What to do with Leftover Bacon Grease

Who doesn’t love bacon?  Most people are a fan.  However, it seems such a waste to toss out that bacon fat that is left behind in the pan after you eat the Bacon.  Want to know what to do with leftover bacon grease?

I confess, I don’t buy bacon as much as my husband would like me to.  The problem is, I’ve had homemade bacon and once you taste homemade bacon it’s really, really hard to go back to store bought.  But, unless you have your own pig, having access to homemade bacon isn’t always easy.

But, the times that I do buy bacon there’s always a bunch of bacon grease leftover.  So, why waste it, especially when everything costs so much money these days.  If you can find another use for bacon fat, it’s definitely worth saving.

Well, I’ve got great news for you.  There are plenty of other uses for all that extra leftover bacon grease.

But first, let’s answer a few common questions about bacon grease.

Is it OK to pour bacon grease down the drain?

NO!  Don’t do it!! 

Aside from the fact that there are plenty of uses for bacon grease so why throw it out, bacon grease will clog up your drain, or the sewer lines.  Either you or your town or city will not be very happy in the end. 

If you MUST throw it out, wait till it cools down and becomes a solid, then scrape it out with a spatula to get as much of it out as possible and toss it into the garbage can.

But again, why throw it out when you can repurpose it?

But I accidentally poured bacon grease down the drain!

If you accidentally poured bacon grease down the sink, don’t panic.  Run the hot water down the drain to clean it out.  Follow that buy mixing some vinegar and baking soda down the drain. 

As long as you don’t continually pour bacon grease down the drain you should be fine.  One time is probably not going to clog the drain (but don’t test that theory out if possible!)

How long will bacon grease last in the fridge?

Bacon grease will stay good for about 3 months if you refrigerate it.  You’ll want to strain it and you can do this by using a coffee filter over something like a mason jar.  Pour the grease through the coffee filter.  This will take time so be patient.

Okay, so let’s get into the real reason you are here – figuring out what to do with bacon fat.

What to do with Leftover Bacon Grease

Make a bacon candle

Wait, WHAT?  Yep, you read that right.  You can make a candle out of bacon grease.  Sounds crazy, but you’ll probably be the coolest person out of all your friends if they come over and see you’ve made a candle from bacon fat of all things.  It would also be a great gift for your husband or father!  Read these instructions on how to do it.

Fry up potatoes or hash browns

Want some added flavor to your potatoes or hashbrowns?  Frying them up in your leftover bacon grease is sure to be a hit with your whole family.

Add a bit to your gravy

Want to make your gravy the talk of the town?  Adding some bacon grease is sure to add that smoky, bacon flavor that will make those mashed potatoes smothered in gravy that much more delicious.

Fry up some eggs

Your morning eggs will taste that much more delicious when you cook them in some bacon fat.

Make a fire starter

We love to have fire starters for when we go camping. They are pretty easy to make, and you can create these ones from bacon grease!  They use paper cups with the bacon grease to make them, but I imagine you could make them in egg cartons too.

Make a bird feeder

Who doesn’t love to watch birds outside their window?  Entice them to visit you while you gaze on their beauty with this bacon bird feeder.

Make chocolate chip cookies

Bacon grease may seem like an odd thing to add in a chocolate chip cookie recipe, but I once had a bacon chocolate chip cookie and I can promise you it is amazing.

Make a bacon grease salad dressing

You want to eat your greens, right?  What better way than to add some bacon flavoring to it?  It might even convince your husband and kids to eat the salad at dinner time.  I’m getting hungry just thinking about this dressing.

Season your cast iron pots and pans

I don’t know about you, but I don’t season my cast iron pans enough.  But if I have bacon grease sitting in my fridge just screaming to be used, I may just be more likely to season my cast iron cookware.  Bacon fat is an excellent way to get that job done.

Use it to pop your popcorn

I love trying new flavor combinations for popcorn, whether it be different spices or fats.  Well, who wouldn’t like bacon flavored popcorn?  You can even add some bacon bits like this recipe.

Freeze it to add to recipes for flavor

Did you know you can freeze bacon grease in small sized portions to use it in whatever recipe you want to? Not sure how to do that?  Don’t worry, this tutorial will lead you through the process.

Make cornbread

Cornbread is that one recipe I don’t make enough, but every time I do I wonder to myself, “why don’t I bake this more often?”  Well, you can take that traditional cornbread and kick it up a notch with this recipe that uses bacon fat for flavoring in it.

Try this bacon aioli

I like dipping sauces, sauce to spread on my sandwiches, condiments for my food.  This bacon aioli that uses grease as an ingredient is sure to be delicious.

Make bacon fat peanut butter cookies

Not only can you make chocolate chip cookies with bacon grease, you can also make amazing peanut butter cookies with bacon fat.

DON’T THROW OUT THAT BACON GREASE

So as you can see, there are a ton of ways you can use that leftover bacon fat.  Make do with what you have by not throwing it out.  It’ll save you money and it’ll turn some ordinary dishes into something extraordinary.  Or it’ll make some awesome fire starters or candles.

Back in the day many of our grandparents let nothing go to waste.  It was normal to use everything they could.  But, here’s a fun fact – during the Great Depression, women were asked to save their bacon fat to be used to make bombs for the war.  They would give it to their local butcher who would then turn it over to the government to be used.

We can learn so much from them about repurposing what we have, and we can start by saving our bacon grease and using it any way we can!  If you do that you most likely won’t need to buy as much cooking oil.

So, save that bacon grease the next time you make bacon for your family for breakfast.