Cooking oil is plant, animal, or synthetic liquid fat used in frying, baking, and other types of cooking. It is also used in food preparation and flavoring not involving heat, such as salad dressings and bread dips, and may be called edible oil.
Cooking oil is typically a liquid at room temperature, although some oils that contain saturated fat, such as coconut oil, palm oil and palm kernel oil are solid.
Most oils used in cooking are derived from plant-based sources. Fish oil, which is rich in omega-3 fatty acids, and is often derived from salmon, sardines, and cod, is one exception. Chicken oil, which is rendered from skin and fat and called schmaltz in Yiddish, is another. Seal oil, whale oil, and emu oil have been used in some times and places and are rare today.
There are a wide variety of cooking oils from plant sources such as olive oil, palm oil, soybean oil, canola oil (rapeseed oil), corn oil, peanut oil and other vegetable oils, as well as animal-based oils like butter and lard.
Oil can be flavored with aromatic foodstuffs such as herbs, chillies or garlic. Cooking spray is an aerosol of cooking oil.
