Is Duck Fat Healthy?
Duck Fat Roasted Chicken
Fat gets a bad rap, probably because of the associations with weight gain and eating "fatty" foods. However, fats are a crucial aspect of the human body's diet. Fats provide energy and promote growth. In short, fat consumed properly is extremely healthy and necessary. A diet missing fat is incomplete and unhealthy. Whether or not a food is considered healthy depends on your consumption habits and dietary needs. For instance, adhering to the Keto, Mediterranean, and Paleo diets requires correctly proportioning carbs, fats, and proteins to create a balanced and healthy caloric intake.
Instead of asking whether duck fat is healthy, here’s a better question: “does duck fat align with my dietary needs?”
We can’t speak for every product out there but DUCKCHAR Duck Fat is a single ingredient product. There is nothing but duck fat in each jar - no artificial ingredients, preservatives or any other additives. Let’s begin by breaking down what duck fat is: fat.
These fats are made up of monounsaturated, polyunsaturated and saturated fats.
Duck Fat Nutrition: Duck Fat vs Butter
Healthy Fats
Monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats are the healthy ones.
Good news: the majority of duck fat is made up of these good monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats. They both can help to lower LDL cholesterol. LDL cholesterol is the bad stuff. Lowering this type of cholesterol reduces the risk for cardiovascular disease. Duck fat also contains oleic acid which may be helpful for controlling diabetes. There’s research that suggest the benefits of the Mediterranean may be linked to oleic acid. Oleic acid represents 40% of duck fat.
Saturated Fat
Saturated fats are the unhealthy ones.
Bad news: the majority of butter is made up of the bad saturated fats. Keeping an eye on saturated fat intake is important. That’s because too much of it can increase risks for cardiovascular disease and other health problems. When it comes to animal fats, duck fat is a smarter choice with respect to saturated fats management
Duck Fat Flavor
When it comes to flavor enhancing properties of duck fat, it’s no slouch. Duck fat is even richer tasting and healthier than butter. Plus it’s also dairy-free. In short, duck fat gives you even better searing or roasting results than butter and it’s a healthier choice, too. That’s a win-win.
Healthy Duck Fat Recipes
With the health advantages of duck fat over butter and other animal fats in mind, the fun really starts when you start to improve recipes from a health and flavor perspective. Here are a few of our favorite simple and easy duck fat recipes to get started with. In general, they just substitute the butter for duck fats. The results are richer tasting and improved texture. Did we mention duck fat is the go-to cooking oil when you need a crispy finish?
Duck Fat Roasted Chicken
Roasted chicken is only as good as how crispy its skin is. Duck fat is the king of crispy.
Duck fat roasted chicken recipe >
Duck Fat Seared Steak
Duck fat builds the perfect steak crust an enhances the flavor. Do you need to know anymore?
Duck fat seared steak recipe >
Smoked rack of lamb on its own incredible. Rack of lamb seared with duck fat is life changing.
Duck fat seared rack of lamb recipe >
The Takeaway: Should You Cook with Duck Fat?
When it comes to understanding fat intake, it’s important to understand what your eating. Use this information to incorporate duck fat into your diet in a beneficial way that fits your dietary needs.
If you’re ready to start cooking with duck fat, we’ve got you covered: techniques, recipes, you name it.