Frying food in Olive Oil healthy?

Question

I know that olive oil is extrememly healthy for your body and especially your heart. But..frying with it..is it still healthy?

Then that would make french fries healthy? Why wouldn't restuarants change to olive oil instead of using lard and conola?

Answer 1

Olive oil is not to be used for deep-frying. Deep-frying food is not healthy no matter what type of oil you use; there's simply too much fat being added to the food.

Olive oil is fresh-squeezed from virgin olives and imported from Italy and Greece, meaning this is is not a cost-effective option for high volume oil usage. National chain restaurants don't EVER use lard for deep frying. That practice went out decades ago. Lard is made from pig fat, is high in trans fats, and is rarely used anywhere. Corn, canola, and vegetable oils are what restaurants use in their fryers and are trans fat free. Chinese restaurants use sesame and peanut oils in preparation, but not for frying. Again, too expensive.

Answer 2

Olive oil is very good for you,,, but there is a few reasons why it's not used for deep frying.

1.) Differant oils have differant "smoke points". Olive oil will start to smoke at about 300 degrees. Normal frying temp is 350 degrees. Once an oil, like olive oil, reaches it's smoke point, it begins to break down, making it unusable and giving it a very bad flavor.

2.) Olive oil has a great flavor,,, but that flavor can overwhelm the flavors of other foods. When deep frying, you still want to preserve the flavor of whatever it is you are frying,,, if you were to eat a plate full of French Fries made w/ Olive Oil,,, you would get tired of the flavor about half was through eating it.

3.) Olive oil is expensive. It would cost restaurants a lot of money to properly maintain a fryer filled with Olive Oil. An average fryer holds anywhere between 2-3 gallons of oil,,, and you would need to change the olive oil about twice a day, when you can use canola or vegetable oil for an average of 2-5 days! A huge differance on cost control.

I hope this helps you out in your thoughts of using Olive Oil for deep frying. :-)

Answer 3

The trick to deep frying is to get the oil hot enough that it "seals" what your cooking immediately so it doesn't absorb a lot of oil. Olive oil is not meant for frying because it's not meant to cook at high heat. So it will smoke, you have to turn it down, and then your cooking at a lower heat that needed for frying and it soaks up the oil. So the oil itself is "healthier" but you eating more of it. But I think the real reason resaurants don't use it for frying is expense.

You could use olive oil for fake (bake) frying. I toss fry-cut potatoes in olive oil, season with salt & pepper, and bake them in the oven. Much healthier than frying.

Answer 4

Olive oil is horrible for frying. It gives the food a weird taste.

Vegetable oil is great for frying.

Lard or butter is the best for taste, but AWFUL for the health.

Answer 5

Using oils like olive, safflower, canola, etc. are better for you than other oils containing trans and saturated animal fats.
Frying with them doesn't make them healthy for you, it just makes it fractionally more healthy. Like saying that drinking a case of beer a day is healthier than a case of vodka. Sure it is, in comparison, but both will do damage.

Omega 3 fatty acids (like flaxseed oil), monounsaturated fats (like olive, canola) and polyunsaturated (like safflower, sunlower, soy) are better for you than others.

Answer 6

Although I am British I am of meditteranean origin and we eat olive oil. We DO use it to fry ocacasionally but it is still a fat (although better than most) so don't get carried away!

Answer 7

COSTS plus FLAVOR... Olive oil is much more expensive than vegetable/lard/canola. Some things just don't taste good when fried in olive oil... yuck! Fast food chains wouldn't be selling any of their fries if they used it.

Answer 8

I am not an expert, but I have heard/read that it is not good to heat olive oil to a high temp. It must change the properties in some way.

Answer 9

Yes it is, however olive oil tends to burn at high heat, which is probably why restaurants don't use it for french fries, etc..and is far more expensive than lard and conola.

Answer 10

Hmmmm good question...

Like most people on here said, I think it depends on what you are frying...

Personally, I like to stay away from the fried foods... No matter what kind of oil, it hurts my stomach.. lol