Tallow Soap Recipe: Cold Process Beef Tallow Soap, Whipped Tallow Balm and Lip Balm

To make beef tallow soap, wearing goggles and gloves, you pour a solution of 66 g of sodium hydroxide in 150 g of water onto 500 g of melted tallow, blend to trace, pour into the mould, unmould after 24 to 48 hours and leave to cure for 4 to 6 weeks. With 2 of the 4 250 g blocks of our raw beef tallow 1 kg, this cold process recipe makes about 6 bars of 100 g; the same tallow also makes a whipped balm and a lip balm. All the recipes in this guide are shared for educational purposes, for personal use.

Why does beef tallow make such good soap?

Beef tallow makes a hard bar with a dense, creamy lather that wears down slowly, because it is rich in long-chain saturated fatty acids: palmitic acid and stearic acid. The FAO/WHO international standard for animal fats gives tallow 20 to 30 % palmitic acid, 15 to 30 % stearic acid and 30 to 45 % oleic acid¹. Saponified with sodium hydroxide, these long chains give a longer-lasting soap with a neutral scent, and the reaction is essentially complete within 1 to 2 days².

In pasture-finished steers, the subcutaneous fat turned out to be richer in stearic acid, “a primary determinant of fat hardness”⁶: fat from grass-fed cattle tends towards a firmer profile, which favours a hard bar. This is a trend observed in American steers, not a measurement of our tallow.

And “Sodium Tallowate”? It is the INCI name of tallow soap, that is, tallow saponified with sodium hydroxide; the European CosIng database lists it as a cleansing agent and foam booster, among other functions⁹. To read an ingredient list, see our article cream, balm or pure tallow.

An ancient soap-making tradition

In the 1st century, Pliny the Elder already credited the invention of soap to the Gauls, who made it “from tallow and ashes”; he distinguished two kinds, hard and liquid¹⁰. In 1823, the French chemist Michel-Eugène Chevreul explained that the name of stearic acid “is derived from στέαρ, tallow” and saw sodium stearate as “the type of hard soaps”¹¹. To go further, see our complete guide to beef tallow.

How do you prepare your workspace?

A well-prepared workspace comes down to three habits: gear up, ventilate, and always pour the sodium hydroxide into the water. Sodium hydroxide (caustic soda, NaOH), which turns tallow into soap, is classified as corrosive to skin and eyes (hazard statement H314)³: a few good habits let you work with peace of mind. The recipe is then calculated with a superfat so that all the sodium hydroxide is turned into soap and glycerine.

How do you make beef tallow soap, step by step?

This cold process beef tallow soap recipe uses 2 blocks of 250 g of tallow, 66 g of sodium hydroxide and 150 g of distilled water: about 716 g of soap batter, or roughly 6 bars of 100 g after curing. The amounts were cross-checked on two lye calculators, SoapCalc and The Sage^{7, 15}.

Ingredients for 2 blocks

100 % tallow soap: lye solution at about 30 %, superfat of about 6 to 7 %

Ingredient	Quantity	Tip
Raw beef tallow 1 kg	500 g (2 blocks)	Melted and clear
Sodium hydroxide (NaOH)	66 g	Weighed to 0.1 g, rounded down
Distilled water	150 g	Weighed separately
Essential oils (optional)	5 to 15 g	1 to 3 % of the tallow weight

Equipment

• Scales accurate to 0.1 g, a thermometer, a stick blender and a silicone spatula.
• A polypropylene (PP 5) container for the solution, a stainless steel pan for the tallow.
• A soap mould of about 750 cm³ (common rule of thumb: about 0.70 g of tallow per cm³ of mould¹⁶), for example an 18 × 7 × 6 cm loaf mould or 7 to 8 cavities of 100 ml.
• Cling film, a towel and baking paper.

Preparing the lye solution

1. Geared up and with the window open, weigh the 150 g of distilled water into the PP container, then the 66 g of sodium hydroxide into a small dry container.
2. Pour the sodium hydroxide into the water, little by little, stirring, with your face turned away from the fumes.
3. Leave the solution to cool to one side, out of reach, in its clearly labelled PP container (for example marked “lye”).

Melting the tallow

4. Melt the 500 g of tallow over a low heat until it is completely melted and clear.
5. Let it cool to around 45 to 50 °C, with the lye solution at a similar temperature. For formulas rich in hard fats, Aroma-Zone works between 45 and 55 °C; above about 60 °C, the emulsion may take on a “curdled” look¹⁷.

Blending to trace

6. Slowly pour the lye solution into the melted tallow, along the spatula.
7. Blend in short pulses, then finish with the spatula: tallow reaches trace quickly¹⁸. With a stick blender, light trace often comes within 30 to 60 seconds and medium trace within 1 to 2 minutes, depending on the recipe¹⁹.
8. Stop between light and medium trace, when a drizzle of batter leaves a mark on the surface for a few moments¹⁷. This is when you add the essential oils, if you are using any.

Pouring, unmoulding, cutting

9. Pour the batter, tap the mould to release air bubbles and lay cling film directly on the surface to limit soda ash.
10. Cover with a towel, or leave uncovered in a cool room: the gel phase is not essential, and a partial gel only leaves a slightly darker ring, with no effect on quality¹⁷.
11. Unmould after 24 to 48 hours, wearing gloves¹⁷, when the soap is firm to the touch, then cut it into even bars.
12. Set the bars to cure for 4 to 6 weeks.

Should you add olive or coconut oil to the tallow?

It is not necessary: a 100 % tallow soap already makes a hard, creamy bar. A little coconut simply adds more big bubbles and a faster lather; olive rounds out the formula. For the role of each fat, read our comparison tallow, shea, oils and lanolin.

3-block variation: tallow, olive and coconut (75/15/10)

• 750 g of tallow (3 blocks), 150 g of olive oil and 100 g of refined 76° coconut oil
• 135 g of sodium hydroxide (NaOH) and 315 g of distilled water

The solution is at 30 %, the superfat is around 6 to 7 % depending on the calculator^{7, 15}, and the 1,450 g of batter make 12 to 13 bars of 100 g. Melt the coconut with the tallow, add the olive oil and follow the same steps, choosing “coconut 76° refined” in the calculator. For more stable bubbles, some recipes add a little castor oil: recalculate the sodium hydroxide if you do.

How much tallow do you need for each recipe?

Allow 2 blocks of 250 g for about 6 bars of soap, 4 blocks (1 kg) for 12 to 13 bars, and 1 block for about 312 g of whipped balm.

How many blocks of raw beef tallow 1 kg for each project^{7, 15}

Project	With the tallow	Blocks	Result
Small test batch of soap	33 g of sodium hydroxide, 75 g of water	1	About 3 bars
100 % tallow soap	66 g of sodium hydroxide, 150 g of water	2	About 6 bars
Large batch	132 g of sodium hydroxide, 300 g of water	4	12 to 13 bars
Tallow, olive and coconut	150 g of olive oil, 100 g of coconut oil, 135 g of sodium hydroxide, 315 g of water	3	12 to 13 bars
Whipped balm	62.5 g of liquid oil20, 21	1	About 312 g
Lip balm	15 g of beeswax, 15 g of oil22	15 g taken from 1 block	About 45 g

The bars are 100 g after curing. Raw beef tallow also comes in multi-kilo packs. Only open the block you are using: the others wait in a cool place, away from light, in a glass or plastic container. See also our guide to choosing a good beef tallow.

How long should beef tallow soap cure?

Allow 4 to 6 weeks of curing in a cool, dry and airy place, and up to 8 weeks for an even harder bar. Saponification is essentially complete within 1 to 2 days; curing mainly improves the bar: water evaporates, the soap shrinks slightly, hardens and becomes less soluble, so it lasts longer^{16, 17}.

• Where: a cool, dry and airy room, out of direct sunlight¹⁷.
• How: bars spaced out on a rack or on baking paper, not touching bare metal; write down the date and the recipe.
• When is it ready? Weigh a test bar every week: when its weight stops dropping, it is ready¹⁶.
• And then: once dry, store your soaps in a dry, ventilated place, away from light and heat: they keep for months, even years¹⁷.

Suggested calendar for giving your soaps at Christmas 2026 (calculation: cure counted up to 25 December, plus 1 to 2 days in the mould)

Target cure	Start curing by	Recommended pouring date
4 weeks	27 November	Around 25 or 26 November
6 weeks	13 November	Around 11 or 12 November
8 weeks	30 October	Around 28 or 29 October

In short: pour your gift soaps before mid-November, ideally at the end of October.

How do you scent tallow soap?

Scent is optional: well-filtered tallow gives a soap with a neutral scent, perfect unscented. If you do scent it, add the essential oils at trace, at 1 to 3 % of the tallow weight. This is a cautious range, within the 1 to 5 % of total oil weight given by Aroma-Zone¹⁷. Base notes (patchouli, vetiver, Atlas cedar) and strong heart notes (true lavender, rosemary cineole, geranium) last best; citrus notes fade, so pair them with a base note¹⁷. Keep your bottles cool, as an oxidised oil can make the soap go rancid. Our tallow is purified slowly, in small batches, as we explain in from pasture to your skin.

How do you make a whipped tallow balm?

Melt 1 block of 250 g of tallow, add 62.5 g of liquid oil, let it cool until the edges turn opaque, then whip for a few minutes: you get about 312 g of airy balm. This ratio of 80 % tallow to 20 % oil is a common benchmark in published recipes^{20, 21}. The result is an anhydrous balm made only of fats; the difference with an emulsified cream is explained in our article cream, balm or pure tallow.

1. Melt the 250 g of tallow in a bain-marie over a low heat, then, off the heat, add 62.5 g of liquid plant oil, for example jojoba^{20, 21}. Optional: a few drops of vitamin E, an antioxidant (not a preservative).
2. Leave to cool in a cool room, stirring from time to time, until the edges turn opaque.
3. Whip for a few minutes with an electric whisk, until you get a pale texture that forms soft peaks²¹.
4. Divide into clean, dry jars and let it finish setting at room temperature.

For a creamier texture, go to 75/25 (83 g of oil); if the room is warm, stay at 85/15 (44 g). A grainy balm can be saved: melt it down completely, cool it faster and whip it again²¹. Beef tallow generally melts between about 40 and 50 °C, depending on the breed of the animal²³: a rather soft tallow needs a little less oil.

Disinfect jars and utensils²⁴, and date each jar. A balm made of 100 % fats carries a low microbiological risk as long as water stays out of the jar²⁵: scoop it out with a clean, dry spatula, and allow a few months of storage away from heat and light^{20, 21}, trusting your nose. First do a test in the crook of the elbow for at least 48 hours²⁴. On dry, rough hands, elbows or heels, a small amount nourishes and softens the skin; our guide dry skin in winter explains how to apply it.

How do you make a homemade tallow lip balm?

A homemade tallow lip balm is made with three ingredients weighed in equal parts: tallow, beeswax and liquid oil. This 1:1:1 ratio by weight, published in a tallow recipe²², suits a stick: 15 g of each ingredient makes about 45 g of balm.

Going further: Tallow Lip Balm Recipe: 3 Homemade Beef Tallow Lip Balms (Melting, Standard, Firm).

1. Wash then disinfect the tubes or jars²⁴.
2. Melt the wax and the tallow in a bain-marie: beeswax melts at around 62 to 65 °C, never heat it above 85 °C²⁶. Add the oil, stir and take off the heat.
3. Fill the tubes in two stages: three-quarters full, let it set, then top up, to avoid the small dip in the middle^{22, 27}.

In a jar, a little less wax gives a softer balm. The basic version is unscented; if you do scent it, stay at 0.5 % at most, or about 0.2 g for 45 g, added off the heat²⁷. Leave out citrus and bergamot: several of these cold-pressed oils (bergamot, lemon, lime, grapefruit, bitter orange) contain photosensitising furocoumarins, which the IFRA standards of the fragrance industry strictly regulate for the lips²⁸. Sources disagree on sweet orange: to be safe, no citrus on the lips. This balm generally keeps for up to about a year^{22, 27}; honey and glycerine, which mix poorly with fats, have no place in it²⁷.

Homemade balm or ready-to-use balm?

Make your balm yourself if you enjoy weighing, whipping and adjusting the texture; choose a ready-to-use balm to apply it straight away, every day. Both rely on the same material: beef tallow.

Homemade whipped balm or Unscented Beef Tallow Balm: two ways to enjoy tallow

Criterion	Homemade whipped balm	Unscented Beef Tallow Balm 150 g
Preparation	Melting, cooling, whipping	None: ready to apply
Texture	You adjust it yourself	Whipped, ready to use
Size	Depends on your jars	150 g jar
Scent	Unscented or scented, as you like	Unscented

To go straight to applying, discover the Unscented Beef Tallow Balm in the large size, and browse our reviews and experiences with beef tallow.

Can you give your homemade tallow soaps as gifts?

Making your soaps and balms for yourself, or occasionally giving them to friends and family, is in principle a private matter.²⁹ As soon as you sell them, or distribute them in a commercial setting, even free of charge, they are cosmetic products placed on the market within the meaning of Regulation (EC) No 1223/2009, with the procedures that go with it³⁰. The recipes in this guide are shared for educational purposes, for personal use. To give them, once curing is over, wrap your bars in paper or cardboard, with a card stating the pouring date and the ingredients.

Frequently asked questions

How much sodium hydroxide for 500 g or 1 kg of tallow?

For a 100 % beef tallow soap, allow 66 g of sodium hydroxide (NaOH) and 150 g of water for 500 g of tallow, or 132 g of sodium hydroxide and 300 g of water for 1 kg, which gives a superfat of about 6 to 7 %. Cross-check them in a calculator (“beef tallow”), wear sealed goggles and nitrile gloves, and always pour the sodium hydroxide into the water.

How long should tallow soap cure?

A cold process beef tallow soap cures for 4 to 6 weeks in a cool, dry and airy place, up to 8 weeks for an even harder bar. It is ready when its weight stops dropping from one week to the next.

At what temperature should you work the tallow and the lye?

Work with the tallow fully melted and clear, at around 45 to 50 °C, with the lye solution at a similar temperature, and stay below about 60 °C. If the batter turns grainy, keep blending until it is smooth.

Does tallow soap smell of beef?

As a rule, no: well-rendered and filtered beef tallow gives a soap with a neutral scent. The unscented version is very pleasant as it is; essential oils remain optional.

Tallow or lard for making soap?

Both make excellent soaps, firm, creamy and long-lasting. Tallow, richer in stearic acid, gives a harder bar and a creamier lather; lard, richer in oleic acid, a slightly softer bar.

How should you store homemade tallow soaps?

After curing, store your tallow soaps in a dry, ventilated place, away from light and heat, wrapped in paper or cardboard rather than plastic. Stored this way, they keep for months, even years.

How long does a homemade tallow balm keep?

A homemade whipped tallow balm keeps for a few months away from heat and light. Date it, scoop it out with a clean, dry spatula to keep water out of the jar, and replace it if its smell changes.

Can you give homemade soaps as gifts?

Occasionally giving your soaps to friends and family is in principle a private matter. As soon as you sell them, or distribute them in a commercial setting, even free of charge, they are cosmetic products subject to Regulation (EC) No 1223/2009: a responsible person, a safety assessment, a product information file, a CPNP notification, good manufacturing practice (ISO 22716) and full labelling, fragrance allergens included; in France, the workshop must also be declared to the DGCCRF.

Which project should you start with?

Start with the 100 % tallow recipe in 2 blocks: it is the simplest way to make your own beef tallow soap, and it gives about 6 hard, creamy bars. Then try the whipped balm (1 block) and the lip balm; for the olive and coconut variation, plan for 3 blocks. For Christmas, pour before mid-November.

Our raw beef tallow 1 kg comes in 4 blocks of 250 g; it is also available in multi-kilo packs. And if you prefer a ready-to-use balm, the Unscented Beef Tallow Balm in the large size is waiting for you.

Sources

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