You Cooked Bacon. Now What About the Fat?

While the bacon fat is still just warm enough to be liquid (I usually wait until I’m done eating to do this, about 15 or 20 minutes after cooking), pour it through a fine-mesh strainer into a heatproof container with an airtight lid. I like to use a wide-mouthed Mason jar (they even sell special bacon grease containers with built-in strainers). I have a tea strainer that sits perfectly in the top of the jar without my having to hold it. That way, my hands are free to pour the bacon fat out of the skillet and to scrape out every last bit with a rubber spatula. 

Sometimes I cook bacon in the oven on a foil-lined rimmed baking sheet. In this case, I carefully fold up the foil and bend it into a funnel to pour the rendered drippings into my jar.

Straining the bacon grease accomplishes two things. First, it ensures that there are no solid bits in there that will burn the next time you cook with it. And second, it helps the fat keep longer.

Once I’ve got my treasure in the jar, I label it (usually on a piece of masking tape) with the date (of the very first bacon grease addition) and pop it in the fridge. If I ever amass so much that I don’t think I can use it up within a month or so, I freeze it in 1-tablespoon portions using an ice cube tray and then pop them out into zipper-lock bags.

One note on the shelf life of bacon fat. My gut (and anecdotal experience) tells me that properly strained bacon grease will last a long time in the fridge (at least a month) and for nearly all of eternity in the freezer, but I have to advise using caution, common sense, and the good old-fashioned sniff test to judge the quality of fat that’s been around for a while. If it develops an off smell or flavor, throw it out. But I’ve personally never had the restraint to keep it around long enough for this to happen.

Finally, let’s peruse the Cook’s Country recipe archives for some potential uses for your fresh hoard of bacon treasure. Perhaps the most classic use of bacon fat is to use it instead of butter or oil in cornbread, such as our Southern-Style Skillet Cornbread. And for maximum bacon-fried surface area, you might want to try our recipe for Hoecakes, which basically makes a whole batch of nothing but the crispy edge of cornbread. 

For that matter, bacon grease will work wonders in just about any recipe with corn. Our Corn and Bacon Pasta is a prime example. The bacon grease is built into this recipe, but the method of sautéing sweet summer corn in bacon drippings is time-tested and delicious.

You can make a bacon aioli by replacing the olive oil with bacon fat in our Easy Homemade Aioli recipe. Then, slather it on an Ultimate BLT Sandwich or Bacon, Lettuce, and Fried Green Tomato Sandwiches. Or use it in place of the regular mayo in our Torn Potato Salad with Garlic and Herb Dressing. 

I love cooking fried eggs, like these Kai Dao, in bacon fat. I also love starting a beef stew, like our Quick Beef Stew with Mushrooms and Dijon, with bacon fat. A little bacon fat can add smoky, porky depth to just about any savory recipe. 

Saving—and cooking with—bacon fat is a thrifty way to maximize flavor in your cooking.