Beef Tallow Benefits: Why It's Making a Comeback

The Return of Beef Tallow

Beef tallow has moved from obscurity back into mainstream kitchens across America. This rendered beef fat, once a staple in homes and restaurants, disappeared for decades as vegetable oils took over. Now it’s experiencing a notable resurgence in 2025.

The shift back to animal fats reflects broader changes in how people think about nutrition and cooking. Restaurant chains are testing tallow-fried foods. Home cooks are rendering their own fat from local butchers. Health food stores stock jars of grass-fed tallow alongside coconut and olive oils.

This isn’t just nostalgia. Research and changing dietary perspectives have prompted many to reconsider traditional fats. The narrative around saturated fat has become more nuanced, and people are questioning the industrial seed oils that replaced animal fats in the 1980s and 1990s.

What Exactly Is Beef Tallow?

Beef tallow is rendered fat from cattle. The rendering process involves slowly heating beef fat (usually from around the kidneys and loins) until it melts and separates from any meat particles or connective tissue. The result is a creamy white solid at room temperature that turns into clear liquid when heated.

The quality varies based on the cattle’s diet and the rendering process. Tallow from grass-fed cattle typically contains more nutrients than grain-fed versions. The fat from different parts of the animal also differs slightly in composition and flavor.

Many butchers give away beef fat for free or sell it cheaply, making tallow one of the most economical cooking fats available. A pound of beef fat can yield about three-quarters of a pound of pure tallow.

The Health Profile of Tallow

Fatty Acid Composition

Beef tallow contains roughly 50% saturated fat, 42% monounsaturated fat, and 4% polyunsaturated fat. This composition makes it extremely stable when heated, unlike oils high in polyunsaturated fats that can oxidize and create harmful compounds at high temperatures.

The saturated fat content once made tallow a dietary villain. But recent research has complicated the simple story that all saturated fats cause heart disease. The relationship between saturated fat and cardiovascular health depends on many factors, including overall diet quality, genetics, and metabolic health.

Tallow also contains fat-soluble vitamins, particularly vitamins A, D, E, and K when sourced from grass-fed cattle. These vitamins support immune function, bone health, and cellular processes throughout the body.

Conjugated Linoleic Acid (CLA)

Grass-fed beef tallow contains conjugated linoleic acid, a type of fatty acid that has shown potential benefits in research studies. CLA appears in much higher concentrations in grass-fed versus grain-fed beef fat.

Studies suggest CLA may support immune function and healthy body composition, though research continues. The amounts found in grass-fed tallow significantly exceed those in grain-fed alternatives.

Omega-6 to Omega-3 Ratio

Unlike many vegetable and seed oils, tallow has a more balanced omega-6 to omega-3 ratio. Most seed oils contain extremely high levels of omega-6 fatty acids, which can promote inflammation when consumed in excess without adequate omega-3 intake.

The typical American diet already contains far too many omega-6 fats. Replacing some seed oils with tallow can help improve this ratio without requiring dramatic dietary changes.

Cooking Performance and Applications

Beef tallow shines in high-heat cooking applications. Its smoke point reaches around 420°F (depending on purity), making it suitable for most cooking methods:

Deep frying produces exceptionally crispy results with minimal oil absorption
Sautéing and pan-frying add rich flavor to vegetables and proteins
Roasting creates beautifully browned potatoes and root vegetables
Baking works in pie crusts and biscuits for flaky texture
Grilling can be used to coat the grates and prevent sticking

The flavor profile is subtle but distinctive. Tallow from grass-fed cattle tastes cleaner and less “beefy” than grain-fed versions. Some recipes benefit from this flavor, while others remain neutral enough that tallow doesn’t overpower other ingredients.

Why Restaurants Are Returning to Tallow

Several restaurant chains have begun testing or reintroducing tallow for frying. The reasons go beyond health trends. Tallow produces superior texture in fried foods, creating a crispier exterior that stays crisp longer than items fried in vegetable oil.

From a business perspective, tallow’s stability means it doesn’t break down as quickly as polyunsaturated oils. This extends the life of frying oil, reducing costs and waste. The improved texture also leads to better customer satisfaction.

Fast food chains originally used beef tallow for french fries before switching to vegetable oils in the 1990s. Many customers still remember that original texture and flavor. Some smaller chains and independent restaurants have brought tallow back specifically to recapture that quality.

The Seed Oil Debate

Much of tallow’s comeback connects to growing concerns about industrial seed oils (soybean, corn, canola, cottonseed, and others). These oils dominate processed foods and restaurant cooking.

Critics point to several issues with seed oils:

High omega-6 content that may promote inflammation
Industrial processing involving high heat, chemical solvents, and deodorization
Oxidation potential when heated repeatedly or stored improperly
Lack of historical precedent as major dietary components

The debate remains contentious. Some nutrition experts defend properly refined seed oils as heart-healthy alternatives to saturated fats. Others argue that the industrial processing and high omega-6 content create more problems than they solve.

Beef tallow offers a minimally processed alternative. Traditional rendering requires only heat and time, with no chemical extraction or refining needed. This simplicity appeals to people seeking less processed foods.

Beyond Cooking: Tallow for Skin Care

The same properties that make tallow stable for cooking also make it useful for skin care. Tallow’s fatty acid profile closely resembles human sebum, the natural oil our skin produces.

Skin care products made from grass-fed tallow have gained a following in natural beauty circles. Proponents claim tallow moisturizes without clogging pores, though formal research remains limited.

Traditional tallow balms contain only rendered fat, sometimes with added essential oils. The saturated fats provide structure while the fat-soluble vitamins may support skin health. People with eczema and dry skin conditions report benefits, though individual results vary.

Sourcing and Making Your Own Tallow

Where to Buy Beef Fat

Local butchers often have beef fat (called suet when it comes from around the kidneys) available for minimal cost. Many will give it away or charge only a dollar or two per pound. Call ahead to ensure availability and specify that you want fat for rendering.

Farmers markets with meat vendors also sell beef fat. Grass-fed options cost more but provide better nutrition. Some farms will even deliver fat as part of a bulk meat order.

Basic Rendering Process

Rendering tallow at home requires only fat, a slow cooker or heavy pot, and patience:

Cut beef fat into small cubes (one to two inches)
Place in slow cooker on low or heavy pot over very low heat
Let cook for several hours, stirring occasionally
Strain through cheesecloth or fine mesh strainer
Pour liquid tallow into jars and let cool

The resulting tallow will be creamy white when solid. Store it in the refrigerator for several months or freezer for up to a year. Some people keep a jar at room temperature for daily cooking use.

Environmental and Ethical Considerations

Using tallow fits into a nose-to-tail approach that wastes less of the animal. When people eat beef, the fat often gets discarded or processed into industrial products. Rendering it for cooking and other uses maximizes the value obtained from each animal.

The environmental impact depends heavily on how the cattle were raised. Grass-fed, regeneratively grazed cattle can actually improve soil health and sequester carbon. Conventional feedlot operations have much larger environmental footprints.

For people who already eat beef, using the fat makes ethical sense. It honors the animal by utilizing more of it. For those avoiding meat for environmental or ethical reasons, tallow obviously doesn’t fit their dietary choices.

Cost Comparison with Other Cooking Fats

When buying rendered tallow from stores, prices typically range from twelve to twenty dollars per quart for grass-fed versions. This seems expensive compared to vegetable oil.

But making tallow at home changes the economics dramatically. If you get beef fat for free or a couple dollars per pound, the cost per quart drops to just a few dollars. This makes it cheaper than quality olive oil and competitive with seed oils.

Tallow’s stability also means it lasts longer during cooking. A pot of tallow for deep frying can be used multiple times before needing replacement, unlike seed oils that break down quickly.

Common Questions and Misconceptions

Some people worry about the cholesterol in beef tallow. While tallow does contain cholesterol, dietary cholesterol has less impact on blood cholesterol levels than once believed. For most people, saturated fat intake and overall diet quality matter more than dietary cholesterol.

The saturated fat content concerns others. According to resources from Mayo Clinic Health System, beef tallow can fit into a healthy diet when used in moderation and as part of an overall balanced eating pattern. The key is not using any single fat exclusively but varying fat sources.

Flavor worries also come up frequently. Will everything taste like beef? In practice, properly rendered tallow has a mild flavor that doesn’t overpower most dishes. Grass-fed tallow tastes even milder than conventional. Delicate foods like fish might pick up subtle flavor notes, but most applications work well.

The Broader Traditional Foods Movement

Tallow’s resurgence fits within a larger return to traditional food preparation methods. People are fermenting vegetables, soaking grains, and using bone broth. These practices connect to ancestral diets that emphasized nutrient density and traditional processing.

This movement questions the assumption that modern food science always improves on traditional methods. In some cases, older approaches may offer benefits that weren’t appreciated when they were replaced.

As detailed by U.S. News & World Report, advocates argue that traditional fats like tallow were unfairly blamed for health problems actually caused by refined carbohydrates, excess sugar, and processed foods. The push to replace animal fats with seed oils may have been premature.

Making the Switch in Your Kitchen

Starting with beef tallow doesn’t require throwing out all other cooking fats. Most people benefit from using several different fats for different purposes.

Good first uses for tallow include roasting potatoes, frying eggs, or making refried beans. These applications showcase tallow’s strengths without requiring much adjustment to recipes.

Store tallow in glass jars with tight lids. Keep one jar in the refrigerator for long-term storage and a smaller container at room temperature for daily use. Solid tallow scoops easily with a spoon.

When replacing other fats in recipes, use slightly less tallow than liquid oils since it’s more concentrated. For baking, tallow works cup-for-cup in place of shortening or lard.

Looking Forward

Beef tallow’s comeback reflects changing attitudes about dietary fat, traditional foods, and cooking quality. After decades of dominance by industrial seed oils, people are reconsidering whether newer always means better.

The science around fats continues to become more sophisticated. Simple narratives about “good” and “bad” fats have given way to recognition that context matters. Source, processing method, and overall dietary pattern all influence how a particular fat affects health.

Whether tallow becomes a mainstream cooking fat again or remains a niche choice, its resurgence demonstrates that food trends move in cycles. What’s old can become new again, especially when it offers genuine benefits over what replaced it. For cooks seeking stable, minimally processed fats with good cooking properties, tallow provides a time-tested option worth considering.