Did you know that you can cook with essential oils? My family uses essential oils for pretty much EVERYTHING, including our food and drinks. I’m going to show you how to use them, but first, I need to make it clear that I ONLY trust one brand and that is Young Living.
The reason I am loyal to the Young Living brand is because I have done a LOT of research on essential oils, and I have discovered that there are quite a few brands out there that only put a few drops of pure essential oil into their bottles and then they add lots of chemicals to make them cheaper. The problem with this, is that those brands do not provide the high quality product and the chemicals that are in them do not help to improve our health.
Just to be clear, I am NOT saying that there are not other brands out there that are good also. However, all of the things I do and talk about with essential oils is STRICTLY using the Young Living brand. We have used Young Living for over a decade; diffusing, applying externally and taking internally. We have seen the benefits with this particular brand.
Now that the disclaimer is out of the way…. Below is some information explaining the high quality essential oils with Young Living.
Seed to Seal
Young Living Essential Oils are guaranteed to be Therapeutic Grade Essential Oils in every single drop. They do NOT add chemicals and I KNOW that the product I am getting is truly beneficial to my (and my family’s) health.
Favorite Oils for Cooking
My favorite essential oils to cook with are Cinnamon, Basil, Black Pepper, Clove, Ginger, Nutmeg, Oregano, Rosemary, Lemon, Orange, and Lime. Check out this quick video clip to learn more about them.
When baking, I tend to use: Cinnamon, Clove, Ginger and Nutmeg. These oils are great when added to cookies, muffins, and breads. I especially like to use them in the fall, as they go really well in pumpkin recipes.
When cooking Italian dishes, I like to add: Oregano, Rosemary, Black Pepper, and Basil. Just don’t do what I did the first time I used Essential Oils in my spaghetti sauce. I put a few drops of oregano and basil in an entire pan of spaghetti sauce.
It smelled AMAZING! BUT….. it was WAY TOO STRONG! I learned the hard way that I really do need to use the Toothpick Swirl method. Just 2-3 toothpick swirls is plenty to season an entire pan of sauce.
When I want to add a zesty flavor to our food, I’ll add Black Pepper, Lemon, Orange and/or Lime. I love adding these to guacamole!!
Water and Oils
In addition to this, I drink TONS of water. We’re supposed to drink about half of our body weight in ounces of water. But sometimes that can get pretty dull. So, I add Essential Oils to my water to change the flavor and give extra health benefits to my water. The ones I use the most are: Lemon, Orange, Lime, Tangerine, and Grapefruit. I also like to add a little bit of Ningxia Red to my water. That adds antioxidants and ALL KINDS of health benefits.
Click HERE to learn more about Essential Oils or Ningxia Red.
Using Oils instead of Herbs & Seasonings
By now, you are probably wondering how you know how many drops or toothpick swirls you need to put in a recipe when you decide to cook with Essential Oils in place of herbs or seasonings. I have a foolproof method! I use an Oil Conversion Chart that shows exactly what the conversion rates are.
All you have to do is look at the recipe and then compare the name of the herb with the name of the Essential Oil on the Oil Conversion Chart. The chart will tell you exactly how much oils to use. This will help you to become a lot more confident when using oils for cooking.
Click HERE for a FREE Printable Oil Conversion Chart!
If you’re not sure how to do a Toothpick Swirl, then click below and see exactly what to do.
What is your favorite thing to cook or bake? I would love to hear all about it in the comments below.