Nutrition & health

Is Groundnut Oil Good for Frying? What Peanut Oil Does Well, and Where It Stops

Is groundnut oil a healthy oil to fry in, and is cold-pressed better than refined?

Groundnut oil is about 46% monounsaturated fat and 17% saturated, and in a frying study it lasted 18–20 hours before reaching the discard limit. It is a sound frying oil. It is still oil, and the fresh-versus-reused question matters more than the brand.

By Pure Bites Kitchen & Nutrition Desk · Sourced nutrition, food safety and kitchen notes · Pure Bites, Surat

29 September 2026 · 4 min read

Yes, groundnut oil is a sound oil to fry in. Nearly half of it is monounsaturated fat, it holds up to frying heat for a useful length of time, and it is the oil much of Gujarat has traditionally fried farsan in. It is not a health food, no oil is, and how fresh the oil is matters more than the name on the tin. We fry every batch in fresh peanut oil, so we have an interest here; the numbers below are from the USDA and from published studies, not from us.

Groundnut oil at a glance

• What it is made of: about 46% monounsaturated, 32% polyunsaturated, 17% saturated fat.
• How it fries: in one study, 18–20 hours of frying before reaching the 25% polar-compound limit.
• The limit on any oil: 20–50 g of added fat a day per person, by activity, in India’s guidelines.

What is in groundnut oil?

Is groundnut oil good for deep frying?

A frying oil is judged by how slowly it breaks down. FSSAI’s rule is that oil must be discarded once its total polar compounds pass 25%. In a 2019 study that fried fresh potatoes at 175 °C for eight hours a day, peanut oil and canola oil both reached that limit after 18–20 hours of frying; extra virgin olive oil lasted beyond 28. Peanut oil also showed more of one marker of oxidation than the other two. So it is a capable frying oil, not an indestructible one.

We have not quoted a smoke point. The figures in circulation vary with how refined the oil is, and we did not find a primary source we were willing to stand behind.

Is cold-pressed groundnut oil better than refined?

It is different, and the difference is not all one way. India’s dietary guidelines say cold-pressed oils keep antioxidants and other plant compounds that refining removes. They also say cold-pressed and crude oils may contain undesirable compounds that refining takes out, and that refining leaves the fatty acid composition unchanged. Their advice is that all extracted oils, crude or refined, be used in moderation. Cold-pressed is a choice of flavour and of what you would rather keep, not a licence to use more.

Groundnut oil or sunflower, palm and vanaspati?

• Against vanaspati: the guidelines say to avoid partially hydrogenated fats, which may contain trans fats. FSSAI has capped industrial trans fat at 2% since January 2022.
• Against palm oil: the guidelines group palm oil with ghee and coconut oil as sources of saturated fat. See palm oil in namkeen.
• Against high omega-6 oils: the guidelines ask people to moderate oils high in omega-6. About a third of groundnut oil is polyunsaturated omega-6. USDA’s figure for ordinary high-linoleic sunflower oil is about 66 g per 100 g, twice as much.
• For the omega-3 it lacks: the guidelines point to nuts, seeds, soyabean, green leafy vegetables and fenugreek seeds.

Does fresh oil matter more than which oil?

We think so, and the guidance agrees with the principle. Repeated heating oxidises an oil’s polyunsaturated fats and produces compounds the guidelines describe as harmful. At home, oil used once for frying may be filtered and used in a curry within a day or two; it should not be used for frying again. How to tell reused frying oil covers the taste, colour and smell.

Groundnut oil — common questions

Fried in fresh peanut oil, after the order 500 g and 1 kg packs, couriered pan-India

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