With this collection of 25 delicious ways to use bacon fat, you’ll never throw away leftover bacon drippings again. These tasty recipes all get a burst of extra flavor from smooth, creamy bacon grease.
If you haven’t started saving the flavorful fat after you make a pan of tasty bacon, just head over to BENSA’s helpful guide on What To Do With Bacon Grease for complete details about rendering, straining and storing.
The smoke point for rendered, well-strained bacon grease is 400 degrees F / 250 degrees C, making it a great choice for frying foods like potatoes or making perfectly golden grilled cheese sandwiches.
Bacon fat is perfect for coating your griddle or skillet to cook breakfast treats like pancakes, crepes and fried eggs.
Because it solidifies when you refrigerate it, you can often substitute it for butter or shortening in recipes.
You’ll love having a container of this liquid gold in your refrigerator!
How Long Does Bacon Grease Last?
To preserve its pure, slightly smoky flavor, we recommend storing your container of bacon grease in the refrigerator. It will keep for 3-4 months and taste terrific. Bacon fat also freezes nicely for up to 6 months. For detailed directions, check out our post on making bacon fat last.
With a nice jar of this tasty, creamy elixir in your refrigerator, you’ll be all set to make mouth-watering recipes like these:
25 Tasty Recipes Featuring Bacon Fat
1. Make bacon fat tortillas.
2. Make candied ginger butter and bacon fat cookies.
3. Bake a batch of Bacon Grease Biscuits.
4. Make your own baconnaise.
5. Cut sliced bread in cubes and fry them in bacon fat for amazing croutons.
6. Use it to make refried beans.
7. Bake skillet cornbread.
8. Make a fantastic grilled cheese sandwich. Spread a little mustard and mayo on 2 slices of bread, layer with your favorite cheese slices, and cook in bacon fat in a hot skillet. Soooo good!
9. Cook torn or roughly chopped kale leaves in bacon grease in a hot skillet. Add a clove or two of chopped garlic during the last few minutes of cooking.
10. Make warm bacon vinaigrette salad dressing.
11. Use bacon fat to cook popcorn. Heat 1/4 cup bacon grease in a large pot over medium-high heat, add 1/4 cup popcorn kernels, cover and cook until the kernels pop. Toss with shredded Parmesan cheese and bacon bits for pure popcorn nirvana.
12. Make a batch of caramelized onions to have on hand for adding to pizzas, pastas and casseroles. (Caramelized onions freeze really well, so we keep a batch in a ziplock freezer bag.)
13. Use it to cook fried or scrambled eggs.
14. Make German potato salad.
15. Make the Food Network’s Bacon Fat Pancakes.
16. Use it to cook green beans.
17. Make “The Best Homemade Pie Crust Ever.”
18.. Use it to fry hash browns.
19. Make Bacon Grease Gravy. It’s great over biscuits!
20. Bake a batch of Peanut Butter Bacon Fat Cookies.
21. Make Maple Bacon Donuts!
22. Steam trimmed, halved Brussel sprouts for 5 minutes, then finish cooking in bacon grease in a hot skillet until browned and caramelized.
23. Make crispy pan-fried smashed potatoes.
24. Bake a batch of Bacon Cheddar Scones.
25. Use it to make decadent Chex Mix.
Want even more ideas? Be sure to check out our roundup of 20 best bacon fat recipes.
How About You?
What’s your favorite recipe that uses bacon grease? We’d love to hear your ideas in the comments section.
If you’re on Pinterest, here’s a pin to save to your Bacon Recipes board!
Grateful thanks to Chris Yarzab for use of the bacon cooking image, P. Doctor for use of the pancakes photo, and MM Woolley for use of the grilled cheese image.
Use bacon fat to season stewed tomatoes
Dorothy, thank you for sharing that great idea. We can’t wait to try stewed tomatoes with flavorful bacon drippings. YUM!
Yep 100% whole wheat pie crust for chicken pot pie.
Great website, thanks for the great recipes… I’ll use them again in the future ;-) THANK YOU !!! Greetings from Germany