Buying Guides

Fats for Baking, Margarine and Shortening Without Hydrogenation

How bakers and fat producers get structure, flakiness and a clean melt without partially hydrogenated oils: what each fat does, how palm, palm stearin, coconut and palm kernel oil compare, and how they are blended.

By the Wholesale Cooking Oil LLC team4 min readUpdated November 6, 2026

For decades, bakeries and margarine makers relied on partially hydrogenated oils for solid fats that were cheap, stable and easy to work with. Those oils also contained artificial trans fat, and today they are banned or tightly limited in many countries. This guide explains what bakers need from a fat, which non-hydrogenated fats provide it, and how they are combined.

Why the change happened

In 2015, the US Food and Drug Administration determined that partially hydrogenated oils, the main source of artificial trans fat, were no longer generally recognized as safe, and they can no longer be added to food without FDA approval. The EU limits industrially produced trans fat to 2 grams per 100 grams of fat in food supplied to consumers, and many other countries have similar rules. Our guide to trans fat rules around the world covers them in detail.

Hydrogenation itself is not the only issue: fully hydrogenated fats contain very little trans fat, because the process is taken to completion, and are still used in some blends. But many buyers and consumers now prefer fats that are not hydrogenated at all, and in the EU, hydrogenated oils must be described on labels as fully or partly hydrogenated.

What bakers need from a fat

Solid structure at room temperature, to hold air in creamed cakes, keep layers apart in puff pastry and croissants, and give biscuits their shape.
The right melting range. A fat should be plastic and workable at room temperature, firm enough not to smear, and melt cleanly in the mouth without a waxy feel.
Stability, so baked goods do not turn rancid before their best-before date.
A neutral taste, so butter, vanilla and grain flavors come through.

The main non-hydrogenated fats

Fat	At room temperature	Melting	Typical uses
RBD palm oil	Semi-solid	Slip melting point about 33–39 °C (91–102 °F)	Shortening, margarine, pastry, biscuits, fillings
Palm stearin	Hard	Slip melting point 44 °C min.	Hard stock to firm up shortening and margarine blends
RBD coconut oil	Solid below about 24 °C	Sharp melt at about 24–26 °C	Biscuits, crisp textures, coatings, non-dairy products
Palm kernel oil and its fractions	Solid	Sharp melt	Confectionery coatings, fillings, non-dairy creamers
Palm olein	Liquid; may cloud when cool	Liquid fraction of palm oil	Doughnut and bakery frying, softer blends
Liquid oils, such as canola, sunflower and soybean	Liquid	Liquid	Cakes, muffins, soft breads, and the soft part of blends

Values are typical for our grades; each oil page gives the full specification.

Palm oil and its fractions

RBD palm oil is the most widely used replacement for partially hydrogenated fats. It is about half saturated fat, which gives it a semi-solid texture and natural stability without hydrogenation, and it is neutral in taste after refining. Fractionation, cooling the oil slowly and filtering it, splits palm oil into liquid palm olein and hard palm stearin, giving fat makers a range of melting behaviors from the same crop. See our guide to palm products.

Lauric fats: coconut and palm kernel oil

Coconut and palm kernel oils are rich in lauric acid and melt sharply in the mid-20s °C. They are solid and brittle when cool and melt quickly in the mouth, giving a crisp, short bite in biscuits and a clean finish in coatings and fillings. Our guide to coconut oil types explains the grades.

How fats are combined

Few products use a single fat. Fat makers and larger bakeries blend fats to reach the texture they need:

Blending a hard fat, such as palm stearin or RBD palm oil, with a liquid oil gives a shortening or margarine that is firm but workable. Changing the ratio moves it softer or harder.
Fractionation separates a fat into harder and softer parts, which can then be recombined.
Interesterification, chemical or enzymatic, rearranges fatty acids within the fat to change its melting behavior without creating trans fat. It is widely used by specialist fat producers.

The right combination depends on the product, your climate and your equipment, so test any change of fat in your own recipes and processes.

Practical tips for bakeries

Match the fat to the product: liquid oil for moist cakes and soft breads, semi-solid fat for pastry and laminated doughs, lauric fats for crisp biscuits and coatings, and a stable frying oil for doughnuts.
Temper solid fats to the right working temperature before use, and warm drums and jerrycans gently and evenly if the fat has set; never overheat them.
Store fats away from strong odors, which they absorb, and use them first-in, first-out.
Check the specification, including slip melting point and trans fatty acids, against your requirements. Our RBD palm oil and palm olein specifications limit trans fatty acids to 1.0% max.

Ordering

Our oils and fats are not hydrogenated. Small bakeries often buy RBD palm oil or coconut oil in 20-liter jerrycans, which are easy to warm and handle, while production lines use 200-liter drums, IBC totes or flexitanks with heating pads. You can combine solid fats, liquid oils and a frying oil for doughnuts on one quote. See our bakeries page, and add the fats you need to your quote list.

Sources

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