Lard shows up in more foods than most people realize, from obvious choices like pie crusts to less expected ones like canned refried beans and corn muffin mix. Whether you’re avoiding pork products for religious, dietary, or personal reasons, knowing where lard hides can save you from unwelcome surprises at the grocery store and in restaurants.
Mexican and Latin American Staples
Lard (called “manteca” in Spanish) is foundational to Mexican cooking. Refried beans, both homemade and canned, are one of the most common foods made with lard. Even black beans at Mexican restaurants are very often cooked in it. Flour tortillas traditionally contain lard to give them their soft, pliable texture, and the fat is also used to fry rice before simmering it into Mexican red rice or arroz con pollo.
Tamales get their characteristic tender, slightly rich masa from lard whipped into the corn dough. Without it, the texture is noticeably drier and denser. Other traditional dishes built around lard include sopes, gorditas, chalupas, tlacoyos, huaraches, and empanadas. Mole sauces often call for lard as a cooking fat during preparation.
Carnitas deserve special mention. The dish is, by definition, pork cooked while submerged in lard. Traditional recipes use roughly equal parts pork and lard, making it essentially a pork confit.
Baked Goods and Pastry
Lard was the standard pastry fat in American and European baking long before vegetable shortening existed, and it remains the preferred choice for many bakers. Pie crusts are the classic example. Lard produces an exceptionally flaky crust because of how it blends into flour and behaves when chilled. Many bakeries and home cooks still consider a lard crust superior to one made with butter or shortening. Pot pie crusts, hand pies, and turnovers often use lard for the same reason.
Biscuits are another traditional lard product. Southern-style biscuits made with lard tend to be lighter and flakier than those made with butter alone. Jiffy corn muffin mix, one of the most popular boxed mixes in American grocery stores, contains lard (listed as animal shortening), which catches many people off guard.
Pre-made pie crusts sold in the refrigerated or frozen section frequently contain lard or animal-derived shortening. If the label says “animal fat” or “animal shortening” without further detail, it is almost certainly lard or a blend that includes it.
British and European Dishes
Traditional British pork pies are made with hot water crust pastry, which calls for lard melted into boiling water before being mixed with flour. The result is a sturdy, savory crust that holds its shape when sliced cold. Lardy cake, a rich yeasted bread from southern England, is layered with lard, sugar, and dried fruit, making the fat a defining ingredient rather than a background one.
Rillettes, a classic French charcuterie spread, are made by slowly cooking meat (typically pork, duck, or goose) in fat for hours, then shredding it and packing it into jars. Traditionally, the jars were sealed with a layer of lard on top to preserve the meat before refrigeration existed. Pâtés and terrines may also contain lard, both in the filling and sometimes in the pastry casing.
Suzhou-style mooncakes from eastern China traditionally use lard as the shortening in their flaky, layered pastry dough. Many modern recipes substitute butter, but traditional versions and those from specialty bakeries still rely on lard.
Fried Foods and Restaurant Cooking
Before the 1990s, many fast food chains fried in animal fat. McDonald’s famously cooked its french fries in beef tallow (rendered beef fat, a close cousin of lard) before switching to vegetable oil. While lard specifically is less common in chain restaurants today, animal fats have been making a comeback. Popeyes fries its products in beef tallow. Outback Steakhouse uses beef fat for fried items like its Bloomin’ Onion. Buffalo Wild Wings fries its chicken wings and cauliflower wings in beef shortening.
Independent restaurants, particularly Mexican, Chinese, and Southern-style establishments, may still use lard for frying. It is not always listed on the menu, so asking is the only reliable way to know.
Packaged Foods That Surprise People
Several grocery store products contain lard that you might not expect:
- Canned refried beans: Many brands use lard as a primary ingredient. Vegetarian versions exist but are sold separately.
- Flour tortillas: Both store-bought and restaurant versions may contain lard, though many mass-market brands have switched to vegetable oils.
- Boxed baking mixes: Jiffy corn muffin mix is the most well-known example, but other mixes may also include animal shortening.
- Frozen pie crusts: Check labels carefully, as animal fat is common in store-brand and traditional-style crusts.
- Crackers and cookies: Some brands, particularly imported European biscuits and certain regional crackers, use lard for texture.
How to Spot Lard on a Label
Lard is sometimes listed plainly as “lard,” but it also appears under other names. “Animal fat,” “animal shortening,” and “rendered pork fat” all mean the same thing. The USDA defines several grades of lard for labeling purposes, including “lard refined” (filtered and sometimes bleached) and standard rendered lard, but on consumer packaging these distinctions rarely appear. You will simply see “lard” or “animal shortening” in the ingredients list.
Products labeled “vegetable shortening” do not contain lard, but a label that says only “shortening” without specifying the source could be animal-derived. When the term “animal fat spread” appears on a product, it indicates the fat source is animal-based, which may include lard, tallow, or a combination. If a product contains pork-derived lard, it will not always specify “pork” unless the manufacturer voluntarily includes that detail, so people avoiding pork for religious reasons should look for explicit vegetarian or halal certifications rather than relying on the ingredient name alone.