Palm Olein vs Palm Oil vs RBD Palm Oil: What Is the Difference?

“Palm oil” on a price list can mean several quite different products. A buyer who orders palm oil for a fryer and receives a semi-solid baking fat, or orders refined oil and receives deep orange crude oil, has an expensive problem. This guide explains the main palm products, how each is made, and which one suits frying, baking or traditional cooking.

The short answer

• Red palm oil is palm oil in its traditional, unrefined form: deep orange-red, with a rich flavor and its natural carotenes and vitamin E.
• RBD palm oil is palm oil that has been refined, bleached and deodorized. It is pale yellow, neutral in taste and semi-solid at room temperature, and is used mainly for baking, margarine and shortening.
• Palm olein is the liquid part of refined palm oil, separated by cooling and filtering. It pours like an ordinary cooking oil and is one of the world’s most widely used frying oils.
• Palm stearin is the solid part left after the olein is removed, used as a hard fat in shortenings and margarine.

How the palm products are made

All of them start with the fleshy orange fruit of the oil palm. The fruit is sterilized, pressed and clarified to give crude palm oil. From there, the products separate:

1. Red palm oil is crude palm oil that has been carefully clarified and filtered, but not refined, bleached or deodorized. It keeps its color, flavor and carotenes.
2. Refining removes free fatty acids, gums, color pigments and odor compounds. The result is RBD palm oil: refined, bleached and deodorized. Bleaching removes the carotenes, which is why RBD palm oil is pale rather than red.
3. Fractionation then splits RBD palm oil by temperature. The oil is cooled slowly so that its higher-melting fats crystallize, and it is filtered. The liquid that passes through is palm olein; the solid crystals are palm stearin. No chemicals and no hydrogenation are involved.

Palm kernel oil is a different product altogether: it is pressed from the seed (kernel) inside the fruit, not from the flesh, and is a lauric fat closer to coconut oil. See our palm kernel oil page for details.

How they compare

	Red palm oil	RBD palm oil	Palm olein
Processing	Clarified and filtered, unrefined	Refined, bleached, deodorized	RBD, then fractionated
Color and taste	Deep orange-red, rich traditional flavor	Light yellow, neutral	Pale yellow, neutral
At room temperature	Semi-solid; thickens or sets below about 25 °C (77 °F)	Semi-solid; slip melting point about 33–39 °C (91–102 °F)	Liquid; may cloud below about 10 °C (50 °F)
Carotenes and vitamin E	Kept: typically 500–2,000 mg/kg of carotenoids, plus tocotrienols	Carotenes removed by bleaching	Carotenes removed by bleaching
Main uses	West African and Brazilian cooking, sauces, natural color	Baking, margarine, shortening, fillings	Deep frying, cooking, snack and food production
Unopened shelf life	Up to 12 months	Up to 18 months	Up to 18 months

Values are typical for our grades. Each oil page gives the full specification, and every lot comes with a Certificate of Analysis.

Which one should you buy?

For deep frying: palm olein

Palm olein combines saturated palmitic acid (about 38–44%) with monounsaturated oleic acid (about 40–46%), and contains little of the polyunsaturated fats that break down fastest under heat. That gives it a long fry life, a crisp, dry finish and a smoke point of about 230 °C (450 °F). Because it is liquid, it pours and tops up like any frying oil. Super olein grades, with a lower cloud point, stay clear in cooler kitchens and are preferred for bottled cooking oil. Our frying oil guide compares palm olein with other frying oils.

For baking, margarine and shortening: RBD palm oil

RBD palm oil is semi-solid, which is exactly what bakers and margarine makers need: it gives structure, flakiness and mouthfeel without hydrogenation. After the US FDA determined in 2015 that partially hydrogenated oils were no longer generally recognized as safe, palm oil became one of the main replacements in shortenings and baked goods.

For traditional cooking and natural color: red palm oil

Red palm oil is a staple of West African cooking and of Bahian cuisine in Brazil, where it is known as dendê oil. Buy it when you want its color and flavor. It suits sautéing and moderate frying, but long, high-temperature deep frying breaks down its carotenes and color, so palm olein is the better choice for continuous frying.

For hard-stock fat: palm stearin

Palm stearin, with a slip melting point of at least 44 °C, is used by manufacturers as a hard fat to firm up shortening and margarine blends.

Storage and handling

Because all palm products contain a lot of saturated fat, temperature matters. The Codex code of practice for bulk oils recommends storing and shipping palm oil in bulk at 32–40 °C and palm olein at 25–30 °C, with higher temperatures for loading and discharge, and warming slowly, by no more than 5 °C in 24 hours. In smaller packs:

• Palm olein can cloud or partly set below about 10 °C (50 °F). This is normal; warm it gently to about 30–40 °C and mix before use.
• RBD palm oil and red palm oil thicken or set in cool weather and can separate into layers. Warm them gently until fully liquid and stir, without overheating.
• Keep red palm oil away from light, which fades its color and degrades its carotenes.

Our guide to storing bulk cooking oil covers tanks, flexitanks and heating in detail.

Quality and sustainability questions to ask

• Free fatty acids and color. These show how well the oil was handled and refined, and are reported on the Certificate of Analysis. Our guide to reading a Certificate of Analysis explains each result.
• Cloud point for palm olein, and slip melting point for RBD palm oil and stearin, confirm that the grade suits your climate and use.
• Process contaminants. Refined palm products can contain 3-MCPD and glycidyl esters formed during refining. The EU sets maximum levels for these in vegetable oils, so tell us if you are buying for an EU market.
• Certified sustainable palm. If you or your customers need RSPO-certified palm products, say so in your quote request and we will confirm availability for your order.

To order, add the palm products you need to your quote list, with the pack sizes that suit your kitchen or plant.

Sources

• Codex Alimentarius: Standard for Named Vegetable Oils (CXS 210-1999), including palm oil, palm olein and palm stearin
• Codex Code of Practice for the Storage and Transport of Edible Fats and Oils in Bulk (CAC/RCP 36-1987), FAO
• US FDA: Final determination regarding partially hydrogenated oils
• Commission Regulation (EU) 2020/1322 on 3-MCPD and glycidyl fatty acid esters