Can You Make Beef Tallow In An Air Fryer?

Making tallow, aka rendered beef fat, is often a time-consuming job that requires careful monitoring. Fatty trimmings of beef are traditionally cooked low and slow over a long period of time. If you don't have four hours to watch a pot over your stove, you may wonder if your air fryer can do the same job more efficiently. There are actually a few pros and cons to using this appliance to make your next batch of tallow.

With your air fryer, you can greatly reduce the time it takes to render a pool of this beefy elixir. Since these tools work by heating food through the circulation of hot air, your fat scraps can brown and melt in less than half the usual time, due to the extra heat exposure. You can render the fat at a lower temperature, like 300 degrees Fahrenheit, for a slightly longer cooking time, or cook it at 400 degrees for up to 15 minutes. 

You'll want to put the fat scraps on a tray that's safe for use in your air fryer, so the tallow conveniently pools in the dish (and doesn't drip down onto the heating element!). Check on your scraps every five minutes and flip them occasionally to prevent over-browning. Once your tray is filled with liquid fat and the beef bits have shriveled up and browned on all sides, strain the tallow and store in the refrigerator. That being said, pulling this off might still come with a few safety risks.

Air fryers don't always play nice with large quantities of liquid fat. You should avoid using too much oil when air-frying potatoes, for the same reasons you should be extra careful when rendering tallow in this convection-style appliance. Hot air circulating around the pool of tallow may cause it to spit, overheat, and smoke. If you're set on using your air fryer, take some preventative measures to ensure good results.

For starters, use tray that's deep enough to collect the fat without overflowing. To minimize smoking or burning, you may also want to pour out the pooled liquid in intervals as it collects, rather than all at once at the end. Additionally, tallow that over-browns may also have a more assertive flavor. To create a clean-tasting tallow with a mellow flavor, slow and careful cooking is recommended over hot and fast methods.

While it doesn't have an air fryer's quick cooking times or easy-to-use features, you might actually find the stovetop method more resourceful. With a pot over your stove, you can monitor the process more closely for both quality and safety, and easily scoop out any overly browned bits. The potential fat splatters inside your air fryer (and the clean up in general) can also be more of a hassle. While you can certainly render beef tallow in your air fryer, the risks and effort required may outweigh the benefits. It might be better to stick to air frying nachos for your parties.