What Exactly Is Beef Tallow?

Beef tallow is having a moment as social media influencers and others tout its purported health benefits. Here’s everything you need to know about what it is, what it’s used for, and whether it lives up to the hype.

1. What Is Beef Tallow?
2. How Is Beef Tallow Used in Cooking? 
3. Beef Tallow vs. Lard: What’s the Difference?
4. Is Beef Tallow Healthy?
5. Is Beef Tallow Good for Your Skin?

What Is Beef Tallow?

Tallow is a soft, whitish solid that resembles vegetable shortening or butter at first glance. As the Mayo Clinic explains, “It’s made by removing, simmering and clarifying the fatty tissue that surrounds the organs of ruminant animals” (i.e., animals that chew their cud). This means you can technically render tallow from the fat of cows, buffalo, bison, sheep, goats, deer, yaks, and some other ungulates. But you’re probably most likely to come across tallow from cows—a.k.a. beef tallow. 

It’s also possible to DIY tallow. The basic instructions involve heating the fat and straining it to remove impurities (though the methods of heating and straining may vary depending on your source and what tools you have on hand.)

How Is Beef Tallow Used in Cooking? 

Beef tallow has a fairly high smoke point of around 400°F—butter’s, for reference, is 350°F—which makes it good for searing and deep frying. You can also use it for roasting, sautéing, barbecuing, thickening stews, seasoning cast iron, and even making inedible products like soap and candles.

Beef Tallow vs. Lard: What’s the Difference?

Lard, like tallow, is rendered animal fat (rendered as shorthand for the process of melting and purifying the raw material). But lard is made specifically from the fatty tissue of pigs—including hogs, which are just pigs of a certain size; and wild boars, a close relative of domesticated swine.

Lard has a lower smoke point than beef tallow (374°F), a softer consistency at room temperature, and a more neutral flavor (beef tallow tastes notably meaty). It’s more popular in baking: pie crusts, pastries, etc. That said, there’s a lot of crossover between the two kinds of fat—you can also use lard to season cast iron, make soap, and cook a variety of savory dishes.

Is Beef Tallow Healthy?

Beef tallow mainly comprises saturated fat, which can increase your risk of high cholesterol and heart disease when consumed in large amounts. Unsaturated fats—found in nuts, avocados, olive oil, and so-called “seed oils” like peanut oil and canola oil, among other sources—are better for you: Research suggests that they can help regulate blood sugar and lower bad cholesterol.

That’s not to say beef tallow has no nutritional value. “Beef tallow contains fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E, and K,” registered dietitian and clinical nutritionist Abby Langer told USA Today. They can benefit your immune system, improve your bone health, and more. Beef tallow also does contain some unsaturated fat. Generally, though, nutritionists recommend foods high in unsaturated fat over those high in saturated fat—and beef tallow falls in the latter category.

Moreover, experts argue that the online debate about whether animal fats are healthier than plant-based fats is missing the point. “People are blaming the seed oils when that’s not what’s toxic,” nutritionist Lisa Young told NBC News. “It’s the sugar and salt in the junk food that they’re using.” In other words, ultraprocessed foods are unhealthy because they contain excessive quantities of sugar, salt, fat, preservatives, and/or other deleterious ingredients—and people have wrongly latched onto seed oils as the problem. Embracing beef tallow as an alternative to seed oil in fast food, for example, doesn’t decrease the high salt and fat content that makes fast food so unhealthy. As nutrition scientist Christopher Gardner told NPR, “If people are eating more hamburgers and more French fries, even though they’re now in tallow instead of seed oil, more people are going to die.”

Is Beef Tallow Good for Your Skin?

Influencers market beef tallow as a miracle product for perfect skin, but skincare experts don’t see it that way.

Yes, beef tallow can seal in moisture. “It will be greasy on your skin, but it will lock in whatever else is underneath,” dermatologist Sophie Greenberg told NBC News. “Best-case scenario, if you have really dry skin and your skin barrier needs something to occlude it, {beef tallow} would be helpful.” But Greenberg cautions that tallow could also lead to acne breakouts.

And yes, beef tallow contains vitamin A—a form of which, retinol, can unclog your pores, boost collagen production, and more. But retinol accomplishes those things by absorbing into your skin and altering certain molecular behavior. “No one who understands the chemistry of ingredients or the biology of the skin would ever say tallow is even remotely as effective or functional a skincare ingredient as retinol,” pharmacist and skincare chemist Benjamin Knight Fuchs told Everyday Health. 

In short, beef tallow isn’t some massive hazard to your skin. But scientific research hasn’t proven its benefits, and skincare professionals generally don’t recommend it to their own clients.

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