We made french fries in wagyu beef tallow last summer and they were some of the best fries we’ve ever had. Accordingly, we decided to see how sweet potato fries taste when fried in beef tallow. So we busted out the cast iron skillet, cranked up the gas grill and got our French fry on! And I have to say Beef Tallow Sweet Potato French Fries are way better than regular sweet potato fries.

Raw sweet potato fries boiling furiously in beef tallow in a cast iron pan — GrillinFools Images ©

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Before we get too much farther, I have to stop and talk about the beef tallow. I’m just gonna say it. This shit is F’n magic.

First off, it makes brisket soooo much better. Here is our side by side brisket experiment where one got the tallow treatment and one did not.

Reverse seared steaks seared on cast iron with beef tallow made the best flavor crust I’ve ever had on a steak.

Biscuits and brisket gravy made with beef tallow is breakfast heaven on a plate.

Speaking of breakfast, how about some Korean short ribs and eggs, also cooked with beef tallow.

To steal a phrase, I put that shit on everything! Or at least I cook everything with it!

Back to the French fry recipe

Beef Tallow Sweet Potato French Fries Ingredients:

Cast iron skillet
12-16 ounces of wagyu beef tallow
2-3 pounds of sweet potatoes
Your favorite BBQ seasoning, look for one with high salt content

We also made some burgers to go with these fries and will have some pics of that process throughout this post.

You know how to make a burger so we won’t go too deep into the cooking process of the burg.

How to Make Beef Tallow Sweet Potato French Fries
Melt the tallow in a cast iron pan, bring the liquid tallow up to 350F and drop in the sliced sweet potato french fries into the pan. When the french fries float (about 10 minutes in) remove them from the hot oil and place in a bowl lined with paper towels to pull the liquid tallow off the fries. Season and toss the fries in the bowl to coat 2-3 times and serve. You can make multiple batches of fries in the liquid beef tallow. Scroll down for a more detailed step by step, pic by pic foolproof recipe.

Set your grill for medium-medium high heat depending on your grill. Most grills have BTU’s between 22,000 and 28,000.

Mine has 110,000 so getting the temp right is done by feel and familiarity with the cooker.

I set a burner on my grill to fairly low and set the cast iron pan over the hot burner and and dropped in four or five large dollops of beef tallow to melt:

Globs of beef tallow melting in a cast iron pan on a gas grill — GrillinFools Images ©

What is the difference between tallow and lard?
Both are clarified fat, although lard is clarified from pork fat and tallow is from beef. In terms of uses, they are fairly interchangeable, but the results on recipes like these french fries and those reverse seared steaks are undeniably magical with tallow.

While the tallow melts, slice the rinsed sweet potatoes.

Feel free to skin the potatoes if you so desire, although I left the skins on because I like the skins:

A damascus steel knife slicing sweet potatoes into french fries — GrillinFools Images ©

Thinner Fries are Better – There I said it

The thinner you slice the sweet potato French fries, the quicker they cook.

Also, the thinner the fries the higher the ratio of the outside crispiness and the inner sweet potato.

I’m not going Steak n Shake or Freddies thin, but I’m also not going with steak fries either.

Additionally, the tallow can be used multiple times so make different size batches and decide which you like best:

Sliced raw sweet potato fries — GrillinFools Images ©

Keep checking the temp of the tallow:

An IR temperature gun reading 353F when aimed at melted beef tallow inside a cast iron pan on a gas grill — GrillinFools Images ©

We don’t want it to hit 350F on its way to 450F (the smoke point for beef tallow is 420F). We want it to get to 350F and stay within 10F-25F degrees of that.

Once the temp has reached 350F and leveled off, drop in the sweet potato french fries which should cause the oil to bubble mightily:

Raw sweet potato fries going into a cast iron pan of beef tallow that is boiling furiously — GrillinFools Images ©

While the sweet potatoes fry in the tallow, I went ahead and made a double cheeseburger because fries without a burger leaves me half empty inside.

Cast Iron is Magic

For this I used a cast iron griddle (although it is sold as a cast iron pizza stone) and a little more purified beef fat:

Two fat raw hamburger patties cooking on a cast iron griddle in a gas grill — GrillinFools Images ©

Don’t forget to toast those buns:

A perfectly toasted brioche bun — GrillinFools Images ©

Two burger patties on a cast iron griddle with two slices of white American deli cheese on top — GrillinFools Images ©

Also, a cloche (klōsh) or a melting lid goes a long way here:

A melting lid on a cast iron griddle in a gas grill — GrillinFools Images ©

Look close, you can see three grillin’ idiots, er, fools in the reflecting on that melting lid.

Check out the melting action and do whatever you can to save that brown, crispy cheese on the griddle.

Also, our fries are browned and floating thus they are done, so time to plate everything:

Two burger patties covered in melted cheese cook on a cast iron griddle next to a cast iron skillet full of sweet potato fries frying in beef tallow — GrillinFools Images ©

A double cheeseburger on the bottom bun waiting for toppings before the top bun is added — GrillinFools Images ©

We went messy here with some pickles, Carolina gold BBQ sauce and Alabama White sauce:

A man drizzles Alabama white sauce over a super messy cheeseburger that has thick pickles and a mustard based BBQ sauce dizzled over the top — GrillinFools Images ©

A super sloppy double cheeseburger with mustard BBQ sauce and Alabama white sauce and some thick pickles outside with a grill and trees in the background — GrillinFools Images ©

And let’s grab those fries:

Crispy sweet potato fries being removed from the cast iron pan on a grill with a wire mesh sievespatula — GrillinFools Images ©

That wire mesh tool sucked for collecting the French fries.

Tongs worked better and we switched to them after we took the above pic.

Once in a paper towel lined bowl, I seasoned these fries with a BBQ rub with a high salt concentration:

A gorgeous hunk of a man seasons sweet potato fries in a light blue bowl outside with green foliage in the background — GrillinFools Images ©

Then I tossed and repeated 2-3 times:

Sweet potato french fries being tossed in a light blue bowl by a ruggedly handsome man in glasses and a denim apron — GrillinFools Images ©

Finally, our burger and sweet potato fries plated!

Sweet Potato French Fries and a gloriously messy burger with a drizzle of mustard BBQ sauce and Alabama white sauce with the top bun cocked off to the side — GrillinFools Images ©

Mmmmmm Fries:

A close up of the beef tallow sweet potato fries — GrillinFools Images ©

While I LOVE rare beef, I go at least to medium for ground beef. I know some of you are thinking that I overcooked it.

Scroll down below the recipe card for all the drip shots because this was maybe the juiciest burger I’ve ever had:

A double cheeseburger sliced in half showing a cross section of both halves of the burger — GrillinFools Images ©

Beef Tallow Sweet Potato French Fries Recap

The sweet potato fries were super crispy, something you don’t normally get with sweet potato fries. Additionally, they were flat out fantastic in terms of flavor. The wagyu beef tallow takes the French fry to the next level, maybe even two levels, above fries made with vegetable oil. And using a salty BBQ rub really pairs well with the sweetness of the sweet potatoes. I highly recommend it.

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Beef Tallow Sweet Potato French Fries Recipe Card:

Print Recipe

Beef Tallow Sweet Potato French Fries

Beef Tallow Sweet Potato French Fries: wagyu beef tallow used to fry sweet potato french fries in cast iron on a gas grill and served with a double cheeseburger

Prep Time10

Cook Time10

Course: Cheeseburger, Finger Food, Hamburger, Hamburgers, Side, Side Dish

Cuisine: American, American Fare, Cheeseburger, Cheeseburgers, Finger Food, French Fries

Keyword: Beef Tallow, Beef Tallow French Fries, Beef Tallow Fries, Beef Tallow Sweet Potato French Fries, cast iron, Cast Iron Pan, Cast Iron Skillet, Cheeseburger, Cheeseburgers, Double Cheeseburger, Sweet Potato French Fries, Sweet Potato Fries, Wagyu, Wagyu Beef Tallow

Servings: People

Equipment

1 Cast Iron Skillet
1 Cast Iron Griddle optional

Ingredients

12-18 ounces Beef tallow
2-3 pounds Sweet potatoes, rinsed
Your favorite BBQ seasoning Look for high salt content seasoning

Instructions

Turn on a burner on your gas grill to medium-medium high. Set the cast iron skillet over hot burner and fill with the beef tallow
While the beef tallow melts, slice the sweet potatoes into French fries
Once the tallow liquifies and levels off at 350F, add the fries to the hot tallow
Optional - while the sweet potatoes fry, cook burgers in the other side of the grill
When the sweet potato fries float, they are ready to serve (about 10 minutes)
When the sweet potatoes float, transfer to a paper towel lined bowl and sprinkle the BBQ seasoning on the fries, toss to coat more evenly and repeat 1-2 more times
Plate with the cheeseburger and serve

Video

Here are those drip shots. Look close. Also, all I used was 80/20 standard ground beef:

An incredibly handsome man in glasses and a denim apron taking a bit of a cheeseburger that is so juicy it is dripping out the bottom — GrillinFools Images ©

A handsome fella in glasses and a demin apron holds a double cheeseburger that is so juicy it is dripping out of the bottom — GrillinFools Images ©

A cross section of that double cheeseburger that is dripping near the fingers of the other hand — GrillinFools Images ©

Scott Thomas

Scott Thomas, the Original Grillin’ Fool, was sent off to college with a suitcase and a grill where he overcooked, undercooked and burned every piece of meat he could find. After thousands of failures, and quite a few successes, nearly two decades later he started a website to show step by step, picture by picture, foolproof instructions on how to make great things out of doors so that others don’t have to repeat the mistakes he’s made on the grill.

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