10 Best Substitutes For Vegetable Oil

It's hard to imagine a situation where you'd find yourself freshly out of vegetable oil. It's a pantry essential and an item so important that even "MasterChef" places vegetable oil in its meager box of pantry staples available for contestants at all times (via Newsbreak). It may be highly unlikely that you reach for a substitute for vegetable oil just because you're out of the latter however, there are plenty of reasons why you should actively be swapping vegetable oil for other oils and non-oil-based substitutes.

While some vegetable oils do contain polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats that are healthy, others contain trans fats that are unhealthy and inorganic ones, in particular, are highly processed with chemicals. In an interview with Time, author Lisa Howard ("The Big Book of Healthy Cooking Oils") claims that since vegetable oil is a blanket term for any type of oil that comes from a vegetable, oil manufacturers can easily substitute one vegetable for another and pass it off as vegetable oil.

While its nutritional value may have you looking for alternatives to vegetable oil, there are certain things to keep in mind when choosing a substitute. Vegetable oil is a neutral oil, meaning that it has no particular flavor or odor of its own (via A Couple Cooks). Vegetable oil can be extracted from nuts, seeds, fruits, and grains and has a high smoke point which makes it suitable for high heat cooking. For this reason, Healthline suggests that it's important to choose a substitute for vegetable oil based on what you're using it for.

Another healthy cooking oil that you can use instead of vegetable oil is avocado oil. Avocado oil is extracted from the pulp of avocados and contains a high amount of oleic acid which is a type of monounsaturated fat (via Farmer's Almanac). 

Avocado oil has a high smoke point which is even higher than that of vegetable oil (via Pure Wow). So you can go ahead and use avocado oil for deep frying and all high heat cooking. This oil also has a rich and creamy mouthfeel and a buttery flavor. That means it can add an extra oomph to salad dressings.

You can use equal amounts of avocado oil to substitute vegetable oil in your recipe.

Butter and vegetable oil are often used interchangeably, unless well, you're deep-frying let's say...chicken wings. In fact, some may say that frying garlic in butter is a gazillion times better than frying it in vegetable oil. Maybe it's the nutty garlicky aroma or the lovely foaming that happens in the pan when frying butter that makes butter so much better.

Although butter is considered to be the cause of all things bad when it comes to food, butter actually isn't all that bad, especially when you compare it to vegetable oil. Butter contains a high amount of saturated fat as well as vitamins A, E, and K12 that have a host of benefits of their own, per Delishably. Butter can be used instead of vegetable oil in both sweet and savory recipes. It's a no-brainer alternative to vegetable oil in baking brownies, cakes, and the likes but you can also use it for stir-frying.

To substitute vegetable oil with butter, melt the butter first and then use a 1:1 ratio to replace vegetable oil with melted butter.

Applesauce is far from what you would think of when you think of vegetable oil substitutes and rightly so, it sounds extremely strange. However, applesauce is actually a very good substitute for vegetable oil in baking, and baking alone.

Creamy applesauce will add lots of moisture to bakes and will make them soft and fluffy (via Pure Wow). Mashed and puréed fruits like applesauce also add fewer calories to bakes than vegetable oil does. However, there are a few things to be careful of when using applesauce instead of vegetable oil in baking recipes. Applesauce is naturally quite sweet and so, you should reduce the amount of sugar you add on top in your recipe. A Couple Cooks also warns that while applesauce will make your bakes soft, they can become a little too soft so you might want to tweak your recipe a bit.

It's best to substitute one part vegetable oil with half parts applesauce and half parts another oil-based substitute of vegetable oil. However, you could also use a 1:1 ratio of vegetable oil to applesauce.

Flaxseed oil, also known as linseed oil, is extracted from the ripened seeds of the flax plant — flaxseeds. Considering the many health benefits associated with flaxseeds, it's obvious that flaxseed oil, too, is a pretty healthy oil. Flaxseed oil is a great source of fiber and may help lower cholesterol as well as reduce the risk of heart disease (via Healthline). 

Flaxseed oil is not suitable for heating and should therefore not be used as a substitute for vegetable oil in any recipe that requires the oil to be cooked or baked. It is, however, a great vegetable oil replacement for making salad dressings and marinades as well as to be used as a drizzling oil over already cooked food.

For best results, use a 1:1 ratio to substitute vegetable oil with flaxseed oil.

A good substitute to use for vegetable oil in baking is yogurt. Carol Aguirre, registered dietician with Nutrition Connections, said to Livestrong that using yogurt in place of vegetable oil will not only reduce the amount of fat in baked goods but will also add calcium, protein, and vitamin B to the treats. Due to its high protein content, yogurt will also turn your bakes into more filling snacks.

You can use most unflavored kinds of yogurt including Greek, fat-free, or low-fat yogurt in place of vegetable oil. When using plain yogurt, don't be surprised if the end result turns out to be a bit tangy, similar to the tang of buttermilk (Greek yogurt is even tangier). You could also use vanilla yogurt for extra flavor. When using yogurt instead of vegetable oil, Aguirre warns that the amount of moisture in your bakes will increase. Make sure to cut down on other liquid ingredients in your recipe.

For best results, use three-quarters of a cup of yogurt for every cup of vegetable oil in your recipe.