One of our favorite things to do during the cold winter months is to feed and watch the birds in our back yard. It is amazing how many different species of birds that you can attract. Here is a simple and inexpensive suet recipe for birds that you can make right at home.
Most of the ingredients you probably have at home. Once made this recipe can be made put in any mold or form that you choose. This recipe makes approximately three 11-ounce cakes. This is about the same size as most suet cakes that you can buy at the store. Price-wise, that is comparable to some of the cheaper store-bought suet cakes too. However, our experience shows that the birds prefer this suet to some of the cheaper store-bought suet.
Funnel In Paper Tube 
Cut Suet Logs
Suet Log Bird Feeder Savings
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The real savings happens if you have a suet log bird feeder. The cost for one batch of this suet recipe is about $2.50. That is pretty close to the cost of one store-bought
If you don’t want to make your own suet plugs, Menard’s has the best price I’ve found in our area (Michigan) at around $2.65. Most suet logs on line cost close to $4.00 for a single four-pack!
Don’t let the cost of suet logs deter you from buying or using a log feeder. The birds seem to gravitate toward them. And with either this
If you are interested in an easy to make suet log bird feeder, click this link and read our article. It has free plans and step by step instructions on how to make one.
Homemade Suet Recipe
- 1 Cup Suet Beef suet or lard
- 1 Cup Peanut butter crunchy
- 2 Cups Cornmeal
- 1 Cup Quick Oats
- 1 Cup Sunflower seeds Options: nuts (unsalted) and dried fruit (unsweetened)
- Melt the suet in a pot on low heat.
- Stir in the peanut butter until thoroughly melted.
- Slowly mix in all the dried ingredients. It should be the consistency of very thick oatmeal. If you need to thicken it more just add a little more of the dry ingredients.
- Allow mixture to cool enough to safely put in your molds.
- Place in the freezer to cool and store.
Alternative Suet Recipe
Although the birds seem to love our homemade suet recipe, I have tried another alternative method you may be interested in. I have taken some of the cheaper, bulk suet cakes, melted them down, and added a few extra ingredients to add a little more variety for the birds. We had some stale peanuts we saved in the freezer for just such an occasion. The results were very good.
By melting down a half a box (5 cakes) of inexpensive, store-bought suet cakes I was able to turn roughly $3.50 worth of suet into $12 worth of different sized suet products. Just by adding 1 cup of sunflower seeds and 1 cup of partially crushed peanuts to five 10.5 ounce melted suet cakes I was able to make one large suet cake and two trays of suet plugs. That method offers significant savings as well.
The new reformed suet cakes and plugs firmed up nicely and the birds love them. If nothing else this gives you another option to help feed your little feathered friends. The short video below shows the results of this alternative method and describes some of the savings you can get. I hope you take the 1:38 to see how it turned out.
Tips For Making Suet Logs
If you use our suet recipe, or out the alternate recipe, for a log feeder, I have a few recommendations that could help.
If you have any comments or questions, you can leave them in the comments section below or you can email us at [email protected]. FYI, we do not collect or share email addresses. We will only use them to reply to your comments or provide answers to your questions. We are also required to let you know that some of our links are “affiliate links”. This means if you click on a link and make a purchase, we could make a small commission, at no extra cost to you. This helps offset the cost of maintaining our website. So, if you like what you’ve seen, please be sure to give us a “Like” and “Share” on Facebook and Instagram too. Thank you for reading and good luck with all your home projects!
Great idea! Thanks for sharing.
I’ve been saving containers from store bought suet cakes, I will be using them for molds.
Nothing more relaxing than watching birds on the feeder! Thanks for sharing.
I’ve been making my own suet for many years. I’ve always used bacon fat that I store in the refrigerator. During the winter months I’m making it every week. A little goes a long way. Just a small amount (like from 4 slices) and about 1 1/2 cups of extra crunchy peanut butter (I eyeball it) softened in the microwave. Add to that enough really good bird seed that contains bits of fruit and nuts (enough that it’s barely coated by the peanut butter mixture) add a little cornmeal as a binder. I also mix in raisins. I don’t use a traditional suet holder. Instead I use square plastic containers (about 4×4 inches) through which I put a chopstick from side to side ;that acts as a perch. A wire for hanging goes through 2 holes a the top. When the suet is prepared I scoop it in and freeze it. This attracts numerous varieties of birds and doesn’t last long as they empty them out in no time! I think the plastic container works well because it helps to protect the suet from rain and snow and can be washed out and reused.
I love watching the birds during the cold winter months. Thanks for sharing your recipe.
Like anything else, it is always so much better to make these things yourself. You know exactly what is in them and it is much less expensive.
I do not use peanut butter but just the melted vegetarian fat mixed with seeds, chopped peanuts, dried fruits. I also do not use cornmeal as most seed mixes contain some chopped corn. The simpler the better. The birds (and squirrels) love my homemade suet cakes.
It’s good to give to the birds and it gives us something productive to do during the long, winter.
Thank you, glad you liked it.
Thanks for sharing this amazing recipe.my family loved it.will be sharing this recipe with my friends.they will like it.
You have a point! 😉
Using turkey leftovers sound a little cannibalistic don’t you think?
I love feeding and watching the birds all winter long here in Michigan. And yes, the squirrels too! Merry Christmas!!
Tried your recipe today and doubled it – we added wheat berries as well and pouredthe mixture into 3 small tin bread loaf pans. I set them out on the deck to cool and 2 very cute squirrels thought they had hit the buffet jackpot! The LOVED it and had peanut butter on the end of their nose. One stuck his little paw right in the tin an was pulling out the sunflower seeds to eat. Fun to watch. The tins are now in the freezer, as soon as they are set I’ll put it out for the birds and see what happens. Fun activity, thanks for sharing !! Merry Christmas !!
We have to be careful about what we offer up to our little feathered friends. Here’s a link (https://www.birdguides.com/news/dont-feed-the-birds-with-turkey-fat/) to an article that cautions against using turkey fat to feed the birds.
For Thanksgiving I cooked a 20lb full turkey and a 10lb Breast of Turkey and I have an enormous amount of Turkey grease let over with all the carrots that I had laid under the Turkey. Now I will add Peanut Butter, Raisins, Oatmeal and 3lbs of lose bird seed that I normally pour into bird feeders. I will put this mixture into large paper cups and store them outside under cover…on a deck way above the ground..until they have hardened…..we’ll see if the birds like them or not….???
During my research for creating this recipe, I came across many articles that warn of using bacon fat only for making suet for birds. Bacon fat contains salts and other chemicals/compounds that can be detrimental to the bird’s health over the long run. I would stick to using lard and/or beef fat. Some folks use Crisco as well.
Hello!
I’m going to attempt using bacon grease instead of lard. I’ve been saving it up since trying my hand at suet making last winter. That batch came out a little crumbly. Since I’ve read your recipe I think now know where I errored. First off, use a recipe! I’m going to try using some paper cups as I didn’t see where you can cut to size making it in a large pan . Now, do I want to do this with the grandkids or go with the no mess method and don’t tell them..
Thanks for your recipe
Granny Shirl!
The lard you buy in the store is processed fat (usually made from pork) in its pure form. Bacon fat would be similar but contains a lot of salts and flavoring used in making the bacon. Be careful using products that contain salt. I’ve read that large amounts of salt are not good for birds.
Is lard saved bacon fat?
As long as the fat sets up at room temperature, it should work fine. However, I’ve read that large amounts of salt are not good for birds, so collect the fat before adding any spices to the meat you’re cooking. And storing suet in the freezer will make it last much longer. I typically only feed the birds during the cold winter months, so the suet normally stays frozen and the birds do just fine. You’ll be amazed at how many different species of birds like suet. I hope you enjoy watching them as much as I do. Enjoy!
I tried to look up pictures of what the beef fat would look like if I purchase it. Some sites say that I can use fat drippings from cooking hamburger, is this correct? Also, if I take the suet out of the freezer, does it need to thaw any before putting it out for the birds?
The bread pan idea sounds great! I might give that a try myself. I normally only feed the birds during the winter months also. Thanks for sharing your idea.
I think that I will make enough to pack in a small bread baking pan. When sliced it should just fit in my wire suet feeder. I will slice the entire loaf and freeze the unused pieces. We generally only put the suet out in the colder months, cause my mon said so, that’s why.
May I ask what country you are from? In the U.S. it is readily available at most grocery stores in the baking section. You can even purchase it through Amazon.
I am unable to obtain corn meal, what can I use instead?
Love the site and questions. I love birds as well
Unfortunately, with the peanut butter in our recipe, it does tend to melt when it gets hot out. However, I don’t think that is too uncommon for many homemade suet recipes. Another common issue is it tends to go rancid after being out in the heat.
I usually don’t feed through the summer, because most suets I’ve bought or made don’t hold up well in the summer heat. They’ll typically melt or go rancid. With the peanut butter in our recipe, it does tend to melt when it gets hot out.
Can this recipe be used for summer feeding or will it melt?
Are these recipes all no melt? I love my birds and want to make instead of buy food for them.
Started making my own bird suet a few weeks ago. Now they won’t touch the store bought. I use cupcake tins with paper liners for my mold. After an hour in the fridge I pop them out into a gallon zip lock and toss in freezer. Traffic picks up immediately after I put one in each of my flat feeders. Birds that don’t usually visit suet feeders will eat these. Give it a try.
I researched that very question when I started making suet for birds as well. What I found is that although Crisco won’t hurt birds it is harder for them to digest. So I’ve always just stuck with lard in my recipe. Also, lard is typically about a dollar cheaper than Crisco per pound in our area. Hope that helps.
Can you use Crisco instead of lard ?
Those are all great ideas! Especially getting the grandkids involved. Have fun!
I’m planning to make some this week with the grandkids. Re-used take out (Chinese) food containers make good molds and storage containers in the fridge or freezer.
That’s an interesting idea. I’ll have to give it a try myself. Thanks for sharing it.
Spray the inside of some (clean) PVC with cooking spray? They come in diameters of various sizes, they’re dishwasher safe, and can be reused. I haven’t tried it (yet) but it seems like a viable option.
Very good point. Thanks for sharing!
Great idea for making the suet logs. I would like to note that the paper rolls that you remove from around the suet logs can be composted. (Don’t recycle them with the grease and stuff on them).
Please let us know how it turns out!
I didnt have corn meal so i used some bread crumbs? Ill see how it turns out tomorrow lol
We’re glad to help you and the birds!
Thanks for your information on how to make a suet mixture for our feathery friends.
Thank you!!