Fats and oils in food give them flavor and texture while promoting satiety. Despite the recommendation to consume predominantly unsaturated lipid sources, its liquid behavior at room temperature makes many industrial applications impossible. Oleogel is a relatively new technology applied as a total or partial replacement for conventional fats directly related to cardiovascular diseases (CVD) and inflammatory processes. Some of the complications in developing oleogels for the food industry are finding structuring agents Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS), viable economically, and that do not compromise the oleogel palatability; thus, many studies have shown the different possibilities of applications of oleogel in food products. This review presents applied oleogels in foods and recent proposals to circumvent some disadvantages, as reaching consumer demand for healthier products using an easy-to-use and low-cost material can be intriguing for the food industry.

The objective of this study was to develop a wax‐oleogel (soybean oil—SBO, peanut oil—PNO, and carnauba wax—CBW) to be used as a fat replacer for ice cream formulations. The oleogels were structured with 6%, 8%, and 10% of CBW and were characterized by oil binding capacity (OBC), visual evaluation, thermal properties (DSC), and microstructure by polarized light microscopy (PLM). All oleogels resulted in a firm and stable gel for 60 days, regardless of the concentrations (6%, 8%, and 10%) and temperatures (5 and 25°C). The OBC of oleogels at 8% and 10% addition were significantly higher (p < 0.05) than the oleogels with 6% of CBW. However, the oleogel formed with 6% of CBW showed more than 84% of oil retention after 60 days, indicating that the 6% of CBW was sufficient to develop a network that could hold the liquid oil into a gel‐like structure. Larger crystals (μm) were observed with 10% CBW addition (2.15 ± 0.16 μm SBO and 2.08 ± 0.22 mm PNO). After preliminary sensory studies, the SBO oleogel with 6% of CBW was chosen to be applied in the ice‐cream formulation. The ice cream preparations were analyzed by overrun, melting rate, fat composition, and sensory acceptance. The oleogel fat replacement (50% and 100%) reduced the melting rate of ice creams; however, it negatively affected the ice cream overrun. These results show that 50% replacement of the traditional lipid phase by CBW oleogel can be performed without causing sensory impairment.