12 Ways to Use This Leftover Ingredient

Bacon is the not-so-secret ingredient that transforms everything from soups to wedge salads. But if you’re tossing the rendered fat, you’re missing out on even more salty, savory goodness.

Chandra Ram, F&W’s associate editorial director of food, keeps a pig-shaped bacon bin in her fridge at all times. “I started saving bacon fat while working as a cook at a hotel in Maine,” she says. “My chef there taught me how to give a second life to the bacon — and its rendered fat — we had leftover from breakfast by using the fat to sweat the onions and celery for clam chowder, and crumbling up the bacon to sprinkle on top of each bowl as a garnish.”

Here’s how make the most of this do-it-all ingredient.

How to render bacon fat

Whether you’re using strips, pieces, or ends of bacon, make sure to cook it over low to medium-low heat, which will ensure it renders evenly. Cook it for 10 to 12 minutes, flipping about halfway through. From there, you can use some or all of the rendered fat to immediately sauté ingredients like potatoes or onions. If you want to save your bacon fat for the future, pour it into a grease container, jar, or other airtight container, and allow it to cool before storing. (Straining out any solid bits with a fine-mesh sieve is optional, but will help to prevent rancidity.) You can store your bacon fat in the fridge for a couple weeks, or freeze it up to three months.

How to cook with bacon fat

Once you’ve rendered the fat from bacon, you can easily use it in place of other cooking fats like oil or butter to sauté aromatics or sear proteins.

“I scoop out a little bacon fat from my jar to use when sautéing onions for soup or a stew, or to grease my cast-iron pan before making cornbread,” says Ram. “And there’s nothing better in the summer than fresh corn from the farmers’ market gently sautéed in bacon fat until it’s barely cooked but heated through.”

You can also rub rendered bacon fat (instead of butter) over a roast chicken, or you can melt it and toss with vegetables before roasting. Here are 12 pork-fueled recipes that show off all that bacon fat can do.