• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Hilda's Kitchen Blog

menu icon
go to homepage
  • Recipes
  • Book
  • About
  • Resources
  • Subscribe
    • Email
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
  • subscribe
    search icon
    Homepage link
    • Recipes
    • Book
    • About
    • Resources
    • Subscribe
    • Email
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
  • ×
    • Recipes
    • Book
    • About
    • Subscribe
    You Are Here Home » Articles & Product Reviews

    Published: Jun 4, 2023 Updated: Jun 4, 2023 by Hilda Sterner | This post may contain affiliate links 4 Comments

    How To Make Beef Tallow

    Sharing is caring!

    20 shares
    • Share
    • Yummly
    • Flipboard
    Jump to Recipe Print Recipe
    beef tallow in a jar with a spoon next to it and a red dish towel

    If you've ever wondered how to make beef tallow, keep reading to learn how easy it is to make with brisket scraps and other beef suet. Beef tallow is not just excellent for deep frying and adding a ton of flavor to your dishes, but this liquid gold has many other uses too!

    tallow in a jar with a spoon and a red dish towel

    Tallow is fat rendered from beef or mutton, but beef tallow is the most common of the two. This natural animal fat can be used in cooking but it has many other uses as well. For example, it can be used as a lubricant and as a main ingredient in balms, lotions, soaps, and candles!

    To make tallow, fat is rendered over low heat anywhere from 1 to 3 hours then strained to make a beautiful, golden oil that you can cook with or lubricate your rifle, you decide!

    I have tossed a lot of fat trimmings from the many briskets and tri tips I've smoked over the years. Then one day it finally dawned on me, I could render the fat and use it to cook with instead of buying expensive cooking oils, duh!

    After all, Mom did the same with beef and lamb fat trimmings. Once she rendered the fat, she took it a step further. Instead of tossing the crispy pieces of fat, she salted them and handed them out to us kids, who waited excitedly to devour them. We even have a name for these sinful treats. In Assyrian, they are called "kazikeh". Come to think of it, they can make a great Keto snack!

    Jump to:
    • 🧐Why This Recipe Works
    • 🛒What You Need For This Recipe
    • 🔖Recipe Ingredients & Substitutions
    • 🔪Helpful Tools
    • 🍖How To Make This Recipe
    • 🧈How to Make Lard
    • 🍗What Can You Do With Tallow?
    • 🤷🏻‍♀️Recipe FAQs
    • 👩🏼‍🍳Pro Tips
    • 🫙Related Recipes
    • 📖 Recipe
    • 💬 Comments

    🧐Why This Recipe Works

    • Making beef tallow is a great way to make use of every part of the brisket or other fatty cut of beef!
    • Most oil prices, including vegetable oil and olive oil, have gone through the roof. Making tallow can save you money in the long run.
    • Experts are now suggesting that consuming grass-fed beef tallow is actually better for you than consuming highly processed oils such as canola oil, soybean oil, corn oil, and margarine.
    • This versatile animal fat has many uses beyond cooking!
    • Tallow has a long shelf-life that can be extended even further when stored in the fridge or freezer.
    oil (tallow) in a jar with more in the background

    🛒What You Need For This Recipe

    🔖Recipe Ingredients & Substitutions

    All you need to make this recipe is beef suet. So the next time you prepare a brisket or an oven roasted tri tip, don't toss the trimmed fat, make beef tallow with it instead!

    🔪Helpful Tools

    • Sharp knife
    • Cutting board
    • Dutch oven
    • Fine Mesh Strainer
    • Mason jars

    🍖How To Make This Recipe

    Step 1: Defrost beef suet, if frozen, then chop into 1 to 2 inch pieces. Add fat trimmings to a medium-sized pot, cover, and cook over very low heat until the fat is rendered and the fat pieces shrink and become crispy. The total cook time can take anywhere from 1 to 3 hours.

    Pro Tip: I only rendered mine for 1 hour but it could have gone longer.

    Step 2: Use a slotted spoon to remove crispy fat pieces and discard. Use a fine mesh strainer to strain the tallow into a measuring cup.

    Pro Tip: I like straining the tallow into a measuring cup so I know how much tallow is rendered and what size jars I need to store the tallow.

    Step 3: Pour the tallow into mason jars and allow to cool completely before adding the lids. Hand tighten lids and store on the counter or in the pantry. Tallow can also be stored in the refrigerator or the freezer.

    Pro Tip: You can strain the oil through a cheesecloth, paper towel, or a coffee filter if you don't have a fine mesh strainer.

    🧈How to Make Lard

    Making lard from scratch is just as easy as making beef tallow. All you have to do is slice the pork fat into 1" to 2" pieces and cook it over very low heat until the fat is completely rendered and all that remains are crispy brown pieces of fat. Discard the fat pieces, strain pork fat through a fine mesh sieve, then pour into a mason jar.

    🍗What Can You Do With Tallow?

    Tallow has many different uses and some just might surprise you! For example, tallow is used to make candles, soaps, and even salves!

    It has a high smoke point which means it's excellent for making fried chicken and seasoning cast iron skillets. Some people even use it in baking!

    🤷🏻‍♀️Recipe FAQs

    Can you make tallow from any beef fat?

    Although any beef suet can be used to make tallow, it is said that the "leaf fat" found around a cow's kidneys makes the mildest tasting and clearest tallow.

    Is tallow just lard?

    Tallow and lard are two different things. Tallow is made with rendered beef fat, while lard is made with rendered pork fat.

    How long will beef tallow last?

    Beef tallow will last 2 months when stored at room temperature in a mason jar. When refrigerated, it is good for up to a year. Freezing tallow makes it last indefinitely!

    👩🏼‍🍳Pro Tips

    • When rendering tallow, keep the temperature as low as possible. You want to avoid burning the tallow which will affect both the taste and color.
    • Store in the fridge or freeze it for even longer storage!
    • Use it with french fries, eggs, and in place of butter or oil in recipes. It can also be used to season your cast iron skillets!
    • If you have a local butcher, see if you can get beef suet for free or for a minimal price.
    • Choose grass-fed cow fat whenever possible.

    🫙Related Recipes

    • fresh potted basil viewed from above
      How To Dry Basil Leaves
    • orange powder in a jar with oranges around it
      Drying Orange Peels and How to Use Them
    • nigella seeds sprinkled on toast with cream cheese spread and pomegranate seeds
      What Can I Use As A Nigella Seed Substitute? 
    • red cabbage being chopped on a cutting board
      40 Culinary Terms Everyone Should Know

    Love this recipe? Please leave a 5-star 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟rating in the recipe card below & a review in the comments section further down the page.

    Stay in touch with me through social media @ Instagram, Pinterest, TikTok, and Facebook. Don't forget to tag me when you try one of my recipes!

    📖 Recipe

    beef tallow in a jar in a spoon

    How To Make Beef Tallow

    Learn how to make beef tallow with beef fat. It can be used for deep frying, sautéing, and even used in making salves, soaps, and candles!
    5 from 42 votes
    Print Pin Rate
    Course: Other
    Cuisine: American
    Prep Time: 5 minutes minutes
    Cook Time: 30 minutes minutes
    Total Time: 35 minutes minutes
    Servings: 3 8 ounce jars
    Calories: 115kcal
    Author: Hilda Sterner

    Equipment

    • 1 Sharp Knife
    • 1 Cutting Board
    • 1 6 quart pot
    • 1 fine mesh strainer
    • 3 ½ pint jars

    Ingredients

    • 2½ lbs beef fat (suet)

    Instructions

    • Defrost beef suet, if frozen, then chop into 1 to 2 inch pieces. Add to a medium-sized pot, cover, and cook over very low heat until the fat is rendered and the fat pieces shrink and become crispy. The total cook time can take anywhere from 1 to 3 hours.
    • Use a slotted spoon to remove crispy fat pieces and discard. Use a fine mesh strainer to strain the tallow into a measuring cup.
    • Pour the tallow into mason jars and allow to cool completely before adding the lids. Hand tighten the lids and store at on the counter or in the pantry. Tallow can also be stored in the refrigerator or the freezer.

    Notes

    • I like straining the tallow into a measuring cup so I know how much tallow is rendered and what size jars I need to store the tallow.
    • You can strain the tallow through cheesecloth, paper towel, or a coffee filter if you don't have a fine mesh strainer.
    • When rendering tallow, keep the temperature as low as possible. You want to avoid burning the tallow which will not only affect the taste, but also the color.
    • Store tallow in the fridge or freeze it for even longer storage!
    • Use tallow to fry french fries, eggs, and in place of butter or oil in recipes. It can also be used to season your cast iron skillets!
    • If you have a a local butcher, see if you can get beef suet for free or a minimal price.
    • Choose grass-fed beef fat whenever possible.

    Nutrition

    Serving: 1tablespoon | Calories: 115kcal | Carbohydrates: 0g | Protein: 0g | Fat: 12.8g | Saturated Fat: 6.4g | Cholesterol: 14mg | Sodium: 0mg | Fiber: 0g | Sugar: 0g
    Tried this Recipe? Please leave A Star Rating!Mention @HildasKitchenBlog or tag #HildasKitchenBlog!

    More Articles & Product Reviews

    • harvest right freeze dryer featured image
      An Honest Harvest Right Freeze Dryer Review
    • carbonated coffee with swirls of cream in glass on wooden stand with ice and potted lavender in background.
      Coffee Soda (Featuring SPARKIN™ Soda Maker)
    • exotic fruits and berry types
      Exotic Fruits And Uncommon Berry Types
    • mason jar with st johns wort and cayenne peppers in oil
      St. John's Wort Oil

    Sharing is caring!

    20 shares
    • Share
    • Yummly
    • Flipboard

    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Hilda Sterner says

      November 22, 2023 at 3:34 pm

      Hi Wayne, Thanks for the review and the tip! Happy Thanksgiving!

    2. Wayne W says

      November 22, 2023 at 2:17 pm

      5 stars
      Very easy to follow directions. I had just shy of 2 pounds of trimmings from a 12.9 pound brisket. I’ve got 2 full 8 ounce jars and one that’ll be maybe 3/4 full when the last bits pass through the coffee filter rig. I used a potato masher to press the fried bits and got an appreciable amount more.

    3. Hilda Sterner says

      June 04, 2023 at 2:56 pm

      Hi Chris,
      Thanks for the comment and for catching my omission. It's actually 2.5 lbs of beef fat, but you can make it with what ever quantity you have. As for the heat setting, you just want to make sure the heat is as low as possible. You don't want to burn the fat but instead render it slowly.

    4. Chris says

      June 04, 2023 at 1:05 pm

      I’ve been wanting to do this but what is your “low temp” exactly? Also, the recipe says 2 1/2 beef fat. Cups? Pounds?

      I enjoy your blog and have made many good dishes from your recipes. Thanks

    Leave a Reply

    Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

    Recipe Rating




     

    This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

    Primary Sidebar

    Welcome to Hilda's Kitchen Blog! I am a cookbook author, food blogger, and a flipboard publisher. I am also a recipe contributor to Brian Baumgartner's Seriously Good Chili Cookbook!

    More about me →

    Get My Cookbook!

    cook book on a wooden board

    Featured On

    Christmas Recipes

    • kileche under a Christmas tree
      Kileche | Kleicha (Assyrian Holiday Cookies)
    • Pizzelle on a rack
      Authentic Italian Pizzelle Cookies
    • sliced smoked Traeger prime rib
      Perfectly Smoked Traeger Prime Rib
    • Hareesa in a plate
      Instant Pot Hareesa
    • apple dutch baby in a cast iron skillet
      Apple Dutch Baby Recipe
    • toffee bars
      Toffee Bars Recipe
    • Cranberry jalapeno dip on a cracker with goat cheese
      Cranberry Jalapeno Dip
    • tin with gingerbread men with christmas tree behind it
      Delicious Gingerbread Men Cookies

    Subscribe to Get my Latest Recipes!

    Privacy Policy

    Stay Connected

    • Email
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest

    Footer

    ^ back to top

    About

    • About Me
    • My Etsy Shop

    Policies

    • Privacy Policy
    • Accessibility Policy
    • Photo & Content Sharing Policy

    LET'S CONNECT!

    • Contact Page
    • Work with Me

    As an Amazon Associate, I earn a small percentage from qualifying Amazon purchases.

    Copyright © 2023 • Hildas Kitchen Blog • All rights reserved