Meet the Oils The Must Have Asian Cooking Oils Every UK Restaurant Needs

Chinese restaurant kitchens use two different kinds of oil, and the distinction is the whole answer. A neutral oil with a high smoke point does the cooking, in the wok and the fryer. Sesame oil and chilli oil do the flavouring, added at the end and almost never heated.

Get those two jobs the wrong way round and the food suffers. Toasted sesame oil burns in a hot wok and turns bitter. A neutral oil added at the end adds nothing at all. This guide covers what UK kitchens stock for each job, and the case sizes they buy it in.

The cooking oil: neutral, cheap, high smoke point

A wok runs far hotter than a domestic hob, and a commercial fryer holds temperature for a full service. The oil doing that work has to be stable, close to flavourless and affordable by the drum, because a busy Chinese kitchen gets through a lot of it.

In practice UK kitchens use blended vegetable oil, rapeseed, soybean or peanut oil for this. Peanut oil is the traditional choice and carries a faint nuttiness that suits wok cooking, though many kitchens have moved to rapeseed or a blend on cost and on allergen grounds, since peanut has to be declared.

What matters is consistency. Switching cooking oil mid week changes how the food browns and how it tastes, and your chefs will notice before your customers do.

The finishing oils: where the flavour comes from

Everything a diner recognises as Chinese flavour comes from the second group. These go in off the heat, or as a dressing, or on the table.

Sesame oil

Toasted sesame oil is the single most recognisable finishing oil in Chinese cooking. A few drops into a stir fry at the end, through noodles, over steamed fish or into a dipping sauce. Heating it hard destroys the aroma you are paying for.

Pure and blended are different products with different jobs. Pure toasted sesame oil is strong and used sparingly for finishing. Blended sesame oil is cut with a neutral oil, costs less and can take more heat, so it suits dressings and light cooking where you want the flavour carried further. There is a fuller breakdown in our sesame oil guide for restaurant kitchens.

Chilli oil

Chilli oil covers a wide range, from a smooth infused oil to a crisp, chunky condiment with peanuts or fermented black beans in it. Chiu Chow style is the one most Chinese kitchens keep within reach of the pass, as a finishing spoon and as a table condiment.

Beyond Chinese: oils for other Asian menus

If your kitchen runs more than one cuisine, the oil list widens.

Thai. Coconut oil and neutral oil for frying, with the flavour coming from paste and fish sauce rather than finishing oils.

Japanese. Rice bran oil is the standard for tempura, chosen for a clean taste and stability through a long fry. Toasted sesame oil appears in dressings and in ramen.

Korean. Toasted sesame oil is used heavily, in marinades, in banchan and through rice. Volumes run higher than in a Chinese kitchen.

South Asian. Mustard oil carries the sharp, pungent note in Bengali cooking and is tempered first to take the raw edge off. Coconut oil does similar work in South Indian and Sri Lankan dishes.

Matching oil to technique

Wok and stir fry. Neutral oil, high heat. Sesame oil at the end if the dish calls for it.

Deep frying. A clean, stable oil you can filter and reuse across a service. Flavoured oils have no place in a fryer.

Dressings and cold dishes. Pure sesame oil or chilli oil, straight in.

Table condiment. Crispy chilli oil in a jar, set out with the cutlery.

Storing oil in a commercial kitchen

Keep oils cool, dark and sealed. Heat and light are what turn an oil stale, so the shelf above the range is the worst place for the sesame oil however convenient it feels.

Decant from large cases into a labelled working bottle rather than carrying a 1.8 litre bottle to the pass, and keep the main case closed. Rotate stock by date so the oil you open is always the oldest you hold.

Questions kitchens ask

Can I cook with sesame oil?
Only the blended kind, and only at moderate heat. Pure toasted sesame oil smokes early and goes bitter. Treat it as a seasoning, not a cooking fat.

Can olive oil replace sesame oil?
No. Olive oil has its own strong flavour that sits wrong in Chinese food, and none of the toasted nuttiness the dish is built around.

Pure or blended sesame oil for a takeaway?
Most takeaways run blended for volume work and keep a smaller bottle of pure for dishes where the aroma is the point. Many kitchens hold both.

How many oils does a Chinese kitchen actually need?
Three covers almost everything. One neutral cooking oil, one sesame oil, one chilli oil. Everything after that is menu specific.

Ordering oils from JK Foods

The full range, including every sesame and chilli oil above, is on the oils category page. The wider catalogue sits in the product catalogue.

To open a trade account, use the trade register page. If you want help matching oils to your menu and volumes, contact the team and we will come back with options for your area.