My Homemade Suet Recipe (For Birds, Not People)
June 18, 2025 -
Hello fellow bird nerds!
As promised (in Chapter 3, if you’re keeping track), here is my homemade suet recipe. It’s super easy, holds up in Michigan winters, and has officially been approved by:
- Chickadees
- Nuthatches
- Downy woodpeckers
- A very rude squirrel named Greg
🪺 What Is Suet?
Basically: bird snack bricks.
Suet is a mix of fat and seeds that gives birds energy, especially in cold weather when bugs are scarce and calories matter. You can buy it at the store, but making your own is more fun (and cheaper).
Also: your kitchen will smell weird. You’ve been warned.
🥣 Ember’s Suet Recipe
You’ll need:
- 1 cup lard (or beef suet from a butcher – lard is easier)
- 1 cup crunchy peanut butter
- 2 cups cornmeal
- 1 cup flour
- 1 cup birdseed mix
- ½ cup oats or cracked corn (optional)
🧤 Instructions:
- Melt the lard and peanut butter in a big pot on low heat until it’s fully liquid.
- Stir in cornmeal, flour, oats, and birdseed. Mix until it’s thick and kind of gross-looking.
- Let cool a little, then press it into molds:
- Old yogurt cups
- Ice cube trays
- Suet cages
- Muffin tins
- Cookie cutters (on wax paper!)
- Chill in the fridge or freezer until firm.
- Hang outside! (Or place in feeders or little baskets.)
🌦️ Ember’s Pro Tips:
- If it’s above 70°F, skip suet or hang it in the shade—it can melt and turn into bird goo.
- Add dried cranberries or chopped unsalted nuts for bonus points.
- Don’t use bacon grease—too salty for birds!
- Yell “DINNER TIME!” when you hang it. It does nothing but is fun.
💬 Tell Me If You Try It!
Seriously, if you make suet and a chickadee eats it, you are basically a wizard.
Happy feeding!
Stay weird. Stay kind. And keep watching the trees.
✌️
Ember