Can vegetable oil be frozen? - Storage options

Vegetable oil is a commonly used cooking ingredient, especially if you fry foods a lot. It is an essential item in the pantry of most homes. Some households buy it in bulk to save money.

Regardless of how often you use vegetable oil or how much you have on hand, you need solutions to store your vegetable oil for the long term. You want to make sure that you can store it in the best possible way and not have to worry about it going bad.

Can vegetable oil be frozen?  The answer is yes, you can freeze vegetable oil. We are here to guide you through the process. Freezing cooking oil of any kind is a great option to preserve the oil and extend its shelf life. 

Don’t worry, freezing your vegetable oil won’t change its usefulness or consistency. It may look like it has a different consistency when stored in the freezer, but when you heat the oil it becomes exactly the same and works the same way too.

We have prepared this guide to help you in the process and inform you of everything you need to know about vegetable oil. From the pros and cons to the freezing process and the process of using the oil after freezing, we are here with you every step of the way.

Keep reading this guide for details on freezing vegetable oil and much more.

Vegetable Oil Guide - Freezing and More

Vegetable oil has many uses, some of which you may not be aware of. There are also several storage options for your vegetable oil that can be very useful when you need a long-term storage solution.

If you have vegetable oil on hand, but don’t use it very often, freezing is the right option for you. If you buy vegetable oil in bulk and it takes a long time to use it, freezing is best for you. We will share with you the different storage options and you will be able to determine which one you think is the best for your vegetable oil.

What do you use vegetable oil for? Here are some common and perhaps not so common uses for vegetable oil. 

• • fry food
  • Common baking practices
  • Use it in an oil lamp or to stoke the fire
  • Use it to help remove rust
  • Seasoning Cast Iron and Nonstick Cookware
  • Use to grease a sticking wrench
  • Use as a deep conditioning treatment for hair
  • Remove stubborn splinters

• Remove labels or stickers from unwanted areas
• Use it to moisturize your feet

As you can see, vegetable oil can be used for much more than cooking. Now that you know some of its uses, you may decide to have more at home!

In recent years, vegetable oil has received a lot of criticism for being an unhealthy cooking oil, but even if you don’t want to use it for most of your cooking, it has many other functions that you can use it for.

What does vegetable oil contain?

Vegetable oil is a combination of various oils from the seeds or other parts of fruits and vegetables. These vegetable fats are considered triglyceride mixtures. This mixture of fats is a liquid ingredient when at room temperature.

Of course, there is a process that manufacturers go through that involves much more than just natural oils from fruits and vegetables to make vegetable oil. There are chemical additives in the typical bottle of vegetable oil.

Also, there are purer oil options and other types of oil as well. Here are some examples of other types of oil:

• Coconut oil
• Olive oil
• Grape seed oil
• Sunflower oil
• Canola oil
• Peanut oil

These are just a few examples of some of the most popular oil varieties. There are also many others available on the market.

The storage tips that we share with you can be used in a general way for each of these types of oil.  Most of these oils are considered forms of vegetable oil, but when you buy oil at your local grocery store, the bottle labeled vegetable oil is a less pure form of oil than many of these others.

Freeze vegetable oil and other storage options

Freezing vegetable oil is a great option to get the most out of your vegetable oil. Due to the ingredients and composition of the vegetable oil, it is not actually frozen, but rather preserved in freezing temperatures.

Let’s start by talking about some of the pros and cons of freezing vegetable oil.

Advantages of freezing vegetable oil

• Extends shelf life up to 2 years
• Freezing vegetable oil is easy
• No complicated freezing steps required
• The use after freezing is not complicated
• The integrity and texture of vegetable oil are not affected by freezing

Cons of freezing vegetable oil

• Chances are your oil doesn’t actually freeze, but it’s preserved
• You may notice a difference in consistency when you take it out of the freezer (a solvable con)
• Refrigerating vegetable oil can extend its shelf life in a similar way to freezing
• Freezing vegetable oil can make it difficult to determine if the oil is rancid when it is ready to use.

Freezing vegetable oil is an option, but it is not the recommended storage option for vegetable oil. The results are quite scattered and you don’t know for sure what will happen when you freeze the oil.

For vegetable oil to truly freeze, it has to reach about 12 degrees Fahrenheit. It will still keep in the freezer, but you may notice cloudiness or compounds separating while in the freezer. Don’t worry, this won’t affect the vegetable oil when you take it out of the freezer.

freeze vegetable oil

Freezing vegetable oil is not a complicated process. In fact, you don’t have to do anything special. But we need to cover the whole topic so you know what to expect.

1. Freeze the oil in its original container or in an airtight container.
2. Make sure it is well closed and hermetic.
3. Place it in the freezer.
4. In the freezer it will keep for up to 2 years.

You should allow some extra time to prepare the vegetable oil for use when you take it out of the freezer.

You will need to heat the vegetable oil to use it. If your freezer reached freezing temperatures for the vegetable oil, you may need to allow thawing time before using it.

The most important thing to keep in mind is that even if the oil is not frozen solid, you will need to heat it to use it. You can heat it up slowly in the microwave or heat it up in a skillet over the heat.

If you take the vegetable oil out of the freezer and see cloudy drops or separation, don’t worry, this is just from the cold and will not affect the viability of the vegetable oil in general.

Other storage options

If you decide that freezing your vegetable oil isn’t the best option, don’t worry. You can store your vegetable oil by other means.

1. Refrigerator - You can store your opened vegetable oil in the refrigerator for up to 1 year without worrying about it going rancid. You just have to close the lid of the container well.
2. Pantry - You can also store opened or unopened vegetable oil in the pantry for up to 1 year.

No storage method is better than the other, however it is recommended to simply use the fridge or pantry rather than trying to keep vegetable oil longer in the freezer. 

Related questions

We hope you have found this guide useful and informative for your needs. We have compiled a question and answer section that provides additional information.

We encourage you to take a look at it and see if it can also be useful to you.

How can I tell if my cooking oil is rancid?

As long as a bottle remains unopened, you probably don’t have to worry about it going bad. Once you open the bottle and break the seal, the typical shelf life is approximately 1 year.

Most of the time you can’t tell if a cooking oil has gone bad by looking at it. It does not normally mold or rot like many foods.

The easiest way to tell if the oil has gone bad is by smell. If the oil is rancid, it will have a strong bitter odor. 

Can I use these methods with used cooking oil?

We do not recommend freezing used cooking oil. Used cooking oil can be stored and reused, but it has been subjected to air and bacteria and therefore does not last as long. Seal your used cooking oil tightly and store it at room temperature.

You should only store your used cooking oil for a maximum of 4 months to ensure it does not go rancid or lose cooking oil viability.