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Smoked Tallow Recipe

Smoked Tallow is a great way to infuse smoky flavor into food by using it to cook with. It's great for searing steaks, sautéing vegetables and so much more!
Cook Time2 hours
Difficulty Level: Easy
Author: Louise

Equipment

  • Ninja Woodfire Outdoor Grill or Outdoor Oven

Ingredients

  • 1-2 pounds beef fat scraps
  • wood pellets of choice
US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Collecting the Beef Fat

  • As you trim fat from any cut of beef, place it into a freezer bag and keep it in the freezer until you collect 1-2 pounds of the beef fat.
    If possible, vacuum seal the collected fat and keep it in the freezer until 2-3 days before you want to make the smoked tallow.

Thawing the Beef Fat

  • Remove the beef fat from the freezer 2-3 days before you want to smoke it and allow to thaw in the refrigerator.
    1-2 pounds beef fat scraps

Setting up the Woodfire Outdoor Grill/Smoker

  • Fill the hopper box with your chosen pellets.
    Turn on your Ninja Wood Fire Grill (Make sure the grate is installed and the lid is down).
    Select the Smoker Function.
    Set the cooking temperature to 250℉/120℃. Set the time for 2 hours and 15 minutes. Press Start.
    After you hit start, the Woodfire Grill will go through the ignition process which takes between 5-8 minutes usually. You DO NOT need to press the Woodfire Flavor button when you are on the smoker function.
    Once the ignition process is complete, let the pellets burn another 10-15 minutes before putting the beef fat on the smoker.
    wood pellets of choice

Smoking the Beef Tallow

  • Remove the beef fat from the bag and place it on a rack with a pan underneath. The pan should be at least 2" in depth. Do not season the beef fat.
  • Once the beef fat is arranged on the rack and the smoker has completed the 15 minute burn off period, open the lid to the smoker and let the heavy white smoke out.
    Place the pan and rack on the grill grate of the Woodfire Smoker and close the lid.
    The smoking and rendering process can take anywhere from 1 hour to 3 hours or longer depending on the size of the beef fat scraps.
    During the smoking process, try to keep the lid closed as much as possible.

Keeping the Pellet Box Filled

  • Check the pellets about thirty minutes into the smoking time and every 45-60 minutes throughout the rest of the smoking time.
    If they have burned down 50% or more, refill them as long as you can see them smoking and glowing. You can blow on the burning pellets to make sure they are actively burning.
    Keep the pellets burning the entire time you are rendering the fat for the best smoke flavor in the tallow.
    If the pellets do go out during the smoking process, remove the tray with the beef fat and rendered tallow and fill the hopper again and press the woodfire flavor button to ignite the pellets.
    There usually isn't as as much white smoke produced the second time you ignite the pellets, so put the tray back on the smoker right after the ignition process is complete and continue to smoke the beef fat until all of the fat has rendered out.

Checking if the Smoked Tallow is Done

  • After about ninety minutes of smoking, check if the tallow is fully rendered.
    Use a flat spatula to press down on the beef fat. If no more fat can be expressed, the rendering process is complete.
  • If you can still express fat from the scraps, continue the smoking process and check every 30 minutes until you can no longer express any fat.

Processing the Smoked Tallow

  • When the fat scraps have fully rendered, remove the tray of tallow from the smoker. The cooked fat on the top tray is edible, but I usually just discard it.
  • Pour the tallow through a fine mesh strainer to collect any particles that dripped down into the tallow. This is the first strain and if you are using the tallow right away is all you need to do.
    However, if you want to store the tallow at room temperature it is important that you strain it again, this time through the strainer lined with a paper towel or coffee filter. This will leave you with pure tallow.
  • Place the pure tallow into an airtight container and store at room temperature away from direct sunlight for up to a year.
    You can also store it in the refrigerator or freezer.

Notes

Yield: The amount of tallow you get from your beef fat scraps will vary. 
I smoked 1 pound 12 ounces of fat and ended up with 12 ounces of pure tallow. 
Smoking Time: 1-4 hours
I have found that it takes about 90 minutes on average to render the fat for smoked tallow. This can vary by the size of the fat scraps used.