Cooking with no oil does not mean a lack of flavor. There are several ways to cook without oil and still achieve crunchy texture, and delicious flavor. While cooking without oil might be an adjustment, there are some easy ways to cook and crisp up your food without the use of oil.
Cooking without oil is surprisingly easy. There are many ways to keep foods from sticking and many ways to get that perfect crunch. From air frying to sauteeing with veggie broth, there are many clever ways to cook without the use of oil.
Cooking Without Oil Benefits
Oil in its simplest forms is not a natural food. It’s a highly processed food. You can only create oil by processing whole food, like olives, and squeezing out the fat. The process removes the protein, carbs, and fiber.
One of the biggest reasons for NOT using oil in your cooking is weight loss. Oil is the most calorically dense food on the planet. It’s 100% pure fat. It’s 40x more calorie-dense than veggies. Even though it’s an overall calorie deficit that’s going to get you losing fat, not individual foods, it’s very easy to overconsume oil.
Oil has no fiber to “wall off” calories or keep you full. In two tablespoons of oil, there are 240 calories! Think of all the added calories you could save by skipping the oil.
Think about making your favorite roasted veggies and drizzling olive oil over them. Do you generally measure? Probably not. By removing oil from your cooking, you are easily subtracting hundreds of calories without even noticing.
Oil of any kind is a refined product. Similar to sugar or flour. Remove the fiber and water, and you have a highly refined food. It’s healthier to eat the foods in their whole form. Take olives for example. When eating a whole olive, you get the whole nutritional profile from the whole oil. Instead of just getting fat in olive oil, you get protein, fat, carbs, and fiber from the whole olive. So, cutting out oil does not mean you are cutting out fat. You are just cutting out a highly refined fat.
Healthy Plant-Based Fat Sources
- Avocados
- Nuts & Seeds almonds, cashews, walnuts, brazil nuts, pistachios, pecans, Chia Seeds, Flax Seeds, Hemp Seeds
- Soy Products soy milk, tofu, tempeh, soy yogurts
- Olives
- Nut Butter almond butter, peanut butter, cashew butter, tahini, sunflower butter
Ways To Cook Oil Free
1. Air Fryer
Oil without a doubt oil is amazing at giving your food a nice crispy texture. Although, using an air fryer with no oil is just as effective. The high heat and circulating air will give you that crispy texture without the use of oil.
Even though we are cutting out oil, that does not mean we lose out on crispy texture! The air fryer is the easiest tool to make anything super crispy. You would use the air fryer just as you normally would. Instead of spraying or tossing your food in oil, you would simply season and throw it into the air fryer basket.
5 easy vegan oil-free air fryer recipes
- Air Fried French Fries
- Air Fried Crispy Brussel Sprouts
- Tofu Nuggets
- Crispy Cheesy Zucchini
- Sushi Balls
How to Make Crispy Oil-Free French Fries
Take one potato of your choice. I prefer russet potatoes for a more classic French fry. Clean the potato really well and pat dry.
- Cut into fry shapes. Make sure to get roughly the same shape.
- Once cut, pat dry with a paper towel.
- Place into a large bowl and add spices like paprika, garlic powder, pepper, and salt. Mix until all the fried have been coated.
- Place into the air fryer and cook at 400 for 20 minutes. Halfway through the cooking process, shake the fries to get an even crispness.
- Pour onto a plate and enjoy with your favorite condiment.
Air Fryer Options
Ninja AF161 Max XL Air Fryer
This is the air fryer I personally use and love it! It’s super easy to easy and cooks very evenly.
DASH Tasti-Crisp™ Electric Air Fryer
A great afforable option. Some air fryers can be quite expensive but this air fryer works great for the price. It is on the smaller side but works great for a small house hold.
Cuisinart Air Fryer + Convection Toaster Oven
By far this is the most expensive option but you can get 8 functions in one. If you’re looking for less applicances to take up your counter space, then the Cuisinart air fryer is a great option.
2. Roasting
Roasting vegetables without oil could not be easier. To prevent your veggies from sticking to the pan, line your baking sheet with parchment paper or a reusable silicon mat. Season your vegetables as you normally would and pour them onto a lined baking sheet. With the use of parchment paper or silicon mat, your veggies won’t stick!
For starchy veggies like potatoes, it is best to steam them ahead of time for a quicker roast. If you choose not to, know that it will take slightly longer to cook.
For non-starchy veggies like bell peppers, zucchini, cauliflower, and asparagus, simply season and throw them into the oven. Since non-starchy veggies are more delicate, they do not require pre-steaming.
Cooking times and veggies may vary, but generally roasting at 375 for 20-30 minutes makes for perfectly golden oil-free veggies.
Silicon Mat
3. Sauteeing Without Oil
Traditionally when you saute you would use oil. While it might be an adjustment to stop using oil to saute, it is incredibly easy to replace. Surprisingly, water makes an excellent sauteing liquid. It can help prevent your food from sticking to the pan. Also, it can still create a golden brown crust to your food. Water is not your only option though. There are several different options to saute with like:
- Soy sauce
- Vegetable broth
- Balsamic vinegar
- Lemon or lime juice
- Tomato juice
- Coconut Aminos
- Soy Milk
Non-Stick Pans
With the addition of oil-free sauteeing, a great non-stick pan is an extra level of protection to keep your food from sticking. While there’s been a major shift in people’s dislike of non-stick pans, there are some great non-toxic ceramic non-stick pans on the market. You get to enjoy the taste of sauteeing without all the added fat.
Green Life Pans
Caraway
4. Baking
Learning to bake without oil can be tricky but here are some great alternatives to turn to. I’ve been baking without oil for years and I am confident in my oil-free baking methods.
Unsweetened Applesauce is great for baked goods like muffins, brownies, and cakes. The ratio is typically the same to oil. For example, if a recipe calls for 1/2 cup of oil you can replace that with 1/2 cup of applesauce.
Banana, Pumpkin, or Sweet Potato is a great whole food option! Just swap in either mashed banana, sweet potato, or pumpkin for half the oil called for. Generally, a mashed or pureed fruit like the ones above works best in cakes, muffins, and or brownies.
Nut Butter is great for baked goods like cookies. Use an equal amount of chosen nut butter to replace the butter or oil in a recipe. The only drawback is that using strongly flavored nut butter like peanut butter, it will affect the taste of your cookie. Not necessarily a bad thing! Remember to use nut butter with no added oil.
oil free dessert recipes
All of these desserts are oil-free and relatively low in fat. Not only are they oil-free, but they are incredibly easy to make and they are made with simple ingredients.
Five Ingredient Peanut Butter Cookies
Those are some simple and easy ways to cook without oil. It may take some getting used to but once you do, cooking without oil will become second nature. For more easy weight loss tips, check out this blog post about calorie density.
