This is one of the most searched cooking questions in India, and most answers to it are selling something. We press and fill edible oil ourselves, so we have a stake too. Here is the honest version anyway, because a buyer who picks the wrong oil for the job blames the oil rather than the choice.
There is no single best cooking oil. The right one depends on three things: how hot you cook, whether you want the oil to add flavour or stay out of the way, and what you can justify paying per litre at your volume.
The three things that actually decide it
1. Smoke point, which matters more than most guides admit
Every oil has a temperature at which it begins to break down and smoke. Past that point the flavour turns acrid and the oil degrades. This is the single most practical property of an oil, and it is why a beautiful cold-pressed oil can be the wrong choice for deep frying.
Roughly: refined oils sit high, in the region of 220 to 230 degrees Celsius, because refining removes the free fatty acids and particles that burn first. Unrefined and cold-pressed oils sit lower, often 160 to 190. Mustard oil is unusual in that it has a relatively high smoke point for an oil with so much character.
If you are deep frying in volume, a high smoke point is not a preference, it is a requirement. Oil that breaks down is oil you replace sooner, which shows up in your costs long before it shows up in the taste.
2. Whether you want flavour from the oil
This is where cooking oils split cleanly into two camps, and it is the distinction most buying decisions really turn on.
Flavour-forward oils such as mustard, coconut and sesame carry a taste into the dish. In mustard oil that pungency is the point, not a defect. A Bengali fish curry or a Punjabi achaar made with a neutral oil tastes wrong to anyone who grew up with it.
Neutral oils such as refined soya, sunflower and canola carry nothing of their own. That is exactly what you want when the dish should taste of its ingredients, or when you are frying a hundred samosas and do not want yesterday’s flavour in today’s batch.
Neither is better. They are answers to different questions.
3. Cost per litre at your actual volume
For a household this barely registers. For a kitchen frying all day it is often the deciding factor. A halwai or canteen going through fifteen litres a day is making a very different calculation from someone buying a one litre bottle a month, and the honest advice differs accordingly.
The common oils, and what each is genuinely good for
Mustard oil
Pungent, sharp, deep in colour, and the traditional cooking oil across North and East India. Its character survives cooking, which is why it holds up in curries, pickles and fish where milder oils flatten out. Good for shallow frying, tempering, pickling and most everyday Indian cooking.
Not the right choice when you want the oil invisible, or for baking and continental preparations where its pungency fights the dish.
Refined soybean oil
Neutral, light, high smoke point, and generally the most economical option per litre at volume. This is the workhorse of commercial frying for good reason. Good for deep frying, high-volume cooking, and any dish where the oil should not announce itself.
Not the choice when the recipe genuinely wants the flavour of a traditional oil.
Sunflower and canola
Also neutral with high smoke points, and broadly interchangeable with refined soya for most cooking. Differences between them at the stove are smaller than marketing suggests.
Groundnut oil
Mildly nutty, high smoke point, popular in Gujarat and the south. A reasonable middle ground when you want a little character without mustard’s assertiveness.
Coconut oil
Distinctly flavoured and traditional in Kerala and coastal cooking. Strongly regional: right at home in a Kerala fish curry, out of place in a Punjabi gravy.
Ghee
Not an oil, but it belongs in the comparison because it competes for the same pan. High smoke point, distinctive flavour, and considerably more expensive. Usually a finishing or occasional fat rather than a frying medium at volume.
A shorter answer, by how you cook
- Deep frying at volume: a refined oil, usually soya or sunflower, for smoke point and cost.
- Everyday North Indian cooking: mustard oil, unless you specifically want a neutral base.
- Pickling: mustard oil, almost universally.
- Baking and continental dishes: a neutral refined oil.
- Regional coastal cooking: coconut or sesame, depending on the cuisine.
- A kitchen that only wants to stock one: a neutral refined oil, since it is the more forgiving default.
What about the health debate?
You will find confident and contradictory claims about which oils are healthiest, and the research genuinely moves. We are a manufacturer, not a nutrition authority, and we are not going to pretend otherwise or make claims we cannot stand behind. If health is your deciding factor, that is a conversation for a doctor or a dietitian rather than a supplier.
What we can speak to is what an oil does in a pan and how it behaves in storage, which is what this guide covers.
A note on where we stand
We manufacture mustard oil, filtered and sealed in our own unit at Batala, Punjab. Refined soya oil is also part of our range but out of stock at the moment. So we have an interest in a couple of the oils above and none in the rest.
That is also why the guide does not end by telling you our oils are best for everything. If you are frying at volume and cost matters, refined soya is the sensible answer. If you are cooking North Indian food and want the traditional character, mustard is. If you need coconut oil for a Kerala menu, we are not the right supplier and would rather say so.
One thing that does apply regardless of which oil you choose: buy from someone who filters and seals under their own roof. Edible oil is the category where adulteration is most common and hardest to detect by eye, and an unbroken chain from press to seal is worth more than any home purity test.
Browse our edible oils range, or message us with your volumes for current pricing.