Abstract Waste cooking oil (WCO) is an important feedstock for biofuel production due to its low cost and extensive availability, primarily by transesterification. A more recent approach to take advantage of this feedstock is through pyrolysis. In this study, WCO was collected from a fast food restaurant and then pyrolyzed, employing two different heating rates and four temperatures, at a fixed residence time. The composition of the products was determined by gas chromatography‐mass spectrometry. The best bio‐oil yield was 77.59 %, obtained at 700 °C and 10 °C min −1 . The highest contents of octane, nonane, and decane were reached at 400 °C and 15 °C min −1 . Therefore, WCO proves to be an important resource for obtaining biofuel or chemical solvents for the industry.