Forget Butter: Baked Potatoes Get 50% Crispier, Tastier Skin When You Use This

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Ask any avid steakhouse-goer: Not all baked potatoes are created equal. In such a stripped-down dish, the differences that separate the proverbial cream from the crop are minimal: It's all about technique and cooking fat. Today, we're shining a spotlight on the latter. To nail the most delicious baked potatoes every time, put down the butter and break out the beef tallow. It's the one-step secret to crispier, more flavorful potato skins.

For the unacquainted, beef tallow is the cooked-off fat from cow organs. The fat gets rendered, strained, and cooled to create a versatile cooking fat with a high smoke point and a rich, savory flavor. In the kitchen, beef tallow can be used similarly to butter for roasting and frying — and it's just the ingredient swap your baked potato needs. As it cooks, that mild, pillowy spud will soak in the beefy depth from the tallow, creating a dimensional flavor. Meanwhile, beef tallow's signature high smoke point ensures that the potato skin stays protected while it roasts, yielding an ultra-crispy skin and overall more luxe mouthfeel than neutral butter or olive oil alone can achieve.

To make it work for your spuds, wash the potatoes and poke the entire surface of the skin using the tines of a fork. Then, slather the outside of the spuds in a generous, all-over layer of beef tallow. As an added bonus, that layer of tallow will also help any desired seasonings like sea salt, black pepper, and garlic powder adhere to the spuds as they bake. From there, oven-bake, grill, or smoke those potatoes as you normally might. They're finished baking when the center reaches an internal temperature of about 205 degrees Fahrenheit (accounting for carryover cooking as the potatoes cool down). 

Don't have any beef tallow stocked in your pantry? It can be purchased from a wide variety of supermarkets and online retailers. A 14-ounce jar of Kettle & Fire 100% grass-fed beef tallow currently costs $17.47 on Amazon. For foodies who incorporate baked potatoes into their dinner rotation fairly often, buying in bulk might be a worthwhile investment. A larger 42-ounce tub of South Chicago Packing wagyu beef tallow runs for $32.99 at Walmart. We've also rounded up the four best places to buy beef tallow to help home cooks get their hands on the good stuff.

To serve your smoky, crispy, steakhouse-worthy tallow-baked potato, garnish it with your go-to array of toppings like shredded cheese, chopped chives, a dollop of sour cream, and bacon crumbles. The smoky flavor of the bacon would enhance the savory beef tallow even further for a maxed-out bite. Or, to let that flavorful beef tallow shine on its own, you could simply dress the baked potato in a pat of salted butter. Crispy beef tallow baked potatoes make an ideal side dish for meaty entrees like ribeye steak or grilled pork chops. If you're feeling ambitious, you could even serve these crispy spuds with a side of tallow-roasted asparagus. Just toss a few blanched asparagus spears in melted beef tallow and throw 'em on the grill, or on a sheet pan in the oven beside your baked potatoes.