Thursday, February 9, 2012

Four Great Ways to Use Bacon Grease

I save bacon grease, but don't typically cook with it much as I prefer the flavor of butter. So what do I do with the bacon grease?

  • Drizzle melted bacon grease on a green salad in place of oil: This is my absolute favorite way to use bacon grease!  It makes salads taste fabulous. Balsamic vinegar and honey mustard both pair wonderfully with bacon grease on a salad.  Lately, we've really been enjoying salad dressed with salt and pepper, bacon grease, homemade mayo, and homemade honey mustard (made by mixing equal parts raw honey and dijon mustard). 
  • Use bacon grease to replace some of the oil in homemade mayo: This makes for some tasty bacon mayo!  With my immersion blender, I don't even have to melt the bacon grease to use it in mayo (but it should be at room temperature).  And then you can even use the bacon mayo to make bacon-flavored homemade ranch dressing.
  • Rub kale with bacon grease instead of oil when making kale chips:The flavor of kale pairs wonderfully with the flavor of bacon.
  • Bacon grease can really change up the flavor of soups: I really like the flavor of bacon when added to chicken-based soups.
What are your favorite ways to use bacon grease?

This post is part of Fat Tuesday and Monday Mania! 

15 comments:

Pam said...

I love using bacon grease in cooking. When I make green beans or potatoes I usually throw a little BG in there for the fat and flavor. Sometimes I fry potatoes or eggs in it, too. I love the idea of using it for dressing and mayo. I bet the bacon mayo would be awesome on a BLT. Yum!

Jen said...

Bacon and butter popcorn is to die for... Mmmm... But really, bacon fat goes on everything :D

Sarah Faith said...

we never can have enough bacon grease. my husband hoards it. we use it for making greens, making eggs, and browning meat for stew or soup. I think if we had enough of it, my husband and kids would spread it on toast, seriously. :)

Brittany said...

I also love to add a tablespoon of bacon grease to certain veggies such as beans instead of butter for that O so good bacon flavor. Delicious!

Mindy @ Too Many Jars in My Kitchen! said...

Ooh, I love the sound of the bacon grease on salad! I think I'll need to give that a try today. I love roasting Brussels sprouts in bacon grease. That's what made me finally start to enjoy eating those.

Sally said...

I use bacon grease for making tasty refried beans! I am going to have to try using it in mayo. That sounds like a great addition. I don't always care for the olive oil flavor in my homemade mayo. This would be a great change. Thanks for the ideas!

Vida said...

We use it for boiled eggs, with peas and onions.

Danielle said...

I love bacon grease for refried beans, too, as Sally mentioned. I know you don't do much grain baking, but bacon grease in place of some of the butter in soaked/sprouted buttermilk biscuits gives them amazing flavor!

Vicki Arnold said...

I love to saute onions in bacon grease for soups and such.

Anonymous said...

When I make bread, currently it's sour dough stone ground rye, I use it to grease the pans. I've greased my bread pans for more than 20 years like this. It's fabulous.

Unknown said...

Last week I used it to make the roux for our gumbo. My father used to do that and I had pretty much forgotten. Well, I used it in an iron skillet and everyone raved about it. The depth of flavor was amazing.

Maria said...

Back in the early 60's, we used to dip our bread and toast it a little in the frying pan after my Mom fried bacon. It was yummy! I suppose you could dip sour dough bread or biscuits into that. Your post brought back memories of those days. We also used to have kidney beans with bacon and the bacon grease. All that stopped after a visit from a nutritionist to my school when I was 11 years old. She told me to tell my mom that we shouldn't have eggs and bacon everyday - bad for the heart. So after that I was a cereal girl for 36 years till about seven years ago. I have bacon and raw egg yolks and cooked whites everyday for breakfast now. I use bacon grease for stews and fried potatoes but will have to try your suggestions.

3RMama said...

just made bacon greased kale chips! heavenly! thank you!!

Anonymous said...

As yummy as bacon grease is duck fat. I always use one or the other, or coconut oil, to fry or grease anything. Oh, and great in almond crust recipes, too.

Anonymous said...

Well, this was a fun and interesting read!