Tallow vs. Lard: What's the Difference (And Why It Matters for Your Skin)

Tallow and lard look a lot alike in the jar. Both are pale, both are rendered animal fat, and both were kitchen staples for generations before vegetable oil took over. The simple difference between tallow and lard is the animal: tallow is rendered beef fat, and lard is rendered pork fat.

That one difference changes more than you'd think. It affects how firm each fat is, how long it keeps, how it cooks, and how it behaves on your skin. Here's the honest tallow vs lard comparison, from the kitchen to the bathroom shelf.

What Is Tallow?

Tallow is rendered beef fat. The best tallow comes from suet, the firm fat around a cow's kidneys, which renders clean and mild. The fat is warmed slowly until the pure fat melts away from the tissue, and then it's strained and cooled. At room temperature, tallow is firm and white to pale yellow, and grass-fed tallow often has a warmer, creamier color.

Tallow can also come from sheep, which people call mutton tallow, but most tallow you'll find today is beef tallow. If you'd like to see how it's made, our sister site Texas Grass Fed Farms walks through the process in Liquid Gold from Your Kitchen.

What Is Lard?

Lard is rendered pork fat. In the US, it's made from fat around a pig's back, belly, and organs. The most prized kind is leaf lard, which comes from the soft fat around the kidneys. Leaf lard is very mild and is the baker's favorite for flaky pie crust.

Lard is softer than tallow at room temperature, closer to the texture of shortening. Lard sold on grocery store shelves is often hydrogenated so it keeps longer without refrigeration, which changes it from the lard your grandmother rendered at home.

Tallow vs Lard: The Key Differences

Both fats are mostly saturated and monounsaturated fat, but the balance is different. According to the USDA's FoodData Central nutrient database, beef tallow is about 50% saturated fat, 42% monounsaturated fat, and 4% polyunsaturated fat. Lard is about 39% saturated fat, 45% monounsaturated fat, and 11% polyunsaturated fat.

Those numbers explain most of what follows. More saturated fat, mainly stearic and palmitic acid, makes tallow firmer and more stable. More polyunsaturated fat makes lard softer, and it also makes lard more likely to go rancid, because polyunsaturated fats react with oxygen more easily.

Here's the quick comparison:

• Source: Tallow is rendered beef fat, while lard is rendered pork fat.
• Texture: Tallow is firm at room temperature, while lard is soft and spreadable.
• Shelf life: Tallow keeps for many months in a cool cupboard, while lard lasts longer in the fridge.
• Flavor: Tallow has a mild, slightly beefy taste, while lard is neutral to faintly porky.
• Smoke point: Tallow is around 400 degrees Fahrenheit, while lard is a little lower, around 370 degrees.
• Best in the kitchen: Tallow is good for frying and searing, while lard is good for pastry and baked goods.

Why the Animal's Diet Matters So Much

This is the part most comparisons skip. Cattle are ruminants, which means they digest grass in a multi-chambered stomach full of helpful bacteria. Those bacteria change much of the fat the animal eats before it's stored, so beef fat tends to stay firm and stable no matter what the animal ate.

Pigs have a single stomach, much like ours. Their fat reflects what they eat much more directly. Pigs fed a diet heavy in corn and soy store more polyunsaturated fat, which makes their lard softer and quicker to spoil. Pasture-raised pigs can produce a different lard, but the effect of diet is always stronger in pork than in beef.

Grass-fed, grass-finished cattle add one more layer. Their fat carries more conjugated linoleic acid, often shortened to CLA, and more beta-carotene, which is where the pale yellow color comes from. A review of grass-fed and grain-fed beef lays out those differences in detail.

Tallow vs Lard for Your Skin

Both fats have been rubbed into skin for a very long time. Old family salves were often made with lard, and tallow has a long history in soaps, balms, and moisturizers. Both can soften dry skin, because both are rich animal fats with no water in them. Still, a few differences matter when you're putting one of them on your face or body.

Which Is Closer to Your Skin's Own Oil?

Your skin makes an oil called sebum, and it contains a good share of palmitic, stearic, and oleic acids. Tallow carries all three, with more stearic and palmitic acid than lard. That overlap is a big reason tallow skincare has stuck around, and we compare the numbers side by side in our post on fatty acid differences in grass-fed tallow. Lard shares some of the same fats too, so the gap isn't huge, but tallow is the closer match.

Which One Keeps Better in a Jar?

This is where tallow pulls ahead. Because lard has more polyunsaturated fat, it oxidizes faster, and a moisturizer made with lard can turn stale or rancid sooner. Rancid fat smells sharp and can irritate skin. Tallow's more stable makeup means a skin product made with it can keep for many months in a cool, dark spot.

How Do They Feel on Skin?

Lard is softer and spreads easily straight from the jar. Tallow is firmer, so it takes a few seconds of warming between your fingers before it melts. Once it's warm, tallow spreads smoothly and tends to absorb well. Both can feel heavy if you use too much, and a pea-sized amount covers most of a face.

What About Breakouts?

Any rich fat can clog pores on some people, and that's true of both tallow and lard. The pore-clogging charts you see online mostly come from old animal tests, which we explain in our post on whether beef tallow clogs pores. The best guide is a patch test and a thin first layer.

Who Might Prefer One Over the Other?

Some people avoid pork for religious, dietary, or personal reasons, and tallow is an easy choice for them. People who've reacted to beef products or lanolin should patch test carefully with any animal fat. Neither tallow nor lard is vegan, and anyone avoiding animal products will want a plant butter instead.

What Is the Best Kind of Tallow to Use on Your Skin?

If you're choosing a tallow skin product, a few things make a real difference. Look for tallow from grass-fed, grass-finished cattle, since "grass-fed" alone can mean the animal was finished on grain. Look for tallow rendered from suet, which is the cleanest, mildest fat. Look for a short ingredient list, and check that the smell is faint and clean rather than strongly beefy or sour.

Our tallow comes from grass-fed, grass-finished cattle with no feedlots, no grains, no antibiotics, no hormones, and no mRNA. We know every producer we buy from and how they raise their animals, and if we don't know, we don't use it. You can read more about that standard on our beef tallow for skin page, and the full science is in Beef Tallow for Skin: The Complete Guide.

Tallow and Lard in the Kitchen

Since many people come to this question from cooking, here's the short version. Tallow's higher smoke point and firm texture make it a favorite for frying, searing steaks, roasting potatoes, and seasoning cast iron. It adds a mild beefy flavor that suits savory food.

Lard shines in baking. Its softer texture makes flaky pie crusts, biscuits, and tortillas, and leaf lard is mild enough for sweet baked goods. Can you substitute tallow for lard in cooking? Usually, yes, especially for frying. In pastry, tallow makes a firmer, slightly less tender crust, and its flavor is more noticeable.

Why Did We Stop Using Lard and Tallow?

For most of American history, lard and tallow were everyday cooking fats. That started to change in 1911, when Procter & Gamble introduced Crisco, a shortening made from hydrogenated cottonseed oil. It was marketed as cleaner and more modern than animal fat, and it caught on fast.

Later, public health advice told people to cut back on saturated fat, and vegetable oils took over most kitchens. Hydrogenated shortenings also turned out to contain trans fats, which the FDA later moved to remove from the food supply. Today, many home cooks are coming back to tallow and lard, and so is skincare.

How to Store Tallow and Lard

Keep both in a closed container away from light and heat. Tallow keeps well in a cool cupboard for many months, and even longer in the fridge. Lard is best kept in the fridge, where it lasts several months, and it can be frozen for longer storage. For skin products, keep the lid on, use clean dry fingers, and keep water out of the jar.

What Neither One Will Do

We'd rather be plain about this. Neither tallow nor lard is a treatment for eczema, acne, or any skin condition, and neither one protects you from the sun. Both are moisturizers, and results vary from person to person. What tallow does well is give dry skin something rich, stable, and familiar.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the difference between tallow and lard?

Tallow is rendered beef fat, and lard is rendered pork fat. Tallow has more saturated fat, so it's firmer and keeps longer. Lard has more polyunsaturated fat, so it's softer and spoils faster. Tallow suits frying, while lard suits pastry.

Is tallow or lard better for your skin?

Tallow is usually the better choice for skin care. Its fatty acids are a closer match to your skin's natural oil, and it stays fresh longer in a jar. Lard can moisturize too, but it goes rancid sooner. Results vary, so patch test either one.

Is Crisco beef tallow?

No. Crisco was introduced in 1911 as a shortening made from hydrogenated cottonseed oil, and today it's made from vegetable oils. It was created to replace lard and tallow in cooking, not to copy them.

Is tallow the same as ghee?

No. Ghee is clarified butter, which comes from cow's milk. Tallow is rendered from the fat of the animal itself. Both are solid at room temperature and both are used for cooking, but they come from different sources and have different fat profiles.

Which has a higher smoke point, tallow or lard?

Tallow has a slightly higher smoke point, around 400 degrees Fahrenheit, compared with roughly 370 degrees for lard. That's one reason tallow is popular for frying and searing.

Can you substitute tallow for lard?

In most cooking, yes. Tallow works well in place of lard for frying and roasting. In pie crusts and biscuits, tallow makes a firmer crust with a more noticeable flavor, so many bakers still prefer leaf lard there.

Where to Start

If you'd like to try grass-fed tallow on your skin, start with Blanco, our fragrance-free whipped body butter. It's grass-fed tallow, raw Texas honey, and vitamin E, with nothing added for scent. If you'd like a light scent, The Alamo adds frankincense to the same base.

You can browse both in our tallow and honey body butter collection. Lard has a place in the kitchen, and we're happy to leave it there.