How To Make Beef Tallow

5 from 43 votes

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!

Prep Time5

Cook Time1 30

Total Time1 35

Course: Other

Cuisine: American

Diet: Gluten Free

Servings: 8 ounce jars

Calories: 115kcal

Defrost beef fat or 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, depending on how low your heat setting is.
Use a slotted spoon to remove crispy fat pieces and enjoy them as a snack or feed them to your dogs or chickens! 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 lids and store on the counter, in the pantry, or in the fridge. Tallow can also be frozen for longer storage.

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.
Grinding the fat or using an immersion blender will make the process even faster and will yield more usable tallow.
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 fat for free or for a minimal price.
Choose grass-fed, grass-finished tallow whenever possible.