A Guide on Choosing the Best Oils for Cooking

By      27-Jul 2020       Reading Time: 5 Mins

A Guide on Choosing the Best Oils for Cooking

A right type of cooking oil can do wonders to your health while an unhealthier version of cooking oil can spoil your health like nothing else. As oil is the pre-requisite for cooking, choosing the best and healthy oils is extremely important to make your dishes appetizing and healthy. As the variety of cooking oils become diverse in recent years, it is utterly confusing to decide what to pick while going through the grocery aisles. But not anymore! Here is the perfect guide that helps you in deciding which oil to pick to make your meals wholesome. But before we start let’s understand the pointers that make the cooking oil different from one another. When oil is heated, it modify its consistency, colour and nutritional profile and that is why it is extremely important to check the smoking point of oil before consuming it. Not only this, there are various other factors like ‘amounts of fats a cooking oil contain’ also makes it different from one another.

Here are different types of cooking oil and what qualities make it different and healthy.    

  • Olive oil: Olive oil and extra virgin olive oil has gained much momentum in recent years due to its goodness in nutritional profile. This is one of the most versatile oils for cooking and contains monounsaturated (good) fats that will reduce the risk of high cholesterol levels, heart disease, and cancer. From Mediterranean dishes to Indian dishes, olive oil can easily be paired with every cuisine. 
  • Groundnut oil: Groundnut oil or peanut oil is one of the healthiest oil that you can use in your kitchen. It blends well with various dishes and cuisines and it has a great smoking point of 232-degree celsius which means the nutrients will not disturb even on high temperature. From stir-frying to deep-frying, groundnut oil goes well with every cooking technique and you can use unrefined peanut oil for your salad dressings or marinating. Peanut oil contains monounsaturated and polyunsaturated (good fats) that can do wonders to your overall health.
  • Canola oil: Canola oil is the contemporary player into the oil industry and is advised by many health experts due to its nourishing quality. Canola oil is prepared by canola plant after crushing its seeds and contains extremely less amount of saturated fats. Due to its richness in Omega 3s and monounsaturated (good) fats, this oil is extremely healthy and mix well with Indian food.
  • Rice bran oil: This oil is something new on the block and is prepared from rice grain’s outer layer (bran). It contains a chemical known as oryzanol which is quite beneficial for cholesterol and heart health. With a high amount of monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats, this oil can blend well with every dish and can also be utilised in cookies and cakes easily. As it has a high smoking point, cooking techniques like deep frying can also work pretty well with this type of oil.
  • Sesame oil: Sesame oil contains polyunsaturated fats along with nutrients like magnesium, vitamin B6, copper, iron and calcium and it is obtained from untoasted sesame seeds. With a high smoking point and a mild zest, this oil works well with Indian dishes or cooking techniques like marinating and stir-fries.

Footnote

As per various health experts, a person should not consume more than 2 teaspoons of oil per day. Always choose the healthier version of oil to make yourself hale and hearty.

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