Learn how to make lard for smooth, creamy, and neutral-flavored fat perfect for cooking, baking, and roasting. Lard is not only versatile, but shelf-stable, budget-friendly, and simple to make.
Up until the 20th century, rendered lard prevailed as the main fat for all kinds of cooking, baking, and roasting. It offered a high smoke point at a low cost, imparting a delicious flavor that canola oil simply cannot match. Years past often demanded resourcefulness, using all of the animal, not just the primary cuts. Bones became broth, organs offered rich nutrients, and fat was reserved for cooking and candlemaking.
In the last decade or so, lard experienced a resurgence. It works well in all kinds of recipes, from a flaky pie crust and sourdough fried chicken to crispy fried potatoes and whole wheat biscuits.
Through a simple process of melting, straining, and storing, that first jar of lard you make just might be the gateway to continued lard rendering and other homemade essentials, like homemade mayo, ranch dressing, marinara sauce, jalapeno jelly, cottage cheese, and yogurt.
Benefits of Lard
- Pork lard rendered from healthy, quality pork fat has good amounts of fat-soluble vitamins like A, E, D, and K.
- It offers a high melting point, helpful for recipes that have the fat cut into the flour, like einkorn pie crust and sourdough cheddar biscuits.
- Contrary to what modern marketing would have you believe, animal fats from quality, pasture-raised sources are considered healthy fats. Avoid commercial pig fat because toxins concentrate in the fat, and the feed and care quality aren’t trustworthy.
- Lard offers a moderately high smoke point of around 374 degrees F. While this is lower than olive oil, many people have great success using this fat for frying and other high-heat food prep techniques.
Different Types of Pork Fat
- Fatback – The most abundant form of fat, this comes from the back of the pig and has the strongest flavor. In the form of lard, it works well for savory recipes. Cook it at a low temperature for several hours to achieve the lightest flavor for versatile cooking and baking.
- Pork belly fat – Essentially bacon fat, pork belly fat contains more meat (it is usually what bacon is made of) compared to other kinds, maintaining a more savory flavor and more trimmings that do not render.
- Leaf fat – This leaf-shaped fat surrounds the pig’s kidneys and loin and renders into a fluffy, whiter lard than other types. Leaf lard works most seamlessly for baking due to its very mild flavor and texture.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
Versatile and adds flavor – While a good lard smells and tastes pretty neutral, it greatly enhances the flavor of foods when cooked. It works well in many savory dishes, and the higher melting point makes lard excellent for baking, too.
Simple and resourceful – Cuts of meat with too much fat often result in trimming and discarding the excess. Lard offers a great way to use more of the animal in a simple, one-ingredient process. Using more of what you’ve already purchased saves you money, too.
Long-lasting – When properly prepared, homemade lard lasts for a long time. Keep it in a tightly closed Mason jar at room temperature for easy access, or refrigerate or freeze it for long term storage.
Ingredients
Pork fat – Use quality pork fat, preferably organic and pasture-raised.
A full ingredient list with exact amounts can be found in the recipe card below.
How to Make Lard on the Stovetop
Step 1: With a sharp knife, cut pork fat into small pieces, about 1-2 inches long.
Step 2: Place the pieces into a cast-iron Dutch oven or heavy pot, cover with a lid, and place over low heat for about 1-3 hours, depending on the amount of fat. The longer and lower you cook, the more neutral the lard will turn out. Stir occasionally so nothing sticks to the bottom.
Step 3: When all the fat is in a liquid state and has separated from the meat, it is done. While still hot, carefully pour the rendered fat through a fine mesh strainer into a bowl or container. This filters out any bits. Filter a second time, if desired.
Step 4: Pour into glass jars and allow to cool at room temperature or in the refrigerator. It is now ready to use. Keep it in the fridge or freezer for up to a year, or leave it at room temperature for 4-6 months. Use a clean utensil each time to avoid introducing bacteria to the jar.
How to Make Lard in the Slow Cooker
Step 1: With a sharp knife, cut pork fat into small cubes. Place into a slow cooker on low heat and cook for 8-10 hours.
Step 2: Strain through a fine mesh strainer into glass jars.
How to Make Lard in the Instant Pot
Step 1: With a sharp knife, cut pork fat into small cubes. Place into the Instant Pot and use the warm function. Cover and cook on low for several hours until completely melted.
Step 2: Strain through a fine mesh strainer into glass jars.
How to Use Lard
Lard works well as a substitute for vegetable oil, shortening, butter, olive oil, or coconut oil. Use lard in baking, sautéing, grilling, and even deep frying.
Tips
- For easier cutting, freeze the fat pieces for about an hour before you plan to use them.
- This is best cooked low and slow for a few hours. High temperatures may burn the raw fat and produce a stronger flavor, less suitable for baking.
- Grind the fat pieces to speed up the rendering process.
- When cooking down the fat, some pieces will not render out. These leftover bits are known as cracklings, crunchy bits of pork full of salty, delicious flavor.
- I prefer to cool lard at room temperature to avoid steam being released while cooling in the fridge. This steam can get trapped on the lid and go back into the lard, potentially contributing to mold growth.
- Making beef tallow from beef fat is similar to rendering lard.
- Check with your local butcher for pork fat to render.
Recipe FAQs
No. Bacon is cooked at a much higher temperature, and the grease contains a lot more flavor than white lard. Lard is melted gently to maintain a mild flavor.
Technically, lard only comes from pig fat. Tallow is made from beef or lamb fat. They are very similar, just different types of animal fat.
In the refrigerator, lard will last up to a year; at room temperature, the shelf life is 4-6 months. Lard freezes well, too,
Lard produces a strong, unpleasant smell when rancid. I recommend keeping the lard in a cool place like the refrigerator, freezer, a cool basement, or root cellar. And while pure fat shouldn’t harbor mold, this can happen if bacteria are introduced by water being left in the lard, not cooking long enough, or not being strained. If you see mold, discard.
Leaf fat produces the highest quality of lard, which is spreadable and lightly flavored, ideal for many uses.
More Recipes from the Farmhouse
- Homemade Sweetened Condensed Milk
- Homemade Vanilla Extract
- Whole Wheat Tortillas
- Traditional Homemade Sauerkraut
- Sourdough Discard Crackers
If you try this recipe and love it, I would love it if you could come back and give it 5 stars! Tag me on Instagram @farmhouseonboone.
How to Make Lard
Ingredients
- Pork Fat, I used 1 1/2 pounds to make around 1 pound of lard
Instructions
- With a sharp knife, cut pork fat into small pieces, about 1-2 inches long.
- Place the pieces into a cast-iron Dutch oven or heavy pot, cover with a lid, and place over low heat for about 1-3 hours. The longer and lower you cook, the more neutral the lard will turn out. Stir occasionally so nothing is sticking to the bottom.
- When all the fat has separated from the meat, you will know that it is done. While it is still hot, carefully pour the liquid fat through a fine mesh strainer into a bowl or container. This filters out any bits. Filter a second time, if desired.
- Pour into glass jars and allow to cool at room temperature or in the refrigerator. It is now ready to use. Keep it in the fridge or freezer for up to a year, or leave it at room temperature for 4-6 months.
- For the slow cooker or Instant Pot method, see instructions in the blog post above.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
No where does it say how much fat to start with and about how much lard you should end up with. I did about 9 lbs last night and ended up with 2 3/4 quarts. Does this sound right? It was my first time making lard.
Yes, that sounds right! You can use however much fat you’d like, as I’m just sharing the process for rendering the lard.
My rendered lard is like liquid, not solid. What did I do wrong?
My grandmother always had a can on the stove for grease! She used it for frying everything. (The olden days!♥️). BTW, I can’t WAIT for your cookbook!! Everything I make is Farmhouse on Boone!
I’m excited for it, too! Can’t wait to share it with you!
Hi Lisa, where can I buy organic pasture raised pig fat lard. Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated. Love your show. Lots of helpful information. Lucy
Thank you so much Lucy. I get it either from my sisters farm or Fed From The Farm. Your best bet is to try to find a local farmer near your.
I have a pampered chef deluxe blender and I put the blender on grind for a few seconds. The fat came out completely smooth like a less solid crisco. I then put it in with some fat I have been rendering, it melted immediately. ( I inspected the fat first, making sure there was no meat in it) can you think of reason this would not work. It would be super easy if it was ok.
I would think that would be fine
Does it taste like bacon at all? I’m curious if you can taste it if you used in baking.
Thank you.
No it shouldn’t at all. The only way it would taste like bacon is if you are using bacon to render the lard. Otherwise it has a very mild taste. Hope that helps!
What are the health benefits compared to olive oil, butter, or coconut oil?
It has a higher amount of vitamin D. It also contains oleic acid which may reduce the risk of heart disease.
How much lard can you put in a pot? Can you fill it? And if you fill a dutch oven about how much lard does that produce? Trying to get supplies before we get our pigs processed next week.
It will depend on how big your pot or dutch oven is and how much lard you have to render. I would leave a few inches from the top.
I did the slow cooker method on low. Lard poured off looking like oil, cooled white but has a smell even once cooled. Is that normal?
What type of smell? Lard has a slight smell, leaf lard tends to have a much more neutral smell. It should pour like oil.
I have been making lard for several years now and started doing this on my journey to better health, reading up and learning about what really is healthy and what is not. I quickly found out you can’t buy lard in the grocery store as it contains endocrine disruptors as preservative. Also, toxins are stored in fat, so you don’t want lard from any factory farm pig (you also don’t want to support factory pig farming by eating their products in the first place and once you have eaten pasture raised, you never want to pick up another pork chop on a styrofoam tray in the grocery store).
We now have our own organic, pasture raised pigs. I run some of the fat through the grinder during butchering time. It eliminates all the greasy, time consuming dicing and renders more quickly. I use my crock pot, and switch off between the low heat and the keep warm functions as I find that the lard tends to get brown when cooked on too much heat. I pour it into mason jars and keep it in the cool pantry. I use lard for A LOT of my frying and I fry a lot of food in the frying pan. I also use butter and coconut oil and Ghee. Nobody in my family is obese or sick (we are 53, 53, 21, 18 and 16). Good luck and get larding!
Running the fat through the grinder first!!! Genius and I can’t believe I did not think of that!!
THANK YOU!
I made my own lard from our pigs, in the instant pot. So easy, but recommend opening a window….it has a strong and unmistakable smell!!
Use lard for sourdough tortillas…. Turn out wonderful!!
That is amazing! Very true!