Cooking Oil Flash Point

Know your cooking oil flash point and smoke point

Here’s some deep frying information that I hope you’ll never have any first hand experience with.  If you get to know the meanings of the terms smoke point, flash point and fire point you should have a better chance of avoiding them.

The smoke point of cooking oil is the temperature at which the oil will begin to smoke.  It also is the temperature where both flavor and nutritional value start to degrade.  This is really the absolute maximum temperature that you should fry your food in.  Staying under the smoke point is actually where you want to be.

The flash point is the lowest temperature where your cooking liquid will start to vaporize and ignite.  If you ever reach the flash point with your turkey fryer you will actually see tiny wisps of flame coming from the surface of the cooking oil.  This is very similar to what goes on in your car’s engine.  Only instead of cooking oil, it’s gasoline that’s igniting and instead of burning down your house, it’s pushing a few pistons that propel your car.

The fire point is the point at which you call the fire department.  The oil will literally catch on fire.  And if you are ever unfortunate enough to have this happen, please don’t turn the garden hose on your fire or else you’ll just spread it around your backyard.  That’s why I always keep a fire extinguisher that’s rated for oil fires handy when I’m deep frying.

When deep frying a turkey the oil should reach at least 350 degrees Fahrenheit in order to cook food thoroughly and create a crispy coating.  So choosing an oil with a smoke point that’s higher than 350 is obviously required.  Here’s the breakdown of some typical cooking oils:

Peanut Oil
Smoke Point – 450 degrees Fahrenheit

Vegetable Oil
Smoke Point – 400 degrees Fahrenheit

Canola Oil
Smoke Point – 450 degrees Fahrenheit

Corn Oil
Smoke Point – 450 degrees Fahrenheit

Soy Bean Oil
Smoke Point – 400 degrees Fahrenheit

Olive Oil
Smoke Point – 320 degrees Fahrenheit