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Sunflower oil doesn’t get much attention in American kitchens. But chefs and dietitians say it should — especially if you’re looking for a heart-healthy oil that isn’t olive oil.

I realized what I’d been missing on a recent trip to the nation of Georgia, where I was struck by a simple salad of cucumbers, purple basil, and tomatoes, available on every restaurant menu. In many respects, it was just like the cucumber-tomato salads you find across the Mediterranean, but had a rich, nutty flavor that I could not account for. Eventually, I asked how it was made. It turns out that the distinctive flavor I found so memorable was a simple splash of sunflower oil. 

What is sunflower oil — and why isn’t it more popular in the U.S.?

Made from sunflower seeds, sunflower oil is widely popular in Eastern Europe and throughout the former Soviet Union — Ukraine is a leading producer. It’s also produced in Italy, Canada, and the U.S. 

When I returned home, I promptly bought a bottle at my local international grocery store, but was immediately disappointed. The flavor I remembered from my travels was nowhere to be found. It was perfectly good for cooking (I substituted it for canola oil), but I was puzzled and disappointed by its lack of personality.

It turns out, I’d made a common mistake, as I learned from Bonnie Morales, the chef-owner of Kachka in Portland, Oregon. Morales uses sunflower oil in dishes throughout her James Beard Award-nominated, Eastern Europe-inspired menu. 

“I’m very passionate about being true to the food, and so when we opened Kachka, it was really important to me that everything was sunflower oil-based,” says Morales. “But it’s also incredibly delicious. In Eastern European cooking, sunflower oil is the equivalent of olive oil to Spain or Italy. It’s what people cook with and finish with and do everything with,” she says. 

But, she cautioned, not all sunflower oil is the same.  

Refined vs. unrefined sunflower oil: which one should you buy?

Like olive oil, sunflower oil is available in more and less processed versions, Morales explains. 

Unrefined sunflower oil (sometimes labeled virgin sunflower oil) has a rich, nutty flavor. “If I’m making something where I want there to be a pronounced sunflower flavor, I’m going to use the unrefined,” says Morales. Because its delicate aroma can get lost in roasting or frying, and because of its low smoke point (225° to 350°F), Morales says unrefined sunflower oil is ideal for dressings, salads, and finishing dishes. “Like toasted sesame oil, a little goes a long way.” 

She also loves it as a drizzle on desserts. “One of my favorite applications is to drizzle it on top of dark chocolate sorbet or ice cream with a little bit of sea salt,” says Morales. “That’s my happy place.”

More highly processed sunflower oil (often labeled “refined”) is neutral in flavor, has a high smoke point (440° to 475°F), and is what Morales reaches for for frying and roasting. “Refined sunflower oil is like grapeseed oil — it has this really nice, clean quality to it that can go anywhere,” she says. 

Sunflower oil is produced primarily in Ukraine, but also in the U.S., Italy, and Canada. Credit: Md Zakir Hossain / Getty Images

How to choose the best sunflower oil at the store

When selecting a sunflower oil, read the label carefully to make sure you’re getting the one you want. “A lot of the bottles are labeled in Russian,” says Morales. You can’t tell the difference by color alone, so check the import label, which will confirm whether it’s refined or unrefined.  

As with all oils, look for a recent harvest or press date — not all sunflower oils will include one, but when they do, fresher is better — and check the expiration date, choosing one that’s as far off as possible. 

Is sunflower oil good for your heart?

Besides being delicious and versatile, sunflower oil comes with health benefits. It’s high in vitamin E — one tablespoon delivers over a third of your daily recommended intake — and is a good source of linoleic acid.  

“Plant-based oils, like sunflower oil, are rich in unsaturated fats,” says registered dietitian Chris Mohr, PhD. “Numerous large-scale studies show that replacing saturated fats with unsaturated fats from plant-based oils may lower the risk of heart disease.”

Like olive oil, cold-pressed, unrefined sunflower oil carries more of the plant’s original compounds along with its flavor. But Mohr says both refined and unrefined will confer the health benefits. “The same beneficial unsaturated fatty acids are present in sunflower oil, or any plant-based oil, regardless of the level of processing.”

Why sunflower oil matters

For Morales, sunflower oil is about more than just health or flavor. Many of her relatives no longer cook with sunflower oil. Some have wanted to distance themselves from the painful memories of fleeing their homeland; others assimilated into mainstream American culture, and embraced olive oil when it became popular in the 1990s. Sunflower oil is a way to cultivate her connection to her heritage.

“Part of what I do at Kachka is connecting back to our origins and our roots before assimilation, and that’s really important to me,” she says. “Because I’m a generation removed from that trauma, I can look at the culture a little bit more objectively and really honor and cherish the good parts. So that’s why I stick to my guns and use sunflower oil instead of other things that might be more in fashion.”

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Credit: Addictive Stock / Getty Images

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