What To Do With Fat From Beef Bone Broth

Making beef bone broth is incredibly nourishing and healing, but it also renders a good amount of fat. You can easily skim the fat off the broth once cooled and use it for cooking. But what exactly should you do with beef fat from bone broth? As a food blogger and home cook, I’ve experimented with many uses over the years In this article, I’ll share everything you need to know about saving, preserving and using beef fat from bone broth.

Why Save The Fat?

Beef bone broth delivers a powerhouse of vitamins, minerals and proteins extracted from the bones, marrow, connective tissue and meat. Simmering beef bones for 12-24 hours draws out the nutrients and flavors. It’s an extremely cost effective way to obtain the amazing benefits of bone broth.

When making beef bone broth, some fat will render out and rise to the top once cooled. Often times, people discard this fat down the drain. But don’t make that mistake! The fat from beef broth is concentrated with nutrients and has great culinary uses.

Beef fat, known as tallow or suet, contains vitamins A, D, E and K. It provides energy, protects organs and insulates the body. The collagen in beef bones and connective tissue provides amino acids like glycine and proline that support gut health and integrity. Consuming the fat enables you to obtain all the nutrients released during broth making.

Additionally, beef tallow has a high smoke point making it excellent for high heat cooking. The saturated fat composition gives it more stability than unstable polyunsaturated vegetable and seed oils. When sourced from grass-fed, pasture-raised cattle, beef fat offers many health and cooking benefits Saving and reusing it is highly recommended, both for nutrition and flavor.

How To Separate and Save The Fat

Once your beef bone broth is finished simmering, let it cool slightly before transferring to containers. I like using quart mason jars. Allow the broth to chill completely in the refrigerator overnight or for at least 8 hours. This allows the fat to solidify and separate, making it easy to remove.

A thick layer of white fat will harden on the top. Run a spoon across the surface to scoop and lift off the entire fat cap. Then use a spoon to scrape along the sides of the jar to harvest all the remnant bits stuck to the walls.

Transfer the fat to a storage container, mason jar or ziplock bag. At this point, you can throw it in freezer until ready to use. However, there will still be moisture trapped in the raw fat which causes a mess when cooking.

To extend shelf life and yield pure concentrated tallow, the moisture must be evaporated out through rendering on the stovetop or in a slow cooker. We’ll get to that process shortly!

How To Render and Purify The Fat

In its initial raw form, the fat from bone broth contains a lot of residual water. When dropped into a hot pan, moisture in the fat will cause explosive sizzling, spattering and popping. To prevent this, the fat must be rendered.

Rendering evaporates out all the remaining liquid, leaving you with pure oil that remains stable at high temperatures. Similar to clarifying butter, rendering also filters out any leftover marrow bits, cartilage or sediment.

There are two easy methods to render beef fat – stove top or slow cooker. Choose based on amount of time and patience you have!

Stovetop Method

• Defrost fat if frozen and add to a small stockpot or saucepan.
• Cook over low heat for 2-3 hours, uncovered with lid off.
• Fat will sputter, hiss and foam as the water cooks out.
• Once bubbling subsides and fat turns translucent, it’s fully rendered!
• Strain through a cheesecloth into a heatproof jar.
• Let cool completely before capping.

Slow Cooker Method

• Add defrosted fat to a small slow cooker and set to low.
• Cook uncovered for 4-6 hours, until fat stops bubbling.
• Strain through cheesecloth then pour into jars.
• Let cool and solidify before sealing lids.

Once cooled, the rendered tallow will turn bright white with the texture of room temperature butter. It can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 6 months and used for all kinds of cooking!

Culinary Uses For Beef Fat

Now let’s get to the best part – eating it! Rendered beef fat enhances flavor of dishes thanks to its rich, meaty taste. Due to the high smoke point, it’s also suitable for searing, sautéing and frying. Here are some of my favorite ways to use beef tallow in the kitchen:

• Cooking oil – Use in place of butter or olive oil to grease pans or coat vegetables. Adds savory depth.

• Frying – Excellent for pan frying and deep frying everything from eggs to chicken cutlets. Helps achieve crispy texture.

• Roasting – Coat vegetables like potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots, onions or Brussels sprouts before roasting.

• Searing – Add a spoonful when searing meat to enhance browning.

• Sautéing – Ideal for cooking aromatics like garlic, onions, mushrooms. Builds flavor foundation.

• Gravies & Sauces – Whisk in drippings after cooking meat to make amazing gravies and pan sauces.

• Soups & Stews – Stir in a tablespoon or two to add rich body.

• Baking – Replace vegetable oil or shortening in recipes for flakier texture.

• Popcorn – For a healthy cinema style snack, pop popcorn using rendered beef fat.

If you want to get creative, beef fat can also be used to make candles, lip balm, soaps and leather conditioner! As you can see, that leftover fat is far too beneficial to waste.

Storing and Preserving Beef Fat

Properly stored, rendered beef fat will keep for 2-3 months in the refrigerator. To extend shelf life even longer, keep it in the freezer for up to 6 months. Here are some tips for preserving your precious tallow:

• Store in an airtight glass jar or stainless steel container.
• Make sure all moisture is cooked out before sealing lid.
• Leave 1 inch headspace to allow for expansion as it solidifies.
• Keep jar in the refrigerator or freezer.
• If hardened, scoop out portions as needed.
• Avoid thawing and refreezing repeatedly.
• If fat turns yellow, toss it – this means it’s spoiled.

With just a little extra effort, you can save the nutritious fat from your homemade broth and utilize it for all kinds of culinary creations. Now that you know how to separate, render and use beef tallow, you’ll always have flavorful cooking fat on hand. Next time you make bone broth, don’t throw the fat away – turn it into tallow instead!