Do you eat bacon? If so, this post on how to store bacon grease is for you. I always save my bacon grease because it’s a free fat and food cooked in it tastes so darn good! Here’s how I save it and twelve delicious uses for bacon grease too! You’re welcome. 🙂

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How to Store Bacon Grease & What to do with it

I recently read an article in the Wall Street Journal that claims most people simply pour their bacon fat down the drain. I consider that just blasphemy! Bacon grease is useful for so many things and pouring it down the drain causes a lot of problems – including huge fat clogs that cost a ton of money to fix. According to the article, “In 2017, Roto-Rooter plumbers unclogged almost 211,000 residential kitchen sinks, caused by a variety of reasons, costing American homeowners over $30 million.” Instead of pouring it down the drain – learn how to store bacon grease and start cooking with it. Here’s how:

First, Bake the Bacon

First, cook the bacon. Batch cooking bacon is a serious time saver at my house. I buy bacon at Costco in bulk and then cook it all at once. My favorite way to cook bacon is to bake it in the oven. I bake it on my favorite sheet pans at 400 degrees, and it takes 15-20 minutes. I set my timer for 15 minutes and then watch it closely because it cooks really quickly at the end and I don’t want to burn it.

After it’s cooked, I take it out of the oven and drain the bacon grease in a Pyrex freezer container  {my favorite freezer safe glass containers} and keep it in the fridge. I’m sure you’ve seen people put bacon grease in cans or mugs, but that doesn’t work for me. In fact, it kind of grosses me out. If I put it in anything other than my glass bowl, it gets thrown out and that shouldn’t happen because bacon grease is really useful!

Some people like to strain bacon grease { but I’m personally too lazy AND I love the little bits of bacon that end up in my grease}. If you intend to store your bacon grease on the counter, you might consider straining it, but if you store it in the fridge like I do, I think it’s fine to keep the bacon bits in the grease. {By the way, if you’re curious what bacon I buy, it’s this Coleman Natural that I buy at Costco. I’m sourcing pastured raised pork closer to home, but I haven’t  bought any yet, and the problem with the pork I’ve bought in the past is the processors still use all the nitrates and nitrites I want to avoid. But anyway…}

I put the bacon in another Pyrex container and freeze it for 5 minute breakfast sandwiches later in the week. I have to freeze it or it ends up vanishing. I’m not sure where it goes – it just vanishes into think air. 😀

Many people have asked me what I use bacon grease for, so here goes – 12 delicious ways to use it up.

12 Delicious Ways to Use Bacon Grease

1. Frying Eggs –

I fry and scramble all my eggs in bacon grease! It’s a cheap hack way of getting the bacon flavor in my eggs, without actually using bacon. Quality bacon’s expensive, y’all! And I have 6 hungry mouths to feed. I also will slice up 1/4 to 1/2 lb bacon into small pieces the French call lardon, cook them, and then scramble eggs in their grease and add the bacon pieces to the eggs. I also find it helpful to scramble a lot of eggs at once and then reheat the leftovers for quick breakfasts!

2. Corn Bread –

There is not much better than corn bread cooked in bacon grease. I melt a a couple TBS in my cast iron skillet and use it in place of butter. YUM! My favorite corn bread recipe is here.

3. Saute Veggies –

All sorts of veggies taste great friend in bacon grease instead of using olive oil or butter. In fact, two out of four of my children love the cauliflower recipe here and it tastes great made with both butter AND bacon grease. It’s also great with brussel sprouts.

4. Wilted Lettuce –

Have you ever had a wilted lettuce salad? If not, you’re missing out. My grandma used to make this recipe all the time and we love it! It uses bacon grease to wilt the lettuce.

5. Use a bit to season popcorn –

Pop popcorn in bacon grease instead of oil for nice popcorn treat! You’ll probably still want to add salt because you don’t need more than 1-2 TBS of bacon grease.

6. Grilled cheese – 

Grilled cheese is one of our favorite lunches. I like mine with pesto and tomato but it’s also really good with bacon. If you add bacon to your grilled cheese, you may as well cook it in the bacon grease too instead of using butter! Delicious.

7. Fried Rice –

Whenever I have leftover rice, fried rice is a quick, go-to meal. I add leftover ham bits to my fried rice, and cooking it in bacon grease is a natural extension. Just use the bacon grease instead of other oil.

8. Pancakes / Waffles / German Pancakes

You eat bacon WITH pancakes and waffles, right? Why not fry them in the bacon grease too? It just adds another taste dimension and is a real crowd pleaser. I’ve also used bacon grease instead of butter in my German Pancakes too, and it’s yummy.

9. Fried Potatoes –

 Another way I use leftover ham is to add it to fried potatoes. Fried potatoes are really one of my favorite ways to eat potatoes and they are simply wonderful when cooked in bacon grease.

10. Gravy – 

You can also make bacon gravy for biscuits. I’m honestly not much of a biscuits and gravy person, but if it floats your boat, you should give it a try. Fans tell me it’s delicious.

11. Warm Bacon Salad Dressing – 

Spinach Salad with Warm Bacon Dressing is also really good. I prefer wilted lettuce, but Alton Brown’s recipe using red wine vinegar, bacon grease, and dijon mustard makes a great salad.

12. Seasoning cast iron skillets –

Finally, if you don’t want to eat bacon grease, it’s also a fabulous way to season your cast iron skillets and keep them looking nice! Epicurious explains how to use bacon grease if you’re not familiar!

All right! Now that you see all of these delicious ways to use bacon grease, you might understand why I save mine and how I use it. I hope you found this post helpful! I love that bacon grease is free for the taking. Waste not, want not as my dad and grandma used to say. Use your bacon grease and save money on other fats. 

Do you use bacon grease in another way that I didn’t cover? Please share!