The thing I love most about birders is that they’re always willing to help and share their knowledge. So, when I asked what the best suet recipes were on our Facebook page, you responded with a host of great ideas.
For those who don’t know what it is, suet is a cake of fat and other ingredients (like seeds and fruits) that is fed to backyard birds in a suet feeder. It’s most advantageous to birds in the winter because that’s when they need high amounts of fat and nutrients to guide them through the frigid weather. Many birds that might not be attracted to seed feeders, like woodpeckers, love suet.
Even though you can buy pre-made suet, you can just as easily make some if you have a little time. Here are a few fantastic user-submitted recipes. (You can find more at our Facebook page.) Feel free to add your own in the comments section too!
Recipe 1
Ingredients:
1 part cornmeal
1 part crunchy peanut butter
1 part lard
Sun flower chips and raisins
Directions:Heat on stove on low until well mixed; then pour onto parchment lined cookie sheet and freeze. Cut to size for feeder.
—Recipe submitted by Erron Pujol
Recipe 2
Ingredients:
1 part Crunchy peanut butter
1 part Yellow cornmeal
Melted bacon grease
Directions:
Mix together. I press this mixture into the plastic suet containers from my store-bought suet. And, I rub it on the tree trunk. The birds love it!
—Recipe submitted by Gerre Foster Slaton
Recipe 3
Ingredients:
1 cup lard
1 cup peanut butter
2 cups flour
3 cups cornmeal
Directions:
Melt the lard and peanut butter, then add the other ingredients. I also throw in seed, nuts, or dried fruit as I have it. I press it into 3 bread pans. When it hardens, I cut each cake in half with a spatula and it pops out of the pans. This gives me six suet cakes that fit perfectly in my cages.
—Recipe submitted by Carrie Nygard
Recipe 4
Ingredients:
1 cup melted lard or beef suet
1 cup peanut butter
2 cups quick oats
2 cups yellow cornmeal
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup sugar (optional)
Directions:Melt lard and peanut butter together on a low burner. Take off heat, and add remaining ingredients. Spread on a cookie sheet, and allow to cool in the refrigerator until the mixture is just hard enough to cut into pieces. Store in freezer bags and use as needed. The birds love it!
—Recipe submitted by Susan L. Fessler
Recipe 5
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups lard,
1 1/2 cups peanut butter (melt)
3 cups of cornmeal
3 cups quick cooking oats
1/4 cup raisins
1/4 cup shelled sunflower seeds
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
Directions:
Mix thoroughly and put in cupcake papers in cupcake pan. Refrigerate until hard. Take out of cupcake papers and put in plastic bag and store in fridge. My birds eat it all year long and it goes fast.
—Recipe submitted by Nancy Stewart Haydock
Recipe 6
My grandmother’s recipe:
1lb of lard and some bacon grease (or any fat of your choice)
2 cups of peanut butter
6 cups of cornmeal,
5 cups of flour
Directions:
Melt the lard and peanut butter together, then add the cornmeal and flour to the melted peanut butter and lard. Stir the mixture well. Put on a tray feeder, in a suet cage, or in a tin can. If you make the whole recipe and have too much, it freezes very well.
—Recipe submitted by Prairie Birder
69 Comments
Hi Ron , you’re right about cost. Only most of the cakes they sell are almost all packed with cracked corn and often with other cheap seeds like milo which nearly no birds will eat . Of course bird tastes and consumption vary greatly from place to place , I have lived in places where even the cheapest suet blocks -which might have a tablespoon of actual suet per block- will be eaten and the corn which falls to the ground will be eaten too , but I’ve lived in other places where store bought affordable blocks will not be touched and will be be left to fall to a mess on the ground , or just turn black in their cage.
Main thing is , these homemade mixes with lard & peanut butter are very popular with the birds . They please us so we like to please them as best we can .
Claire, the flour holds the mix together so it can be molded without falling apart or crumbling once it’s out in the cold .
Lacey, I don’t know of any birds except hens who will eat veggies. I’ve seen birds eat dandelion leaves tree leaves and buds but they’ll find the greenery they want in the wild.
Lucia, the log feeder u describe is probably the absolute top favorite method of all birds who will eat suet to have it served up for them . Sounds like u had a compassionate and capable dad.
Lee, I’d be wary of a pancake mix cuz of the baking powder or soda in it I don’t know what effect it would have on them.I’d lose sleep thinking I might have given some birdie cramps,or dehydration or a headache so I’d stick with flour.its possible they’d have no ill effects but since I’m not sûre of that …
Charlie Dow , lucky you &lucky your bird friends if you have a source of pure whole fresh suet.In the wild the little birds will join the ravens when an elk or deer has died & been opened by someone’s claws n teeth, snagging bits of suet from around the inner organs.. they love the simple original source , the only caution is watch out for areas of muscle-meat- as it will rot and that’s a bad thing .
I’m sorry but neither do lard or beef suet contain protein. What the birds need most is calories . I have used both lard and vegetable shortening for many years . Always mix with peanut butter-the natural sort , ground peanuts only usually from the bulk section where the grind-it-fresh machines are . Then add whatever non spoiled scraps with whatever seeds and grains I have on hand.So I think coconut oil would be fine , just on the expensive side . Lard and shortening are the most affordable choices.
Third away old bacon fat the end of bread loaves anything stale bread wise old nuts berries peanut butter and we clean our egg cells and grind them and put it in the mix as well I’m just not sure how much is too much but basically we use leftovers except for the peanut butter