How to Render Tallow

Learn to render raw fat into a shelf-stable, nutrient-rich fat for use in cooking, baking, and skincare.

Prep Time 15

Cook Time 2

Total Time 2 15

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.

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.