Simple Tallow Soap Recipe
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How to make tallow soap using tallow with a dash of coconut oil and castor oil. This is a cold-process, zero-waste soap recipe that uses drippings from cooked meat and includes instructions for rendering fat. However, you can use prepared beef tallow, sheep tallow, and other tallows to make it. The finished soap bars are creamy white, nourishing, and gentle on your skin.
Though I generally make soap recipes that are completely Vegan, I’m not Vegan or even vegetarian. I wholeheartedly support local farms, especially when the produce and meat come from small farms that use sustainable methods. One of these farms is a short drive from us, and last year we bought half of a grass-fed, rare-breed lamb (a 6-month-old animal). It was absolutely delicious!
We also love that through our purchase, we’re supporting such an important part of our local food network. As we worked our way through the joints, I also collected the drippings. This is the fat that melted from the meat as it slowly cooked. A lot came off, and before I knew it, I had enough to make a batch of soap. This recipe is the result!
Basics of Tallow Soapmaking
Soap making is the process of transforming oils and fats into soap through a process called saponification. This transformation is a natural chemical reaction caused by a caustic material known as lye, or sodium hydroxide. During the process, the lye breaks fats/oils apart at the molecular level. Then they recombine with lye into a new, completely skin-safe compound that we call soap.
We’ve been making soap for thousands of years, but the mystery of how humans discovered it remains. One theory is that we learned it by chance when animal fat dripped into wet wood ashes in a fire and, by happy accident, turned into a kind of soap. This is just a theory, though. Regardless, one of the first soaps that we would have made and used would have been with animal fat. Tallow and lard are the kinds of fats that we would have had easily available.
Benefits of Tallow Soap
We still make animal fat soap to this day, and for very good reason. Tallow creates hard bars with a creamy lather that’s gentle on the skin. Beef tallow is the most popular for soap making, in part because it’s readily availableāyou can buy it in blocks at many supermarkets. Sheep tallow, on the other hand, has a fatty acid profile that makes it a bit better at cleansing and more bubbly than beef.
The fatty acid profiles of the different tallows are similar, but beef tallow and sheep tallow are most favored in soapmaking. Most likely because it’s relatively easy to source those two, rather than fat from deer and goats. Unrendered fat can also be a waste product and relatively inexpensive to source if you buy it from a butcher. If you raise livestock, you can render the fat from your animals and use it to make soap and other products. Waste not, want not.
Pure tallow soap recipes are popular, but on its own, tallow makes a hard, naturally creamy soap with flat lather. That’s why I’ve boosted this recipe with a touch of coconut oil and castor oil. Coconut oil helps create a fluffy lather and bubbles, while castor oil helps stabilize it. If you’d like to make a pure tallow soap recipe, you’ll find one in 4 Things to Know About Tallow Soapmaking, along with another tallow recipe that uses olive oil.
Tallow Soap Making Temperatures
Making soap with animal fat is not much different than using other oils like shea butter and olive oil. One main difference is that melted tallow resolidifies at a higher temperature than most vegetable-based hard oils. That means that it’s best to make tallow soap at a higher temperature than usual. Make tallow soap at too low a temperature, and you might experience a false trace as the tallow starts to resolidify.
For a small 1lb (454 g) batch, I found that 125Ā°F (52Ā°C) works well with this recipe, though trace does come relatively quickly. If you make a larger batch, then lower the temperature to about 110-115Ā°F (43-46Ā°C) to give yourself more time to mix and pour it into molds.
Tips for Cutting Tallow Soap
One of the hands-down biggest challenges with making tallow soap is cutting it into bars. With many of my olive oil-heavy soap recipes, I wait a few days, then slice the loaf or slab using a wire cutter. The soap cuts cleanly, and then I put the bars onto trays to cure. Cut tallow soap too early or wait too long, and you could have problems with it crumbling, breaking, or chipping.
Soap recipes with 90%+ tallow have two main cutting windows: about 6-12 hours after making it, then again 24-36 hours after the pour. Cut it before the six hours are up, and your soap could crumble. Cut it in the time between the windows, and it could also crumble or shatter. After 36 hours, you’ll experience difficulty again.
If you miss either of these windows, the soap can be far too hard to cut without shattering/breaking. In this case, put the hard soap in the oven at the lowest possible temperature. Heat it for 10-30 minutes until it softens to the consistency of cheddar cheese. It should cut into clean bars if you cut it while still warm. When cutting, always use a wire cutter or flat blade, since knives can wedge the soap apart, causing breaks.
Alternatively, skip cutting altogether! Use cavity molds like this six-cavity mold, which fits the below tallow soap recipe perfectly. You pop the soaps out when they’ve hardened, cure them, and use them. Easy and zero stress.
Animal Products in Skincare
If you have honeybees or raise livestock, you can produce a lot of milk, fat, honey, and beeswax for soap and skincare. I have a few more recipes you can try, including Goat’s Milk Soap, Honey & Beeswax Soap, and Beeswax Furniture Polish.
Please be aware, though, that the products you make with animal products will be nourishing, natural, and wonderful, but they won’t be Vegan. However, if you eat meat or drink milk, there shouldn’t be any problem with using animal products on your skin. It’s not gross, either. I know that many homesteaders use tallow to make balms and skin creams, too.
Using animal products can also be a sustainable way to support the environment and food production. If you choose to use products sourced from sustainably raised animals, you support land regeneration and the future of organic food productionāboth for vegetables and meat. Lastly, rendering and using animal fat reduces wastage and creates nourishing bars for very little money. You can sometimes find it sold cheaply at butcher shops.
Types of Tallow for Soapmaking
As mentioned previously, there are several types of tallow you can use in soapmaking. In the soap calculator I use, there’s beef, goat, sheep, deer, and BEAR. I’m not completely sure what makes one rendered animal fat, tallow, versus another animal fat, pork fat, called lard. It could be due to tallow’s hardness at room temperature compared to lard’s softness.
All types of tallow can be used interchangeably in soap recipes. Goat, sheep, deer, and bear all have very similar saponification (SAP) values, so no further adjustment is necessary. Beef tallow needs a bit more lye to make soap, though not muchāsee the notes section of the recipe card below for details. In case you’re wondering, no, I wouldn’t recommend using lard to replace the tallow in this recipe. It has a similar SAP value but completely different soap properties.
Rendering Animal Fat
Most people begin with pure fat that has been trimmed from joints and render it specifically for making soap. If you’d like to learn how to do that, there are other articles that you might want to read. Though this is the first time that I’ve rendered animal fat, it was very easy to do with collected lamb drippings.
Lamb fat tends to be in a layer on the outside of the meat, and melts off quite easily. After slow-cooking a leg of lamb, there’s a veritable puddle of fat in the roasting tin. The lamb was cooked at a relatively low oven temperature for several hours in each case. After it finished, I collected the drippings in Mason jars to save up. I only used salt to season the meat, but I don’t see any major issues with using spices or herbs. Keep in mind that it wouldn’t affect the soap recipe, but may affect the scent. Then, after we’d gone through all the lamb in the freezer, I set aside an afternoon for cleaning the fat.
Cleaning Rendered Tallow
I piled all the saved fat into a pot and poured about twice as much water over it. Then I heated the pan over medium until the fat was fully melted, then set it aside to cool. The fat rises to the top and eventually solidifies, leaving murky water below that can be discarded. The fat is not fully clean at this point, though. There are a lot of dark bits from the cooking process that float to the surface with it.
Next, I cut and skimmed the fat off and put it in a new pan with about 8 cups of fresh water. I heated it again, this time adding 3 TBSP of sea salt to help deodorize the tallow. I brought the pan to a low simmer, held it there for an hour, then strained the liquid through a cheesecloth and into a metal kitchen bowl. The cheesecloth caught the remaining impurities, and once the fat cooled and hardened in the bowl, it was clean.
Sheep tallow has a distinctive scent that the salt can help remove during the cleaning process, but it can leave a slight scent in the soap. That’s why I recommend using fragrances in this tallow soap recipe. Peppermint would be a good option, but the blend of rose geranium, lavender, and clary sage works beautifully, too.
Natural Soapmaking for Beginners
If all that seems like a long process, and you don’t want to render your own tallow, you can buy it instead. I’ve only seen beef tallow in the supermarket, but you might be able to get sheep from a butcher – especially if you live in a region where sheep are raised. If you do opt for beef tallow, keep in mind that you’ll need to use a slightly different lye amount for this recipe. More on that in the notes section.
Before we get to the soap recipe, I’d like to check in to see if you’re a beginner soapmaker. If so, I encourage you to enroll in my Natural Soapmaking for Beginners Online Course. You’ll get up to speed quickly, learn all about soap ingredients and equipment, and be guided through step-by-step soap recipe videos. It will give you the confidence to explore any natural cold-process soap recipe!
Simple Tallow Soap Recipe
Equipment
Materials
Lye Solution
- 60 g sodium hydroxide 2.13 oz / also called lye
- 120 g distilled water 4.26 oz
Soaping Oils
- 408 g sheep, deer, or goat tallow 14.41 oz / You can also use beef tallow, but please see the notes section for changing the lye amount / 90%
- 23 g coconut oil (refined) 0.8 oz / 5%
- 23 g castor oil 0.8 oz / 5%
After Trace (optional ingredients)
- 1 tsp clary sage essential oil optional / 3 g
- 1 tsp lavender essential oil optional / 3 g
- 1 tsp rose geranium essential oil optional / 3 g
Instructions
Organize Your Workspace
- Cold-process soapmaking is chemistry, and this recipe uses lye. Lye is a caustic substance that is completely neutralized in the soapmaking process, but it can be harmful if not handled correctly. Please read this soap making safety guidance before proceeding.
- Before you make this soap recipe, it's safety first. Make sure to be wearing closed-toe shoes, long sleeves, eye protection (goggles), and rubber/latex gloves.
- Pre-measure theĀ ingredientsĀ and organize your work surface with all the tools and equipment you'll need. Open a window for ventilation, keep pets and kids in another room, and have everything you need prepared.
Create theĀ LyeĀ Solution
- Work in a well-ventilated area (near an open window or outside) and ensure that your goggles and gloves are on.Ā PourĀ the lye into the distilled water and stir well. Steam, fumes, and heat are the products of water and lye interacting. Be prepared, and don't breathe in the fumes.
- Place the steamingĀ lye solutionĀ in a safe place to cool. Cool it to about 120Ā°F (49Ā°C), which is slightly higher than the melted oils' temperature will be. This helps stop tallow from solidifying when you pour it in.
Melt the Oils
- Melt the oils (tallow, coconut, and castor) together on low heat. When just a few pieces of solid oil are floating in theĀ pan, turn off the heat and move theĀ panĀ to a potholder. Stir with your spatula until it's fully melted. If necessary, scrape the sides of the pan to ensure all the oil has melted.
- Take the melted oil's temperature. You're aiming to bring it down to about 115Ā°F (46Ā°C).
Bring the Soap Ingredients to Trace
- When the lye solution and oils are at or near the target temperatures, mix them together. They don't have to be exactly that temperature, but around ten degrees of it, and on the warmer side if possible. Try also to ensure that the lye solution is warmer than the oils.
- GentlyĀ pourĀ theĀ lye solutionĀ into theĀ warm oil in the pan. I recommend pouring it through a sieve and against a spatula or the side of the immersion blender placed in the oil. This reduces the risk of air bubbles or undissolved lye getting into the soap.
- Next, bring the soap to a light trace. You can hand-stir this recipe with a spatula or spoon, or you can use an immersion blender (also called a stick blender) cautiously. If you do, be aware that tallow soap recipes can trace quickly.
Immersion Blending
- If using an immersion blender, dip the head into the pan and keep it submerged throughout the process. While it's turned off, you can use it as a spoon, but for small batches like this, keep the immersion blender stationary when it's on. This is for safety as it will help stop splattering and reduce air bubbles in your final bars.
- Alternate stirring the ingredients and giving a few short pulses. The soap batter has reached a light trace once it's thickened to the consistency of warm custardāthat can happen quite fast in this recipe. A dribble from the immersion blender will leave a thin drizzle on the surface before sinking back down.
Stir in the Essential Oil
- Although optional, essential oils can help mask any remaining tallow scent in the soap. Stir them in now, at light trace. The blend has deep and medium notes that are both beautiful and strong. After stirring them in, the soap batter will probably be thicker still, like pudding.
Pouring the Soap
- Next, pour the soap batter into the mold(s). Once the soap batter is in, you can add a texture to the tops of the bars if you wish. With the ones in the photos, I swirled a skewer in tight circles back and forth along the soap.
- If you use slab or cavity mold(s), leave them uncovered on a kitchen worktop at room temperature for at least two days. If you use loaf molds, leave them on the kitchen worktop, as well. Leave them uncovered unless the room is cold. If it is, cover them with a piece of cardboard to help them gel. Tallow soap tends to gel easily, so there's no need to oven process.
Unmolding and Cutting Tallow Soap
- You can pop the soap out of the cavity molds 2 days after pouring. With loaves or slabs, you have to be mindful of when you take the soap out and cut it. Cut too early or too late, and you could end up with soap that crumbles or breaks.
- When cutting tallow soap, wait until it's fully cooledāabout 6-12 hours after pouring itāand has the firmness, yet give of cheddar cheese. Cutting before this time could cause it to crumble, and cutting after this time could be difficult because the soap will become hard and brittle. Use a wire cutter to cut tallow soap.
Cure the Tallow Soap
- Now you will need to cure the soap. Curing is a necessary step for all cold-process soap recipes, and for tallow soap, it requires at least 6 weeks. Eight weeks is even better! The soap finishes saponification during the cure time, and excess water evaporates from the bars. Another thing that happens is that the crystalline structure of soap forms. The latter cannot be hurried up and is essential for a good, gentle soap.
- Cure the tallow soap on a layer of grease-proof paper in an out-of-the-way, low-humidity place. It should be airy, out of direct sunlight, and away from curious pets and kiddos. Leave them there for 6-8 weeks before using the bars.Ā Once made, the soap will have a shelf life of up to two years.
Video
Notes
- For small 1-lb batches, you could increase the soaping temperature of the oils and lye solution to 125Ā°F (52Ā°C). This increases the speed at which the recipe comes to trace, though.
- This recipe uses sheep tallow, which some consider the best tallow for making gentle bars of soap. However, beef, goat, and deer tallow can all be used instead. If you opt for one of these other tallows, the only alteration you may need to make is in the amount of lye used. That’s only the case in using beef tallow (beef fat), though, since it needs slightly more lye than the others. For a single 454 g batch, use these amounts of lye (also called Sodium hydroxide or NaOH) instead:
- Goat tallow soap – no change in the lye amount
- Deer tallow soap – no change in the lye amount
- Bear tallow soap – no change in the lye amount
- Beef tallow soap – 62 g (2.19 oz) lye. If you mistakenly use 60 g (2.13 oz) PPO as listed in the materials list, don’t worryāit’s safe to use. Your soap will be just as hard and cleansing, but it will have an 8% superfat instead of 5%. That means more excess unsaponified oil (conditioning factor) in the finished soap.
I love the way you explain the process in your video. Easy to follow and excellent tips. Thank you.
You are most welcome, Maria :) I’m glad you found the tips in the video helpful!
Thank you for an inspiring read!
Happy New Year Tanya!
We just tried the Simple Tallow Soap Recipe with beef tallow doubled and using 122g NaOH and 273g distilled water yesterday and this morning when cutting got a ph reading of almost 12! Would you expect that to drop significantly in a month? Our usual soap measures a pH of 9 max, and doesn’t sting sensitive skin. It is possible our indicator isnāt calibrated, working on a confirmation test cause the tallow soap currently stings cuts. Can we use a recipe with less lye and not end up with fat molecules in our pipes? Or is it possible our tallow straight from the cow, rendered and washed twice to deodorize isnāt pure? Appreciate your thoughts for problem solving.
Charlene
Hi Charlene, if I could give you a little advice… there is no need to obsess over the pH of handmade soap. If you used the correct amount of lye, then all handmade soaps will gradually become more gentle on the skin. After you make handmade soap, the pH can be quite high and it takes time (days and weeks) for it to lower to around 9-10.5. Also, please do not use handmade soap on your skin until after it’s cured for at least four weeks. It’s true that saponification is finished after two(ish) days but soap needs time to dry out and to become gentle to use. Its lather and durability won’t be optimal before the cure is up, either. There’s more at work in the curing process than just saponification. As for your question about using less lye – a 5-6% superfat is what most soapmakers use in their recipes and this tallow soap recipe is 5%. Using less lye (increasing the superfat) in recipes does not significantly change the soap’s pH. All it does is add more conditioning oils, which can sometimes be alright and in other cases can contribute to the soap being too soft, lather being impacted, and having a shorter shelf life. And yes, that oil can contribute to soap scum in your pipes. Be patient, come back to the soap after its cured and if you want to test for pH, do it then. I don’t know a single professional soapmaker who regularly tests their soap’s pH, by the way. If soap is lye heavy, it’s often apparent from the get go!
Thank you Tanya! I made 2 of your other recipes and they turned out great! Quick questions:
1. I am wanting to pour this soap into a 5lb tall and skinny mold. Does it mean that I have to do 5 times the amounts of everything specified in your recipe? Will I have enough time to pour after bring it to trace and adding essential oils?
2. I would like to color it yellow and I was thinking Turmeric of which I have a lot of. How much Turmeric would you add for a 5lb mold? Does it really need to be strained?
3. If I use pink clay instead of Turmeric, how much would you add?
Thank you so much for all your help!
Hi LB, that’s great to hear that you’ve already successfully made two other recipes :) Tallow soap does trace quicker than other types of soap recipes so I recommend that you make the small 1-lb batch first to see how it moves. You have to work relatively quickly with larger batches of tallow soap though and add the essential oil at emulsion, rather than trace. That’s the stage just before you see the soap beginning to thicken up. Also, I recommend that you increase the ratio of water to lye to give yourself more time. Using a ratio of 2.5:1 (water to lye) is pretty typical. As for your question about colorants – turmeric is a tricky colorant and it doesn’t give you yellow. It also has a tendency to fade. I recommend that you use annatto seeds or carrot puree to create a lovely yellow soap. I also have a guide to using clay in soap recipes if you’d like to learn more.
Tanya, thank you so much! I took your advise and made 2lbs only and yes, it thickened up so fast. If I would have made 5lbs, I would not be able to pour all of it. Thank you for all your advise and for responding so quickly! It is invaluable!
You are more than welcome!
Hello, Iāve made your facial soap & goat milk soap for years and I love them. I have a lot of left over lard from a purchase for pie crust. Do you have a recipe for Lard Soap?
Thank you
Janie
Hi Janie, I don’t have one on the site (yet) but lard makes great soap! The amount you use is different from tallow, though, since lard is a softer oil. If you wanted to try formulating a soap recipe using lard, you could use between 40-60% lard, 20-25% coconut oil, 5% castor oil, and 10-35% your choice of other oils.
I know you said the oils are optional, but would doing 4 teaspoons of one oil be too much? Iām assuming when you listed the oils you meant to mix them? Or is it just 1 teaspoon of oil in general and we could mix oils to equal 1 teaspoon? Thank you! Iām excited to try this out soon
Hi Alexis, though the maxiumum essential oil usage rates I typically recommend are more conservative, I’ve boosted the total amount in this recipe to 4%. It’s still in safe limits and will give an extra scent boost! To answer your question, yes, you could use just one of the essential oils listed to make up the full amount but you can only use a maximum of 3% (3 tsp) of the clay sage. Its usage rate is lower than the other three.
I followed your recipe to a T but I think I got a false trace. All residue (in the pan) is more greasy than sudsy. What do I do?
Thank you!
Hi Teri, when you’re starting to make soap, accidents happen. You just have to keep trying until you succeed! This recipe is tried and tested and has produced many, many, fantastic bars of soap. Next time, keep an eye on your temperatures and don’t let it go too low. Also, make sure that your digital scale reads and measures accurately. As far as your batch is concerned, I can’t tell you what went wrong as I wasn’t there to watch you make the soap. If it is a false trace, though, you can reheat it gently up to 125Ā°F (52Ā°C). Stick blend it again, then, and pour it into the mold. If your soap has already gone into the mold and hardened, then you have another issue on your hands. Not false trace but perhaps too much oil.
is there a way to add in olive oil? replacing some of the coconut oil with olive oil? I infused olive oil with chamomile for my soap.
Hi Cam, you could replace some of the tallow with olive oil but you would need to then put the recipe in a soap calculator to recalculate how much lye you need. Here’s how to change a soap recipe.
Would you be willing to recommend some additional variations/ combinations of essential oils that would work with this recipe (and the recommend measurements)? Also can you use mica in this recipe for color?
Hi Linda, yes, you could use mica to color this soap recipe but I’d recommend using natural soap colorants and techniques instead. Just to keep everything in your soap as pure and natural as possible. As for essential oil combinations, feel free to use any of the other blends from my other soap recipes or create your own blend using these recommendations.
I assume you are to select one of the essential oils and not mix them all?
Hi Jackie, in this recipe you use them all. You can leave the essential oils out, though, if you wish.
Hi. I’ve been looking for a simple soap recipe and this sounds great. The only issue is that I’m allergic to coconut oil. Can I replace it with something else? Shea butter, or an additional softer tallow?
Hi Heather, homemade tallow soap can be hard and conditioning but it can lack sufficient lather, which is why I’ve added the coconut oil to this recipe. It helps give big, fluffy lather! If you want to, you can either replace the coconut oil in the recipe with babassu oil or reformulate the recipe to use other oils. The other thing to consider is your allergy type. Have you used coconut oil on your skin before and had a reaction? I ask because some people who are allergic to foods can have them in skincare. Digesting the proteins in pure coconut flesh (or almonds, peanuts, etc) is what many people are allergic to but these proteins are not present in the oil. They’re also not digested when applied to the skin.
Unfortunately I am also allergic to simply touching coconut or almond oil. I made some tallow lotion bars that included coconut oil before my allergy worsened and it burned when I applied it recently without thinking. Touching almond oil from a bath bomb caused anaphylaxis. I see so many soaps include coconut or almond oil and I’m kind of getting tired of coughing and itching because I used soap with the wrong ingredient hahaha. I’ve only just learned of babassu, so maybe I will give that a try!
Yes, in that case, definitely use babassu oil. It’s very similar to coconut oil in terms of properties and can be used interchangeably in soap recipes. People with contact-allergy reactions to coconut oil often use it as a replacement oil. In the case of sweet almond oil, you can replace it with apricot kernel oil or another light oil in skincare recipes.
I had not made tallow soap before- primarily because I make soap for my vegan children, but this is lovely. Clean, minimal scent, and nice handling properties. My only problem was that my immersion blender quit on me, and I had to get to trace by hand! It seemed to take forever.
Thank you so much for this recipe. It will be one I use a lot.
You are very welcome, Susan. Yep, stirring by hand does seem to take ages but it’s sometimes good to do, especially for recipes that trace quickly or when making soap in hot climates. Tallow soap recipes are one that usually trace quite quickly!
Hello! It’s my first time making tallow soap. I’m using goat tallow and will use your recipe since i have all the ingredients available. But i want to add lemon peel powder and some tumeric. How can i add them accordingly and should i make any changes in the lye concentration?
Hi Leona, since it’s your first time making tallow soap, let’s make sure it turns out beautifully for you. First, I don’t recommend that you use turmeric. It can have mixed resultsāthe vibrant tomato soup color it has initially can fade to tan in many cases. A big disappointment. If you want your soap to be yellow, I recommend you use pumpkin or carrot puree instead (or another yellow soap colorant). To use puree, you replace some of the water in the recipe with puree, typically about 1 TBSP per pound (454 g) of soap. Carrot soap is my favorite yellow along with calendula oil soap! As for the lemon peel powder, you typically add about 1 tsp per pound (454 g) of soap. This soap recipe is that size so just sprinkle the lemon peel powder in well after the soap comes to trace (thickens). There’s no need to change the lye concentration when adding it, or when adding the puree or another natural soap colorant.
Wow I didn’t think of adding purees in soap i will definitely try this. Thank you so much for replying āŗļøāŗļø
Does the recipe call for 1 teaspoon of essential oil of your choice or 4 teaspoons of the combination mentioned in your recipe. Thanks for the clarification š
Hi Tra, it calls for four teaspoons of the exact essential oils listed – so, 4 tsp total. If you used different essential oils, the amount may need to be adjusted. Does this answer your questions?
Hi there and thank you for this wonderful recipe I canāt wait to make it. My question is that if I want to add Himalayan Salt to the recipe How much do I need to add to 1lb beef tallow and where in the process do I add the salt. Iāve also read that it speeds up the saponification and you have to be quick a put it even with cutting. Would appreciate your input š
Hi Bets, both tallow and salt speed up the thickening of soap batter, so yes, you would need to work double-quick. Neither speeds up saponification, though – that’s the process of oils reacting and bonding with lye. I would highly encourage you to first make this recipe without salt so that you understand how quickly it thickens (comes to trace) and how it moves. After that, make a batch using fine Himalayan salt. For a 1-lb (454 g) recipe like this that’s low in coconut oil, you would only use about 1 TBSP of salt. Using more could stop the soap from lathering properly. You can stir it in after the soap batter emulsifies/traces.
This was my first go at soap making. I made this recipe x4 with beef tallow. I followed the additional lye note. The only thing I did differently was add about a tablespoon and a half of honey at trace.
It came to trace very rapidly (which Iām being told could be too much lye) and itās also a very brown color. Not at all a creamy white. Thoughts on this?
Hi Hannah, tallow soap recipes can trace quickly and the brown color comes from the honey you used scorching. Both are common challenges with beginner soapmaking, so don’t worry! Next time you try making this recipe (and any others), make only a small batch so that you can understand how the recipe moves and be able to work quickly enough to get it mixed and molded. Beginners also tend to over-mix with immersion blenders, so I encourage you to hand-stir for longer periods between short blitzes. Lastly, if you don’t want the honey to scorch, add the honey to the oils AFTER they cool down. Blitz the honey into the oils only using the immersion blender at that time. Then add the cooled lye solution and mix as normal. Lye on its own doesn’t scorch honey (and other sugars) – it’s the heat it releases when it’s mixed into water. I actually use that reaction to tint some of my soap a warm caramel color and to give it a caramelized-honey scent. I also recommend to use cavity molds or slab molds rather than loaves if you want to ensure the bars stay light-colored since the soap can heat up and discolor in larger loaves. More on that in the beeswax and honey soap recipe.
How much beef or sheep fat would I need to make enough tallow for a single batch of soap?
About 1.5 lbs of fat could render down to about 1 lb of tallow.
Iāve been making soap since 2013. The simple tallow soap is by far my favorite recipe! Love the simple ingredients and my skin loves it too. I use it on my grandkids without fear of drying out their tender skinā¤ļø
Thanks, Rose! That’s so wonderful to hear :)
at what step would I infuse my soap, lets say i water to add rose petals or lavender? or even coffee?
I don’t completely understand the question but I think you’re asking when you can add a tea (water infused with botanicals) in the soapmaking process. Usually they can be used to mix the lye solution. Meaning, you just replace the water called for in a recipe with an infusion.
can i use Reverse osmosis water instead of distilled?
Hi Laura, yes you can.
does it have to be refines coconut oil?
You could use virgin but it’s way more expensive, you lose the coconut scent in the process, and it’s a waste of good food in my opinion.
could this cure outside?
Yes, if the outdoor place is perfectly dry and you have no humidity.
Hi! I put the data for this recipe into soapcalc.net as 408g beef tallow, 23g coconut oil, and 23g castor oil (90%, 5%, and 5%) but I get a lye / water ratio of 62/124 so does this mean it won’t saponify? I can see you upped the lye amount by a little more but what would happen if I just go with the soapcalc numbers? Thanks.
Robert, this recipe is tried and tested. Water is a flexible variable in soap recipes – you can use as less as the same amount of lye or up to 3x its weight.
I have potassium hydroxide for a liquid soap I made. Can I use that or do I need to stick to sodium hydroxide?
Potassium hydroxide is the type of lye you use to make liquid soap only.
Dear Tanya!
Since I tried tallow as a cream and was convinced very fast from the wonderful effect to complicated skin, I searched for a tallow soap to purchase, but found nothing. Tallow isn’t a thing in Germany it seems. So I decided to make a soap by myself. I always wanted to give soap making a try but refused because of the effort and all the ingredients you have to get from somewhere. But this time I did, at least because I already had some of the ingredients by hand and the recipe is so easy.
So let me tell you that everything worked perfectly and I have my own (beef) tallow soap now standing on a high shelf for curing, far away from my cats.
Thank you so much for publishing this wonderful and easy recipe here!
By the way: I gave it my absolutely favorite scent by adding frangipani (plumeria) oil. Can’t wait to give it a try under the shower!
You are SO welcome Anja! Well done for your perseverance and I’m so pleased for you that you had success making this your first time. I think you’ll find that homemade tallow soap is very gentle and frangipani is such a beautiful essential oil. Enjoy!
Hello and thanks for a great post. If I triple the recipe for beef tallow, do you then triple the Lye or would the amount be different for such a large batch? Thanks.
Hi Alexandra, to triple this recipe, you triple all of the ingredients including the lye.
if using beef tallow, you have to adjust the lye but don’t you need to adjust the water also?
wouldn’t it be a 62g water to 62g lye with 62g water discount?
The water amount is always variable in soap recipes. Some people use more or less depending on preference or how quickly they want the soap to trace. Therefore, you do not need to adjust the water amount for this recipe.
You say to let the soap sit in the trays for 2 days then thereās an asterisk. I canāt find the reference to the asteriskā¦. Are you supposed to cover and wrap the mills for two days or leave uncovered?
Thank you!
I removed the asterisk – apologies – and you can leave the molds uncovered.
Hi Tanya, the first time I used the recipe, the soap turned out white.
But the next two times, the result is more greenish-grey, the colour of dish water!
Can you advise?
Hi Julie, the only thing I could think of is contamination of some sort. Did you use all the same ingredients? How about the pan or utensils? Did you use a pan that’s not stainless steel?
Maybe the tallow was grass fed and gave it a green tint ? My sister made beef broth and it has green tint because of grass fed beef
I have been making soap for years and tried all different recipes. This one, by far, is the best ever! Love the pure white color and feel of my skin after using it. I swim in a very chlorinated pool and it soothes my skin afterwards. I will be making this soap exclusively for a long time. I’ve given samples to friends at the gym and it gets rave reviews.
Thanks so much, Rose! So pleased that you’re happy with the tallow soap recipe and that your friends do, too :)
Can you use goats milk instead of water?
Yes, you can. There are a few of ways to make goat milk soap. However the basic premise is that you replace some or all of the water called for in a soap recipe with milk. It scorches (turns yellow and smelly) if it’s directly mixed with lye so there are techniques to add it to avoid scorching them. I go through one in the online natural soapmaking course and there’s another here.
Thank you so much for this, I’m dying to try it out, just waiting for my tallow to arrive! My skin is so dry, i just know that this is going to be the solution. Can’t wait, and i don’t know how I’m going to manage to wait the 4 weeks curing, lol..
Hi Jane, it is a very gentle soap, for sure. You may also want to start using a regular oil-based body balm to keep your skin conditioned. Here’s a recipe for lavender body balm but you can use other types of essential oil (or leave them out), if you wish.
I can’t wait to make this soap today. I rendered the last of my deer tallow.
Do you have recipe for deer tallow lip balm? I’ve made some of your other recipes for lip balm, but I think tallow would be amazing.
Hi Lisa, I don’t, however you can replace shea butter in my recipes with tallow if you wish. If I were to start formulating a tallow-specific lip balm, I might try 10% beeswax and 90% tallow. Home-rendered tallow can have a strong flavour but one drop of organic peppermint oil per 10 ml (0.34 oz) lip balm should mask it.
Thank you, I enjoy your u tube videos along with your books. You are my go to girl! I’ve learned so much from you…even gardening
You’re so welcome, Lisa, and thank you for the lovely feedback :)
The soap is absolutely amazing. However the instructions are problematic in their organization. The footnote for beef tallow lye amount is positioned under the tallow amount itself which is super confusing. I feel the footnote would be clearer under the lye amount and not under the tallow amount. Otherwise, best soap Iāve ever used! Thank you!
Hi Gian, no oil amounts are listed in the footnotes so your comment confuses me. Glad you like the recipe, though.
Yes, I see what sheās saying too.
Under:
Ingredients
Soaping Oils
You mention 1224g sheep, deer, or goat tallow,
And then next to that āSee notes for beef tallowā
Which initially led me to believe there was a different amount needed of beef tallow.
I agree that it would be more clear to place the āsee notes for beef tallowā in the ingredient section above āsoaping oilsā, next to the āLye Solutionā
Make sense?
This threw me off too.
If you see 1224g of tallow then you have the toggle turned on to 3x the batch rather than a single batch. You need to be conscious of this. Then read the notes clearly, which state that for a single (1x) batch of soap weighing 454g that the lye solution would be different for beef tallow. It all looks very clear to me.
I have a coconut allergy. What oil can I replace it for? Thank you for your help.
You can replace it with babassu oil.
Would olive oil work as a substitute to coconut oil?
Olive oil is not a substitute for coconut oil in soap recipes.
Hello,
This looks lovely. I usually use beef tallow, but the sheep tallow sounds even better. I’ll ask my butcher to save me some. Two questions – can I add powdered milk to the oils? If so, how much per pound of oils? And, is this kind of soap (maybe even with some colloidal oatmeal) gentle enough for a 6 month old baby? Or year old baby?
Thanks so much! Love getting your newsletters! They’re so informative and helpful!
Shari
Hi Shari, and thank you :) The recipe on its own is very gentle and suitable for sensitive skin. Abrasives will make it less gentle though, but colloidal oatmeal is quite fine and shouldn’t be an issue. As for milk powder, mix it with enough distilled water from the recipe to make it a watery slurry. Stir it in after trace.
(Adding Milk Powder) Just wondering if you mean using some of the 120 g of water from soap recipe to make a slurry? How much powder do you recommend using?
I have goat milk power and would love to use it in this recipe. Thank you and excited to give this a try.
I’d probably start with a Tablespoon of milk powder and, yes, use the water needed for the lye solution to make it into the slurry.
Hello! Thank u for this recipe. If I want to add a color, what do you recommend?
You have a wide range of colors you can choose from! Here’s a big list of natural soap colorants and tips on using them.
Is this recipe superfatted?
The superfat is listed in the recipe card. It’s 5%
Thank you so much!
What the total amount of essential oils that can be used. Ypu mentional optional ones but does that mean up to 4 tsp of EO? Want to be sure were using the safe recommended amount.
The essential oils are optional to this recipe – you can leave them out if you wish. If you don’t know about essential oil usage rates and safety, please stick to the essential oils listed.
Say i was to make one wood mold of soap using beef tallow instead of the sheep one , is it 62 grams 2.19 oz of lye i use ? how much beef tallow for one mold ?
Yes, that’s the correct amount of lye needed for a single 1-lb batch. You would use the same amount of beef tallow as you would lamb tallow for the recipe. I have no idea how large your mold is but a single batch of soap can fit inside this mold.
Hello, I was curious so I raise ducks and I canāt seem to find a duck fat soap recipe would beef tallow and duck fat be interchangeable?
Hi Brittany, the saponification value (SAP) of duck fat (0.138) is the same as sheep tallow (0.138). The saponification value is a number that represents how much lye in grams is needed to transform one gram of fat into soap. So for this recipe, you can replace the sheep tallow with duck fat without having to change anything else about the recipe. Lucky you! Easy. Beef tallow has a different SAP, so if you come across any recipes that call for it, then you’ll need to put the recipe into the online SoapCalc and recalculate the amount of lye you need for the recipe.
Thankyou so much for your hard work! Learning all of this has been so much fun.
I want to try my hand at a honey and/or goats milk recipe with this as the base for my friends who make traditional meads as a christmas present. Would that work?
Hi Courtney, yes, that would work! You can replace up to half of the water in the recipe and add it as I describe in this goat milk soap recipe. Honey can be added at trace – stir in 1 tsp of runny honey per one pound (454 g) batch of soap. It can heat up soap and cause it to discolor and you can read my honey soap recipe to understand more.
Hi thanks for the amazing tips and recipe.
Quick question,
This was my first time making soap and the soap has started the 4 week cure
I feel disappointed I didn’t decorate them a little or put a pretty add in, is it possible to melt it down and re mould? Or since I didn’t fill my mould full just make another batch snd add some colour to the top?
Hi Tayyibah, the best thing you can do is use this batch of soap now and make a new batch to decorate. I think you’ll be disappointed with how the soap would look using the rebatch method (shredding and melting) since it will not have the same smooth look again. Adding more soap onto soap that’s already cured could lead to the two layers separating into two parts.
I can’t wait to try this recipe! I would like to include 5% neem oil, though. Would it be possible to replace 5% of the tallow with neem?
Hi Martitia, yes you can but I encourage you to put the recipe into an online soap calculator to see if the lye amount needs any adjusting. With cold process soap, the superfat (oils that don’t get saponified) is a mixture of all of the oils used in the recipe. Part of the neem oil would be saponified and some of it wouldn’t.
Can I use virgin coconut oil in place of the refined? Thank you!
You can, but it would be not only cost more but the coconut scent does not survive the soapmaking process. I always recommend to keep virgin coconut oil for high-quality food recipes and use refined coconut oil for soapmaking. There is no point in using virgin coconut oil in soapmaking – it’s a waste.
Just poured up my first batch!! Excited to see how it turns out!!šš»šš»šš»šš»šš»šš»
I’m so looking forward to making this. But first I have a ton of store bought lard that I generally use for my soap. Can I follow this recipe to use some some of it up? If so which tallow formula would you recommend?
Hi Lisa, lard is different from tallow in both the animal its from (lard=pig) and its soapmaking qualities and has a different saponification value (needs a different amount of lye). That means that it’s not a direct substitute for tallow. Also, while some soapmakers make pure lard soap, most wouldn’t use any more than about 50% of a soap recipe. It doesn’t have as great a lather as other oils.
Do you have this recipe adapted for soap basis so no lye?
Hi Christina, it’s impossible to make soap from scratch without lye – here’s why. Soap bases that you purchase (called melt and pour) is soap that’s already made with oils and lye. If your question is about making tallow soap with a soap base, that’s not something you can do. Adding oils/fat to soap bases only works for tiny amounts. Adding more than a teaspoon extra per 1-lb soap batch can cause the melt-and-pour soap bars to sweat oil.
Hello. I would like to add Brazilian clay to this for color. At what step do I add the powder? Thanks
Hi Renee, you can add the clay straight into the hot lye solution. This is the easiest and best way! It saves time and the warm water helps disperse the clay and create an even color in the soap without soap clumps. Use one teaspoon of clay per 454 g (1-lb) of main soaping oils. Here’s more information on clay soapmaking.
Do you have any soap recipes that use lard? Or a recommendation for another website to search? I have lot that I would love to turn into soap. Love your website. Thanks for all the explanations and info!
Hi Hannah, I don’t have a lard recipe on the site YET but a good recipe would include up to about 75% lard, 20% coconut oil, and 5% castor oil. On its own, lard makes a hard bar but doesn’t lather very well. The coconut oil gives a good lather to the bar and the castor oil helps the bubbles and lather stay thick and long-lasting.
I was wondering if all the oz are by weight or is the castor oil and coconut oil by volume
All by weight. When measurements are given in volume, it’s fl oz.
Hi and thank you for this recipe Tanya- I’ve recently converted to using tallow :) I’m even going to give making my own tallow a go. Would you use the heat transfer method with this soap?
Hi Caryn, because tallow has a much higher melting point than other solid fats, it’s one that doesn’t do well with the heat transfer method. I’ve personally not tried, but have heard others have issues with the tallow in recipes (even as low as 10% of the recipe) not liquifying completely. It apparently turns into a strange gel that can end up ruining the batch – at least, aesthetically.
What a great recipe! We get our tallow from a local farmer we support. We tried the recipe and my husband raved about it. Thanks!
HI, I may have missed it, but do you have a recipe to make soap with lard?
Thanks!
Not yet, but it’s on the cards :)
Hi Tanya ,I am looking forward to try your recipe and working at 52 degree Celsius.Actually I am using a recipe including beef tallow, coconut oil, castor oil and olive oil, mixing the oils with the lye solution, both at 38 degrees Celsius.Gel fase. I was learning a lot from you, that’s why I am asking you if all the soap recipes with tallow beef should be mixed by 52 degree Celsius?š
Hi Daniela, temperature can be a personal preference with soap recipes and I’ve found that 52C (125F) is a good temperature to keep tallow melted. The important thing about temperature is that the one you work with should be above the highest melting point of the oils used in the recipe. Also, lower temperatures slow down the speed that soap traces, while hotter temperatures speed it up.
Thank you so much, dear Tanya!Actually today I was making this recipe with deer tallow and I am wery happy with the result. Following your instructions, everything was perfect. I would like to repeat the recipe with beef tallow (62 grams lye)and replaced the water with goat milk (frozen and then adding to the lye).The milk-lye mixture will have about room temperature, 23 degrees Celsius and my oils 52 degrees Celsius. This is my challenge since I know that the difference between oils and lye water should not be more than 10 degrees. I have a lot of frozen goat milk and also goat milk powder special for soap making. Please, can you give me some advice?Thank you!š
Hi Daniela and I’m so pleased that you’re enjoying the recipe. As for your question – it’s ideal for oils and the lye solution to be around the same temperature, but it’s not imperative. I’d work with a bit warmer lye solution with tallow, though, so that it doesn’t go into false trace accidentally. I recommend that you use half water and half milk with your recipe instead, and follow the lye solution instructions in this goat milk soap recipe.
Thank you again!It’s amazing that you are sharing your knowledge and experience with other people!Wish you the best!šā¤
Could I add colloidal oats and honey to this recipe without changing proportions?
Yes, you absolutely could. Use up to one Tablespoon and either stir it in at trace or add it to the lye solution. If you add it to the lye solution, it will probably become gloopy but that’s perfectly normal. The water in the lye solution helps pull the soothing properties and starches from the oatmeal.
Thank you for this simple recipe Tanya. I was looking for a non fussy soap, that uses tallow that will cure fast and it’s fits my requirements perfectly.
I usually use milk rather than water in my soaps. What are your thoughts on using milk here?
Many thanks,
Hi Natalie, and you’re welcome :) I’d say to feel free to replace some or all of the water in this recipe with milk, if you’d like to.
Good afternoon,
I was thinking of trying this recipe and subbing jojoba oil in place of the coconut oil because I am allergic to it. Can I sub the the jojoba oil and would I use the same amount of jojoba oil as coconut. I am allergic to nuts as well. Do you have any other suggested items to use instead of coconut oil?
Kate
Hi Kate, jojoba isn’t a good substitute for coconut oil in this recipe, but babassu oil is. Also, in case you’re not aware, using soap made with nut oils is different from eating nut oils. It’s the digestion of nut proteins that causes allergy in many people, rather than it being on their skin. Proteins are also almost completely absent from oils, too.
Oops, only have beef tallow available so that’s why I asked re increased amts. Sorry! Terry
I did figure out the larger size batch, but can you tell me what increased amt. of lye would be in 2X and 3X. Would water stay the same in all 3? Thanks muchly for your help and good recipes. Terry
Hi Terry, if you’re not already using the SoapCalc, I recommend that you start. You can put this entire recipe in, change the batch size, and also remove the sheep tallow and replace it with beef. The app calculates how much lye you’ll need for it. If you’re not confident in using it, I’ve left the amount of lye needed for a beef tallow version of this recipe in the notes field. That amount is for a 1-lb soap batch so you’d simply double or triple it if you do so to the entire batch. The water amount in most of my soap recipes is simply double the amount of lye by weight. This gives a 33% lye concentration and is perfect for most soap recipes.
Merci beaucoup toutes vos conseils ! Vous ĆŖtes une vraie mine d’or et d’une grande inspiration pour moi. Je suis ravie de vous avoir dĆ©couvert ! Je vous embrasse de la Franceš¹š.
Thank you for sharing your lovely soap recipes. I really like that they are small batches that I can share with my family
You’re very welcome, Sheyn :) Small batches are my favourite too! They’re perfect for people making soap for themselves, like you and your family :)
My first newsletter, didn’t use the links yet. Love the no waste concept. Newbie with a thirst for knowledge. Got some reading material. Thank you.
You’re so welcome, Michael, and welcome to the newsletter subscription :)
How many bars does this recipe make? It seems awfully small. I’d like to make 8 to 10 in a mold. Thank you. Terry D.
Hi Terry, I tend to share small 1-lb soap recipes, but the toggle in the recipe can double or triple the batch.