By Sydney Panagos, Co-founder of TIPS Chip

What Are Beef Tallow Chips? The Comeback Snack That's Changing Everything

For most of the 20th century, beef tallow was the default frying fat in American restaurants and snack factories. Then, almost overnight in the 1990s, it was replaced — first with hydrogenated soybean oil, then with high-PUFA seed-oil blends. Today the question isn't "what is a beef tallow chip?" It's "how did we ever switch away from them in the first place, and what does the science say now?"

What did the 2020 JACC review conclude about traditional saturated fats?

In a 2020 State-of-the-Art Review in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, Astrup, Magkos, Bier and colleagues reassessed the evidence on saturated fats and proposed a "food-based" recommendation framework. Their conclusion: blanket warnings against saturated fat aren't supported by current evidence. What matters is the food matrix — unprocessed whole foods like meat, dairy, and traditional animal fats showed neutral or beneficial associations with cardiovascular outcomes, while industrially processed foods with the same nutrient profile did not.

That's a meaningful shift. Tallow isn't "back" because of a wellness trend; it's back because the food-vs-nutrient distinction the JACC authors highlighted gave traditional fats a much fairer hearing.

What does this mean in my kitchen?

I still remember the first time I had a chip cooked in beef tallow. It immediately tasted different — richer, more satisfying, and honestly closer to what I felt like chips used to taste like. It wasn't just about flavor though. It made me realize how much the oil actually impacts the final product. Before that, I never thought about what chips were cooked in. It just wasn't something I questioned. But once I noticed the difference, I couldn't unsee it. It made me start paying attention to details I had overlooked for years. The experience stuck with me and changed how I approach not just snacks, but everything in my kitchen. It's also what inspired me to create TIPS — to bring that same taste and simplicity back in a way that feels accessible and easy for people to enjoy.

Why do we cook TIPS chips in 100% beef tallow?

Tallow is one of the most heat-stable fats available — roughly 50% saturated, 40% monounsaturated, and only 2-3% polyunsaturated. That chemistry sat at the center of human cooking for thousands of years for a reason: it doesn't oxidize meaningfully at chip-frying temperatures. We use beef tallow not because it's old-fashioned but because it's the fat the food matrix the JACC reviewers were defending was originally built around.

What does a real beef tallow chip ingredient list look like?

Three to seven ingredients, depending on flavor. Potatoes. Beef tallow. Sea salt. That's the base across the entire TIPS line. Jalapeño and Salt & Vinegar add a small number of seasoning ingredients on top. No vegetable oil, no canola oil, no sunflower oil, no high-oleic blends, no natural flavors hiding seed-oil carriers. If a "tallow chip" bag lists a seed oil before or after tallow, it's a blend — not what you're actually looking for.

Source: Astrup A, Magkos F, Bier DM, Brenna JT, de Oliveira Otto MC, Hill JO, et al. Saturated Fats and Health: A Reassessment and Proposal for Food-Based Recommendations: JACC State-of-the-Art Review. Journal of the American College of Cardiology. 2020;76(7):844–857. PMID 32562735.