Homemade Tallow 101 : How to Render, Store, and Use It
Tallow is a traditional fat that’s nutrient-dense, budget-friendly, and wonderfully versatile. It’s excellent for cooking and baking, and it truly shines in homemade lotions, body butters, healing salves, and natural soap making. Tallow is a frugal and nourishing alternative to butter or shortening in many recipes and has an impressive shelf life—even without refrigeration.
In my kitchen, tallow ranks right up there with butter and coconut oil as one of my favorite fats. In this post, I’ll show you just how easy it is to render your own tallow at home, so you can enjoy its many benefits in both your cooking and your natural skincare.
What Is Tallow?
Tallow is rendered fat from hoofed ruminant animals, such as cows, sheep, goats, deer, or elk. So for example beef fat is rendered into beef tallow, lamb fat into lamb tallow, and so on. Fat from different parts of the animal also has different names and slightly different properties. Fat from around the organs (for example kidney fat) is called suet, while the fat from under the skin and around the muscle meat is called trimmings or muscle fat. Apart from tallow, there is another type of rendered fat called dripping, which is fat that naturally renders (melts) from meat when it is roasted or slow cooked. Dripping usually contains some impurities and so has a shorter shelf life than tallow. It also needs to be kept refrigerated.
Below you can see how raw fat looks like. The photo on the left is a sheet of fat from a sheep’s ribcage, the photo on the right shows a lump of suet.
Is Tallow Healthy?
Tallow—especially from grass-fed animals—is rich in fat-soluble vitamins A, D, and K. It also provides a nourishing source of saturated fat and cholesterol, both of which play essential roles in hormone production and brain health. Dr. Weston A. Price, a pioneering dentist and nutrition researcher, found in his travels that traditional cultures around the world highly valued animal fats, often treating them as sacred superfoods. In many hunter-gatherer societies, such as North American Indigenous tribes, the fat and organ meats were considered the most prized and nourishing parts of the animal.
Types of Tallow and Choosing the Right One
Tallow made from suet is the highest quality type of tallow, very hard and white. It has a smooth consistency and is great for making pastry (check out my tallow biscuits recipe), for skincare, soapmaking and candle making. Tallow rendered from muscle fat is softer and has slightly grainy consistency. Because it is softer, it is easier to scoop out of the jar for use in cooking. It also has a bit more flavor than suet tallow. It is great for sautéing vegetables, browning meat, frying sausages, or roasting potatoes. Raw muscle fat is also best for making sausages.
However, suet and muscle fat can be generally used interchangeably with good results, so if you only have one or the other, use it as you need it. The only exception would be candle making – from what I’ve read (not having tried candle making myself) muscle fat is too soft to make good candles.
Because tallow is high in saturated fat, it has a high smoke point of 400-420°F (204-216°C) – although this estimate varies a bit depending which source you consult – which makes it great for deep frying. Make sure to use it only for frying foods that will be eaten hot. I once made chips fried in tallow and they left me with a slightly greasy feeling in my mouth, so now I only make chips in coconut oil and reserve tallow for making french fries, Indian style pakoras and fritters.
| Tallow from SUET is best for: | Tallow from MUSCLE FAT / TRIMMINGS is best for: |
| pastry making (e.g. biscuits) | sautéing |
| skincare (lotions, balms, salves etc.) | roasting |
| soapmaking | baking |
| candle making | deep frying |
| browning |
Why render tallow?
First of all, raw fat does not quickly or completely melt on the pan like butter or coconut oil, so it cannot be easily used for cooking like rendered fat can. It also needs to refrigerated for short-term storage and frozen for longer storage, while properly rendered tallow is shelf stable. I store the jar of tallow I currently use on a shelf in the kitchen, and have a few more jars on the pantry shelf. I do not recommend storing tallow in the fridge – it gets really hard and is very difficult or even impossible to scoop out of the jar. My jar of tallow has been fine sitting on the kitchen shelf even at the height of summer when temperatures here hover around 40°C/104°F.
Tallow is a great multi purpose fat, cheaper than butter and suitable for use in cooking, baking, skincare, soapmaking, and more. In many places you can even get raw fat from the butcher shops for free because no one buys it anymore, which makes tallow a very inexpensive cooking fat indeed.
Tallow is not the only type of fat you can render. Chicken fat can be rendered too, and it makes a soft, mild flavored cooking fat called schmaltz, great for roasting, stir frying, or sautéing. If you are interested in learning to render chicken fat, check out this post.
Wet vs Dry Rendering: Which Method Should You Use?
I have always used dry rendering and I think it is the best method. Adding any amount of water to the pot of chopped fat can lead to some moisture remaining in the rendered tallow which can have a negative impact on the shelf life of your tallow. Your fat will not burn to the bottom of the pot during dry rendering UNLESS you put the heat on too high or leave the fat unattended for a longer period of time.
When dry rendering keep the heat on very low (usually the lowest setting on your stove). Turning the heat up would not make your tallow render faster, it would just make the pieces of fat on the bottom of your pot burn. Also remember to stir the chopped fat from time to time so it can render more evenly. The type of pot you use for rendering is also important – use a heavy bottomed pot to avoid the fat sticking to the bottom of your pot. I usually use my jam pot which has a wide heavy bottom, great for rendering larger amounts of fat.
If you are using a gas cooker, you may need to use a flame tamer/heat diffuser to make sure your fat renders on low heat. A flame tamer works by spreading the heat evenly and reducing its intensity, allowing the fat to gently melt without burning.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
What’s the difference between beef tallow and beef fat?
Tallow is the name for rendered beef fat.
How long does it take to render tallow?
It depends on how much fat you have to render and how small you have chopped it. In order to get it to render as quickly as possible you need to chop it into small pieces OR grind it in an electric meat grinder. As a rough estimate, it usually takes me a couple of hours to render 1 kg/2.2 lb of fat. It is not all active time – the only thing I need to do during these two hours is to stir the pot once in a while. Rendering fat is not labor intensive at all!
Covered or uncovered rendering—what works best?
I recommend rendering it uncovered. When you cover the pot in which you render tallow, you risk having some moisture trapped under the lid. This could lead to your rendered tallow spoiling. For the same reason once you pour your freshly rendered tallow into jars or other containers, don’t cover them with lids until it is completely cool and has solidified.
Can I replace butter or other fats with tallow in recipes?
In cooking tallow can replace other fats in most recipes. In baking it varies. I successfully have used tallow in savory baking (pitta breads, tortillas, biscuits, dumplings). In sweet bakes I prefer to use butter or coconut oil because tallow can give the baked goods a very slight ‘beefy’ flavor if used in larger amounts.Tallow is also not a good replacement for butter in pie dough.
Can I reuse tallow after frying?
Yes, you can reuse it a few times. Just let it cool a bit and strain it into a jar for future use.
Does rendering tallow smell bad?
It makes your house smell like a fast food joint! Once rendered however, tallow does not have a pronounced smell or taste, besides being a bit ‘beefy’.
How long does homemade tallow last?
I have kept tallow at room temp for up to a year and never had it go bad. I am sure it could last much longer than a year, but to err on the side of caution, label it with the date of rendering and aim to use it up within a year. There is no need to refrigerate tallow. Just keep it in a dry, cool cupboard, out of direct sunglight.
what can i do with the fatty, crispy bits left over after rendering tallow?
These are called cracklings or tallow cracklings. They can be eaten as a snack with some salt, sprinkled over warm salads or soups, or added to rolls, breads, or even pizza dough.
If you don’t want to eat them, your dog will be more than happy to have them. Chickens also like cracklings and they are more likely to eat them if you mix them into their feed or into some soaked, shredded old bread.
Equipment You’ll Need to Render Tallow
- large heavy bottomed pot
- sieve or strainer
- cheesecloth or old cotton tea towel
- jars with lids for storing the tallow
If you prefer, instead of using jars you could pour the tallow into a baking dish lined with baking paper and once solidified, cut it into squares for use in cooking. Or you could pour it into silicone soap molds and once solidified, keep it in a large lidded container. This may be preferable if your house is really cool and the tallow (especially one made from suet) could get really hard and difficult to scoop out of a jar. I like to keep my tallow in mason jars.
How to Render Tallow Step-by-Step
Note: fat from freshly butchered meat needs to dry well before it is rendered. You can hang the strips of fat on a laundry line, out of direct sunlight. You will also have to protect them from flies. After having hung for a few hours they should be dry enough to cut up and render. Below is the photo of our tallow hanging to dry on the balcony. Not a pretty setup maybe, but functional!
Hanging the fat to dry is important for two reasons: 1. Fresh wet fat slides around and is difficult to chop. 2. Any moisture in the fat can make the finished tallow more prone to spoiling.
The yield you get when rendering tallow will depend on how much raw fat you start with. I had just under a kilo (2.2lbs) of fat which gave me about 750ml (3 cups) of tallow.
Step 1
The first thing you need to do is to chop the fat into small pieces. Aim for 1/2 inch or less, but don’t obsess over it. Small pieces render faster and better than larger pieces.
If you own an electric meat grinder, you are in luck! Pass all the fat through the grinder and after rendering it you will end up with a higher yield than you could ever achieve dicing fat by hand. A couple of times I was lucky enough to find a butcher willing to grind the fat for me and the result was amazing – hardly any cracklings left in the pot after the rendering was done!
Step 2
It is much easier to work with cold fat so store your fat in the fridge until you are ready to cut it. Sometimes there is a thin film between the layers of fat. It looks a bit like thin plastic. Remove any larger pieces of it if you can, but mostly you can just chop it up with the fat.
Step 3
Add your chopped fat to a large heavy bottomed pan and turn the heat on low. After about 15 minutes you will start to hear the fat sizzling a little. Throughout the rendering process keep the heat on very low and every 20 minutes or so give the fat a stir.
Step 4
As you can see here, the fat has changed color and has softened. There is also a thin layer of oil on the bottom of the pot. Stirring from time to time ensures that all the pieces of fat get their turn near to the heat source and get rendered evenly.
Step 5
The more fat you are rendering, the longer the process can take. This is how my 2 pounds of chopped fat looked like after about 2 hours of rendering. The fat pieces are turning from creamy to golden brown which means that the rendering process is almost completed.
Step 6
The fat pieces are now golden brown, so it is time to take the pot off the heat and let the fat cool slightly before straining the melted tallow into jars. I find that if I keep the pot on the heat after this point, I don’t get any more tallow melted out, but the remaining fat pieces start to slowly get even darker and may even burn. So once the pieces of fat look like in the above photo, I switch the heat off.
Step 7
Tallow can get quite hot as it cooks so wait for it to cool a bit before pouring it into jars (or your jars may shatter). When melted the tallow is like liquid gold, but once solidified it is white or off white in color.
Remember to let the tallow cool completely before placing the lids on the jars, so as not to trap any moisture in the jar.
How to Store Tallow
- Store tallow in a cool, dry cupboard out of direct sunlight. I keep mine in th same cupboard over my kitchen counter in which I keep spices and seasonings for easy access. You can keep any extra jars of tallow on a pantry shelf.
- Properly rendered tallow is very shelf stable. I have kept jars of tallow for well over a year and have never had them go bad. The only reason why tallow would go bad would be if some moisture got into it, either through improper rendering or because you kept it without the lid screwed tight in a damp place (like a damp cellar).
- Although it is not necessary to keep tallow in the fridge, you can do it if you like. If will get very hard if kept at such low temp. Tallow can also be frozen.
Cooking with Tallow: Traditional and Modern Uses
I have covered some of the uses for tallow in the ‘Types of Tallow’ section earlier in the post, but here are some of my favorite ways to use it in cooking and baking. Both tallow made from suet and tallow made from muscle fat can be used in the dishes listed below:
| Sautéing | Roasting | Frying (can be reused a few times) | Browning | Baking | Other |
| onions and garlic for soup or stew base | roast potatoes | french fries | browning meat for stews | biscuits | melted tallow added to meat marinades |
| stir-frying vegetables | roast carrots | chicken nuggets | browning meat bones for bone broth | greasing loaf pans for baking bread | warm tallow and cracklings spread on a slice of bread |
| cooking pancakes | oven baked fries | pakoras, fritters | cooking steak | making tortillas or pitta breads |
Using Tallow in Skincare: Nourishing from the Outside In
Tallow is a wonderfully versatile ingredient for natural skincare. It can be used on its own or blended into salves, lotions, balms, and soaps. Thanks to its rich content of vitamins A, D, E, and K, tallow is deeply nourishing. The saturated fats in tallow closely resemble the natural oils of our skin, making it especially effective at moisturizing, protecting, and restoring the skin barrier.
With its light, neutral scent, tallow works well even without added fragrance. However, if desired, you can blend in essential oils for scent or therapeutic benefits. It’s especially beneficial for dry or normal skin as a hot oil treatment. It is also excellent for healing cracked heels, rough patches, or hands chapped by cold weather.
Tallow can also be infused with herbs such as calendula, chamomile, plantain, or lavender to create healing salves for first aid or daily care. Because it’s so gentle, it’s often suitable for babies or those with sensitive skin—but as with any new product, it’s wise to do a patch test first to check for any reaction.
To improve spreadability and create a silky texture, you can whip tallow while it’s semi-solid using a hand or stand mixer. Just be sure to store whipped tallow in a cool place, as it will need to be re-whipped if it melts in warm weather.
Below are some of the ways I use tallow in natural skincare products I make, along with simple ideas to help you get started in each category.
| massage oils – sore muscles massage oil, hot oil treatment |
| balms – baby balm for diaper rash, lip balm for dry chapped lips |
| herbal salves – calendula salve for rashes and skin irritations, soothing plantain salve |
| lotions – hand lotion for dry skin, foot lotion for cracked feet |
| soap – hard laundry soap, simple hand soap |
Conclusion
Rendering tallow is a wonderfully old-fashioned skill that opens up so many possibilities—in cooking, baking, natural skincare, and soapmaking. I hope you’ll give it a try and explore the many ways tallow can enrich your home and health. There are still plenty of projects I’m excited to experiment with myself—like making candles from tallow!
Have questions? Curious about specific recipes or looking for tutorials on using tallow in cooking, skincare, or soapmaking? Drop a comment below — I’d love to hear from you! And if you’d like more nourishing recipes, DIY tutorials, and homemaking inspiration, subscribe to my newsletter to get new posts straight to your inbox and access my exclusive library of subscriber-only resources. You can also follow me on Pinterest for even more traditional living ideas!
How to Render Tallow
Equipment
- large heavy bottomed pot
- sieve
- cheesecloth or an old clean t-shirt
- jars with lids for storage
Ingredients
- 1 kg or 2.2 lbs raw fat from beef, lamb, goat, or deer
Instructions
- Chop the raw fat into pieces no bigger than 1/2 inch. It is easier to work with cold fat so make sure to refrigerate the fat until you are ready to chop it. Instead of chopping, you could grind the fat in an electric meat grinder – this will give you a really good yield of tallow.
- Place the chopped fat in a large heavy bottomed pot and turn the heat on low. After about 15 minutes you should hear the fat starting to sizzle gently.
- Stir the fat in the pot every 20 minutes or so to ensure even rendering. The pieces of fat will first turn creamy and then golden to golden-brown. You will also see more and more liquid oil in the pot.
- Let the fat render slowly, stirring from time to time, until the fat pieces are much smaller and deep golden in color and no more oil seems to render out of them. This may take a couple of hours but will vary based on how much raw fat you started with.
- Take the pot off the heat and let the rendered tallow cool a bit – very hot tallow could shatter the jars. To ensure that the tallow will be clean and without impurities, pour it through a sieve lined with a cheesecloth or an old tea towel into jars.
- Let the tallow cool completely in the jars before screwing the lids on.
- Store your tallow in a cool, dry cupboard out of direct sunlight.
Notes
- To make tallow you can use fat from lamb, goat, beef, deer, or any other hoofed ruminant animal.
- 1kg/2.2 lbs raw chopped fat will yield approximately 3 cups of rendered tallow. However, you can use this recipe no matter the amount of fat you have on hand.
