Tallow Candles and Other Edible Candles

Forget about candles that just look pretty. These tallow candles are pretty and edible. Make them with tallow, butter or coconut oil.

What are edible candles?

Most decorative candles are made of wax. But you can actually make candles out of anything that melts, like beef tallow, butter or even coconut oil.

And when you use edible ingredients like that plus food-safe wicks, you can create candles for your party table that are not just beautiful. They’re also tasty.

When making edible candles, I like to experiment with different herbs and chiles to create unique flavors and colors.

This recipe includes three of my favorite combinations.

Beef Tallow Candle with Fresh Herbs

Ancho Chile Garlic Butter Candle

Cinnamon Coconut Oil Candle

Get Recipe Ingredients

Beef Tallow Candle with Fresh Herbs

Ancho Chile Garlic Butter Candle

• Rehydrate Chile: Place the chile in a pot of boiling water. Rehydrate for 15 minutes. Then, remove the stem.

• Blend: Place all of the ingredients in a blender and pulse until smooth.

Cinnamon Coconut Oil Candle

Final Steps

• Mold: Add a wick to the bottom of two paper cups. Pour the blend into each cup. Add the wooden balancer of the wick and center it.

• Chill: Place the cups in the refrigerator or freezer and chill for at least one hour, or until hardened.

• Unmold: Peel away the paper cup and trim the wick so it only sticks out 1/4 inch above the candle.

• Serve: Place the candle in a small bowl or dish. Light the wick. As it melts spoon it onto bread and enjoy.

Calories: 832kcalCarbohydrates: 4gProtein: 2gFat: 92gSaturated Fat: 58gPolyunsaturated Fat: 4gMonounsaturated Fat: 24gTrans Fat: 4gCholesterol: 244mgSodium: 1321mgPotassium: 160mgFiber: 2gSugar: 0.3gVitamin A: 4183IUVitamin C: 23mgCalcium: 93mgIron: 2mg

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

Be sure to rate it, leave a comment and save it so you can make it again. Show off your awesome results on social by tagging @girlscangrill

What you’ll need

• Paper Cups: I find these work best as candle molds because once the candles harden, you can easily peel the cup away and reveal the candle.
• Food Safe Wicks: Because you’re going to be eating this candle, you want to make sure your wick is food safe. I use these hemp candle wicks from Amazon. They even come with the wooden braces to center the wick.

• Fats That Harden: For the base of the candle, it’s important to use fats that harden when they’re chilled. I like using beef tallow, butter or coconut oil. I have a full tutorial on how to make beef fat tallow, but you can also use store-bought tallow. You can also use other animal fats like chicken schmaltz and pork lard.
• Fresh Herbs: You can use virtually any fresh herb. I like parsley, rosemary, thyme and oregano. If you’re serving your candle with fish, try tarragon and dill.
• Dried Chiles: For red candles, take a dried chile and rehydrate it in boiling water. Be sure to remove the stem before using. I like ancho, guajillo and New Mexico chiles.
• Fresh Garlic
• Kosher Salt
• Sweeter Spices: When making sweet candles with coconut oil, use spices like cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, lavender or vanilla.

Substitutions: You can also use dried herbs, but the color won't be as bright green. 

See the full recipe card above for servings and a full list of ingredients.

How to make edible candles

Start with room temperature or melted fats. It will make blending easier.

Step 1: Blend your candle ingredients

Place the liquid tallow or melted butter and fresh herbs, chiles and salt in a small blender container. Pulse until the ingredients are well blended.

If you’re just adding spices and not fresh ingredients, you don’t need to use your blender. You can just stir them until blended. You want the consistency to be pretty smooth.

Step 2: Make your candle

Place a wick into a paper cup. Pour the blended ingredients into the cup. It’s up to you how tall you make the candle. You can do a small votive or a taller candle.

Step 3: Center the wick

Use the wooden balancer to center the wick. Place the wick through the hole and balance it on the paper cup.

Step 4: Chill

Place the candle-filled cups in the refrigerator or freezer to harden. Make sure that the wick stays in the center of the candle. Chill time will depend on how tall your candle is and whether you use the fridge or freezer. Plan for at least an hour.

Step 5: Remove paper, trim wick

Once the candles have hardened, use a pair of scissors to cut away the paper cup. Trim the wick so it’s sticks out above the candle about 1/4 of an inch.

How to serve tallow candles

Once you remove the paper and trim the wick, place the candles in a shallow bowl or on a plate that will collect the drippings as it melts. You can also set them in small glass jars.

Place on your table with sliced bread or rolls and a serving spoon.

Light the candle. As the flame burns and the candle melts, guest can spoon out the delicious tallow candle drippings and spoon it on their bread.

If you’re serving the coconut oil cinnamon candle, it goes great with Hawaiian sweet rolls or other sweet breads. It’s also yummy on French toast, which is a really fun twist for a brunch menu.

Storage

Store candles in the refrigerator or freezer until you are ready to serve them. If you keep them at room temperature, they will melt. Because of the fresh herbs, I don’t recommend storing candles for more than 1-2 weeks.