Most restaurants in the USA are using seed oils in their kitchen, as its very cheap to cook with. You can use the app “Seed Oil Scout” app to search for restaurants in your area that use safe cooking fats and oils. It’s our hope that more and more restaurants will become aware of the dangers of seed oils, and start to use more healthy ingredients in their food. Let’s make seed oil free the new gluten free!
One of the best ways for you to help the cause is to continue to ask restaurants about their ingredients and share with them the health benefits of avoiding seed oils. If there is enough demand, more and more restaurants will start to go seed oil free.
It’s always best to cook meals at home, but we know that sometimes eating out is enjoyable or necessary. Here’s a comprehensive guide to avoiding seed oils when eating out. First, it’s important to know what cooking oils to avoid.
Here’s a list of ingredients to watch out for & avoid wherever possible:
- Canola oil
- Vegetable oil
- Soybean oil
- Corn oil
- Rapeseed oil
- Soy oil
- Sunflower oil
- Safflower oil
- Grapeseed oil
- Palm kernel oil
- Ricebran oil
Before going out to eat, call ahead and ask if its possible to have your food cooked in butter, lard, beef tallow, or olive oil. You could say you have a sensitivity to industrial oils such as canola oil, vegetable oil, soybean oil, etc and need to have natural fats. Chances are, dishes like steak, fish, veggies, etc. will be possible to cook in animal fat versus seed oils. Dishes that are deep fried (such as french fries, fried chicken, etc), likely won’t be able to be accommodated.
Personally, I find it easier to send an email, as its easy to miscommunication over the phone or even in person.
Here’s a breakdown of tips for dining at different types of restaurants:
Farm To Table Restaurants
Farm to table restaurants are likely your best bet for finding seed oil free food. Many of these places are aware of the inflammation seed oils cause, and choose to cook their food in animal fats or olive oil. Call ahead to ask what type of cooking oils they use for their meats, veggies, and sides.
If you get lucky, you might find a restaurant that cooks their french fries in beef tallow (such as Redmond Farm Cafe in Utah).
Fast Food & Burger Restaurants
Personally, I do everything I can to avoid fast food restaurants, just out of principle—as I don’t want to support companies that sell such low quality “food” (that contributes greatly to chronic disease). That being said, I know there are times when you don’t have any other option but to eat at one! So here’s all you need to know.
99.9% of fast food restaurants will be using seed oils in their fryers for their fried chicken, french fries, etc. Most also use seed oils even for their “grilled meat” options. It’s a shame, because many fast food places, such as McDonalds, used to use beef tallow for their french fries. Now they use seed oils and use a “beef flavoring” (yuck)!
These are what some common fast food chains use for their cooking oil:
- Mcdonalds (canola oil blend)
- Chickfila (highly refined peanut oil)
- Wendy’s (vegetable oil)
- Burger King (corn, canola, or soy oil)
Many burger restaurant chains like In-N-Out actually don’t use seed oils on their grill or in their beef patties. Before going, you can call or email them and ask if they use any oil on their burger grill. The best option would be to order a plain burger without the bun or fries (as those are 99.9% likely to have seed oils).
Deli & Salad Restaurants
One of the most important things to watch out for at salad/sandwich places is the dressings and the condiments. Most salad dressings contain high amounts of seed oils (ex. italian, ranch, etc). The deli meats, cheeses, etc should be fine. As for condiments, mayo, aoili, and ranch are almost always made with seed oils. You may want to bring your own dressing & condiments or go without them. Check the ingredients to be safe.
Wing Restaurants
Buffalo Wild Wings is one of the very few wing places that still fries their chicken wings in beef tallow! While the quality of their meat/tallow likely isn’t great, its a good option for a special occasion or if you’re in a bind. I’d assume most wing restaurants make wings in seed oils, but its always worth asking to find out.
If you can, make wings at home—it’s so easy! We just salt them and throw them into the air frier until they’re crispy!
Cafes & Diners
Most cafes and diners will be difficult to find anything seed oil free. If you want, you can ask your waiter if you can have steak or eggs cooked in butter.
Mexican Restaurants
Most mexican restaurants will be difficult to find anything seed oil free. Which is such a shame, because mexican food is so delicious! It never hurts to ask, but in general, mexican restaurants are not going to have seed oil free options. Even chipotle (which is marketed to have very fresh, clean ingredients) cooks their meat and tortillas in seed oils.
Italian Restaurants
Look for authentic italian restaurants, as they will often use olive oil and butter instead of seed oils. Ask the chef what sort of oil they cook with! Most cheap pizza places use seed oils and artificial ingredients.
Note: V Pizza is an Italian chain in the south that doesn’t use seed oils in their dishes (except the gluten free pizza crust and vegan cheese, as those aren’t made in-house).
Indian Restaurants
Unfortunately, most indian restaurants use seed oils in their dishes and curries. We recently emailed some of our old favorite Indian places to see what oils they use for cooking, and they responded saying they use corn oil. It never hurts to call and ask to talk with the chef!
Ice Cream
Many homemade ice cream places will not use seed oils or artificial ingredients. But, of course, they will use sugar. You can use our raw milk ice cream recipe for a special homemade treat (sweetened with raw honey)!
In Summary
We hope this guide is helpful as you navigate going out to eat while seed oil free! Keep in mind, its not necessary to go 100% seed oil free overnight to see benefits. Go at your own pace! The body doesn’t need perfection to be healthy, but every effort you make to prioritize real, nourishing food will make a difference. Food is both fuel and medicine.