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Goose Fat substitute

Best substitute

Duck Fat

Use the same amount as the goose fat you are replacing

Best for roast potatoes

Close match

Duck fat is the substitute, at a straight 1:1, and it is close enough that most people cannot tell the difference. It is slightly more strongly flavoured and a touch softer than goose fat, which matters not at all in roast potatoes and only a little in a confit. If you cannot get duck fat, use rendered chicken fat, known as schmaltz, at 1:1 for a milder version, or clarified butter mixed with a neutral oil for roasting, which browns beautifully but tastes dairy rather than savoury. Beef tallow gives the crispest roast potatoes of any of these but tastes distinctly beefy.

Other goose fat substitutes

Ranked, with the exact amount to use

Substitutes for Goose Fat with ratios

  1. 2Rendered Chicken Fat (Schmaltz)

    Close match

    Use the same amount

    Fat rendered from chicken skin and trimmings, sold in jars or easily made at home.

    What changes
    Best for
    roast potatoes, sauteed onions, rice, braised greens, matzo balls, frying

    A very good and much cheaper stand-in. Schmaltz is milder and lighter than goose fat, tasting straightforwardly of roast chicken rather than the richer, rounder note goose has, and it is softer at room temperature, so a jar sits closer to a thick cream than a solid block. Potatoes roasted in it crisp well but not quite as dramatically, because goose fat has a slightly higher saturated fat content. Its smoke point is a little lower, around 375F, so keep the oven at 425F rather than pushing to 475F.

  2. 3Beef Tallow

    Different taste

    Use the same amount

    Rendered beef fat, firm and white at room temperature, sold in tubs or as a byproduct of roasting beef.

    What changes
    Best for
    roast potatoes, chips and fries, searing steak, yorkshire puddings, root vegetables

    The best of these for pure crispness, because tallow is more saturated than goose fat and sets harder, which gives roast potatoes a shatteringly crisp shell. The trade-off is flavour: it tastes clearly of beef, so potatoes roasted in it taste like they came out of a roasting tin under a joint of beef, which is delicious but not French. In a duck or goose confit it is genuinely wrong, both in flavour and because the meat needs to be preserved under a fat that complements it. Its smoke point is higher, around 400F, so it tolerates a hotter oven.

  3. 4Clarified Butter or Ghee, Mixed with Neutral Oil

    Different taste

    3 parts clarified butter to 1 part neutral oil, used 1:1 for the goose fat

    Butter with the milk solids removed, cut with a little sunflower or grapeseed oil to raise the smoke point further.

    What changes
    Best for
    roast potatoes, root vegetables, searing, pan-frying, pastry-adjacent roasting

    Excellent for browning and the most widely available option, since ghee is in every supermarket. It gives potatoes a lovely nutty golden crust and a rich aroma, but the flavour is unmistakably dairy: sweet and buttery where goose fat is savoury and meaty. That is a real change in a cassoulet, where the fat is part of the dish's identity. Do not use ordinary butter unclarified, since the milk solids burn well below roasting temperature and turn the pan black.

  4. 5Bacon Drippings or Pork Lard

    Different taste

    Use the same amount or half bacon fat and half neutral oil if the smoke is strong

    Fat rendered from bacon or from pork back fat, saved from cooking or bought as leaf lard.

    What changes
    Best for
    roast potatoes, cassoulet, braised beans, greens, cornbread, confit-style slow cooking

    Genuinely appropriate in a cassoulet, which traditionally contains pork anyway, so pork fat sits comfortably in the dish rather than fighting it. Plain lard is mild, clean and close to goose fat in behaviour, giving very good crisping with a neutral savoury flavour. Bacon drippings are a different proposition: smoky, salty and quite strong, so cut the salt in the recipe and expect the smoke to be the loudest thing on the plate. Bacon fat also contains browned solids that can scorch, so strain it before roasting at high heat.

  5. 6Neutral Oil plus a Knob of Butter

    Taste and texture differ

    Use the same amount adding 1 teaspoon butter per tablespoon of oil

    Sunflower, rapeseed or grapeseed oil with a little butter for flavour, the fully vegetarian-adjacent fallback.

    What changes
    Best for
    roast potatoes, root vegetables, sauteing, general roasting

    The honest low expectation option. Oil roasts potatoes perfectly well and crisps them adequately, but there is a reason people seek out goose fat: animal fats are more saturated, so they set into a firmer, crunchier shell, and they carry savoury flavour that oil simply does not have. Potatoes roasted in oil taste of potato, which is fine but plain. The butter helps with browning and adds some richness. For confit or cassoulet this is not a viable substitute, because the fat there is the flavour of the dish.

What is Goose Fat?

Goose Fat is rendered fat from a goose, a soft white-to-pale-gold cooking fat with a savoury poultry flavour and a high smoke point, and it earns its price because it is saturated enough to set firm and crisp food hard, which is why it is the traditional fat for roast potatoes, confit and cassoulet.

Cooking tips

  • Get the fat properly hot before the potatoes go in. Put the fat in the roasting tin and into the oven for five to ten minutes until it shimmers, then add the parboiled potatoes so they sizzle immediately. Cold fat and cold potatoes together is the main reason roast potatoes come out pale and greasy, whichever fat you use.
  • Parboil, drain, then shake the potatoes hard in the dry pan to rough up the surfaces before they meet the fat. Those broken edges are what turn crisp, and they matter more than which fat you chose.
  • Confit is the one place where the substitute really matters. The fat needs to be poultry or pork fat and there needs to be enough of it to submerge the meat completely, because the meat cooks in and is then stored under it. Duck fat or lard are the correct swaps; butter and vegetable oil are not, since butter's water content and oil's low saturation both cause problems on storage.
  • You can render your own goose or duck fat from the trimmings and skin any time you roast a bird. Cut the skin small, put it in a pan with a splash of water over low heat, and let it slowly give up its fat over half an hour. Strain it into a jar and it keeps for months in the fridge, which means one Christmas goose supplies a year of roast potatoes.
  • Reuse the fat. Strain it through a fine sieve after roasting, keep it in the fridge, and it will do three or four rounds before it starts to taste tired. This applies equally to duck fat and lard, and it is how the fat pays for itself.

Frequently asked questions

Is duck fat the same as goose fat?

Not identical, but close enough to swap at 1:1 in every application. Goose fat is milder, cleaner-tasting and slightly firmer; duck fat is a little richer, more strongly poultry-flavoured and a shade darker. Both have a similar smoke point around 375F and both give excellent roast potatoes. Duck fat is far more widely stocked in supermarkets, which is why it is the practical answer for most cooks looking for graisse d'oie.

Can I just use vegetable oil instead of goose fat?

For roasting potatoes or vegetables, yes, and they will be good, just not as good. Animal fats are more saturated and set firmer, which is what produces that thick crunchy shell, and they carry savoury flavour that oil does not. Add a knob of butter to the oil to help browning. For confit or cassoulet, no: there the fat is a defining flavour and, in confit, also the preserving medium, and vegetable oil does neither job properly.

Can I leave the goose fat out entirely?

You cannot cook without any fat at all in these recipes, but you can always use a different one, which is the real question. Roast potatoes, cassoulet and roast vegetables all work with duck fat, lard, tallow, ghee or oil, and the dish shifts in character rather than failing. The exception is a true confit, where the meat is submerged and slowly cooked in fat, and there is no version of that without a large quantity of a suitable animal fat.

Which fat makes the crispiest roast potatoes?

Beef tallow, narrowly, because it is the most saturated of the common roasting fats and sets hardest, so the crust is the crunchiest. Goose fat and duck fat come next and give a slightly lighter crisp with a savoury poultry flavour many people prefer. Lard is close behind. Ghee browns beautifully but tastes buttery rather than savoury. Oil comes last for texture. In practice, technique matters more than fat: parboil, rough up the edges, use a hot tin, and do not crowd the pan.

How do I store goose fat or a substitute, and how long does it keep?

Keep any rendered animal fat in a clean sealed jar in the fridge, where it will hold for several months, or in the freezer for a year. Strain out any browned bits and any meat juices first, because those spoil long before the fat does and will make the whole jar go off. If it smells sour, sharp or crayon-like rather than clean and savoury, it has gone rancid and should be thrown out.

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