An In-Depth Study of the Best Cooking Oil in India as of 2022

In this era of pollution and increasing health issues, making a conscious choice in the products we consume enhances our lifestyle and health to a significant extent. Although our diet and the food we eat are extremely important, the raw materials which we employ in our cuisines are equally important. Oil, salt, masala, etc. are not directly consumable but are invaluable and essential ingredients to cook any dish. With the risk of heart diseases increasing consistently in India and across the world, safeguarding your heart health becomes one of the biggest areas of concern.

In this regard, doctors, nutritionists, and dieticians point to the oil for cooking our dishes. If we are less conscious, we can end up using cooking oil that is not made from natural sources, has bad cholesterol, high levels of harmful fatty acids, and detrimental ingredients that can elevate our blood sugar levels, cause cardiovascular diseases and leave us with an ailing body and mind. We, at Lifestyle Titbits, look at this modern problem with concern, and hence, we wish to present modern solutions here. We want to tell our readers that eliminating bad cooking oil from your culinary regimes and including the likes of sunflower oil, rice bran oil, and virgin olive oil can help you stay fit, strong and help you enjoy an active lifestyle. Although, we understand that making a conscious purchase decision can be a hassle for you all. Therefore, we have created the ‘best oil for cooking in India list’ to help out our readers. According to our research and assortment, Disano Extra Virgin Olive Oil undoubtedly captures the numero uno position!

What does natural, virgin olive oil mean to you? If you are visualizing an exotic treat that is made by cold-pressing raw olives, then this is the perfect product that you should embrace right now! Our research team is highly satisfied with the Disano Extra Virgin Olive Oil and would place it at the top of every cooking oil list!

From eliminating bad LDL cholesterol to containing heart-healthy fats like monounsaturated fat content, this is the best healthy alternative that impressed our team of researchers highly. This extra virgin oil caught our attention because of the plethora of nutritional benefits that it offers. We also cooked some light dishes using this olive oil for cooking and the resultant taste fascinated us!

For obvious reasons, this edible cooking oil tops our list of the best types of cooking oils in India. Apart from protecting your heart health, this particular cooking oil is highly beneficial as it endows with healthy skin, hair, and bones. We also found out that this cooking oil is suitable for cooking several dishes under the ideal Indian cooking conditions. However, you can also check out our runner-up - Oleev Active Olive Oil, as it would also satisfy your culinary requirements.

Oleev has been churning out one of the most popular cooking oils in India. But it was time that we put their claim to test. However, the olive oil from Oleev passed all our tests and our expectations and came out triumphant in every category!

This olive oil from Oleev has fascinated our ensemble of product researchers, testers, cooking, and health experts due to its unique formulation - it is a mix of rice bran oil and olive oil in perfect proportions. The olive oil content is perfect to rectify your poor heart health and skin health. It has also ranked as one of the top edible oils according to Harvard Health Publishing because of its ability to optimize your blood cholesterol levels. We loved its original taste. What truly amazed us was its contribution to fighting lifestyle diseases of the modern days.

Another reason why our experts loved this olive oil was its compatibility with all kinds of food. You can use it for deep frying chips and even as a salad dressing and you won’t be disappointed. Its anti-inflammatory properties along with good fatty acid content make this the best cooking oil for heart patients in India. However, if you want a more budget-friendly alternative, check out the next product on our list.

Consuming sunflower oil for health reasons is one of the most conscious choices you can make. We put in almost 100 hours of research while testing this brand of sunflower oil and honestly, our researchers and experts were left speechless by the superior quality that this sunflower oil presents!

We loved the unique flavor and the rich aroma that this sunflower oil gives out. Along with those qualities, it is a refined oil and hence feels extremely light. Our experts were highly impressed with the fact that this sunflower oil can be used to cook almost every Indian and Asian cuisine and can withstand high cooking temperatures as an efficient cooking medium, without letting the food quality degrade or the bonds break.

Along with being a rich source of vitamins and minerals that offer several health benefits, this edible cooking oil is created for the masses - it is highly cheap and sports a price tag that can be afforded by everyone. This swept our experts off their feet and we inferred that this is one of the best cooking oils that we have tested.

Top 10 Edible Cooking Oils in India

While we researched the top 10 cooking oils in India, we were highly motivated to bring forth a unique and expert-crafted list that will help you solve all your health and culinary requirements. For this exact reason, we have presented the following list, and you must check this out thoroughly!

1. Disano Extra Virgin Olive Oil
2. Oleev Active Olive Oil
3. Fortune Sunlite Refined Sunflower Oil
4. Saffola Active Refined Cooking Oil
5. Figaro Olive Oil
6. Borges Canola Oil
7. Del Monte Pomace Olive Oil
8. Hathmic Cold Pressed Groundnut Oil
9. Mr. Gold Refined Rice Bran Oil
10. JIVO Canola Cold Pressed Oil

All the edible cooking oils present in this list are of supreme quality. You can get more in-depth information below and it will help you in choosing consciously when you plan on making a purchase.

1. Disano Extra Virgin Olive Oil

If you are looking for the best oil for cooking in India, then you definitely should consider Disano Olive Oil. It is made of cold-pressing raw olives and has all the nutritional goodness of them. It is rich in many vitamins and antioxidants and has zero cholesterol and our experts highly recommend this to everyone plagued with cardiovascular diseases.

This oil is rich in healthy fats and can best be used as salad dressing and while cooking Mediterranean dishes. It is a healthier replacement for butter and ghee and is organic as well. We believe that this virgin olive oil will equip you with several health benefits and eliminate the risk of heart diseases. Its fatty acid content is perfect to offer you a healthy choice while enjoying awesome cuisines.

2. Oleev Active Olive Oil

This is an extremely popular choice amongst customers throughout the country. Oleev Oil is a mixture of rice bran and olive oil, which gives it the nutritional goodness of both. It is completely devoid of preservatives and can be used for cooking numerous Indian dishes.

This is one of the best oils for cooking in India. It is great for your heart health as it is light and cholesterol-free. The package comes with an oil-o-meter that helps you track your total oil consumption.  Some of our experts concluded that this is the healthiest cooking oil that can be employed in heavy-duty Indian cooking as it helps to keep your blood sugar levels under control.

3. Fortune Sunlite Refined Sunflower Oil

Fortune is regarded by many as the ‘best cooking oil brand in India. That is because of its high quality and affordability, and this superb sunflower oil doesn't disappoint in those regards either. This is a light, nutritious oil that can be used for cooking multifarious Indian dishes.

According to several customers and volunteers surveyed, this oil has bagged the place of the no 1 cooking oil in India as it is great for your skin and your hair. Many experts in our team even believe that sunflower oil can help prevent cancer, which is another reason behind its popularity. We feel that Asian foods, in particular Indian food, are quite oil-intensive and often require deep frying to deliver that delectable taste and fantastic flavor. For this, you should choose the types of oil like these that have a neutral flavor and are suited for high-temperature cooking, without compromising on their health benefits. Overall, this oil is a healthy alternative to other brands, along with butter and ghee.

4. Saffola Active Refined Cooking Oil

Saffola Oil has been a household name in this country for years now. This is one of their best cold-pressed oils rich in Vitamin A and D and is also high in Omega-3 fatty acids. This oil is a blend of Rice Bran Oil and Soybean Oil and is a perfect option for weight watchers.

One of the best things about this oil is its neutral flavor. With its neutral taste, this refined oil helps to bring out the authentic taste of the foods cooked in it, without any bit of interference. It is also a great choice for people who are keen on reducing their cholesterol levels. We found out that this oil is rich in linoleic acid and also a great source of Vitamin E. Hence it is one of the best to reduce your risk of heart disease while enchanting your taste buds.

5. Figaro Olive Oil

This oil is often recommended by our team of experts due to its rich flavor and fantastic aroma. This can be termed as the best olive oil for cooking Indian dishes, as it is made from natural, hand-picked olives. It comes in durable, light packaging and also has a long shelf life.

This is a trusted and reliable brand, known for its high-quality products. This oil can help to keep your health in check and is even regarded by many as the best cooking oil for health in India. Our product testers conclude that this cooking oil with antibacterial properties can be used for all types of cooking as well like sauteing, shallow frying, and or even deep-frying.

6. Borges Canola Oil

With only 7% saturated fat and zero trans fat, canola oil is one of the healthiest oils that can be used for cooking all sorts of dishes. This is even regarded by some of our experts as the best cooking oil for heart patients in India as it helps in improving your heart health and managing your cholesterol levels. It is a rich source of omega 3 and omega 6 fatty acids and can be used for regular consumption.

One of the less-known benefits of Borges canola oil is that it can help to improve your skin by reducing acne, fine lines, and wrinkles. It is a product from Spain, known for its high quality, optimal fat content, insulin resistance, and its active role in reducing inflammation. All of these reasons are why we consider this as the best oil for cooking in India. It is one of the most popular cooking oils in India as it works satisfactorily under all cooking temperatures.

7. Del Monte Pomace Olive Oil

Deemed by several experts in our team as the best cooking oil brand in India, Del Monte is known for natural, flavourful, and healthy olive oils brought to us straight from the olive orchards. As the best olive oil for cooking, it can be used in cooking all sorts of tasty dishes, and it has a high nutritional content, a light flavor, and a great aroma.

This oil is suited for high-temperature cooking and can be used every day as well. It is made in Italy and is one of the best oils for deep frying. Our human health experts loved this olive oil as it is highly helpful to preserve and elevate our bone health and hair health simultaneously. These are some of the choicest olive oil brands that take care while manufacturing the oil and extracting it from the olive fruit.

8. Hathmic Cold Pressed Groundnut Oil

This oil deserves a spot on our curated list, due to its anti-carcinogenic nature and great quality. It can help in reducing depression and even help in lowering blood pressure levels.  It has a rich, nutty flavor and is free of any coloring or preservatives.

This oil comes with a high boiling point, which is why it is a popular choice for frying different foods. It is also devoid of trans fat and has been proven to improve brain health. We instantly loved the mild taste that it has. But our team of health experts was most appreciative of the fact that it has omega-9 fatty acids, and helps keep your blood cholesterol in check by removing bad cholesterol from your diet.

9. Mr. Gold Refined Rice Bran Oil

This is a really popular healthy cooking oil in India. This is a tried and tested product, known for its high antioxidant content. It helps to promote heart health and is rich in many good fats as well. Some even regard this as the best cooking oil for heart patients in India.

One of the best features of this rice bran oil is that it helps in improving your immunity, essentially protecting you from several diseases. Its’ quality is so high that it is even recommended by the Indian Medical Association. We believe that this fantastic cooking oil has a plethora of nutritional properties and can help you cook delicious food while eliminating the threat of chronic diseases.

10. JIVO Canola Cold Pressed Oil

We went ahead and surveyed the people about what oil they prefer for themselves, and this product’s name kept cropping up continuously. It is a really popular oil, with zero trans fat and is rich in omega-3 fatty acids and monounsaturated omega-9 fatty acids.

It is a preservative and chemical-free product, known for its high quality. It is also rich in antioxidants and is one of the healthiest oils on the market. It can also be a great choice for you if you are planning to control your weight. You can use this oil for frying without any worries, as it has an abundance of vitamin E and presents you with a natural aroma. We highly recommend this product to our readers who would want to whip up a tasty Indian dish without encountering any adverse effects.

The Tidbits of Our Research Methodology and Testing Procedure

At Lifestyle Titbits, we are always motivated to bring health and lifestyle hacks for our dedicated readers. We aim to reach more readers and audiences from India to make their lives easier and more blissful. Hence, we produce unique and informational content that helps you with ‘actionable insights’ and helps you make an informed purchase decision. However, our priority remains to share the correct information with our reader community. As a result, we believe that consistency in the quality of research and the transparency to bring them to our readers is the key to being one of the trustworthy brands in India. Therefore, we have presented every tidbit of our research in the following section, which has been neatly categorized as:

• Why you should trust us
• Who this is for
• How we picked
• Our Picks
• Final Verdict

Why You Should Trust Us

One of the most pertinent questions that could be going through your mind right now is this. And this is justified. For starters, let’s tell you that Google - the biggest search engine that has modeled its algorithm on trust, authenticity, and authority, trusts us and has therefore directed you to our page when you initiated your online search. Thus, it can be a nice way to start trusting our procedures and methods!

On a more serious note, we are not asking you to trust us blindly. We want to tell you about the process and the hours of hard work that have gone behind creating this article. We didn’t simply write the article on the best oil for cooking in India. Instead, we dedicated hours of research and experimentation to it. The start was when we had created an ensemble of the best nutritionists, dieticians, doctors, culinary experts, and food and technology experts to help us in our research and findings. This awesome personnel shortlisted nearly 100 cooking oil brands for us to study. These shortlisted brands were immediately sent to our labs and our product testers started devoting hours behind each of them, noting down their qualities, costs, and every other feature.

At the same time, our market analysts and survey team started conducting interviews, online and offline polls amongst Indian consumers. We interviewed almost every section of the population and weighed in their choices. The final stage was where we tallied our survey results to our test results and finally created the list of the 10 best edible cooking oils in India. Is this enough for you to place your trust in us? If yes, great! If not, read further.

Who This Is For

Most of our product assortments target every Indian. However, here we have created certain target groups and identified that these top-rated edible cooking oils could be their best bet. They are:

• Professional and hobby chefs.
• Homemakers.
• Culinary enthusiasts.
• People with cardiovascular diseases.
• People with high blood sugar and blood pressure levels.
• Dieticiants.
• Nutritionists.
• Fitness freaks.
• People who are obsessed with healthy eating.

How We Picked

This section gives you the most boring details, including data analytics from our results! However, don’t worry, we won’t trouble you with those unnecessary details. Instead, we will highlight some of the special ones that will help you make a purchase.

• Smoke Point: This is the temperature at which the oil starts to burn and degrade. Since every oil has its unique smoke point, we considered only those that have high smoke points and can resist high cooking temperature without encountering loss in quality.
• Fat Content: It is one of the most essential criteria that our researchers and testers kept in mind. We calculated the percentage of monounsaturated fats and polyunsaturated fats since these help to keep your cardiovascular health in prime form. However, we were also invested in finding the ideal balance with saturated fat too, since it helps in oxidation.
• Other Health Benefits: Our product testers included only those cooking oils that have a flurry of health benefits like anticarcinogenic, antibacterial and anti-inflammatory properties. We also shortlisted those cooking oils that are a rich source of vitamins A, D, and E.
• Natural Aroma: While olive oil has a neutral to mild flavor, sunflower oil might have a wild aroma. On the other hand, rice bran oil, soybean oil and others might have a neutral flavor. We picked only those that don’t have any added preservatives and retain their natural aroma and flavors.

Our Picks

Now that you know the sweat and toil that has gone behind our testing procedures, it is time for you to check out our list of the best edible cooking oils once again!

The above list is one of the most high-rated assortments that has been crafted by experts and acclaimed personas. Browsing through it will help you make a purchase decision easily.

Final Verdict

When it comes to the goodness of fresh olives and the all-around abilities of edible cooking oil, we recommend the Disano Extra Virgin Olive Oil.

If you are looking for a product that has an edge over our top pick with its combination of rice bran and olive oils, we believe that the Oleev Active Olive Oil could be the right choice for you.

If you want the quality akin to the previous two, with a more pocket-friendly price tag, check out our budget pick - Fortune Sunlite Refined Sunflower Oil.

We want to tell you that every edible cooking oil mentioned in our list will enamor your taste buds while ensuring immense health benefits. So you can pick anyone that suits your needs the best!