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Make a luxuriously smooth cold-process lard soap bar with this step-by-step tutorial! Lard is nourishing to the skin and gives soap a lovely texture. You’ll love moisturizing and cleansing with your very own homemade soap.

Three flower-shaped bars of lard soap on a wooden countertop.
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Have you ever thought that one day you’d be making your own soap bars? Making soap is just one of the exciting ways you can customize your skincare routine.

Soapmaking isn’t as hard as you might think and you don’t need much to do it. In just a few hours, a lot of which is waiting for ingredients to melt and cool, you can whip up several luxurious soap bars.

All from-scratch soap, (with the exception of hot process soap bars), must fully dry, then cure for several weeks. The wait is well worth it; there’s nothing like using your own beautiful, handmade soap bars!

Following this simple recipe using lard and olive oil, you can make a soap bar with a smooth lather for moisturizing and cleansing skin.

Why You’ll Love Lard Soap

  • Nourishing ingredients: With lard and olive oil, your skin will be moisturized and soft after using this soap. Enjoy the silky smooth skin that comes with using natural and nourishing ingredients!
  • Rewarding: Soap isn’t the quickest DIY you can make, but it is certainly rewarding! There’s nothing like using soap that you made from scratch.
  • Beautiful gift: I love making homemade bath and beauty products for gifts, and soap is one of my favorites! Make this lovely flower-shaped soap for the holidays, birthday gifts, hostess gifts, and more.
  • Unique: Hand-crafting soap allows you to make your bars all sorts of unique and special shapes. You can use the flower molds I used, add a string for soap on a rope bars, or find another unique mold shape!

What You’ll Need

Lard soap ingredients.

Soap Ingredients

  • Water
  • Lye: Lye is an essential part of soapmaking. When mixed with the fats, lye causes a chemical reaction called saponification, which turns the fats and oils into soap. While lye is caustic, with careful handling and proper protection, soapmaking with lye is perfectly safe.
  • Lard: Lard makes a beautiful soap bar that is moisturizing and nourishing to the skin. Lard can be found in most grocery stores, either in the cooking oil aisle or the meat section. The lard used for cooking or baking is no different than lard for making soap bars. You can also make your own by rendering pork fat.
  • Olive oil: Olive oil is a wonderful skincare ingredient and makes a moisturizing soap bar with a wonderful lather. I love using olive oil in soap recipes, such as my simple olive oil soap bars.
  • Essential oils: Adding essential oils to the soap bars gives them a lovely scent naturally. You can pick any of your favorite essential oils or keep it simple with lavender.

Find the exact measurements in the recipe card below!

Soap-Making Supplies

  • Digital scale
  • Heat-resistant container: This container must be capable of a rapid temperature increase. I use a mason jar.
  • Immersion Blender
  • Saucepan
  • Safety goggles
  • Rubber gloves
  • Soap mold: I like to use silicone molds over any other molds since they do not require any prep work. If you do use a different type of mold, read the instructions on prepping them. Most require parchment paper.

How to Make Cold-Process Lard Soap

Mixing lye and water in a glass jar with rubber gloves on.

Step 1. Use a digital scale to measure out the water into a heat-resistant container. Measure out the lye and add it to the water slowly. Stir the lye into the water slowly until dissolved. The chemical reaction will cause it to heat up quickly. Set aside to cool to about 120-130ยฐF.

Checking the temperature of melted lard with a digital thermometer.

Step 2. Measure out the lard and olive oil, then add to a small saucepan. Melt over medium-low heat. Remove from the heat and transfer to a metal mixing bowl. Allow the oils to cool to about 100ยฐF.

Mixing soap mixture with an immersion blender.

Step 3. When the ingredients have cooled to the desired temperatures, add the lye water to the oils a little at a time. Mix with an immersion blender, add more, and continue mixing between each round.

Checking the trace of the soap mixture by holding the immersion blender over it as the soap drips down.

Step 4. Continue mixing until the soap comes to trace. To check the “trace,” hold the immersion blender over the bowl; if the soap that drips from the blender to the soap in the bowl pools up on top, it’s at the correct trace.

Adding essential oils to the soap mixture.

Step 5. Once the soap comes to trace, add in essential oils and give it a quick stir with the blender.

Pouring the soap mixture into silicone molds.

Step 6. Pour the soap directly into the silicone soap molds. Allow the soap to harden in the molds for at least 24 hours or up to 3 days. Remove the soap from the molds and allow it to cure for 3-6 weeks before using.

Expert Tips & Safety

  • Do not deviate even the slightest from the measurements or ingredients in this recipe! If you do want to alter the measurements or substitute ingredients, you must use a soap calculator.
  • Wearing proper protection is essential for soapmaking, especially when you are mixing the lye. Be sure to wear safety goggles and rubber gloves.
  • Work in a well-ventilated area away from children and pets.
  • I recommend looking through the recipe and step-by-step photos a couple of times before getting started.
Three flower-shaped bars of lard soap on a gingham print towel.

How to Cure Homemade Soap Bars

Curing soap bars is the process of allowing them to dry and harden completely. Letting the soap cure for weeks will enable all the water to evaporate, allowing the soap bar to last a lot longer and not melt in the shower.

You can purchase fancy curing racks, but I have found a 9 by 13 pan to work just as well. Be sure to let the soap bars fully harden before removing them from the molds.

Simply line the bars, sitting on their sides, inside of the 9 by 13 pan. Make sure they are not touching each other. Place the pan in a dry, cool place until fully cured, about 3-6 weeks.

Lard vs Tallow

Lard and tallow are both animal fats that are rendered from the meat of an animal. The most obvious difference is the animal from which the fat comes.

Lard is pork fat and tallow is beef fat. Both fats have similar benefits for the skin and can be used to make soap bars and lotion.

I have used tallow to make cold-process shampoo bars, cold-process tallow soap, and homemade tallow body butter in the past. Similar to lard, tallow makes a very mild and moisturizing product.

Recipe FAQs

What is lard?

Lard is the animal fat from pork. It is rendered, or melted from the fatty tissues, by melting the fat over low heat for several hours until the “crackle” rises to the top, and the liquid fat on the bottom is clear. For centuries, lard has been used as a cooking fat, but it is also a wonderful fat for bath and beauty products such as lotion or soap.

Does lard soap smell?

If rendered properly, your lard should be pure white and practically odorless. Believe it or not, lard has a very mild, pleasant scent. When making soap with lard, you can add in essential oils to give it whatever scent you prefer, or you can leave it unscented.

Does lard soap lather?

Lard alone doesn’t make a soap bar that lathers super well, but adding in another oil will help with that. Pairing lard with a little olive oil will make a perfectly firm soap bar that lathers well. If you want to make a bar of soap with just lard, you most certainly can; however, it may not lather like a traditional soap bar you are used to. (If you do make soap with just lard, be sure to use a soap calculator.)

Can I skip the lye?

Many new soapmakers are intimidated by lye because it is a caustic substance. Lye can be dangerous and must be handled responsibly, but it is essential in cold-process soapmaking. The reaction between lye and the oils in soap is called saponification and it turns the ingredients into soap. If you follow the instructions carefully and wear protection, you will be fine using lye! If you’d rather avoid it anyway, try a melt and pour soap such as my coconut oil melt and pour soap or homemade goat milk soap bars.

Lard soap bars on white and black striped tea towel.

More Homemade Soap Recipes

If you tried this Cold-Process Lard Soap Bar or any other tutorial on my website, please leave a ๐ŸŒŸ star rating and let me know how it went in the ๐Ÿ“ comments below. Thanks for visiting!

4.54 from 26 votes

Cold-Process Lard Soap Bar

Prep: 5 minutes
Active: 30 minutes
Additional Time: 2 days
Total: 2 days 35 minutes
Yield: 6 soap bars
Making soap is just one of the ways to customize your skincare routine. Following this simple recipe using lard and olive oil, you can make a soap bar with a smooth lather for moisturizing and cleansing skin.

Equipment

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Ingredients 

Instructions 

  • Use a digital scale to measure out the water. Then, add it to the heat-resistant container.
  • Slowly add the lye to the water. Stir the lye into the water until dissolved. Note, the chemical reaction will cause it to heat up quickly. Set aside to cool to about 120-130ยฐF
  • Melt the lard and olive oil in a small saucepan on the stove over medium heat.
  • Once melted, set aside to cool.
  • Add the melted fat and oil to a metal mixing bowl.
  • Pour the lye in with the melted fat and oil a little at a time and mix with an immersion blender.
  • Continue adding the lye and mixing between each round.
  • Steps 6 and 7 will take a minute to get the soap to come to trace. To check the "trace," hold the immersion blender over the bowl; if the soap drips and pools up on the top, its come to the correct trace.
  • Stir in lavender essential oil.
  • Pour the soap into the silicone molds and let dry for 24 hours up to 3 days.
  • Remove from molds and allow them to cure for 3-6 weeks before enjoying.

Video

Notes

  • Always follow safety precautions when making cold-process soap. You must wear protective gear, including goggles, masks, and gloves, and work in a well-ventilated area away from kids and pets.ย 
  • Do not deviate even the slightest from the measurements or ingredients in this recipe! If you do want to alter the measurements or substitute ingredients, you must use a soap calculator.
Tried this recipe?Mention @our_oily_house or tag #ouroilyhouse!
This recipe is for your own viewing pleasure and is not meant for healing purposes. Readers must perform their own research and tests before making any recipe.

About Laura

Welcome to Our Oily House, Iโ€™m so glad youโ€™re here! Explore DIY cleaners, homemade soaps, skincare and hair care recipes, fragrance-free solutions, and sustainable laundry tips for a naturally inspired home.

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4.54 from 26 votes (25 ratings without comment)

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31 Comments

  1. Kaitlin says:

    Hey, I bought some leaf lard from a local farm recently. However, it is not rendered, which I didnโ€™t realize until it arrived. Iโ€™m assuming this recipe is for rendered lard?

    1. Laura says:

      Yes, this recipe is for rendered lard (pork fat).

  2. Olivia says:

    Can lard be used in a melt and pour recipe.

    1. Laura says:

      It could be. I would look for recipes that specifically include it.

  3. Hope says:

    5 stars
    Does all lye come as solid- looking at purchasing lye but dont want to buy the wrong type or brand? Any suggestions?

    Thank you

    1. Laura says:

      You can find all my soap making supplies on my Amazon page. Just search “our oily house amazon” on Google!

  4. AD says:

    How much essential oil would you add to this recipe?

    1. Laura says:

      20 drops of lavender essential oil