Discover the old-fashioned charm of bacon grease recipes. These recipes go beyond mere substitutes for oil or butter. Bacon grease becomes liquid gold, infusing dishes with rich flavor.
Bacon fat is created by pan-frying bacon on the stove. While some cooks often throw out this valuable flavorful fat, I save the leftover grease and store it in an airtight container or glass jar.
Bacon fat can be used in many delicious ways. It can replace vegetable oil, olive oil, and butter in many recipes adding a smoky flavor.
The smoke point for bacon grease is 400 degrees making it a great choice for coating cast iron pans before frying foods like potatoes, hash browns, or green beans.
What Can I Do With My Bacon Grease?
There are several best uses to make the most of bacon grease. Here are some of the practical use ideas:
- Cooking Medium: Use as a cooking oil for sauteing vegetables, frying eggs, or searing pork chops.
- Flavor Enhancer: Incorporate small amounts into various dishes, like soups and stews, to infuse them with a rich and savory undertone.
- Roasting: Coat russet potatoes with a thin layer of bacon grease before roasting them in the oven to give them a crispy texture.
- Baking: Experiment by incorporating into baked goods like cornbread, biscuits, or savory pastries.
- Grilling: Brush a touch of melted bacon grease onto pork chops, meats, fish, or vegetables before grilling to give a smoky flavor.
- Popcorn Popper: Add a spoonful to your popcorn popper before popping kernels.
- Condiment Enhancer: Add a small amount to homemade condiments like aioli to create a unique flavor for burgers, sandwiches, and more.
- Salad Dressing: Use bacon grease as a key ingredient in making a unique and flavorful salad dressing.
- Greasing Pans: Grease muffin tins and cast iron skillets to help prevent sticking.
Recipes Using Bacon Grease
You will never want to throw away leftover bacon drippings after cooking bacon when you realize how much extra flavor it can add to your dish!
Here is a delicious collection of the best bacon grease recipes:
1. Pan Fried Sweet Potatoes
Use leftover bacon grease for these pan-fried sweet potatoes, resulting in the sweet potatoes frying up with a perfectly crisp exterior.
2. Pan Fried Potatoes
For the most delicious fried potatoes, use a bit of bacon grease. Fried potatoes require some fat to get a crispy brown exterior and this recipe is sure to turn out perfect!
3. Italian Meatballs
To give these Italian meatballs a more delicious flavor, try browning them in a large skillet with some bacon grease.
4. Dutch Oven Potato Soup
For this delicious potato soup recipe, use a combination of butter and leftover bacon fat for the best homemade roux!
5. Cast Iron Scrambled Eggs
Before cooking your scrambled eggs, allow your skillet to adequately heat up at a low temperature to create an even heat. Then add a tablespoon of bacon grease for extra flavor.
6. Cast Iron Skillet Breakfast
This cast iron skillet breakfast recipe uses breakfast sausage and bacon as a source of protein. The bell peppers and onions are sauteed in a large cast-iron skillet with two tablespoons of the excess fat from the bacon grease.
7. Fried Egg Over Easy
For tasty fried eggs, place a cast iron skillet on a stove burner and add one to two tablespoons of bacon fat. Use a spatula, and move the bacon grease around until it turns to a liquid fat, covering the base of the skillet before you fry eggs.
8. Cast Iron Skillet Cornbread
Add a little bacon grease drippings to the bottom of the cast iron skillet before adding the cornbread batter. The hot skillet and bacon grease create a delicious crust on the bottom.
9. Creamy Bacon Potato Corn Soup
This creamy bacon potato corn soup is simple, ultra-creamy, and comforting. You will want to save the bacon grease as it becomes the flavoring base for the soup.
10. Juicy Grilled Elk Burgers
This elk burger recipe combines the earthy flavor of elk meat with the powerful flavor of Worcestershire sauce and the smoky flavor of bacon grease.
11. Grilled Potatoes with Garlic and Thyme
Combining garlic, thyme, and flavorful Yukon gold potatoes cooked in bacon grease results in a super flavorful side dish. These grilled potatoes are crispy on the bottom and tender, flavorful in the middle.
12. Bacon Fat Chocolate Chip Cookies with Bourbon and Pecans
Bacon has become a crazy popular trend. I see it in all sorts of recipes, so why not cookies too? The bacon fat replaces part of the butter in these chocolate chip cookies.
13. Cheese Chicken Bacon Ranch Pasta Casserole
For this chicken bacon ranch pasta recipe, add the bacon and cook until crispy. Then the bacon is transferred to a paper towel-lined plate. Three tablespoons of grease are left in the skillet to cook the chicken.
14. Bacon Aioli
Bacon Aioli is one of the best condiments out there! Want to use up that extra bacon grease? This rich and decadent condiment combines creamy mayonnaise and the savory allure of bacon.
15. Southern Style Collard Greens
The bacon is fried in this collard green recipe until “almost” crisp. Then, do not drain the bacon grease. Add onion and cook with the bacon until the onion is translucent. Add collards 3-4 cups at a time, allowing them to wilt and cook down slightly.
16. Fried Cabbage with Bacon and Onions
This easyfried cabbage with bacon and onionsare salty, smoky, tangy, and sweet. This recipe has no additional oil because everything is fried in the bacon drippings.
17. Spinach Salad with Hot Bacon Dressing
A classic salad with fresh spinach, bacon, fresh mushrooms, red onions, and a perfectly cooked hard-boiled egg. It is then drizzled with a tangy sweet hot bacon dressing.
18. Maple Bacon Brussel Sprouts
Maple bacon brussels sprouts are a quick stovetop side dish. Sliced brussels sprouts are sautéed with crumbled bacon, onions, and a hint of sweet maple syrup.
19. Restaurant Style Refried Beans
Use leftover bacon grease as one of the key ingredients to make a store-bought can of refried beans taste like those from a restaurant! The fat makes good refried beans truly great.
Bacon grease is a great way to flavor any dish, whether a simple saute, a hearty stew, or a delicate salad dressing. Adding bacon grease adds a depth and richness that other ingredients can not replicate.
Remember this handy tip the next time you cook bacon in a cast iron pan on the stovetop:
Once the bacon is cooked to perfection, remove it from the pan and carefully transfer the golden brown bacon fat into a jar once it cools.
If you plan to store the bacon fat for an extended time, strain out the solid bits using a coffee filter before placing the fat into a jar.
This will ensure you have a jar of bacon grease as a flavorful cooking ingredient for recipes that call for bacon grease.
About the Author
Sarah is the author behind Rocky Hedge Farm. With a passion for simple, healthy recipes, gardening, and remodeling her manufactured home, she shares her experiences and knowledge to inspire others. Go here to read her story, “Living a Life of Contentment and Joy: Simple Living at Rocky Hedge Farm.” If you want to message Sarah, visit her contact page here.
