15 Amazing Uses for Tallow

Tallow is a versatile natural fat with a myriad of uses! Tallow can be used for cooking and baking as well as making homemade skincare products. Learn more about all the household uses for tallow in this article.

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Tallow is enjoying a moment in the spotlight right now. You’ve probably seen an ad recently for a tallow-based facial moisturizer or french fries cooked in 100% beef tallow.

It may seem like a new trend, but the truth is that tallow has a long history of use. Ancient civilizations used tallow for skincare and preparing food and now this versatile animal fat is making a comeback in the modern world.

What is Tallow?

Tallow comes from animals that are considered ruminants or cud-chewers, with a four-chambered stomach. Ruminants include cattle, goats, sheep, and deer.

Tallow is made by rendering suet. Suet is the fat that can be harvested from around the animal’s kidneys and loin. Rendering is a process whereby the raw fat is purified and strained to remove skin, muscle, connective tissue, and foreign material.

You can get suet from a butcher and render your own, or purchase tallow that has already been rendered. For step-by-step suet rendering instructions, click here to read my other article.

Why Tallow?

Marketed as natural, biocompatible, and minimally processed, tallow appeals to those that want to get away from putting synthetic materials on or in their bodies. As an alternative to chemically laden beauty and personal care products, tallow skincare offers simple, intense moisturization. As an alternative to seed oils, tallow provides a savory, heat-stable cooking medium loaded with fat-soluble vitamins.

Tallow is a staple in our home. Here are some of my favorite ways to use it!

1. Use Tallow to Make Lip Balm

Tallow lip balm is smooth, creamy, and ultra-moisturizing. I make a tallow and beeswax lip balm that soothes my dry, chapped winter lips. For the recipe, click here.

2. Use Tallow to Make a Moisturizer for Face, Hands, and Body

Tallow-based moisturizers work wonders on dry skin. With a fatty acid profile chemically similar to the natural oils produced by human skin, tallow provides a nourishing barrier from the elements. Click here to learn more reasons to use tallow on your skin.

Tallow is a solid at room temperature. To make it easier to apply to the skin, it can be combined with a small amount of liquid oil like jojoba, castor, avocado, or olive oil. The three-ingredient whipped tallow that I make is fluffy and velvety smooth. For complete instructions on making whipped tallow balm, click here.

3. Use Tallow to Make Candles

You can make simple, non-toxic candles by pouring rendered tallow into glass jars with wicks. To make the candles scented, add some essential or fragrance oil and to make them harder, add beeswax!

4. Use Tallow to Make Paw Balm for Dogs

Dry, cracked paws can benefit from the gentle nourishment of a tallow-based paw balm. For my unscented and 100% lick-safe whipped tallow paw balm recipe, click here. Your dog will love it!

5. Use Tallow to Fry Foods

Tallow is a great alternative to seed oils in the kitchen. Use it in a pan or fryer to make crispy, flavorful fried chicken, french fries, onion rings, eggs, or veggies. An added bonus is that you can strain it and use it again and again!

6. Use Tallow for Cooking and Baking

You can use tallow instead of shortening or butter when cooking or baking. Tallow makes delicious, flaky pie crusts and biscuits. I’ve found that swapping half of the butter for tallow in a recipe makes great cookies!

7. Use Tallow to Make Soap

Tallow soap provides gentle cleaning and exfoliation that doesn’t dry out your skin. You can make pure tallow soap with rendered tallow, lye, and distilled water. You can also combine tallow with other oils in a balanced soap recipe like coconut or olive oil. For a complete list of cold process soap making equipment, click here.

8. Use Tallow to Make Mineral Sunscreen

While tallow on its own doesn’t have SPF, it offers a host of other benefits for skin and makes a great sunscreen base. You can make homemade mineral sunscreen by adding zinc oxide or titanium dioxide to a tallow-based moisturizer. For my sunscreen recipe, click here.

9. Use Tallow to Season Cast Iron

Tallow can be used to season cast iron cookware. We season and re-season our pans periodically by applying tallow to them and baking them in the oven for an hour. This keeps our cast iron skillets non-stick and in perfect condition!

10. Use Tallow to Conditioner Leather

Tallow makes a great leather conditioner. It can help provide shine, moisture, protection, and flexibility to dried out leather boots, handbags, and horse tack. For my saddle soap recipe with tallow, beeswax, and neatsfoot oil, click here.

11. Use Tallow to Condition Wooden Spoons and Cutting Boards

You can use tallow, or a mixture of tallow and beeswax, to condition and waterproof your wooden spoons and cutting boards. It provides a barrier, prevents warping and cracking, and is completely food safe.

12. Use Tallow to Tame Frizzy Hair

Tallow can be used to tame fly-aways or frizzy hair. A small amount of a tallow-based moisturizer can be worked into hair to add smoothness and shine. I use a little homemade whipped tallow balm to help keep my hair in place on hot, humid summer days!

13. Use Tallow to Make Bird Seed Cakes

You can use tallow to make homemade suet cakes for wild birds or your backyard chickens. Especially in the winter, birds benefit from fat and extra calories. Make a simple bird seed cake by combining rendered tallow, scratch grains, and seeds and pouring it into a mold to harden. Muffin tins or empty food cartons make great molds! Poke a hole in the cake and hang with string or just set it in an area for the birds to enjoy.

14. Use Tallow as Tattoo Balm

Got some new ink? Tallow makes a great moisturizer for fresh tattoos. It can help protect your skin and allay the dryness, flaking, and itching that follows as your new tattoo begins to heal. 

15. Use Tallow to Make Your Own Makeup

Tallow-based makeup provides a natural glow to your skin and lips. I make my own cream blush and lip tint by adding mica and iron oxide to my whipped tallow moisturizer. For more on making your own tallow-based makeup, click here.

What are your favorite ways to use tallow? Tell us about it in the comments!