MCT Oil substitute

Best substitute

Coconut oil, virgin or refined

Use the same amount as the mct oil you are replacing

Best for fat bombs

Taste and texture differ

For flavour and texture, MCT oil is doing almost nothing, so what replaces it depends on why the recipe wants it. In coffee, use butter or ghee, or just two tablespoons of heavy cream, and you get a better-tasting drink. In a dressing or anything served cold, use avocado oil or light olive oil 1:1, since both stay liquid in the fridge exactly as MCT does. In baking or fat bombs, use coconut oil 1:1, which is the material MCT oil is made from, though it will set solid below about 24C or 76F. If the recipe wants MCT for a metabolic reason rather than a culinary one, no kitchen oil does that job, and coconut oil is the nearest thing at roughly half the medium-chain content.

Other mct oil substitutes

Ranked, with the exact amount to use

2Fractionated coconut oil or liquid coconut oil
Close match
Use the same amount
This is the same product under a different name.
What changes
Fractionated coconut oil is coconut oil with the long-chain fats stripped out, which is precisely what MCT oil is, and bottles labelled liquid coconut oil in the supermarket are usually the identical thing at a lower price. Flavourless, clear, stays liquid cold. The only caution is that fractionated coconut oil is also sold as a carrier oil for cosmetics and massage, so check the bottle is food grade before you drink it.
Best for
coffee, dressings, smoothies, keto cooking, supplement use
C8 or caprylic acid oil is a more purified fraction of the same thing. Regular MCT oil is mostly a C8 and C10 blend, and the two are interchangeable in any recipe.
3Butter or ghee, in coffee
Close match
Use the same amount usually 1 tablespoon per cup
If you are making bulletproof or keto coffee, butter is already half the recipe and it is the half that makes the drink taste good.
What changes
Swap the MCT for more butter or, better, ghee, and blend. The drink comes out richer, faintly nutty and a little sweeter, with a lovely foamy head, and it holds together well because butter's milk proteins help the emulsion. What you lose is the specific metabolic reason people add MCT, and a butter-only coffee is heavier on the stomach in a different way. Ghee is the better choice of the two, since it has no water to split out.
Best for
bulletproof coffee, keto coffee, blended drinks, buttered tea
Blend it, do not stir it. Fat stirred into coffee floats in an unpleasant slick, while thirty seconds in a blender or with a milk frother makes it creamy.
4Avocado oil or light olive oil
Close match
Use the same amount
For any recipe where MCT oil is simply a liquid fat that must not solidify, these do the job perfectly and cost less.
What changes
Both stay pourable in the fridge, both are mild, and refined avocado oil is almost as neutral as MCT. A cold keto dressing made with avocado oil is indistinguishable in texture and marginally more interesting in flavour, with a faint buttery note. Light olive oil adds a whisper of fruitiness. Neither is a medium-chain fat, so this is a culinary swap and not a nutritional one.
Best for
salad dressings, mayonnaise, cold sauces, drizzling, high heat cooking
This is also the swap to use if MCT oil upsets your stomach, since both of these are gentle in the quantities recipes call for.
5Heavy cream, in drinks
Different texture
Use 2 tablespoons cream for every cup of coffee
The simplest answer for anyone whose actual goal is a rich, low-carb coffee, and it needs no blender.
What changes
Cream gives you the creaminess and body that people are chasing with MCT and butter, tastes obviously better to most palates, and disperses on its own with a stir. It is a long-chain dairy fat, so nothing about it is metabolically equivalent, and it does add a couple of grams of carbohydrate per serving, which matters to strict keto counters and to nobody else.
Best for
coffee, tea, smoothies, keto hot chocolate
Coconut cream does the same job dairy free, with a coconut flavour that suits chocolate and spice drinks well.
6Honest answer: nothing, if the reason is metabolic
Different taste
MCT oil is in most recipes because of what it is claimed to do in the body, not because of what it does in the bowl.
What changes
It has no flavour, no aroma and no thickening power, and it does not brown, emulsify or set. That means there is nothing culinary to replace, and it also means that if the metabolic effect is the point, no oil in your cupboard reproduces it. Coconut oil is the closest, at roughly half the medium-chain content, so you would need about twice as much for a comparable dose and would get a much thicker, coconut-flavoured result. If you are following a specific therapeutic protocol, that is a conversation for whoever set it, not a substitution question.
Best for
setting expectations honestly
In recipes where MCT oil is one tablespoon among many ingredients, leaving it out entirely usually changes nothing you can taste.

What is MCT Oil?

MCT Oil is MCT oil, short for medium-chain triglyceride oil and sold as C8 oil, brain octane or fractionated coconut oil, is a clear, odourless, completely flavourless oil made by separating the medium-chain fats out of coconut or palm kernel oil so that it stays liquid even in the fridge.

Cooking tips

Do not fry with MCT oil. Its smoke point is low for a refined oil, in the region of 160C or 320F, so it starts breaking down well before a pan is hot enough to sear. Use it cold or barely warm, and use avocado or refined coconut oil for actual heat.
MCT oil will not set, and that breaks any recipe relying on coconut oil to firm up. Raw chocolate coatings, no-bake bars and fat bombs harden because coconut oil crystallises in the fridge. Swap in MCT oil and you get a soft, greasy mixture that never sets, so keep at least two thirds of the fat as coconut oil in those recipes.
Start with a teaspoon rather than a tablespoon. MCT oil very commonly causes cramping and urgent digestive upset when someone jumps straight to a full dose, which is why every bottle says to build up gradually. This is well known rather than rare.
It can soften and craze some plastics, so it is worth not leaving it standing in a thin disposable cup or a cheap plastic shaker overnight. Glass, ceramic and stainless steel are fine.
Because MCT oil is completely flavourless, it is genuinely useful in one culinary role: a salad dressing or mayonnaise that must stay liquid in the fridge and must not taste of anything. That is the one job where a neutral liquid oil like refined avocado is a true one-for-one replacement.

Frequently asked questions

Can I just leave the MCT oil out?

In most recipes, yes. It contributes no flavour, no aroma and no structure, so a smoothie or a dressing without it tastes essentially the same, just slightly less rich. The exceptions are recipes where it is a large share of the total fat, such as bulletproof coffee or a keto fat bomb, where removing it leaves the drink thin or the mixture too dry to hold together. There, replace the volume with butter, cream or coconut oil rather than dropping it.

Is coconut oil the same as MCT oil?

Not the same, but closely related. MCT oil is made by fractionating coconut or palm kernel oil to isolate its medium-chain fats, mainly caprylic and capric acid. Ordinary coconut oil is roughly half to sixty percent medium-chain fat and the rest longer chains, which is why it turns solid at room temperature while MCT oil never does. For cooking they are usually interchangeable if you can live with the setting and the coconut flavour.

What is the difference between MCT oil and C8 or brain octane oil?

Purity. Standard MCT oil is a blend of C8 caprylic acid and C10 capric acid, sometimes with a little C12. C8 oil, sold under names like brain octane, is close to pure caprylic acid and costs more. In the kitchen they behave identically, both clear, flavourless and liquid cold, so you can swap one for the other 1:1 without changing a recipe at all.

Can I use MCT oil for baking or frying?

Baking at moderate temperatures is fine, since the oil inside a cake never gets near its smoke point. Frying is not, because the oil itself starts to break down around 160C or 320F, well below searing or deep-frying heat, and you get an acrid smell and a harsh taste. Use refined coconut oil, avocado oil or ghee for anything that involves a hot pan.

What should I use instead of MCT oil in a salad dressing?

Refined avocado oil or light olive oil, 1:1. The only property MCT oil brings to a dressing is that it stays pourable straight out of the fridge, and both of those do the same while tasting better and costing less. Do not use coconut oil here, because it turns the dressing into a solid white block the moment it chills.

Related substitutes

More oils & fats substitutes

MCT Oil substitute

Other mct oil substitutes

2Fractionated coconut oil or liquid coconut oil

3Butter or ghee, in coffee

4Avocado oil or light olive oil

5Heavy cream, in drinks

6Honest answer: nothing, if the reason is metabolic