TempoLife › Features › Healthier food swaps › canola-oil
Swaps for Canola oil
Canola oil is 884 kcal, 0.0 g protein and 0.0 g fibre per 100 g. Here are the 30 alternatives in fats & oils that beat it on at least one of those, with the difference for each.
Fats & oilsTypical portion: 1 tablespoon124 kcal per portion
Where canola oil sits in its own category
The median food in fats & oils is 718 kcal per 100 g. Canola oil is 167 kcal above that, so it is at the heavier end of its own shelf before any swap is considered. A typical portion of 1 tablespoon weighs about 14 g and carries 124 kcal, 0.0 g of protein and 0.0 g of fibre. Every difference below is applied to that same portion, so the tables compare like with like.
Lower in calories
| Alternative | kcal/100 g | vs Canola oil | Protein | Fibre | kcal saved per portion |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vegetable oil spread | 44 | −840 | 0.1 | 0.0 | −118 |
| Light mayonnaise | 238 | −646 | 0.4 | 0.0 | −90 |
| Italian dressing | 240 | −644 | 0.4 | 0.0 | −90 |
| Mayonnaise-type dressing | 250 | −634 | 0.7 | 0.0 | −89 |
| Low-calorie mayonnaise | 263 | −621 | 0.9 | 0.0 | −87 |
| Italian salad dressing | 292 | −592 | 0.4 | 0.0 | −83 |
| Tofu mayonnaise | 322 | −562 | 6.0 | 1.1 | −79 |
| Kraft light mayonnaise | 334 | −550 | 0.6 | 0.1 | −77 |
| Margarine spread | 349 | −535 | 0.2 | 0.0 | −75 |
| Russian salad dressing | 355 | −529 | 0.7 | 0.7 | −74 |
Swapping to the lightest of these 3 times a week is about 353 kcal a week and 18 346 kcal a year, holding everything else constant. That last clause is doing a lot of work: appetite, portion size and what you eat later all move, and none of that is in this multiplication. Read it as the size of the lever, not as a forecast of anything about your body.
Higher in protein
| Alternative | Protein/100 g | vs Canola oil | kcal/100 g | kcal per g protein | Protein per portion |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tofu mayonnaise | 6.0 | +6.0 | 322 | 54 | 0.8 |
| Caesar dressing | 2.2 | +2.2 | 542 | 246 | 0.3 |
| Margarine for pastries | 1.9 | +1.9 | 714 | 376 | 0.3 |
| Ranch salad dressing | 1.3 | +1.3 | 430 | 331 | 0.2 |
| Peppercorn salad dressing | 1.2 | +1.2 | 564 | 470 | 0.2 |
| Soybean oil mayonnaise | 1.1 | +1.1 | 717 | 652 | 0.2 |
| Mayonnaise | 1.0 | +1.0 | 680 | 680 | 0.1 |
| Coleslaw dressing | 0.9 | +0.9 | 404 | 449 | 0.1 |
| French dressing | 0.9 | +0.9 | 419 | 466 | 0.1 |
| Honey mustard dressing | 0.9 | +0.9 | 464 | 516 | 0.1 |
Canola oil costs no measurable protein. That ratio is usually more useful than the protein column on its own, because a food can be high in protein and high in everything else at the same time.
Higher in fibre
| Alternative | Fibre/100 g | vs Canola oil | kcal/100 g | Fibre per 100 kcal | Fibre per portion |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| French dressing | 2.4 | +2.4 | 419 | 0.6 | 0.3 |
| Tofu mayonnaise | 1.1 | +1.1 | 322 | 0.3 | 0.2 |
| Russian salad dressing | 0.7 | +0.7 | 355 | 0.2 | 0.1 |
| Caesar dressing | 0.5 | +0.5 | 542 | 0.1 | 0.1 |
| Honey mustard dressing | 0.4 | +0.4 | 464 | 0.1 | 0.1 |
| Sandwich spread | 0.4 | +0.4 | 389 | 0.1 | 0.1 |
How a swap is worked out
A swap here is a comparison, not a recommendation. For any food, the page takes every other food in the same category of the database and sorts it three ways: lower energy per 100 g, higher protein per 100 g, and higher fibre per 100 g. Each table shows the alternative’s own figure and the difference against the food you started with, so you can see the size of the change rather than a verdict.
Staying inside one category is what makes the comparison mean anything. Swapping a cheese for a cucumber saves a lot of calories and does not replace the cheese; swapping a cheese for a lighter cheese might. The category boundary is the database’s own, and every alternative links to its full page so you can check the numbers rather than take them from a table.
The candidate list is filtered mechanically to plainly-named foods: no comma in the name, at most three words in the identifier, and no cooking, canning, drying or reconstitution qualifier. That removes the long laboratory variants of the same food and leaves the entries you would recognise in a shop. It also means a swap table is a subset of the category, not all of it.
The weekly arithmetic is deliberately plain multiplication. A saving per portion, times three times a week, times fifty-two weeks. It is what the numbers say, and it assumes you change nothing else — which is exactly the assumption that usually fails in practice.
These are per-100 g database averages for whole foods, not a diet plan. Energy is only one property of a food: protein, fibre, salt, cost, satiety and whether you will actually eat it all matter, and none of them is settled by a calorie column. Nothing here is medical or dietary advice and nothing here is a diagnosis. If you are managing a condition, an allergy or a prescribed diet, speak to a clinician or a registered dietitian.
Source: USDA FoodData Central SR Legacy family — per-100 g values for Canola oil and every alternative above · checked 2026-09-02
Other swap pages
Coconut oil
892 kcal, 0.0 g protein and 0.0 g fibre per 100 g.
Olive oil
884 kcal, 0.0 g protein and 0.0 g fibre per 100 g.
All swap pages · Full nutrition for canola oil
Frequently asked questions
What can I eat instead of canola oil?
The lightest comparable food in fats & oils is vegetable oil spread at 44 kcal per 100 g, which is 840 kcal less than canola oil. On a 14 g portion that is a difference of 118 kcal.
What would swapping three times a week add up to?
About 353 kcal a week and 18 346 kcal a year, if you made that one substitution 3 times a week and changed nothing else. It is multiplication, not a prediction about your body weight.
Are these the only alternatives?
They are the plainly-named foods in the fats & oils category of this database — 79 candidates in total, of which 30 beat canola oil on energy, protein or fibre. Cooked, canned and dried variants are deliberately left out of the tables to keep them readable.
A swap only counts if you make it
Log both versions in TempoLife for a fortnight and the difference shows up in your own numbers rather than in a table.