Learn how to make pure tallow soap from scratch using 100% grass-fed beef tallow. Simple cold-process recipe, with tips for beginners and FAQs answered.
Quick Answer
What is pure tallow soap? Pure tallow soap is a traditional bar soap made with 100% grass-fed beef tallow as the only oil. It is rich in fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E, and K, and makes a creamy, long-lasting bar that is nourishing for skin. This recipe uses simple ingredients: rendered tallow, lye, and water.
Pure tallow soap recipe
Grass fed tallow fans will love this pure tallow soap recipe. It’s very easy, so it’s perfect for anyone wanting to learn how to make soap from scratch.
I have a skincare shop (which you can check out here). I’ve been making soap with a blend of tallow, coconut oil, and olive oil for a while. It’s really nice! All of the oils compliment and enhance one another. However, I kept getting requests from my shop customers for a pure tallow soap. In answer to those requests, I created this pure tallow soap recipe.
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Why Use Tallow for Soap Making?
If you’ve spent much time following me, you already know that I love grass fed beef tallow. It’s such an amazing thing. Grass fed beef tallow contains an incredible amount of nutrients that are good for skin.
I talk about what tallow is here, and why skin loves grass fed tallow here. You can read even more in depth about the benefits of beef tallow here.
Tallow is an ideal fat for soap making. It is readily available, provides hardness and creaminess to the finished soap bars, and is wonderful for skin. I love using it either on its own in this pure tallow soap recipe, or along with a blend of other oils.
For more info on all the reasons why I love to add tallow to my soap recipes, check out this post on why add tallow to soap here.
If you’re already rendering tallow and making your own soap, there’s a good chance gut wellness is already on your radar too. Tallow isn’t just incredible for skin, it’s one of the most nourishing fats you can cook with on a healing diet like GAPS. If you want to learn how ancestral fats, fermented foods, and real food cooking can support your family’s health, grab my free gut wellness guide here →
What Makes Tallow the Best Fat for Soap
I also love the fact that our homesteading ancestors made tallow soap like this for their own use. It’s kind of like a step back in time to make it ourselves today.
Soap Making Safety: What You Need to Know
If you’re new to making soap from scratch, there are a few safety precautions to keep in mind. Soap making uses lye in order to turn the oils into soap. No lye is left over after the soap making is complete and the bars are cured, so there’s no reason to worry about that. However, during the soap making process, we do have to handle the lye, and it’s important to use some care.
Lye is extremely alkaline, and the lye water or liquid soap mixture can burn skin if some splashes on you. I recommend wearing gloves, long sleeves, and eye protection when working with lye. Also, when the lye is mixed into the water, there are some fumes that are produced. For this reason, it’s best to mix the lye water outdoors.
That’s it! I know that these thing can seem a little bit intimidating at first, but don’t let that stop you from getting started with learning how to make soap from scratch. It’s such a fun thing to do once you get comfortable with it. If you follow the safety procedures, everything will be fine.
In this post here I go over the soap making process, and talk about all of the equipment you’ll want to have on hand. I recommend checking that post out before you begin.
How to Customize Your Tallow Soap
Like so many other DIY skincare items that you can make yourself, this pure tallow soap recipe can be personalized with different essential oils. You can do a single scent, or get creative and use a blend of essential oils.
It is good to keep in mind that certain essential oils come through better as soap scents than others. Citrus oils are often too mild to scent soap well. Some of my personal favorites are peppermint, lavender, and lemongrass.
Of course, you can also leave out the essential oils altogether, and it will be just like a traditional homesteader’s tallow soap. People with very sensitive skin might find that they like the unscented version best, too.
How to Make Pure Tallow Soap: Step-by-Step
Ingredients:
- 32 oz. tallow
- 4.2 oz. lye
- 12.16 oz. water
- 1.5 fl. oz. essential oils (optional)
Instructions:
- Weigh tallow and put into a crockpot. I find it is easiest to melt the tallow before weighing it. If the tallow is below 100 degrees F, turn the crockpot on low to gently heat the tallow.
- Weigh the water in a heat-safe container or sturdy plastic bucket, and weigh the lye separately.
- Check the temperature of the tallow. You want it to be 100 degrees F. Let tallow cool if necessary.
- Once the tallow is 100 degrees F, take the lye and water outdoors. Wearing gloves and safety goggles, carefully and slowly pour the lye into the water. Stir gently.
- Once the lye water has turned from cloudy to clear, leave it to cool for 10 minutes.
- Carefully pour the lye water into the tallow.
- Use an immersion blender to mix the soap. After a few minutes, it will grow creamy, and start to thicken. Mix until it has reached “trace,” the light pudding consistency.
- Add the essential oils (if using) and blend again to incorporate.
- Pour soap into molds, top with wax paper, and wrap molds in towels.
- After 24 hours, remove soap from the mold and slice it into bars. Let cure in an area with good airflow for 4 weeks.
I put 50+ of my best tallow and natural living recipes together in one place. Soaps, lotions, natural remedies, mom-and-baby products — all made with the same simple, pure ingredients you already love. It’s a beautiful full-color, 92-page book, available in print or as a digital download.
Frequently Asked Questions
Tallow soap can be wonderful for skin because tallow’s fat profile is very similar to the natural sebum our skin produces. Grass-fed tallow is rich in fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E, and K, which many people find supportive for skin health. In my experience, people with sensitive and dry skin often do especially well with it.
All real soap requires lye (sodium hydroxide) to go through saponification, which is the chemical process that turns fat into soap. Once the process is complete, no lye remains in the finished bar. If you want a lye-free option, look for melt-and-pour soap bases, but those are technically not true cold-process soap.
Tallow soap bars are quite hard and long-lasting compared to vegetable oil soaps. They typically cure for 4-6 weeks before use, and a well-made tallow bar can last for weeks in the shower with proper drying between uses.
Rendered tallow, especially the odorless white variety made using the wet rendering method, has very little scent of its own. Your soap will mainly smell like whatever essential oils you add. If you leave it unscented, it has a very mild, clean, neutral scent.
Many people find that simple, tallow-based soaps work well for sensitive and eczema-prone skin because they have very few ingredients and no synthetic additives. Tallow’s fatty acid profile closely matches human skin’s natural oils. As always, everyone’s skin is different, and it’s worth doing a patch test first.
Grass-fed beef tallow is the ideal choice because it has a richer nutrient profile than conventionally raised beef fat. You can render it yourself from suet, or purchase rendered tallow from a trusted source. I always recommend sourcing the highest quality you can find.
Have you tried soap making yet?
What kinds have you made? If you’re new to it, does this make you want to try making soap?
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How to render tallow
How to Render Tallow with the Easy Crockpot Method
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Grass-fed beef tallow
Lye
Plant Therapy lavender essential oil
Scale
Immersion blender
Soap mold & slicer
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Pure Tallow Soap
Learn how to make pure tallow soap from scratch using 100% grass-fed beef tallow. Simple cold-process recipe, with tips for beginners and FAQs answered.
Ingredients
- 32 oz. tallow , by weight
- 4.2 oz. lye , by weight
- 12.16 oz. water , by weight
- 1.5 fl. oz. essential oils , optional
Instructions
- Weigh tallow and put into a crockpot. I find it is easiest to melt the tallow before weighing. If tallow is below 100 degrees F, turn the crockpot on low to gently heat the tallow.
- Weigh the water in a heat safe container or sturdy plastic bucket, and weigh lye separately.
- Check the temperature of the tallow. You want it to be 100 degrees F. Let tallow cool if necessary.
- Once tallow is 100 degrees F, take the lye and water outdoors. Wearing gloves and safety goggles, carefully and slowly pour the lye into the water. Stir gently.
- Once the lye water has turned from cloudy to clear, leave it to cool for 10 minutes.
- Carefully pour the lye water into the tallow.
- Use an immersion blender to mix the soap. After a few minutes, it will grow creamy, and start to thicken. Mix until it has reached “trace,” the light pudding consistency.
- Add the essential oils (if using) and blend again to incorporate.
- Pour soap into molds, top with wax paper, and wrap molds in towels.
- After 24 hours, remove soap from mold and slice into bars. Let cure in an area with good air flow for 4 weeks.
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