Fatback substitute

Best substitute

Salt pork

Use the same amount by weight, rinsed or soaked; reduce the recipe's salt by about half as the fatback you are replacing

Best for collard and turnip greens

Close match

Salt pork is the closest thing you will find in a normal supermarket, at 1:1, but it is heavily salted, so rinse it well or soak it for 30 minutes and cut the salt in your recipe. Pork belly is the next best and is nearly identical apart from the meat streaks running through it, which make the pot a little meatier. Bacon works and is what most people have, but it is smoked and salted, so a pot of greens made with it tastes distinctly of hickory rather than of clean pork. If you only need the fat itself, plain rendered lard at about half the weight does the job. Fatback's job is pure fat and body, mouthfeel and richness, so what matters most is that it is unsmoked and unsalted.

Other fatback substitutes

Ranked, with the exact amount to use

2Fresh pork belly
Different texture
Use the same amount by weight
The best substitute if you can get it, because like fatback it is fresh, unsmoked and unsalted, so it does not force any adjustments.
What changes
The difference is that belly has layers of meat threaded through the fat, so it renders somewhat less pure fat and leaves behind tender meaty bits. In a pot of greens that reads as a bonus rather than a problem.
Best for
greens and beans, braises and stews, sausage making, rendering your own lard, confit and slow cooking
Because part of it is meat, use a little more if you specifically need the fat volume, roughly 1.25 times the weight. Cut it into 1 inch cubes and render slowly over low heat before you add liquid.
3Rendered lard
Different texture
About half the weight of the fatback called for, since fatback is not pure yield
This is fatback that has already been melted down, so it delivers the richness and the mouthfeel instantly with no rendering time.
What changes
What it cannot do is give you the chewy morsels of rendered fat left in the pot, or the slow release of flavor over an hour of simmering. A pot of beans made with lard tastes rich but slightly flat and one-dimensional next to one made with a chunk of fatback.
Best for
refried beans and tamales, cornbread and biscuits, frying, quick weeknight versions of long-cooked dishes
A 4 ounce piece of fatback yields roughly 2 to 3 ounces of lard, which is why you use less. Buy non-hydrogenated lard if you can, the shelf-stable hydrogenated blocks taste noticeably less clean.
4Slab bacon or thick-cut bacon
Taste and texture differ
Use the same amount by weight
The swap most people will actually make, and the one that changes the dish most.
What changes
Bacon is belly that has been both cured and smoked, so on top of the meat streaks you get salt and a strong hickory or applewood note. Collard greens or black-eyed peas made with bacon taste unmistakably smoky rather than cleanly porky. Many people prefer that. Just know it is a different flavor, not a neutral one.
Best for
greens and beans when smoke is welcome, cornbread, soups and chowders, when it is all you have
Cut the recipe's salt, bacon brings plenty. Buy slab bacon rather than thin strips if you can, since a chunk renders slowly and holds up over a long simmer while thin strips disintegrate.
5Lardo
Different taste
Use the same amount by weight; reduce the recipe's salt
Cured Italian back fat, so it is exactly the same cut with salt, rosemary and often garlic and pepper worked into it over months.
What changes
Structurally perfect, but it is a finishing ingredient rather than a cooking one: melting expensive lardo into a pot of beans wastes its herbal perfume and adds salt you did not plan for.
Best for
when you have it and nothing else, small amounts melted over hot vegetables or bread, enriching a braise
Treat it like a seasoned salt pork. Rinse the outside if it is heavily coated, cut the recipe's salt, and accept a rosemary and pepper background note.
6Smoked turkey wing, neck or leg (pork-free)
Taste and texture differ
Use One wing or two necks for every 4 ounces of fatback
The standard answer in Southern kitchens that do not cook pork, and a genuinely good one.
What changes
It gives real smoke, salt and collagen, which means the pot liquor still has body. What it cannot supply is the fat, so the greens are noticeably leaner and less glossy, and the mouth-coating richness is absent.
Best for
collard, mustard and turnip greens, black-eyed peas and field peas, bean pots, pork-free Southern cooking
Add 2 tablespoons of oil or butter alongside it to replace some of the missing fat. Turkey parts need a longer simmer than fatback, closer to 1.5 hours, to give up their flavor.

What is Fatback?

Fatback is Fatback, also called pork back fat or fat back, is the firm layer of pure fat from along a pig's spine, sold fresh with no smoke, usually no salt, and no streaks of meat running through it.

Cooking tips

Fatback's job in a dish is fat, full stop. It brings body, gloss and mouth-coating richness to greens, beans and cornbread, and it carries the flavor of everything else in the pot. Two things separate it from its cousins and they are the two that matter most in a substitution: it is not smoked, and it is usually not salted. So a swap of bacon adds smoke you have to plan for, and a swap of salt pork adds sodium you have to subtract elsewhere.
Freeze it for 20 minutes before you cut it. Pure fat at room temperature is slippery and gummy under a knife, and a firm chilled block dices cleanly into the half-inch pieces you want.
Render it low and slow. Put the diced fat in a cold heavy pan with a tablespoon of water, keep the heat at medium-low, and let it melt for 20 to 30 minutes. You get clean white lard plus crisp golden cracklings, both of which are useful. Rushing it on high heat scorches the fat and gives the lard a burnt taste that carries through the whole dish.
For a pot of greens or beans, use about 4 ounces of fatback per pound of dried beans or per two large bunches of greens. Add it at the start with the water so it has an hour to give up its fat and flavor, and salt the pot at the end.
For sausage making, fatback is the standard fat because it is firm, clean-tasting and unsalted. If you substitute, use trimmed pork belly or shoulder fat, and do not be tempted to reduce the fat proportion: a fresh sausage below roughly 20 to 25 percent fat comes out dry and crumbly no matter how well you cook it. If a sausage recipe involves curing salts or fermentation, do not adjust the salt, cure or timing at all, follow a tested recipe and the guidance from the National Center for Home Food Preservation.
Wrapped tightly, fatback freezes well for six months or more, and rendered lard keeps for months in the fridge. Buying a slab and freezing it in portions is much cheaper than buying bacon to do the same job.

Frequently asked questions

Is fatback the same as salt pork?

No, and the difference will affect your seasoning. Fatback is fresh, unsalted, unsmoked pure back fat. Salt pork is cured in salt and is often cut from the belly or the sides rather than the back, so it can carry meat streaks. They are interchangeable in a pot of greens or beans as long as you rinse or soak the salt pork and then reduce the salt in your recipe by about half.

Can I use bacon instead of fatback?

Yes, at 1:1 by weight, and it is what most people do. Understand that you are adding two things fatback does not have: salt and smoke. A pot of collard greens made with bacon tastes distinctly hickory-smoked instead of cleanly porky. Cut the salt in the recipe, use slab or thick-cut bacon rather than thin strips so it survives a long simmer, and if you want to move it closer to fatback, use less bacon and add a tablespoon of neutral oil to make up the fat.

Can I just leave it out?

Yes, and the dish will still work, it will just be thinner. Fatback is a seasoning fat, not the structure of the dish. For greens or beans without it, start with 2 to 3 tablespoons of oil or butter, add half a teaspoon of smoked paprika for the smoke, and finish with a splash of vinegar or a dash of soy sauce for savory depth. What you cannot replicate is the mouth-coating body, so expect a lighter, brighter pot. For sausage making, on the other hand, you cannot leave the fat out, the sausage will be dry and crumbly.

How much fatback goes in a pot of beans or greens?

Around 4 ounces per pound of dried beans, or 4 to 6 ounces for two large bunches of greens. Add it at the beginning with the cooking liquid, cut into half-inch cubes or scored in a single piece, so it has an hour or more to render. Some cooks fish the piece out before serving; others chop it and stir it back in.

What is the difference between fatback and lard?

Lard is what fatback becomes once you melt it down. Fatback is the solid raw fat, lard is the rendered liquid fat that has been strained and cooled. If a recipe calls for fatback and you have lard, use roughly half the weight, since a piece of fatback does not yield its full weight in fat, and accept that you lose the cracklings and the slow flavor release that a chunk of fat gives a long-simmered pot.

Related substitutes

More oils & fats substitutes

Fatback substitute

Other fatback substitutes

2Fresh pork belly

3Rendered lard

4Slab bacon or thick-cut bacon

5Lardo

6Smoked turkey wing, neck or leg (pork-free)