How to Make Beef Tallow

No ratings yet

Rendering tallow at home is a simple, cost-effective way to create a versatile, healthy cooking fat. Starting with raw suet from your butcher, you'll slow-cook it until the fat is fully rendered, leaving you with a pure, neutral-flavored tallow that’s perfect for frying, baking, and even skincare. With a high smoke point and rich in healthy fats, tallow is a great addition to your kitchen or beauty routine.

Prep Time1

Cook Time4

Total Time5

Course: Food Preservation

Cuisine: American

Keyword: Animal Fat, Beef Tallow

Servings: Tbsp. (about 2 1/2 lbs or 5 cups)

Author: Ashley Adamant

Ingredients

4 lbs Suet Cleaned, trimmed beef fat, ideally grass-fed, from about 5 lbs raw untrimmed suit as purchased
2 cups Water 1/2 cup per pound of suet

Instructions

Trim the Suet: Begin by removing any blood, meat, or gland material from the suet. These impurities can affect the flavor of your tallow, so trim carefully, leaving only the white fat. Expect to lose about 20% of the weight through trimming.
Chop the Suet: Chop the suet into small pieces or use a food processor for faster rendering. Smaller pieces or small flecks of fat render more evenly and quickly.
Add to the Cooker: Place the chopped suet into a Dutch oven or slow cooker. For every pound of suet, add 1/2 cup of water. For 4 pounds of suet, this means 2 cups of water. The water helps prevent burning early on in the process.
Cook Low and Slow: Set your slow cooker to low or your stovetop to the lowest setting. Cover the pot and let it slowly melt for several hours. You'll start seeing liquid fat, but there will still be small chunks of suet floating. Keep the lid on for the first few hours to avoid scorching.
Uncover and Let the Water Evaporate: After most of the fat has melted, remove the lid and let the water cook off. You'll see bubbling as the water evaporates. Continue cooking until all the fat is rendered and only small brown "cracklings" remain.
Strain the Tallow: Once you've rendered the fat, strain the liquid through a double layer of cheesecloth into a clean container. This removes the cracklings and any remaining impurities.
Cook Off Remaining Water: To ensure no water remains (which could cause spoilage), heat the strained tallow to around 225-250°F (107-121°C). Keep heating until the bubbling stops. Once it does, your tallow is fully rendered and ready.
Cool and Store: Let the tallow cool slightly before transferring it to Mason jars or other containers. The tallow will solidify at room temperature into a firm, off-white substance. Store it at room temperature for up to a year. For longer storage, refrigerate or freeze.

Notes

Tips for Success:

Slow and Low: The slower you cook your tallow, the cleaner and more neutral-flavored it will be. Aim for a low temperature throughout the process to prevent any burnt odors.
Trim Well: Properly trimming your suet is key to making tallow that is neutral in taste and odor. Any leftover bits of meat or blood will infuse the tallow with an off-flavor.
Storage Options: Tallow is solid at room temperature, so storing it in jars works well. If you prefer, pour it into a cake pan, allow it to solidify, and then cut it into blocks for easier use.
Batch Size: If you're doing a large batch, you'll need a big enough slow cooker or Dutch oven. Make sure the suet is spread out enough to cook evenly.
Reuse Tallow: Tallow is excellent for frying and can be reused several times, just be sure to strain out any debris.

Tallow Yield:

When starting with 5 pounds of suet, you’ll likely end up with about 4 pounds of trimmed suet after removing any excess meat, blood, and glands. The suet is then chopped into small pieces to render, and the cooking process will extract the fat, removing water and impurities.

After rendering, you can expect a yield of around 2 to 3 pounds of tallow, depending on how well you trim and the efficiency of the rendering process. This is because a portion of the fat is lost in the form of water vapor during the slow cooking and straining process, and the solids left behind (known as "cracklings") are discarded.

A pound of tallow is about 2 cups, so you should get about 4 to 6 cups of tallow once fully rendered and strained.

Ways to Use Your Rendered Tallow:

Cooking: Use it for frying, sautéing, or making delicious crispy fries or Brussels sprouts. Tallow has a high smoke point and imparts a rich, savory flavor.
Skin Care: Tallow is highly nourishing and absorbs easily into skin. Use it as a moisturizer, make body butter, or create healing salves.
Candles: With its firm texture, tallow makes wonderful homemade candles.
Soap: Tallow is a fantastic base for making gentle, moisturizing soap.

Storage & Shelf Life:

Room Temperature: Stored in a cool, dry place, rendered tallow can last for up to a year.
Refrigerated: Tallow can be kept for up to 18 months in the fridge.
Frozen: For long-term storage, freeze your tallow, and it will keep for up to 2 years.

Nutrition