, for example: in its natural, unrefined state, it starts smoking at around 225 degrees Fahrenheit. But after refinement? That number nearly doubles to 400 degrees! This dramatic increase in heat tolerance isn't unique to canola oil — it's true for all refined oils. Certain kinds, such as the budget-friendly refined corn oil, can have a smoke point as high as 450 degrees Fahrenheit.

Refined oils do have some drawbacks, such as the loss of certain nutrients during processing. However, their awesome performance and versatility are why they're many people's fryer-oil-of-choice. The fact that they're widely available for cheap makes them even more appealing.

Blended oils are exactly what their name suggests — a mixture of different oils like canola, sunflower, soybean, and olive all combined in one bottle. But don't think people just stir oils haphazardly together in a bucket. Manufacturers have to carefully calculate the exact proportions of each component oil to make a blend that offers the best balance of different qualities, from smoke point to flavor.

So, you might mix high-smoke-point canola oil with some fruity olive oil to get something that both tastes great and handles heat well. Sure, their smoke points won't be as high as single refined oils, but they're still perfectly capable of handling your frying needs. Some brands even add nutrient-rich oils like flaxseed (which contains omega-3) to their blends to boost their nutritional value beyond what you'd find in refined oils. Despite it all sounding rather expensive, most blended oils on the market are rather cheap. See Smart Balance Omega Oil, which is a blend of olive, canola, and soybean oils, as an example.

So which should you choose for deep frying? It really depends on what matters most to you. If you're after pure performance and the highest possible smoke point, refined oils are your best bet. But if you'd like some extra flavor in your cooking while still getting good heat tolerance, along with some added nutrients, then a blended oil might be the way to go.