How to Render Tallow for Skincare or Cooking
If you’re into nontoxic skincare and cooking you’ve probably heard about tallow! It’s easy to learn How to Render Tallow if you can get your hands on some good quality suet. Once you have your rendered tallow you can make your own skincare products, soaps, and cooking oil. Reap the benefits of this high-quality and nutritious product at a lower cost by rendering it yourself.
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What can I use Tallow for?
You can use tallow for a variety of skincare products (check out the benefits of tallow in skincare) as well as for soap, candles, and cooking! Take a look at a few of these recipes to spark some ideas on how you want to use your tallow.
- Dandelion Tallow Sugar Scrub by Homely Hens
- Pure Tallow Soap by Bumblebee Apothecary
- Lemon Balm Lip Balm for Cold Sores by Homely Hens
- 3 Tallow Products for Dry Winter Skin by Homely Hens
- Fried Pickles in Tallow by Cultured Guru
- Tallow + Butter Pie Crust by Jennifer Jade Juniper
What You’ll Need to Render Tallow
- Crockpot – Using a crock pot makes rendering super easy but you can also use a roaster, instant pot, dutch oven, or large pot. Anything that will allow you to heat the suet on low heat for an extended amount of time.
- large bowl – You’ll need a large bowl to strain the tallow into after rendering it. I usually use a big glass or stainless steel bowl.
- cheesecloth – Used to strain the tallow once it is rendered! I like to use unbleached cheesecloth.
- fine mesh strainer – I picked up the one I have at a garage sale or an auction but the ones linked as a nice set to have. I would use the large one for straining my newly rendered tallow and the smaller ones to strain after I use it for cooking so it can go back in the jar.
- sharp knife and cutting board – You’ll need a knife and a cutting board for cutting up the suet! Make sure your knife is sharp and you get a good grip on it. Once the suet starts to heat up your hands will feel greasy and it’s easy to slip.
- food processor or meat grinder – These are optional but they will make rendering your tallow easier and you’ll get more bang for your buck. When you have smaller pieces to start with it is easier for the fat to melt down. I love this food processor, it’s been really easy to use and clean!
How to Dry Render Tallow with Step-by-Step Pictures
Make sure you are starting with high-quality pieces of suet (not trim fat), preferably from a grass-fed and finished animal. Suet will usually be one piece of harder fat that was located around the kidney of the animal. It won’t have a lot of meat attached to it. Trim fat is any other fat that’s cut from around meat. It will usually end up softer tallow and isn’t quite as nutrient-dense. You can still render trim fat but it might have a stronger smell. It would be better for cooking or soap making, not as good for skincare where you want the odor to be subtle and the quality to be the highest.
Take frozen suet and cut it into 1-2 inch chunks using a sharp knife. If you don’t have a food processor or meat grinder, you’ll want to cut the pieces smaller before putting them into the crock pot. Cut off and discard any discolored pieces. If using a meat grinder, allow the suet to thaw because it will go through the grinder easier.
Use a Food Processor to Cut the Suet into Tiny Pieces
Using a food processor or meat grinder is an important step in the process because the smaller the pieces of suet, the easier it is for them to melt down. Larger pieces take a long time to melt down and more suet will go to waste. Smaller crumbles that come out of the food processor will melt down quicker and will get you the most tallow when you’re done.
Put the chunks of suet into the food processor and pulse until it looks crumbly. Pour the crumbles into a large crockpot, pot, or roaster. If you have a lot of suet you may need to clean off the blades of your food processor. When the suet starts to warm up slightly the blades start to gum up a little and it starts sticking more. Keep the suet as cold as you can and try to do this step quickly so it doesn’t get too warm.
Heat the Suet on LOW
Put the cooker on low heat and the suet will start to melt. Leave the lid off, you don’t want to trap moisture in there. Try not to let the temperature get above about 175ºF so the nutrients don’t break down in the tallow. Heating on high heat will damage the quality of your tallow. Stir occasionally and scrape down the sides to make sure it doesn’t burn to the sides. Once some of the suet has melted you’ll start to see bubbles coming up, this is the moisture from the fat bubbling out. All the water needs to come out for your tallow to be shelf-stable.
It is important to put the cooker on low heat just hot enough to render but not hot enough to kill any of the nutrients that are in your tallow. Cooking it on high could result in killing a lot of the nutrition or burning the tallow which would result in a bad smell.
For Skincare – Add this step to get Odorless Tallow
If you’re using the tallow for skincare, I like to strain out the solid pieces after a couple of hours. This will make it so you only have the purest tallow in your crockpot and it isn’t cooking in the other pieces of fat. It will help to reduce the smell so your skincare doesn’t have a beefy or tallow smell. Set the solids aside to finish rendering later for cooking or soap. This is an optional step but I have had success with reducing the smell when I separate it.
Once all the bubbling has stopped (several hours later), strain the tallow into a bowl, using a fine mesh strainer and cheesecloth or paper towel. Discard the pieces that you strained out.
If you strained out solid pieces earlier in the process, add them back into the crockpot. Let it render down until it stops bubbling. Strain it and discard the solid pieces. This may have a little more smell but is great to use for soap or cooking.
Strain and Store your Tallow
Once the tallow has cooled completely, cut it to remove it from the bowl. Scrape any discolored spots off of the bottom of the tallow and discard. You can remelt and strain again to make sure all the impurities are out and easily pour into a mason jar for safekeeping. Now your tallow is ready to use! Store it at room temperature in a zip lock bag, mason jar, or other container. Make sure the tallow has cooled completely before you close up the container. Sealing a mason jar with warm tallow in it can cause condensation to form on the lid, trapping moisture inside the jar and leading to mold.
Many people are giving instructions and advice on how to render tallow the right way. You’ll hear all sorts of opinions on the right rendering method. You just have to give it a try to see what is best for you! I hope this article was helpful and gave you some clarity on why dry rendering is a great and safe way to render your tallow, keeping the quality high and keeping moisture out. Remember, you don’t need to add anything to “purify” your tallow. Let me know in the comments if you have any questions or if you tried this method!
Dry rendering is the melting of suet to get the impurities out without using water.
Wet rendering is when you are melting down suet to get the impurities out with the addition of water (and some people also add salt or baking soda, which I don’t recommend).
Rendering should be done on a low temperature so the quality of the tallow isn’t affected. Try to render on a temperature no higher than 175ºF.
Depending on how much suet you start with and how large the pieces are, rendering will take about 6-8 hours.
When your tallow is finished the bubbling should slow down and you’ll see the clear golden tallow separated from the impurities. The pieces of fat and impurities that are left over will look a little crunchy and are called cracklings.
Adding water to your tallow comes with a risk of mold later on if you don’t get all of the moisture out. Some people like to wet render during their first render and then do multiple dry renders to make sure all the moisture is out. If any moisture is left in the tallow it will mold. Rendering multiple times will start to degrade your tallow, especially if you’re rendering on a higher heat so be careful with how many times you render.
Tallow is a natural animal product, so expecting your tallow to have zero smell isn’t very realistic. Even the “cleanest” tallow will have a little bit of a buttery smell to it. It doesn’t have to smell beefy though! Smell will vary on your finished product depending on what type of fat you started with, how hot you rendered, and how many impurities or pieces of actual meat are mixed into your suet. The first render really determines the smell of your tallow. To get the least amount of beefy smell in your finished product you’ll want to make sure you cut off any pieces or meat or impurities off the suet and render on a low temperature so it doesn’t burn. You can also separate the melted tallow from the cracklings like I described above early in the rendering process so the tallow isn’t cooking in the impurities.
Store the tallow in an airtight container in a cool, dry place. It can be stored in the refrigerator or freezer for a longer shelf life. If you’re storing tallow in a mason jar, allow it to cool completely before putting the lid on.
Yes! Once you use tallow for cooking or frying, you can strain it out using a few layers of cheesecloth or a paper towel and store it again for another use. Eventually, you’ll want to replace it but it will be good for multiple uses.
Suet is a specific, high-quality fat from around the kidneys, ideal for rendering tallow for skincare, while trim fat is more general fat from various parts of the animal, which can still be rendered into tallow for cooking.
How to Dry Render Tallow
Equipment
- crockpot
- cheesecloth
- fine mesh strainer
- sharp knife
- cutting board
- food processor or meat grinder optional
- Large Bowl
Materials
- beef or deer suet fat from behind the kidneys, frozen
Instructions
- Using a sharp knife, cut the suet into chunks. Discard any discolored pieces. Chunks can be 1-2 inch pieces if you're using a food processor. If using a meat grinder, allow the suet to thaw because it will go through the grinder easier. If you are not using a food process or meat grinder, cut the chunks into the smallest pieces that you can.
- Put chunks of suet into the food processor and pulse until it looks crumbly. Pour the crumbles into a large crockpot, pot, or roaster.
- Put the cooker on low heat and the suet will start to melt. Leave the lid off, you don't want to trap moisture in there. Scrape down the sides to make sure it doesn't burn to the sides.
- Once a lot of the suet has melted you'll start to see bubbles coming up, this is the moisture from the fat bubbling out of the suet. All the water needs to come out in order for your tallow to be shelf-stable. Try not to let the temperature get above about 175ºF so the nutrients don't break down in the tallow. Heating on high heat will damage the quality of your tallow.
- If you're using the tallow for skincare, I like to strain out the solid pieces after a couple of hours. This will make it so you only have the purest tallow in your crockpot and it isn't cooking in the other pieces of fat. It will help to reduce the smell so your skincare doesn't have a beefy or tallow smell. Set the solids aside to finish rendering later for cooking or soap.
- Once all the bubbling has stopped (several hours later), strain the tallow using a fine mesh strainer and cheesecloth into a bowl. Discard any pieces that were strained out.
- If you strained out solid pieces earlier in the process, add them back into the crockpot and let that render down until it stops bubbling. Strain it and discard the solid pieces. This may have a little more smell but is great to use for soap or cooking.
- Once the tallow has cooled completely, cut it to remove it from the bowl. Scrape any discolored spots off of the bottom of the tallow cake and discard. You can remelt and strain again to make sure all the impurities are out if you want. Now your tallow is ready to use! Store it at room temperature in a zip lock bag, mason jar, or other container. Make sure the tallow has cooled completely before you close up the container.
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