From sauteing vegetables to creating a sweet and smoky treat by including it in your next batch of homemade chocolate chip cookies, leftover bacon grease has a ton of uses.
I often use bacon grease in place of olive oil when roasting or sauteing vegetables. Bacon fat is the secret to making kale edible. It’s money on roasted potatoes. And it can be used to make shortcut carnitas.
I often use bacon grease in place of butter when making breakfast foods - everything from eggs, to French toast, to hash browns. It's incredible slathered on corn on the cob and when used to "butter" sandwich melts.
Replace all or part of the butter called for in a recipe with bacon grease to influence a savory, smoky outcome. Try it with baked goods like biscuits, scones, cornbread, cookies, pie crust, and more.
Add bacon fat to your favorite dishes to act as a flavor enhancer. Try using it as a base for gravy, creating a simple salad dressing, adding it to refried beans, and stirring it into mashed potatoes.
After cleaning a cast iron pan, it gets a little dehydrated looking. Dry the pan over medium heat on the stovetop, then add bacon grease. Use a paper towel to rub it in evenly and revitalize the pan with bacon’s healing powers.
Store bacon grease in a lidded container, like a mason jar.
Shelf life of bacon grease stored:
On the countertop - 4-6 months
In the refrigerator - 1 year
In the freezer - Indefinitely
Bacon grease has a low smoke point; this means it’s not good for deep frying. Since bacon grease takes on the flavor of the bacon, you may notice flavor variations by batch.