Most home chefs know that pouring grease down their sinks’ drains is a big no-no. So what are you supposed to do with the excess grease from meats and oily foods? Discover some creative ideas for how to store and use excess bacon grease here.
How To Safely Store Bacon Grease
Many home cooks store their extra bacon grease in jars at room temperature, but food safety experts don’t recommend this method if you intend to reuse the grease. The best place to safely store bacon grease is in the refrigerator. Keeping grease in the refrigerator will also help it last longer; you can keep bacon grease in the refrigerator for three to six months and in the freezer indefinitely. Just make sure to strain out any bits of leftover bacon with a coffee filter or mesh strainer before storing the grease.
How To Use Extra Bacon Grease
Fry Up All Your Favorite Foods
You can use excess bacon grease to fry up almost anything that you cook on the stove. Add a scoop of your preserved bacon grease to the pan when frying eggs, rice, vegetables, hash browns, grilled cheese, burgers, and more to add a savory accent to the meal.
Season Cast-Iron Pans
The key to cooking with a great cast-iron skillet is to season it first. Wash your new cast-iron pan, add a scoop of your preserved bacon grease, and carefully rub it into the pan before drying it over the stove on a medium heat. This instills a savory, meaty flavor into your pan for future cooking sessions.
Use It as a Soup Base
You can use bacon grease for soup in a variety of ways. Start by preparing your meats or vegetables in bacon grease to add more flavor to the soup. Additionally, you can replace the butter or other fat content in a roux with bacon grease to add a savory flavor to any soup or other dish. This technique would be perfect for a meaty soup dish such as oxtail soup. If you’re itching to try this recipe, you can find oxtail meat at markets, including ours here at Vincent’s Meat Market.
Use It To Replace Butter
Try using preserved bacon grease as a butter substitute in a variety of recipes. You can even replace butter with bacon grease to spread on toast when you’re making grilled cheese and other sandwiches. Top hush puppies and cornbread with bacon grease for a more savory option than butter. The options are endless!
If you’ve been stumped on how to store and use excess bacon grease, we hope this brief guide inspires your creativity in the kitchen. We bet you didn’t know old bacon grease had so many uses in your future recipes! Be sure to try out some of these recipes and to experiment with your own now that you know how to preserve bacon grease.
