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Confused About Healthy Cooking Fats? Start Here! — Key Takeaways

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Confused About Healthy Cooking Fats? Start Here!

Homesteading Family44mOct 31, 2026

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Swap modern refined oils for traditional fats — butter, ghee, tallow, lard, schmaltz, coconut oil, olive oil, or avocado oil — matching each fat's heat tolerance and melting point to the cooking task.

Key takeaways

Swap vegetable shortening for butter + leaf lard in pie crusts & biscuits

Swap vegetable shortening for butter + leaf lard in pie crusts & biscuits

  • Leaf lard + butter combo gives best tenderness, flakiness, and flavor in pastry

Replace liquid vegetable oil with melted butter or coconut oil 1:1 in baking

Replace liquid vegetable oil with melted butter or coconut oil 1:1 in baking

  • Melt butter or coconut oil first, measure same volume as called-for oil. Lard works invisibly in muffins and cookies

Make ghee in minutes by skimming milk solids off melted butter

Make ghee in minutes by skimming milk solids off melted butter

  • Gently melt butter, skim off white foam from top, use remaining liquid for high-heat cooking without burning

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In this video

  1. 1mIntro and Why Fats Got Confusing
  2. 2mSponsor: Azure Standard
  3. 4mWhy Traditional Fats Matter
  4. 10mInflammation and Omega-3/Omega-6 Balance
  5. 11mTraditional vs. Processed Fats: Processing Simplicity and Food Resilience
  6. 16mAnimal Fats: Butter, Ghee, Tallow, Lard, and Schmaltz
  7. 27mPlant Fats: Coconut Oil, Olive Oil, and Avocado Oil
  8. 32mFat Stability: Saturation and Oxidation
  9. 36mQuick Selection Guide and Swapping Fats in Recipes
  10. 40mBaking, Shortening Replacements, and Condiments
  11. 43mConclusion and Call to Action

“If it never goes bad, we really shouldn't be eating it because it's probably not food.”

— Carolyn

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Related in the Library

Ep. 9: Polyunsaturated Fats (PUFA) and Energy Balance

Replace seed oils, fatty fish, and grain-fed chicken/pork fats with saturated fats (butter, beef tallow, coconut oil) and monounsaturated fats (macadamia oil for cooking, olive oil cold), as polyunsaturated fats incorporate into mitochondrial membranes, cause proton leak, and generate lipid peroxidation products linked to cancer, diabetes, and heart disease.

These “Healthy” Foods Are Loaded With Omega-6

Limit eggs to 2–3/day and replace high-fat pork/chicken with ruminant meat unless you can source verified low-PUFA versions, as conventional chicken fat, pork fat, and most eggs contain 20–35% omega-6s — comparable to canola oil.

Ep. 7: Carbs vs. Fats and General Macronutrient Guidelines

Eat a baseline of 0.6–0.8g protein per pound of bodyweight, at least 150g carbohydrates daily, and 20–30g of saturated/monounsaturated fat per meal to support hormones, metabolism, and stable energy without triggering stress pathways.

EB. 9: Polyunsaturated Fats (PUFA) and Energy Balance

Avoid polyunsaturated fats (omega-3s and omega-6s) from vegetable oils, nuts, seeds, and fatty fish because they damage cellular energy production by making cell membranes leaky and are 160-320 times more susceptible to oxidation than monounsaturated fats.