How to Render Beef Tallow the Easiest Way!
Learn the EASIEST way to render beef tallow in the instant pot. A no mess, no fuss way to render tallow for the busy, homesteading woman.
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What is Beef Tallow?
Put simply, beef tallow is rendered beef fat. Meaning that that fat has been cooked off and separated from any other animal by product. Tallow is just pure beef fat.
Why Render Beef Tallow?
There are amazing beef tallow health benefits!
For example just look at beef tallow vs seed oils: beef tallow is a whole, natural food, taken directly from real animals that are abundant in this kind of fat. Seed oils, on the other hand are highly processed, highly oxidized, bleached, and squeezed from plants that humans traditionally never ate in such massive quantities. Seed oils are laden with chemicals and are essentially already rancid. They are also pervasive within mainstream processed foods.
Tallow, on the other hand is full of healthy fat soluble vitamins and has a very high smoke point (which makes it great for cooking as it will not oxidize and go rancid like a seed oil already is). Beef tallow is also extremely versatile and flavorful!
What Can You Make with Tallow?
Beef tallow can be used in from scratch cooking and in homemade skin and hair care products.
Some of my favorite ways to use beef tallow for cooking are in crispy beef tallow french fries and in my amazing homesteader chicken nuggets.
Some ways to use beef tallow for skin and cosmetics are to make a beef tallow moisturizer of a simple tallow hair mask.
Where to Get Beef Fat
Any local butcher will have beef fat. You can simply ask them if they have any beef fat you can have! Butchers used to give this by product away for free but due to the recent buzz around tallow my butcher has started charging $2 per pound!
Tools Needed to Render Beef Tallow
Instant Pot
To make beef tallow the easiest way you will need an Instant pot or crockpot.
Sieve
You will need a standard metal sieve.
Bowl
Preferably you will also need a metal mixing bowl with a lip, to make pouring easier.
Jar
You will also need some sort of jars to store the rendered beef tallow in. I use Mason jars for everything and I LOVE these twistable plastic lids. You can of course use any odd jar you have.
Cheese Cloth
For this easy method, cheese cloth is optional!
How to Render Beef Tallow
Prepare
To render your own tallow, start by placing 3 pounds of beef fat into your Instant Pot.
Most recipes and tutorials online will tell you that you need to cut the beef into small cubes. I have not found this to be necessary with my Instant Pot method, though. Long strips and big pieces work just fine. To keep this recipe as easy and quick as possible, just toss the beef fat in however you receive it from your butcher. If you find they are too large then ask your butcher to cut them a bit smaller next time. This will save you the time and hassle of the clean up as well.
Cook
Next, set the Instant Pot to “Slow Cook” on “Low” for 24 hours. Then set it and forget it!
Once the 24 hours have elapsed, allow the fat to slightly cool. Set up a metal sieve over a mixing bowl with a lip. Then pour out the contents of the Instant Pot into the sieve.
When the Instant Pot goes off at 24 hours, you can get to work right away or allow the Instant Pot to switch itself to the “Keep Warm” setting and collect your tallow whenever is convenient for you. I have left the tallow to render up to 48 hours in the Instant Pot. As long as it stays at a high enough cooking temperature, nothing will go rancid.
Filter
Finally set out two 16 oz Mason jars and pour the rendered beef tallow from the metal bowl into the jars. Stop pouring before any little leftover bits and pieces of animal by product flow out in order to get clean, white rendered tallow.
If you want to make this recipe even easier, you can skip the metal bowl step and just pour directly from the Instant Pot into a sieve placed over a jar. I prefer the small extra step of pouring into a bowl first, though, so I can filter out those last little bits of by product. If, on the other hand, you want to add an extra layer of filtration, you can clip a cheese cloth to the sieve and filter the tallow through that.
Store and Use
Allow the beef tallow to cool completely and then cover the jars with lids.
Beef tallow will keep for a few months in the fridge or about a week on the countertop. If you’re storing it out of the fridge, keep it away from light or in a vessel that is not clear.
You can use the beef tallow for frying up to three times. After frying allow the tallow to settle. Then pour the tallow back into a jar but stop pouring once the bits start mixing into it. It will not be a clean white color but will start to yellow and darken with frying but it is still good.
How to Get Clean, White Beef Tallow
You do not need to go through a crazy, labor intensive cycle in order to get clean, white rendered tallow. You simply need to cook the beef fat low and slow for a long period of time.
Then, the secret is in the straining. The trick is to pour the rendered fat and by products through a metal sieve and into a metal bowl (or a bowl that can handle high heat).
Then, when you pour the tallow out of that bowl, make sure to be very careful once you’re almost done pouring all of it out. This is because there will be a small resevoir of bits and pieces that got through the sieve that will sully your nice, clear beef tallow. Don’t pour those last little bits into the jars you’re storing the tallow in.
If you want to go the extra mile you can make the tallow even more pure by straining it all through some cheese cloth. I don’t find it necessary, however. Plus, this particular Instant Pot method is all about ease and simplicity. Using the cheese cloth will result in a cleaner final product but it will add another step and another piece of equipment that you will need to clean.
Beef Tallow Recipe
The Easiest Way to Render Beef Tallow
The easiest, quickest way to make clean rendered beef tallow in the instant pot.
Ingredients
- 3 pounds beef fat
Instructions
- Place all your beef fat into the Instant Pot. You do not need to cut it into small cubes. Long strips and big pieces work just fine.
- Set the Instant Pot to Slow Cook on Low for 24 hours.
- Set it and forget it!
- Once the 24 hours have elapsed, allow it to slightly cool and then pour out the contents of the Instant Pot into a metal sieve placed over a metal mixing bowl with a lip.
- Take out the sieve and pour the rendered beef tallow from the metal bowl into two 16 oz Mason jars.
- Allow to completely cool and then cover with lids.
Notes
Once the 24 hours are up you can get to work right away or allow the Instant Pot to switch itself to the Keep Warm setting and collect your tallow whenever is convenient for you. I have left the tallow to render up to 48 hours in the Instant Pot. As long as it stays at a high enough cooking temperature nothing will go rancid.
If you want to filter your beef tallow so it is even more pure, clip a cheese cloth over the sieve before you strain from the Instant Pot.
Beef tallow will keep for a few months in the fridge or about a week on the countertop. If you're storing it out of the fridge, keep it away from light or in a vessel that is not clear.
You can use the beef tallow for frying up to three times. After frying allow the tallow to settle. Then pour the tallow back into a jar but stop pouring once the bits start mixing into it. It will not be a clean white color but will start to yellow and darken with frying but it is still good.
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Comment
Did you find this method easy and effective? What are your favorite tallow products?
