Seed oils in Costa Rica
Of the 4 chains we track in Costa Rica, none use real fats in the fryer and 1 uses seed oils. That leaves 3 with something in between, no fryer or no answer. Below: what they fry in, how people cook there, how to read a label and what to say to ask about the oil.
What the chains fry in
These are the 4 chains we track in Costa Rica, with what each one fries in according to our records. Open any chain for its full report card. See the full country index.
- Real fats: beef tallow, lard, butter, olive oil or coconut oil.
- In between: palm or peanut oil, a high-oleic grade, or a mix of real fat and seed oil.
- Seed oils: canola (rapeseed), soybean, sunflower or corn, or a "vegetable oil" blend.
- No fryer: the chain does not deep fry. It can still cook with oil elsewhere in the kitchen.
- Unknown: our records do not say what the chain fries in.
(estimated) means our note on that chain is hedged, so read the oil as a good guess rather than a confirmed fact. How we read these notes.
Cleanest picks
None of the 4 chains we track in Costa Rica names a real fat in its fryer, so here the best move is to ask. The phrases further down are written for that.
All 4 chains
| Chain | Fryer oil |
|---|---|
| Burger King | Soybean oil and vegetable oil blend (estimated) |
| KFC | No fryer |
| McDonald's | No fryer |
| Subway | No fryer |
How people cook in Costa Rica
The cooking-oil aisle of a big supermarket chain (Mas x Menos) lists soybean (aceite de soya), sunflower, canola, olive and avocado oils, and lard (manteca de cerdo) is a traditional ingredient in tamale dough.
Everyday foods such as patacones (twice-fried green plantain), yuca frita, fried ripe plantain, chicharrones (crispy fried pork) and many empanadas are fried.
A study of five student sodas (small local restaurants) on a university campus in Heredia found frying oil reused for up to about five days, until most of it was badly broken down, past the 25 percent breakdown-product mark. The study compared the oils with fresh refined palm oil but did not say which oil the sodas buy.
Costa Rica grows oil palm, so palm oil may be in local frying oils and snacks, but we found no source saying how much, and no published statement on what oil the big fast-food chains use there.
Say it in Spanish
Read these out loud or show your phone to your server. The first two rows are the questions to ask. The rest are the oil names you will see on menus and labels.
| You want to say | Say it like this |
|---|---|
| Ask the kitchen | |
| What oil do you fry with? | ¿Qué aceite usan para freír? |
| Can you cook it in butter or olive oil? | ¿Me lo pueden cocinar con mantequilla o aceite de oliva? |
| Seed oils to watch for | |
| Sunflower oil | aceite de girasol |
| Canola oil | aceite de canola (colza is the term used in Spain) |
| Soybean oil | aceite de soya (also spelled soja) |
| Vegetable oil (often a seed oil blend) | aceite vegetal |
| Fats to ask for | |
| Olive oil | aceite de oliva |
| Butter | mantequilla (margarina is margarine) |
| Lard | manteca de cerdo (plain 'manteca' can also mean vegetable shortening, 'manteca vegetal', so ask '¿de cerdo o vegetal?') |
| Beef tallow | sebo de res |
| In between | |
| Palm oil | aceite de palma |
Tips for eating out in Costa Rica
- At a soda, pick dishes that are boiled, stewed or grilled, such as olla de carne (beef and vegetable soup), sopa negra (black bean soup), ceviche, or pollo or pescado 'asado' (grilled), instead of anything 'frito' (fried). Food 'a la plancha' (griddled) and gallo pinto (the rice and beans breakfast) are cooked with some fat in the pan, so ask what they use.
- Ask '¿Qué aceite usan para freír?'. A study of five sodas found frying oil reused for days, so fried sides are where the most worn-out oil is likely to be. If staff are not sure, order the grilled version.
- Tamales are traditionally made with lard, which makes them a seed-oil-light option, but some cooks use other fats, so ask '¿Con manteca de cerdo?'.
- If you self-cater, supermarkets stock olive oil and butter.
Use the app on your trip
Seed Oil Tracker has local menus for 4 chains in Costa Rica. Switch your country in Settings before you go.
Download for iPhone Get it on Google Play
Free to download. Want the full tour first? See what the app does.
Sources
The cooking, label and tip sections come from these pages. The chain fryer oils come from our own records.
- Costa Rican cuisine (Wikipedia). Tamale dough with lard, plantains fried in oil, patacones, chicharron, sodas
- Mas x Menos Costa Rica: cooking oils listing (soy, sunflower, canola, olive oil on the shelf)
- Uniciencia (Universidad Nacional, Costa Rica): used frying oil in five campus sodas, on Redalyc (HTML version)
- Aceite de palma (Spanish Wikipedia). Costa Rica listed among oil palm producing countries
More countries
Menus, recipes and rules change, so treat this page as a starting point and check the label or ask in the moment. Need a refresher on what counts? See what seed oils are and the full list. Back home, the eating out playbook covers restaurants in the U.S.