Healthiest Cooking Oil: Every Common Oil Ranked, and Which to Use for What
The healthiest cooking oil for most kitchens is extra virgin olive oil — but not by the margin its fans suggest, and not on every measure. Rapeseed oil has about half the saturated fat and far more omega-3. Coconut oil, for all its wellness halo, raised LDL cholesterol in the trials compared with liquid plant oils. And the seed-oil scare circulating online is not what the largest studies found. This guide ranks every common cooking oil on the evidence — fat profiles from the USDA's food-composition database, and outcome research named with its design, size and limits — then sets out which oil to use for dressing, roasting and frying. Where a head-to-head deserves more room, we link to the full comparison rather than repeat it.
For our own oil, see our cold-pressed organic Marrakech olive oil.
The Short Answer
- Extra virgin olive oil is the best all-round cooking oil on current evidence: USDA FoodData Central lists olive oil at about 73% monounsaturated fat, extra virgin oil is never refined so it keeps its polyphenols, and it has the longest record of outcome research.
- Rapeseed (canola) oil is a close second and genuinely beats olive oil on two measures: roughly 7% saturated fat against olive oil's 14%, and far more plant omega-3.
- Avocado, sunflower and the other liquid seed oils are reasonable choices; a 2019 analysis of 30 cohort studies in Circulation linked more omega-6 linoleic acid with lower, not higher, cardiovascular risk.
- Butter, ghee and coconut oil sit at the bottom for everyday use: they are mostly saturated fat, and a 2020 meta-analysis of 16 trials found coconut oil raised LDL cholesterol compared with non-tropical plant oils.
- The swap matters more than the exact ranking. In a 2025 study of 221,054 US adults, replacing 10 g of butter a day with plant oils was associated with 17% lower mortality — an observational finding, not proof of cause.
Every Common Cooking Oil, Ranked
Ranked for everyday health, weighing fat profile, processing and outcome evidence:
- Extra virgin olive oil — the best all-rounder: mostly monounsaturated, unrefined, and the most outcome research.
- Rapeseed (canola) oil — the lowest saturated fat and the most omega-3 of the common oils.
- Avocado oil — a fat profile close to olive oil's, with far less research behind it.
- Sunflower oil — rich in omega-6; high-oleic versions are more heat-stable.
- Soybean, corn and groundnut oils — sound in place of saturated fat, but more polyunsaturated, so less stable for long frying.
- Butter and ghee — flavour fats, mostly saturated; use sparingly.
- Coconut and palm oil — the most saturated; best kept occasional.
| Oil | Saturated fat (share of total fat) | Main fat type | Best everyday use | Full comparison |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Extra virgin olive oil | About 14% | Monounsaturated (about 73%) | Dressings, sautéing, roasting, frying | Olive oil at high heat |
| Rapeseed / canola oil | About 7% | Monounsaturated, with plant omega-3 | All-purpose; refined for deep-frying | Olive oil vs canola oil |
| Avocado oil | About 12% | Monounsaturated (about 71%) | Searing, neutral dishes | Olive oil vs avocado oil |
| Sunflower oil (standard) | About 10% | Polyunsaturated omega-6 (about 66%) | Shallow frying, baking | Olive oil vs sunflower oil |
| Soybean / "vegetable" oil | About 16% | Polyunsaturated (about 58%) | Frying, processed foods | Olive oil vs vegetable oil |
| Butter | About 63% | Saturated | Baking, finishing | Olive oil vs butter |
| Ghee | Similar to butter (it is clarified butterfat) | Saturated | Flavour, high-heat frying | Olive oil vs ghee |
| Coconut oil | About 83% | Saturated | Occasional baking and curries | Olive oil vs coconut oil |
Fat figures are typical values from USDA FoodData Central (SR Legacy entries for olive, canola, avocado, standard sunflower, soybean and coconut oils, and salted butter); individual oils vary by variety and grade. In the UK, a bottle labelled "vegetable oil" is often rapeseed rather than soybean.
What Makes One Cooking Oil Healthier Than Another
Three things separate the oils. The first is fat type. Liquid plant oils are mostly unsaturated; butter, ghee, coconut and palm are mostly saturated. The American Heart Association's 2017 presidential advisory on dietary fats, led by Sacks and published in Circulation, concluded that randomised trials which replaced saturated fat with polyunsaturated vegetable oil reduced cardiovascular disease by about 30%. The NHS makes the same point in plainer terms: choose olive oil, rapeseed oil and spreads made from them over saturated fats, and keep saturated fat under 30 g a day for men and 20 g for women.
The second is processing. Most supermarket oils are refined — often solvent-extracted, then bleached and deodorised — which strips much of their vitamin E, plant sterols and flavour. Extra virgin olive oil and cold-pressed rapeseed are pressed and bottled without refining. The third is stability under heat, which depends more on fat type and natural antioxidants than on the smoke point printed in most rankings.
Why Extra Virgin Olive Oil Comes First — and Where It Doesn't
Olive oil's case rests on outcomes, not just markers. The PREDIMED trial, republished by Estruch and colleagues in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2018, assigned 7,447 Spanish adults at high cardiovascular risk to a Mediterranean diet with extra virgin olive oil, one with nuts, or a low-fat control diet; after a median 4.8 years, the olive oil group had about 30% fewer major cardiovascular events (hazard ratio 0.69). Its limits matter: the original 2013 paper was withdrawn after randomisation irregularities at some sites, and the trial tested a whole diet, not the oil alone.
The observational evidence points the same way. Guasch-Ferré and colleagues followed 92,383 US health professionals for 28 years (Journal of the American College of Cardiology, 2022): people eating more than half a tablespoon of olive oil a day had 19% lower all-cause mortality than those who rarely ate it, and replacing butter, margarine or mayonnaise with olive oil was linked to lower risk.
Now the honest concessions. The same study found no significant difference when olive oil was compared with other vegetable oils. In the 2025 butter study, each extra 5 g a day of canola oil was associated with 15% lower mortality, a slightly stronger association than olive oil's 8%. And a 2018 network meta-analysis of 54 trials by Schwingshackl and colleagues in the Journal of Lipid Research ranked safflower and rapeseed oil above olive oil for lowering LDL cholesterol. Olive oil wins on breadth of evidence, polyphenols and flavour — not because the other liquid oils are poor. Our guide to the best olive oil for health covers what separates one bottle from another.
The Seed Oil Question
Rapeseed, sunflower, soybean, corn and similar oils have become the target of a loud online campaign claiming their omega-6 fats are inflammatory and harmful. The largest direct test of that idea points the other way. Marklund and colleagues pooled individual-level data from 30 prospective studies in 13 countries (Circulation, 2019): among 68,659 people, higher blood and tissue levels of linoleic acid, the main omega-6 in seed oils, were associated with lower risk of cardiovascular disease, cardiovascular death and ischaemic stroke. It is observational, and biomarkers reflect more than diet — but it is the opposite of what the scare predicts.
Critics do have a point about processing and use: most seed oil is eaten in ultra-processed food and reused commercial frying oil, and highly polyunsaturated oils oxidise faster under prolonged heat. That argues for cooking at home with less-refined oils, not for fearing a bottle of rapeseed. Our explainer is olive oil a seed oil? sets out the full fatty-acid ranges.
Coconut Oil, Butter and Ghee: Where Saturated Fats Fit
Coconut oil is about 83% saturated fat, far more than butter. Neelakantan, Seah and van Dam's 2020 meta-analysis of 16 clinical trials in Circulation found coconut oil raised LDL cholesterol by about 10 mg/dL compared with non-tropical vegetable oils; it also raised HDL, but the authors concluded the LDL effect should inform choices. Palm oil, the other tropical oil, sits alongside it in the American Heart Association's advice to prefer non-tropical liquid oils.
Butter and ghee are flavour fats rather than everyday cooking oils. Zhang and colleagues followed 221,054 adults across three US cohorts for up to 33 years (JAMA Internal Medicine, 2025): the highest butter intake was associated with 15% higher mortality, and swapping 10 g of butter a day for plant oils with 17% lower mortality. Self-reported diet and residual confounding are real limits. Use butter or ghee where their flavour earns its place, not as the default.
Which Oil to Use for What
For most home cooking, one good extra virgin olive oil covers nearly everything. Normal sautéing sits around 120–160°C and shallow frying around 160–180°C, within a fresh extra virgin oil's comfortable range. A 2018 laboratory study by de Alzaa, Guillaume and Ravetti in Acta Scientific Nutritional Health heated ten common oils and found extra virgin olive oil produced the fewest polar compounds, a marker of breakdown, and that smoke point did not predict stability. It came from an olive-oil laboratory in a modest journal, so treat it as one data point.
| Cooking job | Best choice | Good alternative |
|---|---|---|
| Dressings, dips, drizzling | Extra virgin olive oil | Cold-pressed rapeseed oil |
| Sautéing and stir-frying | Extra virgin olive oil | Rapeseed or avocado oil |
| Roasting | Extra virgin olive oil | Rapeseed oil |
| Shallow frying | Extra virgin olive oil | Rapeseed or high-oleic sunflower oil |
| Large-batch deep-frying | Refined rapeseed or refined olive oil | Groundnut oil |
| Neutral baking | Rapeseed or a mild olive oil | Sunflower oil |
The British Heart Foundation names monounsaturated oils — olive, rapeseed and avocado — as the best all-rounders for everyday cooking. For the detail, see our guides to frying with olive oil and olive oil at high heat.
The Studies Behind This Ranking
| Study | Design and size | What it found | Main limit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Estruch et al., NEJM, 2018 (PREDIMED) | Randomised trial, 7,447 adults | About 30% fewer cardiovascular events with a Mediterranean diet plus extra virgin olive oil | Republished after randomisation problems; tested a whole diet |
| Guasch-Ferré et al., JACC, 2022 | Cohort, 92,383 adults, 28 years | 19% lower mortality with more than ½ tbsp olive oil a day | Observational; no difference versus other vegetable oils |
| Zhang et al., JAMA Intern Med, 2025 | Three cohorts, 221,054 adults | Swapping 10 g/day butter for plant oils linked to 17% lower mortality | Observational; self-reported diet |
| Schwingshackl et al., J Lipid Res, 2018 | Network meta-analysis, 54 trials | Safflower and rapeseed best for lowering LDL | Blood markers, not outcomes |
| Neelakantan et al., Circulation, 2020 | Meta-analysis, 16 trials | Coconut oil raised LDL versus non-tropical oils | Short trials; mixed quality |
| Marklund et al., Circulation, 2019 | 30 cohorts, 68,659 people | Higher linoleic acid levels linked to lower cardiovascular risk | Observational biomarker study |
Whichever oil you choose, grade matters as much as the plant: "extra virgin" and "cold-pressed" mean unrefined, while plain "olive oil", "light" and "vegetable oil" usually do not. For a fuller walkthrough, see our guide to choosing a quality olive oil.
Why Sidr & Stone
This ranking puts extra virgin olive oil first because of what an unrefined oil keeps — so the fair question is what ours is. Sidr & Stone's olive oil is an extra virgin, cold-pressed, unfiltered oil from our own single-estate farm on the plains outside Marrakech, Morocco.
- Single-estate — Sidr & Stone's olive oil comes from our own family-owned farm near Marrakech, and we control every step from tree to bottle, with no blending across origins.
- Rain-fed — our trees are not irrigated; they take what the season gives.
- Organically grown — no synthetic fertilisers, pesticides or herbicides are used (not yet certified; certification is in progress).
- Single harvest — a small, limited batch, picked when the fruit is ready; the current batch's harvest details are on the product page.
- Cold-pressed within hours of harvest — mechanical extraction only, with no solvents, refining or deodorising.
- Unfiltered extra virgin — minimally processed, so it may show natural sediment, which is normal.
- 100% natural — a single ingredient, olive oil, with nothing added.
- Dark glass with a gold label — protective packaging against light.
- 10% of profits to charity — a brand-wide commitment.
- Fulfilment in the UK, EU, and US.
We will not tell you Sidr & Stone is the healthiest olive oil, or that rapeseed oil is a poor choice — the evidence supports neither claim, and we do not yet publish a laboratory polyphenol figure. What we will say is that our oil is single-estate Moroccan, rain-fed, organically grown and cold-pressed within hours of harvest, and that the difference from a refined oil is there in the colour, the aroma and the taste.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the healthiest cooking oil?
For most people, extra virgin olive oil — mostly monounsaturated, unrefined and backed by the most outcome research. Rapeseed oil is a close second, with less saturated fat and more omega-3.
Why is olive oil considered healthier than other oils?
Its monounsaturated fat, the polyphenols that survive in unrefined extra virgin oil, and decades of Mediterranean-diet research. But in a 28-year US cohort it did not significantly outperform other vegetable oils — the bigger gain is moving away from saturated fat.
How do I tell a good cooking oil from a poor one?
Check the grade first: "extra virgin" or "cold-pressed" means unrefined. Then look for dark glass or a tin, a best-before or harvest date, a single named oil in the ingredients, and a size you will finish within a few months.
Are seed oils bad for you?
The evidence does not support the online scare: a 2019 pooled analysis of 30 cohort studies linked higher linoleic acid levels with lower cardiovascular risk. The fair criticism concerns ultra-processed food and reused frying oil.
Is Sidr & Stone's olive oil a good cooking oil?
It is a single-estate, cold-pressed, unfiltered extra virgin oil, so it suits dressings, sautéing, roasting and everyday frying. For large-batch deep-frying, a cheaper refined oil is the more practical choice.
Is coconut oil healthier than olive oil?
No. Coconut oil is about 83% saturated fat, and a 2020 meta-analysis of 16 trials found it raised LDL cholesterol compared with non-tropical plant oils.
Where can I buy single-estate extra virgin olive oil?
Look for a producer that names one origin and sells only extra virgin oil. Our single-estate Marrakech olive oil is available to pre-order from the current single-harvest batch, with fulfilment in the UK, EU, and US.
Is olive oil a medicine?
No. Olive oil is a food, not a medicine. It has a long traditional history — including being honoured in the Prophetic Sunnah — and a substantial body of modern research, particularly around polyphenols, cardiovascular health, and the Mediterranean diet pattern. It can be a worthwhile part of a healthy routine, but it does not cure diseases and is not a substitute for medical care. Be cautious of any olive oil marketed with specific disease-cure claims.
Final Thoughts
The honest ranking is less dramatic than the internet's. Extra virgin olive oil earns first place on the breadth of its evidence, its unrefined character and its flavour; rapeseed oil runs it close; the other liquid plant oils are sound; and coconut, palm, butter and ghee belong at the edges of a healthy kitchen, not its centre.
The decision that matters most is the one every study above points to: cook with a liquid plant oil rather than a saturated fat. After that, choose by grade — extra virgin and cold-pressed over refined — and by the job in front of you.
Our cold-pressed organic Marrakech olive oil — single-estate, rain-fed and unfiltered — is available to pre-order now from our limited single-harvest batch, with estimated shipping from November 2026 and fulfilment in the UK, EU, and US.
Our extra virgin olive oil is grown organically on our own single-estate farm on the plains outside Marrakech: we control every step from tree to bottle, and no synthetic pesticides, herbicides or fertilisers are used. It is not yet certified organic — certification is in progress, and we will publish it as soon as it comes through.
Pre-Order Sidr & Stone Organic Marrakech Olive Oil — Limited Single-Harvest Batch →
Disclaimer: This article compares common cooking oils and summarises published research, composition data and public-health guidance at the time of writing; research findings and product specifications may change, and readers should check current sources. Comparisons are made in good faith and in fair terms. References to the NHS, the British Heart Foundation, the American Heart Association and the USDA describe their published information and imply no affiliation or endorsement. Olive oil is a food, not a medicine, and is not a substitute for medical treatment of any condition. For any health concern, consult a qualified medical professional.