How to render and store bacon fat

Cooking With Bacon Grease

Bacon grease can be stored in the freezer for up to a month. You can use it to make authentic gingersnap cookies or the classic Southern recipe of turnip greens with bacon drippings. Or you can use it to make wilted spinach salad, which I think is delicious. Use it the next time you fry vegetables to give them a nice bacon flavor. Any recipe which calls for lard or shortening can usually be substituted with bacon grease.

To store your bacon grease for cooking it's best to strain the oil into a sealable container like a plastic Tupperware or a recycled glass jar. Make sure you keep just the oil, not any remnants of breakfast; if you don't have a strainer or cheesecloth lying around try straining the oil with a paper towel. After straining, cover the container and store it in the freezer. This not only keeps the grease fresher it will become hard and easier to cook with. In the freezer, bacon grease will last over a month. You can add new grease to your container each time decide to fry up some bacon. This grease can become rancid over time so always do a sniff test before using. If it has a rancid or bad smell, it has probably spoiled.

Storage it in proper containers

Kathy Burns-Millyard/Demand Media

If you’ve tried storing hot bacon grease in plastic before, then you’ve likely experienced a hole right through your container. This means that your best options for storing bacon grease are glass or ceramic containers. It also helps that glass and ceramic don’t absorb odors.

Another option for storing bacon grease is in a high-quality stainless steel container, which completely blocks out light and can go directly onto the stove to reheat the grease.

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How to Dispose of Bacon Grease

Pouring bacon grease or other cooking oils down the kitchen sink can cause serious plumbing issues. The grease—whether hot or cold—will coat the pipes and eventually cause clogs or backups. For proper disposal of refrigerated bacon fat, simply scoop it into the trash with a spoon or spatula.

If the bacon grease is hot, allow it to solidify in a glass jar before disposing of it in the trash. For easy removal, line the glass jar with aluminum foil before pouring in the grease.

How to reheat cooked bacon

If you’ve cooked your bacon to a level below your desired crispness, reheating will allow you to get it just right. If your bacon is already cooked how you like it, then reduce the reheating time so you’re only warming the bacon rather than cooking it further.

There are several ways to reheat bacon, here are my recommendations:

1. Using a skillet. Cast iron is preferred, but any skillet will suffice. Heat the skillet with medium-low heat. When it’s warmed up, place the bacon strips in the pan. Leave the strips to cook in their own juices until heated through. It should only take 1-2 minutes of heating on both sides.
2. Use the oven. The oven is best for big batches of bacon. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and lay the bacon out on an aluminum foil-lined baking tray. The foil will make the clean up much easier. If you want to stop the bacon from crisping up too much, you can also put a foil layer on top of the bacon. Put the bacon in the oven and heat for 8-10 minutes.
3. Use the microwave. The microwave is best when you’re in a hurry. Line a microwave-safe dish with a paper towel, place bacon on the towel, and cover with another layer of paper towel. Microwave for around 10 seconds per slice of bacon. The bacon will crisp up quickly once you take it out of the microwave.

Can cooked bacon go bad?

Due to the low moisture and high sodium content, cooked bacon is unlikely to get moldy in the refrigerator. These, along with the cold temperatures, make cooked bacon inhospitable for bacteria.

The real concern is the fat going rancid. Rancid fat isn’t harmful, but it will make the bacon taste bad. 

Try cooking with beef bacon, too

Beef bacon, it turns out, is interchangeable with the porky stuff for most cooking applications.

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“We don’t eat pork at home, so beef bacon was a life changing discovery for me,” Elrod says. “I can use it in almost any place I would use pork bacon and it’s every bit as good.”

Deen Halal is the brand of beef bacon she uses most often, though it isn’t readily available at most grocery stores; she gets it from a restaurant supply store. So if you can’t find it, Elrod recommends a brand called Godshall’s, which you can get at some major grocery store chains.

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How to Store Bacon Fat

If you use bacon fat regularly in your cooking, you can store it right on your kitchen counter for a week or two. Otherwise, you’ll want to keep it stored in the refrigerator.

The enemies of all cooking fats are light and air. Exposure to sunlight and oxygen will accelerate a fat going rancid, which is why it's best to store bacon fat in the refrigerator.

If you don't filter out the solid bits, the fat can last a couple of months in the refrigerator before it starts to go rancid. If you do filter out the solid bits, the fat can last up to a year in the refrigerator.

You can also freeze bacon fat if you want to store it even longer.

How to use bacon grease in your cooking

Bacon grease is a versatile tool in the kitchen, and Chef Elrod has a lot of suggested uses. “I love cooking with bacon grease,” she says. “I use it to fry eggs, to brown proteins like chicken, and to cook vegetables like greens and sweet potatoes, naturally. I also use bacon fat in cornbread, and quick breads. I learned from my husband, the pizza man, to grease a cast iron skillet or Sicilian pizza tray heavily with beef bacon fat for baking focaccia like breads.”

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But, as they say on television, that’s not all! Elrod also suggests using bacon fat to supplement meat dishes that include lean cuts, to add extra richness where there naturally isn’t much fat to begin with.

“I love using bacon grease to enrich stews and braises made with leaner cuts of meat, like venison or lean beef,” she explains. “I start by browning the meat and aromatic vegetables really well in the fat, then build the rest of the dish. I mix bacon fat with a neutral flavored oil for pan frying and deep frying, which allows me to stretch my bacon grease while adding great flavor and color to the fried items like breaded cutlets or fried chicken.”

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How Long Does Bacon Fat Last in the Fridge?

Eventually, all fats go bad. But if you filter out the solid bacon bits, your bacon fat will last much longer — up to a year in the refrigerator, in fact.

For even longer storage, freeze your bacon grease.

Bacon Grease Storage and Shelf Life Summary

While bacon grease eventually goes bad, it lasts quite a while. If it’s store-bought, it typically keeps for a couple of months after the printed date. For the homemade variety, it lasts about 6 months at room temperature, and over a year if you refrigerate it.

That also means that you don’t need to refrigerate bacon grease, but it’s definitely worth considering, especially if you care about long storage time. Or if you’re like me and the thought of bacon fat sitting on the counter weirds you out.

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