How to Use Beef Tallow for Cooking: 10 Everyday Uses
Ten easy ways to cook with beef tallow, from roast potatoes and chips to pastry and steak, plus how hot it can go, how much to use, how to reuse it for frying, and how it compares with butter and oils.
Quick answer
Beef tallow is rendered, purified beef fat. It's solid at room temperature, melts easily in the pan and handles high heat (a smoke point of around 220–250°C), so it's ideal for roasting, frying, searing and deep-frying. Use it like butter or oil: a tablespoon to fry eggs or sear steak, 2–3 tablespoons for a tray of roast potatoes, or a deep pan for chips. It adds a savoury, beefy flavour and gives a crisp, golden finish. Strained after deep-frying, it can be reused several times.
Key takeaways
- Best uses: roast potatoes, chips, Yorkshire puddings, searing, stir-frying and savoury pastry.
- Heat: stable at high temperatures, with a higher smoke point than butter or extra virgin olive oil.
- Flavour: mild and savoury from good tallow; richer and meatier than vegetable oil.
- How much: use roughly the same amount as you would butter or oil.
- Storage: sealed in a cool cupboard or the fridge; it keeps for months.
Beef tallow for cooking at a glance
- What it is
- Beef fat (usually suet) slowly melted and strained
- Texture
- Firm and creamy-white when cold; clear golden liquid when hot
- Smoke point
- Around 220–250°C, depending on purity
- Flavour
- Mild, savoury and slightly beefy
- Per 100g (typical)
- About 890 kcal, 99g fat, of which about 50g saturates
- Similar to
- Beef dripping (which may contain meat juices), lard (pork fat)
- Diet
- Dairy-free and gluten-free; check the label for halal certification
- Storage
- Sealed, cool and dark; refrigerate once opened for the longest life
Before vegetable oils took over in the 1980s and 1990s, beef fat was a staple of British kitchens and chip shops. It's back in fashion for the same reasons cooks always liked it: it's stable at high heat, it crisps beautifully and it tastes good. If you're new to it, our guide to what tallow is explains how it's made.
Why cook with beef tallow?
- It handles high heat. Tallow is mostly saturated and monounsaturated fat, which is more stable than polyunsaturated oils when heated, so it's well suited to roasting and frying.
- It crisps food. Hot tallow gives roast potatoes, chips and batter a crunchy, golden shell.
- It adds flavour. A gentle savoury note that suits potatoes, meat, vegetables and pastry.
- It's solid at room temperature. That makes it easy to scoop and measure, and useful in pastry.
- It's nose-to-tail. Tallow uses fat that might otherwise be thrown away.
10 everyday ways to use beef tallow
- Roast potatoes. Heat 2–3 tbsp tallow in the roasting tin at 220°C until shimmering, add parboiled, roughed-up potatoes, baste, and roast for 45–60 minutes, turning once.
- Chips. The classic chip-shop fat. Fry thick-cut chips at 130–140°C until soft, rest, then fry again at 180–190°C until crisp and golden.
- Yorkshire puddings. Put a teaspoon of tallow in each tin hole and heat in a 230°C oven until smoking hot before pouring in the batter, for a big rise and crisp edges.
- Searing steak and burgers. A tablespoon in a very hot pan gives a deep brown crust without burning.
- Roast vegetables. Toss parsnips, carrots, sprouts or squash in melted tallow, salt and pepper and roast at 200°C.
- Fried eggs and a full breakfast. Fry eggs, mushrooms, bread and potatoes in a spoonful of tallow for crisp edges.
- Stir-fries. High-heat stir-frying suits tallow; add a little to the wok before your vegetables or beef.
- Battered fish and tempura. Deep-fry at 175–180°C for a crisp, non-greasy batter.
- Savoury pastry. Replace up to half the butter with chilled tallow in pie, pasty or sausage roll pastry for a flaky, tender crust.
- Popcorn. Melt a tablespoon in a pan, add the kernels and cover; finish with salt.
How much tallow to use
| Dish | Amount of tallow |
|---|---|
| Fried eggs or searing a steak | 1 tbsp |
| Roast potatoes (1kg) | 2–3 tbsp |
| Yorkshire puddings (12-hole tin) | About 1 tsp per hole |
| Roast vegetables (1 tray) | 1–2 tbsp |
| Shortcrust pastry (200g flour) | 50g tallow + 50g butter |
| Deep-frying | Enough to fill the pan a third to halfway (never more) |
As a rule, use tallow in the same quantity you'd use butter or oil.
Beef tallow vs butter, lard and oils
| Fat | Approx. smoke point | Flavour | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Beef tallow | 220–250°C | Savoury, slightly beefy | Roasting, frying, chips, Yorkshires |
| Butter | About 150°C | Rich, creamy | Baking, gentle frying, sauces |
| Ghee | About 230–250°C | Nutty | Curries, frying |
| Lard | About 190°C | Neutral to porky | Pastry, frying |
| Extra virgin olive oil | About 190–210°C | Fruity, peppery | Dressings, gentle cooking, roasting |
| Sunflower or rapeseed oil (refined) | About 220–230°C | Neutral | General frying |
Smoke points vary with how refined and how fresh a fat is, so treat these as a guide. Beef tallow is different from beef dripping, which can contain meat juices and sediment; see our guide to the difference between dripping and tallow.
Reusing tallow for frying
- Cool it: let the tallow cool until warm but still liquid.
- Strain it: pour it through a fine sieve lined with kitchen paper or muslin to remove crumbs and batter.
- Store it: in a clean, sealed jar in the fridge, labelled with what you fried.
- Reuse it: several times for similar foods. Keep separate jars for fish and for chips if you want to avoid flavours mixing.
- Know when to stop: discard it if it smells sharp or rancid, foams, turns very dark or starts smoking at a lower temperature.
Never pour fat down the sink. Let used tallow set, then put it in the bin or take it to a recycling point.
Tips for cooking with beef tallow
- Get it hot first: for roasting and Yorkshires, heat the tallow in the oven until shimmering before adding food.
- Use a thermometer for deep-frying: it keeps the oil at the right temperature and stops it overheating.
- Never leave hot fat unattended, and never put water on a fat fire. Turn off the heat and cover the pan.
- Chill it for pastry: grate cold tallow into the flour as you would butter.
- Season well: tallow carries salt and spices nicely, so taste and adjust.
- Choose quality: look for 100% beef tallow with no additives, ideally grass-fed and from a named source.
How to store beef tallow
Keep tallow in a sealed jar in a cool, dark cupboard, or in the fridge once opened. Use a clean, dry spoon so no water or crumbs get in. Stored well, it keeps for months; follow the best-before date on your jar. It also freezes well in small portions. For more detail, see how long beef tallow lasts in the fridge.
Beef tallow in a balanced diet
Like butter, lard and ghee, beef tallow is high in saturated fat. The NHS recommends that men have no more than 30g of saturated fat a day and women no more than 20g, so enjoy tallow as part of a varied, balanced diet, in the same way you'd use any cooking fat.
Cooking with beef tallow FAQs
Is beef tallow good for cooking?
Yes. It's stable at high heat, with a smoke point of around 220–250°C, and gives food a crisp, golden finish and a savoury flavour. It's especially good for roasting, frying and deep-frying.
What can I cook with beef tallow?
Roast potatoes, chips, Yorkshire puddings, seared steak and burgers, roast vegetables, fried eggs, stir-fries, battered fish, savoury pastry and popcorn.
What is beef tallow called in the UK?
It's often called beef dripping, though strictly dripping can contain meat juices and sediment, while tallow is pure, clarified beef fat.
Is beef tallow healthier than olive oil?
They're different fats. Tallow is higher in saturated fat; olive oil is mostly monounsaturated. Tallow is better suited to very high-heat cooking, while extra virgin olive oil is great for dressings and gentler cooking. Use both as part of a balanced diet.
Why did people stop cooking with tallow?
From the 1980s, many households and chip shops switched to vegetable oils because they were cheaper and because of advice to cut saturated fat. Tallow has recently become popular again with home cooks.
Can you reuse beef tallow after frying?
Yes. Let it cool, strain it, and store it in a sealed jar in the fridge. Reuse it several times, and discard it if it smells rancid, turns very dark or smokes easily.
Does beef tallow make food taste of beef?
Good-quality tallow has a mild, savoury flavour. It adds depth to potatoes and meat but isn't overpowering.
Can I use beef tallow instead of butter in baking?
For savoury pastry, yes: swap up to half the butter for chilled tallow. For sweet cakes and biscuits, butter usually gives a better flavour.