Beef Tallow French Fries
These homemade beef tallow French fries are crispy, salty, and made with “old-fashioned” beef tallow. These fries satisfy a fried food craving while yielding all the health benefits of grass-fed tallow. Our whole family enjoys this beef tallow French fries recipe, and we cannot seem to cook them fast enough! Beef tallow has so many practical uses. Our family uses it to make whipped tallow balm for glowing skin, tallow soap, and cooking anything we want a fried texture for (fish, chicken, etc.). I think French fries win the vote for favorite way to use, though, especially from our kids!
Health Benefits of Eating Tallow
Tallow is packed with restoring vitamins and minerals. We try to use animal fats in our diet whenever possible, as they are so important for maintaining a healthy gut and hormones. Research shows when beef fat is consumed from healthy animals (grass fed), it does not have negative health effects. While following a low-cholesterol diet is controversial, it is interesting to note that:
“Data suggest that lean beef is no more hypercholesterolemic than chicken or fish and, therefore, lean beef need not be eliminated from cholesterol-lowering diets.” (source).
Best Place to Buy Tallow
To save time and money, each year we buy a whole beef from a local farmer. This is also a healthier option for our family, as he uses grass-fed and finished practices. If possible, buy meat from a local farmer who uses grass-fed and organic practices. If you do not know of a farmer, check your local Weston Price Chapter. When you buy beef from the farmer (ask for the tallow!), this is VERY inexpensive. Alternately, ask can ask your local butcher for tallow or order it here.
How to Render Tallow
If your end result from rendering yields tallow with a slightly beefy smell, you can purify it a second time using salt and water to remove the smell.
- Cut your beef tallow into small chunks and heat on low in a stock pot or crock pot. It will melt into a liquid form, and the bits of meat and gristle will begin to crisp. Some chunks sink and some will float to the top.
- Use a sieve or slotted spoon to scoop out these crispy chunks.
- Strain the remaining liquid tallow through a cheese cloth or flour sack towel into glass jars or pans.
- Allow the tallow to cool and become solid.
- Note the bottom of the container you pour the tallow into may have a layer of brown residue and have a “beefy” smell to it. I just simply scrape this off with a knife.
- Store in the freezer until you are ready to use in glass containers or ziploc bags in chunked, smaller pieces.
Other Uses For Tallow
- Our family switched over to natural foaming hand soap and these hydrating tallow soap bars for hand washing, body wash, and even shampoo.
- Eczema, dry skin, aging skin, or cracked heels? Or just looking for a nourishing, natural moisturizer? Using this simple whipped tallow balm recipe has made a big difference in our family’s skin health. My husband uses this to heal split skin and cracks on his hands from working outdoors on home construction. This balm also works wonders to moisturize and hydrate cracked heels due to all the nutrients in the tallow.
- Candles- we personally haven’t tried this yet in our family, as we tend to use up all our tallow in cooking and beauty products! But many people enjoy using tallow for candles.
Beef Tallow French Fries Recipe
Equipment
- lead-free pot or pan
- cooling rack
- stainless steel cookie sheet/drip pan
- strainer
Ingredients
- 4-6+ pcs potatoes (any variety will work)
- 2-3 cups grass-fed beef tallow (the amount will depend on the size and shape of your pot, plus how many French fries you are wanting to make – aim for about 2-3 inches of melted tallow in the bottom of your pot/pan)
- high mineral salt (to taste – any salt will work- see recipe notes)
Instructions
- Heat tallow in stock pot or cast iron pan over medium-high heat.
- While waiting for tallow to heat, cut potatoes into shape of French fries. Our family prefers the fries cut more skinny so they are crispier. If you like softer fries, you can cut them a little bigger.
- When tallow reaches about 350 degrees, or begins to look slightly bubbled/rolling, add a handful of cut fries to the tallow. The fries seem to cook better and faster overall when frying small batches, so do not add too many at a time.
- Cook for 5-10 minutes, stirring or flipping on occasion, until fries begin to brown and crisp to your liking.
- Remove fries from tallow by placing them on a cooling rack with a drip pan beneath (like a cookie sheet), or on paper towels.
- Salt immediately.
- Continue adding small batches of fries to the tallow to cook, following the above instructions, until all fries are cooked.
Notes
-
- These beef tallow French fries taste best when eaten hot or warm and salted immediately.
-
- If you want to eat the fries the next day, you can re-crisp them on a baking sheet in the oven.
-
- Cooking the fries in smaller batches yields the best tasting and textured fries.
-
- You can use any salt to taste. We have been working on eating a high mineral food diet, and a healthier, high mineral salt is a really easy way to get in more minerals without thinking about it daily.
-
- We sometimes sprinkle garlic powder and dried herbs with the salt to mix it up, and this is also SO yummy.
I hope you and your family enjoy these beef tallow French fries as much as we do! Please let me know your feedback and favorite recipe variations in the comments.
Resources
Posts
Beef Tallow French Fries
Whipped Tallow Balm Recipe
Tallow Soap Recipe
2 Ingredient Natural Homemade Hand Soap
High Mineral Foods
Local Farm: Weston Price Chapter
Shop This Post
- grass-fed beef tallow
- high mineral salt
- lead-free pot or pan
- cooling rack
- stainless steel cookie sheet/drip pan
- strainer
This post contains affiliate links, which means I may make a small commission at no extra cost to you. See my full disclosure here.
