# Seed Oil Free Snacks and Sides You Can Make at Home

Five seed oil free snacks and sides, including potato wedges, tortilla chips, popcorn, and homemade mayo, made without canola or soybean oil.

Seed oil free snacks and sides are simple to make once you're working from scratch, since chips, fries, popcorn, and dips only need canola or soybean oil because that's what the packaged versions are made with. Here are recipes for six snacks and sides built on avocado oil, tallow, ghee, coconut oil, and olive oil instead.

## Fat Options for Common Snack Foods

| Snack | Recommended Fat | Approx. Smoke Point |
|---|---|---|
| Oven fries or wedges | Avocado oil | 520°F (refined) |
| Fried tortilla chips | Tallow | ~400°F |
| Stovetop popcorn | Coconut oil or ghee | 350-485°F |
| Roasted nuts | Butter or ghee | 350-485°F |
| Homemade mayo or dip | Avocado oil | Not heated |
| Baked kale chips | Olive oil | ~375°F |

## Crispy Oven Potato Wedges in Avocado Oil

Oven wedges get a better crust with avocado oil than with butter alone, since the higher smoke point lets you roast at a hotter temperature.

**Ingredients:** 4 russet potatoes, cut into wedges, 3 tablespoons avocado oil, 1 teaspoon garlic powder, 1 teaspoon smoked paprika, salt.

1. Preheat the oven to 425°F.
2. Toss the wedges with avocado oil, garlic powder, paprika, and salt.
3. Arrange skin-side down in a single layer on a baking sheet.
4. Roast 35 to 40 minutes, flipping halfway, until golden and crisp at the edges.

## Homemade Tortilla Chips Fried in Tallow

Frying your own chips takes about 15 minutes and avoids the seed oil in nearly every bagged version.

**Ingredients:** 12 corn tortillas, cut into wedges, tallow for frying, about 2 cups melted, salt.

1. Melt the tallow in a heavy pot to about 1 inch deep and heat to 350°F.
2. Fry the tortilla wedges in small batches for 1 to 2 minutes per side, until golden and crisp.
3. Remove with a slotted spoon to a paper-towel-lined plate and salt immediately.
4. Let the tallow cool, strain it, and save it for the next batch.

## Stovetop Popcorn in Coconut Oil or Ghee

Both coconut oil and ghee handle the heat of stovetop popping well, and each adds a slightly different flavor.

**Ingredients:** 1/3 cup popcorn kernels, 3 tablespoons coconut oil or ghee, salt.

1. Heat the coconut oil or ghee in a large pot over medium-high heat with 3 test kernels, covered.
2. Once the test kernels pop, add the rest of the kernels in an even layer and cover.
3. Shake the pot occasionally as popping speeds up, keeping the lid slightly vented to let steam escape.
4. Remove from heat once popping slows to about 2 seconds between pops, then salt and serve.

## Rosemary Roasted Nuts

A five-minute snack that beats most packaged nut mixes, which are frequently roasted in cottonseed or soybean oil.

**Ingredients:** 2 cups mixed raw nuts, 2 tablespoons melted butter or ghee, 1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary, 1/2 teaspoon salt.

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F.
2. Toss the nuts with melted butter or ghee, rosemary, and salt.
3. Spread on a baking sheet in a single layer.
4. Roast 10 to 12 minutes, stirring halfway, until fragrant and lightly golden.

## Homemade Avocado Oil Mayo and Ranch Dip

Store-bought mayo and ranch dressing are two of the sneakiest sources of seed oil in a normal kitchen. Making your own mayo takes about five minutes with an immersion blender.

**Ingredients for the mayo:** 1 egg, 1 cup avocado oil, 1 tablespoon lemon juice, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon dijon mustard.

1. Add the egg, lemon juice, salt, and mustard to a wide jar just big enough for an immersion blender.
2. Pour the avocado oil on top and let it settle for a minute.
3. Insert the immersion blender to the bottom of the jar and blend without moving it for 20 seconds, until the bottom turns creamy.
4. Slowly lift the blender toward the top as it emulsifies, until the whole jar is thick mayo.

For a ranch dip, stir 1 cup of the mayo with 2 tablespoons buttermilk, 1 tablespoon chopped chives, 1 teaspoon dried dill, 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder, and salt to taste.

## Crispy Baked Kale Chips in Olive Oil

A lighter side dish or snack that takes about 15 minutes and uses far less fat than frying.

**Ingredients:** 1 bunch curly kale, stems removed and torn into pieces, 1 tablespoon olive oil, 1/2 teaspoon salt.

1. Preheat the oven to 300°F and line a baking sheet with parchment.
2. Massage the olive oil into the kale pieces with your hands until every leaf is lightly coated.
3. Spread in a single layer, making sure the leaves aren't overlapping.
4. Bake 18 to 20 minutes, checking at 15, until crisp but not browned.
5. Salt immediately after removing from the oven.

## Why Fried Snacks Are Often the Worst Offender

Snack foods deserve extra attention because of how they're cooked, not just what they're made from. Deep frying gives food a much higher surface area exposed to oil than baking or roasting does, so fried snacks absorb noticeably more fat per bite than almost any other cooking method. If that frying oil is a seed oil that's been reused many times, as it usually is in commercial fryers, the oil has also had more opportunity to oxidize before it ever reaches the food.

That combination, more oil absorbed plus more reused, oxidized oil, is part of why fried snack foods get singled out more than other categories when this topic comes up. Making chips or fries at home with fresh tallow or avocado oil sidesteps both problems at once.

## Reading Snack Labels at the Store

If making everything from scratch isn't realistic every week, check the ingredient list on packaged snacks for canola, soybean, sunflower, safflower, or "vegetable oil." Some brands now make chips and crackers with avocado oil or coconut oil specifically to market as seed oil free, and those tend to say so clearly on the front of the package, not just in the ingredients.

## Small Changes That Add Up

Snacks and sides are usually the easiest place to cut seed oil out completely, since none of these recipes need special equipment or more than about 30 minutes. Once a couple of them become habits, like homemade mayo or oven wedges, the packaged versions start to feel like more trouble than they're worth.

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