Tallow Soap Dough recipe

I've been playing around with soap dough recipes and created this one using beef tallow. I really did not expect the soap to be pliable since beef tallow makes a very hard, if not somewhat brittle, bar of soap. 


The roses shown to the right were some of my earlier attempts. They are not difficult to form, but do require practice and patience.




Most of the ingredients are commonly found in a soap maker's studio.

Beef Tallow, fat from cows, is a solid white fat at room temperature. The best tallow comes from the fat found around the kidneys, but with a little effort, you can save the fat when you fry ground beef, Just strain it, refrigerate it and separate the solid fat from any water. Your local butcher may sell tallow or the raw beef fat for you to render. If you need to purchase tallow for the recipe below, compare prices on Essential Depot and Amazon.


Coconut Oil can be found locally at many grocery stores these days. I try to buy non-food grade, 76 degree coconut oil. The "76 degree" means that the oil melts at 76 degrees Fahrenheit. If your local grocery store doesn't carry coconut oil, check out these links on Amazon  and Essential Depot.


Palm Oil, a common soap-making ingredient, is a bit controversial these days as some think palm tree farmers are destroying forests and gorilla habitats. To be safe, you may want to purchase sustainably harvested palm oil like this one: Palm Oil RBD Organic Carrier Cold Pressed Pure 32 oz



Babassu Oil, derived from the South American Babassu palm, looks a lot like coconut oil -- a whitish solid oil at room temperature that melts easily. When I melted some on my skin, it felt silky and not greasy. 




Sunflower Oil- Is it just me or did sunflower oil become more of a "specialty" oil in recent years. I used to see large bottles at the grocery store and now the best I could do locally was a $4 glass bottle of sunflower oil at Aldi. I believe the sunflower oil in this recipe makes the dough a little softer.

Castor Oil - When I first started making soap and ran out of castor oil, I found a 6 oz bottle for $6 at the local drug store. I think it was located near the laxatives. You can usually find it cheaper than $1 an ounce online. Both Amazon and Essential Depot carry it. 





Tallow Soap Dough recipe by percentages:

25% beef tallow

25% coconut oil

20% palm oil 

20% Babassu oil

5% sunflower oil

5% castor oil

35% water as a percent of oil weight (a 2.4 to 1 water to lye ratio)

8% superfat

Please run these ingredients through a soap calculator such as https://www.soapcalc.com to determine how much sodium hydroxide (lye) you need. 

Tallow Soap Dough recipe by ounces and grams:

For a 16 ounce batch of oils, here are the quantities I used. Please note that if you make substitutions, you need to run the ingredients through a soap calculator to determine the exact amount of lye needed.

4 oz (113.4g) beef tallow
4 oz (113.4g) coconut oil

3.2 oz (90.72g) palm oil

3.2 oz (90.72g) babassu oil
0.8 oz (22.68g) sunflower oil

0.8 oz (22.68g) castor oil

5.6 oz (158.76 g) distilled water
2.32 oz (65.91 g) sodium hydroxide (lye)

Follow standard soap making procedures for cold process soap; use protective gear (gloves, goggles) and work in a well ventilated area.  

Are you more of a visual learner? Here's a video where I make this soap dough:

Here is a video where I make variegated soap roses from this soap dough: