I’ve written before about 101 ways to use coconut oil for everything from oil pulling to lotion to toothpaste. One question I often get asked is how to actually eat coconut oil, especially if you don’t like the taste…
The word is getting out about the health benefits of coconut oil, but especially for those just starting to use/consume it, trying to actually eat it can be a difficult task. For some people, eating too much at once can even cause upset stomach until the body adjusts.
For those who are trying to eat more coconut oil in their diets but have trouble with the taste or texture, here are a few of the ways we consume it without the taste or texture becoming too overpowering:
1. In Coffee or Hot Drinks
One of my favorite ways to consume coconut oil daily is in a cup of hot coffee or tea each morning. The trick is to blend the mixture enough for the oil to emulsify, which creates a creamy and rich consistency and not an oily consistency (which I personally don’t like). Here is my recipe for healthy coconut oil coffee, and check out the unusual ingredient I add to make it even more creamy (and healthy).
2. In Smoothies
It’s easy to hide the taste and texture of coconut oil in a smoothie, though sometimes it can leave clumps. I actually like the little crunchy pieces of coconut oil, but for those trying to hide the texture, the trick is to melt the coconut oil until it is just barely melted an add slowly as the smoothie is already being blended so it emulsifies in and doesn’t clump.
We often add 1-2 tablespoons to a smoothie this way and the taste and texture aren’t noticeable.
3. Homemade Energy Bars
These are another kid favorite at our house. The kids love the taste and I like that they are packed with healthy fats and are a great natural source of energy.
4. Coconut Butter Cups
Just like the energy bars, these coconut butter cups are a favorite in our house. They are a little chocolate cup filled with coconut and coconut oil “butter” and can be flavored however you’d like.
Here is the recipe for Coconut Butter Cups.
5. Cooking and Stir Frys
Coconut oil’s high smoke point and concentration of stable saturated fats makes it a good choice for stir frys and cooking. We often use coconut oil as the base oil to coat the pan when cooking eggs, stir frys and other pan-cooked dishes.
Many of the recipes on this page (especially the stir-frys) use coconut oil as a base.
6. In Baking Recipes
Coconut oil can substitute for butter in most baking recipes and can also replace margarine and vegetable oils in most cases. My recipe list has many recipes that use coconut oil to help you get started.
7. For Frying
If you’re going to fry something, stable oils like coconut oil, tallow and lard are great choices. This coconut shrimp recipe is one of my favorites as the coconut oil adds to the coconut flavor of the recipe.
At our house, we use coconut oil for pretty much everything…
From a previous article:
What Kind of Coconut Oil?
For external uses, expeller pressed or other types of refined coconut oil will work, but for internal use, an unrefined virgin coconut oil is best. This book provides more information about the benefits of coconut oil and the difference in the types of coconut oil.
I also love that this company supports small family farms in the Philippines. We order in five-gallon pails, which is more expensive up-front but which saves a lot of money in the long term.
My husband and I both take about 4 tablespoons a day and the kids get a couple tablespoons in food, smoothies, or hot herbal tea.
Where to Get Coconut Oil?
I love this organic virgin and fair-trade coconut oil from Thrive Market (which is like Costco online but for healthy products). Their coconut oil is 40% off retail, which is the best price I’ve found for it online. And Thrive Market sells many of my favorite products at 30-50% off normal prices!
Free Coconut Oil Book for You
If you’ve never ordered coconut oil before, now is your chance to try it. When you order through this link, you will get a copy of the Virgin Coconut Oil Book which explains the story of how they discovered this high nutrient coconut oil and the many ways it can be used to support health. The book will be automatically added the first time your order.
Do you use coconut oil as much as me? How do you use it? Share below!
just bought coconut oil, left in the garage by mistake for the afternoon and it was almost all melted. Is it bad since it melted? Is it fine to use internally and externally?
It should be ok…
This information is very helpful since I have virgin coconut oil, now I know how it can benefit my overall health
Like with everything, i think it is best to have coconut oil as fresh as possible. Go on a long vacation in coconut-growing countries and indulge! We use a coconut grater in Brazil… it is a piece of wood with a kind of spoon with teeth on it and you sit with it between your thighs and you grate the meat out of half an old brown coconut. What you scrape out is coconut meat in small pieces. You can throw this in a blender and press it through a cloth and the final product is a really tasty oily water. You can use this final product, or the unfiltered stuff (what you scrape right out of the coconut).
Honestly, it makes food taste 10x better than what you find in a glass jar! Little fibrous coconut bits are an added bonus!
I dont think it is good to separate the juice/oils with the flesh…. they come together in nature, so it may be best to consume them together. Much like cocoa butter and cocoa powder… better to consume fresh together.
Love your work Wellness Mama! Thank you for the great ideas and recipes! Xx
I take 2 capsules of coconut oil each night and morning. I put a dollup in anything hot I drink, and a lot of soups I eat. Summer is the hardest time for me to get it all in, but I always get those 4 capsules in everyday. For those that don’t like the flavor or the oily texture, this is a great alternative. I use the Now brand. It’s cheap and seems to be good qualiry. It is melted at appropriate Temps and firm at appropriate Temps.
Have you tried air frying?
I like this article but it makes me wonder, why is it so hard for people to just eat something healthy as is? Why does something healthy need to be made into a brownie or a cookie or used to fry something so it tastes greasy. This behavior just reinforces poor eating habits.
I have been taking VCO now for several weeks and believe I am having good results, except I am getting very dry, scaly skin on the palms of my hands. Could this be caused by the VCO?
I am diabetic and am
Interested in daily dose to benefit my health
I just got to know about this coconut oil benefits today, please does it improve eyesight. How does it improve or enhance memory. I am really interested in all the benefits
We put 1 TB into a homemade bowl of oatmeal each morning. I use unrefined and love the slight nutty taste it adds. I pour 2/3 cup of oats into a bowl with about 1 1/2 cups of water, microwave for 2-2.5 minutes, or until the oats are cooked. Add 1 TB coconut oil, 1 ripe banana mashed, and a sprinkle of cinnamon. My son always insists on adding frozen wild main blueberries to his. We eat this several days a week.
It is a challenge to keep getting enough coconut oil daily. Using Coconut brain treats does make it easy to simply use them as a treat throughout the day
I just tried coconut oil for few days and realised my receeding gum aren’t red and starting to grow back. I’m so surprised it did work bcos I love my teeth so much I was so worried I thought i couldn’t do anything to hve a healthy gum back. I can finally get my smile back.
I bought my first jar of coconut oil 2 days ago. I was thinking it would smell, sweet but to my surprise it has no SCENT, no taste.
I consumed my 1 St Tablespoon an it wasn’t terrible but WHY not taste or SCENT ?
I have recently starting consuming coconut oil, and I was able to start ingesting 3 tablespoons a day without a problem. As I live in the Philippines, it is readily available to me and I made sure to buy high quality VCO. My family owns a coconut plantation, but we currenlty don’t produce vco; I am actually getting into VCO for research too as we’re planning to make some ourselves.
Anyway, I am writing this comment to say that based on my father’s explanation, the method of coconut oil extraction is only HALF the quality of the end-product. That’s why similarly labeled, similarly produced coconut oil can be very different. It is actually the quality of the coconuts picked that make it truly excellent. You can identify a high quality VCO when it is tasteless or tastes like coconut. And it should smell more like coconuts not copra (dried up old coconut). The texture is also important, the milkier/creamier VCO is usually better.
I actually feel bad that the Tropical Traditions company only exports, so I am unable to buy it directly here. But based on the details, their oil is one of the best in the world.
I have Crohns and coconut oil makes my guts feel so much better that I deal with the strong taste and oily feel in order to get enough in my system daily. There is a lot of research proving that it aids in the inflammation that accompanies (or causes) the symptoms of inflammatory bowel diseases. It does not cause me any intestinal cramping, but to the contrary, relieves crampiness. I even feel like I tolerate problematic foods better when taking it regularly, like gluten and dairy. That is an amazing thing for someone like me! I have learned to take it in hot coffee, tea, or hot chocolate. I also massage it into my abdomen everyday. I use Tropical Traditions gold label in the big bucket! I have taken so many drugs for this disease, including Remicade and humira, none of which had lasting positive effects on me. I’m so grateful for God leading me to a simple food addition that is making a big difference in my quality of life!
Please note that coconut oil is high in saturated fat and may increase your LDL cholesterol. This is the bad fats. We want to avoid saturated fats. Do not replace your unsaturated fats with coconut oil. If you use a lot of butter then this is a better choice. Please use with caution.
https://wellnessmama.com/1265/saturated-fat/ 😉
I’m new to the while coconut thing…I’ve been taking about a heaping teaspoon (I have to chase it with a little water to help it go down, lol) every morning after waking up…been doing this for a few weeks now…I use the Extra Virgin Coconut Oil from Apothecary…so far so good but the recently I’ve been getting an upset stomach…not sure if its from the coconut oil or something else. I work offshore as a boat captain and some of the food on the vessel is fried which doesn’t really work for me but sometimes there’s nothing else. I think that upsets my system more than anything. I’ve been working out and getting healthy and am on the right track here. Do you think the coconut oil is starting to affect me? I’ve started to use it a lot for various things as well, face moisturizer at night, lip balm, oil pulling about once a week, cooking when at home etc. I even have my GF starting to use it. She’s loves it. Got her her own jar lol. So you think I’m on the right track here?
How do I use on hair and face, under eyes? Just massage in?
I, like a few of you, do not really like it straight from the jar. I have found 1 or 2 tbls. in hot chocolate is yummy! Also, anyone have any feedback with organic extra virgin oil’s ability to cure a hemorroid?
I enjoy reading all i can about coconut oil, thank you!