Homemade Lard Soap: From Our Pasture to Your Skin

Old-fashioned soap made with simple ingredients and a whole lot of homestead goodness!

Can you believe you can make wonderful soap from pig fat? Yep! And before you start picturing yourself rubbing a pig all over your body, hear me out!

I’m Laura Lawrence, a Northern Michigan homesteader, and we’ve been making our own lard soap for years.

We raise our pigs on pasture, feed them organic feed, and make use of the wonderful things these animals provide. That includes the lard!

With just a few ingredients, I turn that rendered lard into beautiful bars of homemade soap that our family uses and that I also sell locally and on Etsy.

And you can make it, too!

From Our Pasture to Your Skin: The Story Behind Piggy Soap

I had an aha moment one day.

We breed our pigs here. We raise them here. We butcher and process them here. I render the lard here. And then I turn that lard into soap.

All of that work, care, and purpose wrapped up in one little bar of Piggy Soap!

How cool is that?

Our pigs spend their days rooting and tooting, enjoying the sunshine and doing what pigs do. We feed them organic feed and give them room to be pigs.

Making soap is one more way we can use what God has provided instead of letting something valuable go to waste.

Want to Make It or Buy It?

You have two choices!

Make your own: Keep reading for my homemade lard soap recipe and instructions.

Rather have me make it? You can purchase my handmade Piggy Soap through my Etsy shop. I offer traditional lard soap and an activated charcoal variety.

Handmade Lard Soap | Unscented 6 Bar Bundle | Regular or Activated Charcoal | Homestead Soap – Etsy

Homemade Lard Soap Recipe

This is the recipe I’ve been using for years. It makes approximately 10 bars using my soap mold.

Ingredients

2.2 pounds (35.2 ounces by weight) rendered lard
4.7 ounces sodium hydroxide (soap-making lye)
9.4 ounces distilled water
Essential oil, optional. My original recipe lists up to 1.06 ounces, although I typically use just 0.30 ounces when I add fragrance.

Important: All measurements are by weight, using a digital scale. Essential oil usage must be checked for the particular oil’s skin-safe limit. This is a cold-process soap recipe using sodium hydroxide, not potassium hydroxide.

Supplies Needed

Soap mold
Accurate digital kitchen scale
Stainless steel stockpot
Immersion blender
Thermometer
Lye-compatible, heat-resistant containers and stirring utensils
Soap cutter or dedicated knife
Chemical-resistant gloves and protective eyewear

I use dedicated soap-making equipment, particularly for working with lye.

Before You Begin: Lye Safety

Lye is caustic and can cause serious chemical burns. Wear chemical-resistant gloves, splash-protective goggles, and protective clothing. Work in a well-ventilated area, keep children and pets away, and use containers suitable for sodium hydroxide.

Always add lye slowly to water, NEVER water to lye. Avoid breathing the fumes released while mixing. Do not use aluminum equipment.

If lye or uncured soap batter gets on your skin or in your eyes, immediately rinse with plenty of running water for at least 15–20 minutes and seek appropriate medical or poison-control guidance. Do not apply vinegar to neutralize lye on your skin.

For beginners, verify the recipe in a reputable lye calculator before making a batch. Changing the fat, batch size, or lye type requires recalculation.

How to Make Homemade Lard Soap

Step 1: Measure Your Ingredients

Using your digital scale, weigh the distilled water into a suitable lye-resistant container.

In a separate dry container, carefully weigh your sodium hydroxide.

Weigh your rendered lard separately.

Step 2: Mix the Lye and Water

Working in a well-ventilated area and wearing your protective equipment, slowly pour the lye into the distilled water while stirring carefully.

Never pour water into the lye.

The mixture will become very hot. Allow it to cool to approximately 120°F, which is the temperature I use for my recipe.

Step 3: Melt Your Lard

While the lye solution cools, place your measured lard into a stainless steel stockpot.

Melt slowly over gentle heat. You don’t want to scorch it.

If you’re using essential oils, measure them separately and have them ready.

Step 4: Combine the Lye Solution and Lard

Once your lye solution has cooled to approximately 120°F and your lard is fully melted and at a suitable mixing temperature, carefully pour the lye solution into the melted lard.

Step 5: Blend Until Trace

Using your immersion blender, blend in short bursts rather than continuously.

I generally blend for about 10 seconds, then stop and stir for 30–45 seconds before blending again.

You’re looking for trace.

What in the world is trace?

When you lift your immersion blender and drizzle a little soap batter over the surface, you’ll briefly see lines or a pattern sitting on top before disappearing.

That’s trace!

If I’m adding essential oil, I add it around this stage and blend briefly to incorporate it.

Step 6: Pour Into Your Mold

Carefully pour your soap batter into the mold.

I cover mine with a piece of cardboard cut to fit and leave it in a safe, suitable spot for approximately 24 hours.

Step 7: Unmold and Cut

After approximately 24 hours, the soap is usually firm enough for me to remove from the mold.

I cut it into bars using my dedicated soap cutter or knife.

Depending on the batch, it may remain soft enough to cut for another day or two.

Step 8: Let Your Soap Cure

Place the bars in a dry, ventilated location where air can circulate around them.

I allow my bars to cure for approximately 30 days before using them.

Do not use uncured soap. The finished bars should be properly cured and checked for suitability before use.

Don’t Have Rendered Lard Yet?

Well, we’ve got to start somewhere!

If you purchase a half or whole hog from a local farmer, ask your butcher to save the fat for you.

You can render it at home using a crockpot. That’s my favorite way to do it!

I’ve got a complete tutorial showing you how I chop, slowly melt, strain, and store our lard.

-> Learn How to Render Your Own Lard

What About Activated Charcoal Piggy Soap?

I also make an activated charcoal version of my Piggy Soap.

It’s a beautiful black bar, and I love having different options for people who purchase my handmade soaps.

If you’re making soap yourself, remember that adding charcoal or changing ingredients can affect the finished product. Use a formulation appropriate for those additions.

How to Store Your Homemade Soap

Once your bars have finished curing, store them somewhere cool and dry until you’re ready to use them.

I keep our extra bars in the bathroom cupboard and pull them out as needed.

Between uses, let your soap drain and dry rather than sitting in a puddle of water. That helps your handmade bars last longer.

Old-Fashioned Ways in a Modern World

This is what I love about homesteading.

It’s not always about learning some complicated new skill. Sometimes it’s about remembering how useful the simple things really are.

A pig raised on our pasture becomes meat for our freezer, lard for our kitchen, and soap for our home.

Become a producer, not just a consumer.

And remember, you don’t have to raise pigs to start making your own soap. You can learn to render lard from a local farmer or butcher and start right where you are.

Want to learn more about the many ways we use lard?

Rather Buy My Handmade Piggy Soap?

I completely understand! Not everybody wants to work with lye, and that’s okay.

I’ve been making these soaps for years, and I love being able to share something that comes directly from the animals we raise and care for.

From our pasture to your home.

Old fashioned ways in a modern world.

Laura Lawrence | Food Prood

Rich Lather Lard Soap -DIY & Homemade