Approximately 80% of dōTERRA’s essential oils are food grade, which makes them a perfect natural flavour additive for our cooking.
You can choose to pop some drops of oil in raw treats such as bliss balls, raw cheesecakes, salad dressings, sauces and marinades. Or you could choose to pop a drop or two in your soups, stews or Bolognese. The thing to remember when using essential oils is that they are highly concentrated, so just one drop of Oregano in your Bolognese is amazing, however two drops and it will quite probably be too strong! Experimenting with essential oils in food adds another element of flavour and dimension of fun for all of us foodies out there that thrive on tasty dishes which are flavoured without the use of sugar, preservatives and synthetic additives.
There is one really important difference to mention, between using essential oils in raw food compared to cooked food…. What you will always get is the dense natural flavours of the oils, but when you cook or heat food, you will destroy it’s therapeutic qualities. So it’s cool to play around with both. Pop some immune boosting oils in your raw bliss balls for health and flavour, and pop a drop of Oregano and a drop of Marjoram in your Bolognese purely for the amazing flavour explosion. Less is often more than enough when it comes to oils, so often even a drop can be too much in heated foods. We often advocate for the ‘toothpick method’ which is getting a small amount on the end of a toothpick and running it through the hot food at the end. Sometimes that’s all you need.
Essential oils are perfect for foodies to have in their kitchen for times when we may not be able to access the necessary herbs and spices (out of season or out of stock). I don’t recommend using the oils as an alternative to fresh herbs if you have them available. The fresh herbs will always have all the vitamins and minerals which the oils are void of. So I advocate for using both together for a flavour explosion, or using just the oil if the fresh herbs are not available.
So which dōTERRA oils are the best for cooking with? Here is a few ideas to get you started, but you can also follow my Facebook page as I share daily ideas for using oils in your food, or there’s Pinterest, Google, and of course the awesome essential oil recipe books which are becoming very popular.
Basil – Great for pesto, Bolognese and salad dressings
Black Pepper – Try a drop in soups, baked beans or stews
Cardamom – Amazing in raw chocolate, curries, muffins or desserts
Cassia – Delicious in smoothies, it’s like a sweeter version of cinnamon
Cilantro – Use in Thai cooking and curries
Cinnamon Bark – Try a drop in a hot toddy, raw chocolate or desserts
Clove – Try a drop in Mulled wine, Christmas cake or stewed fruit
Coriander – Also used in Thai cooking
Fennel – Used in Indian, Mediterranean and Italian cuisines (Aniseed flavour)
Frankincense – Well the swankiest bars in town pop a drop of this one in their cocktails! Doesn’t get more decadent than that!
Geranium – I love this one in any desserts that have Rhubarb! They are like a match made in heaven.
Ginger – Awesome in curries or raw cheesecakes
Grapefruit – Nice flavour for chocolate or desserts
Lavender – try Lavender scones, or Lavender lemonade!
Lemon – Awesome in so many things (cheesecake, sauces, marinades, baking)
Lemongrass – Amazing in Thai soups
Lime – Try a few drops in your berry smoothies. Delish!
Marjoram – Add a drop to Italian cooking including the famous Spag Bol.
Oregano – Spag Bol, Pizza Sauce, Seafood sauce
Peppermint – Great in raw cheesecakes, bliss balls, and in a cacao hot toddy or a dairy free smoothie
Rosemary – Amazing added to olive oil and poured over potatoes, then roasted!
Spearmint – Love this one in smoothies or desserts
Wild Orange – Really lovely in muffins, raw chocolate and desserts
I never bought my dōTERRA essential oils as food additives. I bought them for my first defence natural health. Finding out that they were like a foodie’s dream, was an added bonus! Once we have these oils in our lives, it is really cool to know that they have so many other uses other than just what we bought them for, and cooking with them is definitely a cool little hack that can have all of us looking like Masterchefs!