Beef Tallow: USDA Nutrition, Benefits, Skin Claims and Tallow vs Butter

Beef tallow is rendered beef fat: fat trimmed from cattle, melted down slowly and strained until it sets into a firm, creamy-white block at room temperature. In USDA data a tablespoon has about 115 calories, all from fat, with roughly half of that fat saturated and most of the rest monounsaturated. Tallow has returned to kitchens and skincare shelves, and the 2025-2030 Dietary Guidelines for Americans now name it as a cooking option while keeping a limit on saturated fat. Here is what is actually in it, what the evidence says about its benefits, and how it compares with butter and plant oils.

Peptide Labs does not sell beef tallow or tallow products. This article is general nutrition information, not medical advice.

What is beef tallow?

Tallow is made by rendering: beef fat is heated gently so the fat melts out of the surrounding tissue, then strained. Cooks often start with suet, the hard fat around the kidneys and loins, which USDA files under beef variety meats, though trimmings from other cuts work too. The result keeps for a long time, stays solid at room temperature and has a mild, beefy flavor. Tallow was a standard frying and baking fat before liquid plant oils became common, and it has long been used in soap and candles.

Because it comes from cattle, tallow is not suitable for vegetarian or vegan diets, and people who avoid beef for religious or personal reasons may want to ask how restaurant fries or bakery items are cooked.

Beef tallow nutrition per tablespoon

The table uses the USDA FoodData Central SR Legacy entry for beef tallow (FDC 171400), converted to a 1-tablespoon serving of 12.8 grams. The percent Daily Value (%DV) uses the FDA Daily Values printed on Nutrition Facts labels.

Two details in the USDA entry are worth knowing. First, tallow is not a vitamin source: claims that it is rich in vitamins A, D, E and K do not match the USDA figures, which list zero vitamin A and vitamin K and only traces of vitamins D and E. Second, its saturated fat is not one single fat. Palmitic acid is the largest share, but stearic acid makes up more than a third of the total, which matters for the cholesterol research below. The USDA entry does not separate grass-fed from grain-fed tallow, so fatty acid claims for specific products rest on the maker’s own testing.

Tallow vs butter, lard and olive oil

Comparing common cooking fats per tablespoon puts tallow in context. Values come from the USDA SR Legacy entries named in the first column.

On tallow vs butter, tallow is pure fat, so a tablespoon carries a few more calories, while butter is about 81% fat with water and milk solids making up the rest. Butter has more saturated fat and about twice the cholesterol per tablespoon, and it supplies vitamin A that tallow lacks. Tallow is closer to lard, which has a little less saturated fat and more polyunsaturated fat. Olive oil sits at the other end, with most of its fat monounsaturated. For other fats, see our guides to ghee, olive oil and coconut oil.

Beef tallow benefits: what the evidence says

Most of the case for tallow is culinary rather than clinical. There are no long-term human trials that test tallow itself against other fats for health outcomes, so the evidence comes from research on its fatty acids and from broader saturated fat studies.

• Stable for cooking: tallow is low in polyunsaturated fat, and polyunsaturated fats are the ones most prone to oxidation because of their reactive double bonds. That is one reason cooks like it for frying and searing. Smoke point figures circulated online vary widely, so we do not list them.
• Stearic acid: a 2010 systematic review in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (Hunter and colleagues) found that stearic acid lowered LDL cholesterol compared with other saturated fats, but tended to raise LDL compared with unsaturated fats. The authors still preferred unsaturated fats where a liquid fat works.
• Saturated fat overall: a 2017 American Heart Association presidential advisory concluded that trials replacing saturated fat with polyunsaturated vegetable oils lowered cardiovascular disease by about 30%, while swapping saturated fat for refined carbohydrates and sugars did not help. That is the main reason heart groups favor liquid plant oils.
• Whole-food fat: tallow is a single-ingredient, minimally processed fat. The AHA’s 2021 dietary guidance and the newest Dietary Guidelines both push people away from ultra-processed foods, though the AHA still favors liquid plant oils.

What the Dietary Guidelines say about tallow

The two most recent editions of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans read differently. The 2020-2025 edition advised limiting saturated fat to less than 10 percent of calories by replacing it with unsaturated fats, particularly polyunsaturated fats, and suggested cooking with vegetable oil in place of butter, shortening, lard or coconut oil.

The 2025-2030 edition says to prioritize oils with essential fatty acids, such as olive oil, and adds that other options can include butter or beef tallow. It keeps the line that saturated fat should not exceed 10% of total daily calories and says that significantly limiting highly processed foods will help meet that goal. It also states that more high-quality research is needed to determine which types of dietary fats support long-term health. In other words, tallow is now named as an acceptable cooking fat, but the saturated fat limit did not change. Our seed oil myth check covers the other side of that debate.

Beef tallow for skin

Tallow balms and creams are heavily promoted on social media as a natural moisturizer. The research has not caught up with the marketing:

• 2024 scoping review (Russell and colleagues): of 147 studies screened, 19 met the criteria, and they were comparative, laboratory and animal studies. The authors found significant research gaps on tallow for human skin, and side effects were the area where sources disagreed most.
• 2025 social media analysis (Almatroud and colleagues, Journal of Cosmetic Dermatology): posts about tallow for skin conditions such as acne, eczema and psoriasis largely lacked cited evidence, most promoting posts showed financial bias, and most came from people without healthcare credentials. The authors concluded that the evidence is insufficient to support these claims.

Tallow’s fatty acids are similar to some of the lipids found in skin, which is the usual argument for it, but that is a reason to study it, not proof that it works. Anyone with a skin condition is better served by a dermatologist than by a trend. For ingredients with more published research, see our guide to peptides in skincare.

How to use tallow in a balanced diet

• Read it as a saturated fat: one tablespoon covers about a third of the saturated fat Daily Value, so it adds up quickly alongside red meat, cheese and baked goods.
• Use it for what it does well: roasting vegetables, searing and frying, where a little goes a long way.
• Balance it with plant fats: olive oil, nuts, seeds and fish supply the unsaturated and omega-3 fats that tallow lacks, as in the Mediterranean diet.
• Check with a clinician if you have high LDL cholesterol or heart disease, since saturated fat advice may be stricter for you. Our list of foods high in cholesterol covers the related numbers.
• Store it covered and cool and discard it if it smells rancid or sour.

Frequently Asked Questions

Questions about a label? Contact us or read our Buyer’s Guide. Food comes first; follow the label and ask a healthcare provider before changing your diet or starting a supplement, especially if you take medicines, have a heart or cholesterol condition, or are pregnant. These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.

Last reviewed October 2026.

Related guides: Lard: USDA Nutrition, Is Lard Healthy, Lard vs Butter and Tallow, Seed Oils: What They Are, a USDA Fat Chart and What Research Shows, Ghee: What It Is, Nutrition, Ghee vs Butter and Is It Healthy?, Grass-Fed Beef: Nutrition, Labels and Grass-Fed vs Grain-Fed.