What To Do With Bacon Grease

Bacon grease is every southern woman’s secret weapon. If you want to elevate your kitchen game then a great place to start is by including bacon grease in your dishes.

Is Bacon Grease Unhealthy?

Bacon grease is about 50% monounsaturated fat which is typically referred to as “good fat”. In fact, if you compare it to butter there is actually has less cholesterol.

A large part of the fat found in bacon grease is oleic acid. Oleic acid, also the star in olive oil, is thought to be “heart healthy”. 

Bacon contains vitamins B1, B2, B3, B5, B6, and B12. You will also find minerals iron, magnesium, zinc and potassium in bacon. 

Bacon does have a much higher salt content due to the salt that is used in the curing process. However, when cooking with bacon grease I simply forgo adding any additional salt to the dish in order to avoid too much added salt.

Bacon Grease Benefits

In addition to the health benefits as opposed to cooking with canola or vegetable oil bacon grease also adds a powerful flavor upgrade and is preventing waste. 

When you are using the left over bacon grease in other recipes then you are stretching out the money that you paid for the bacon. It is very economical and also prolongs the use of the piggy that provided all of the great pork for us to have in the first place. 

I find it to be packed with delicious flavor and an amazing addition to tons of foods. Using bacon grease will give your food some serious wow factor in a way that no other oil can compete with.

How To Store Your Grease

I use this container that I found on Amazon.

I really love how sweet it looks sitting on my counter next to the stove. I also love that it comes with a strainer. When I am ready to store my grease I just remove the top lid and pour the warm grease directly into the jar. It strains out any bacon bits or burned bits and all of the grease is kept together away from the little bits.

Safety Warning

When you are ready to store your bacon grease, and especially if you are storing it in glass, you want to make sure that the grease has had a chance to cool down. If you pour piping hot grease into a cold jar it is liable to crack or even shatter. 

Exercise caution and be sure that your grease has had a chance to cool down. Of course if the grease has cooled for too long it will be more solid in your pan than liquid. This will make it impossible to pour out or to remove all the little bits of bacon. There is no need to worry if this happens to you. Just warm the grease a bit and it will go back to its liquid state. 

10 Ways To Use Bacon Grease

• Gravy
  • Use the grease instead of butter for making gravy
    
• Hash Browns or Fried Potatoes
  • Fry your potatoes in bacon grease instead of oil or butter for a delicious smokey flavor
    
• Green beans
  • Add just a bit to green beans to elevate the flavor and make the green beans delicious and savory
    
• Roasted Veggies
  • Toss your veggies in a little bit of bacon grease before roasting instead of oil
    
• Cornbread or Biscuits
  • Using the grease here really takes things to the next level
    
• Eggs
  • Cook your bacon first and then scramble up your eggs in the same pan you just fried the bacon in
    
• Quesadillas 
  • Substitute here instead of oil to get crispy and smokey quesadillas
    
• Soups and Stews
  • Bacon grease will make your comfort food even more warm and cozy
    
• Mashed Potatoes
  • A little bacon grease plus some roasted garlic makes the absolute best mashed potatoes around
    
• Season Your Cast Iron
  • The seasoning and flavor profile you’ll add to your cast iron will be top of the line with this trick
    

How To Dispose Of Any Grease

Never ever ever ever pour any kind of cooking oil/grease/lard down the sink. Doing so will wreck the plumbing not just in your kitchen but potentially throughout your entire home!! The grease will cause major clogs and if you continue to pour it down the sink then over time you will coat the pipes and eventually put a very nice plumbers child through college. 

Your home compost pile will not get hot enough to break down grease so thats not a great option either. I am not a compost expert but as far as I understand a tiny bit won’t hurt your compost but it won’t help it either. 

Your best option is to let the grease solidify and then dispose of it with your garbage.