Spiced Honey Vanilla Tallow Soap Recipe (Cold-Process)

Spiced honey vanilla tallow soap is so cozy and warm, you might think it’s a decadent dessert. Using honey, cinnamon & vanilla-infused tallow, these handmade soaps are as beautiful as they are useful! You’ll have a luxurious bar of soap with a creamy lather and a spicy, sweet scent. 

This honey soap recipe combines the skin-loving properties of tallow with the natural infusions of honey, cinnamon, and vanilla beans. Tallow provides a long-lasting, non-drying soap bar.

Looking to try other small batch natural soap recipes? Make our 3 Sugar Tallow Soap, Coffee Scrub Tallow Soap, or give our Shampoo Bar a go!

Benefits of Tallow in Homemade Soap

Beef fat tallow is a great addition to homemade soaps due to the key fatty acids, including: Oleic Acid (Omega-9), Stearic Acid, Palmitic Acid, CLA (conjugated Linoleic Acid), and Alpha-Linolenic Acid (Omega-3). If you don’t have enough of these fatty acids, then your skin can become dry or irritated. Rendered animal fats like tallow help increase hydration and are gentle on the skin barrier. 

Base Oils for Spiced Honey Vanilla Tallow Soap

The basic ingredients are fats used in this recipe and are fairly simple. I use rendered tallow, olive oil, and coconut oil, all of which have different properties.

• Beef Tallow (60%) – Good tallow provides a hard, long-lasting bar with excellent conditioning properties
• Olive Oil (20%) – Olive oil is a mild, moisturizing oil that creates a gentle lather in soaps
• Coconut Oil (20%) – Coconut oil gives you both cleansing and bubbles

Why Use Honey in Cold Process Soap Making?

Adding any sugar to soap enhances lather and creates bigger bubbles. Plus, it adds a slight caramel color without extra additives or clays. However, this also increases heat in the soap batter, so careful temperature control is necessary to avoid overheating or soap volcanoes. 

For more info on the cold process method and the main difference between that and the hot process method of soapmaking, or for first-time soap makers, check out our How to Make Tallow Soap post.

Homemade Tallow Soap Instructions

Mixing Soap

Infuse Tallow: A day or two before making soap, I infuse the tallow on warm in the crockpot with vanilla beans and a cinnamon stick.

Prepare Your Work Area and Supplies: Wear gloves and goggles, and work in a well-ventilated area. 

Melt Fats and Oils Together: Measure and add olive oil and coconut oil to the crockpot with tallow. Let them all come to the same temperature, usually somewhere between 155-165 degrees. 

Make the Lye Solution: Put on protective gear before starting this step and make sure you are in a well-ventilated area or outside. Weigh 8.5oz water in a heat-resistant bowl and lye crystals in another bowl. Slowly add sodium hydroxide (lye) to the water (never the other way around!). Stir until fully dissolved and allow the lye solution to cool to around 100 degrees. This will take about 15-20 minutes. 

Cool Oils: Strain infused oils into a separate soap-safe bowl and let the oils cool to around 100 degrees for 15-20 minutes.

Combine Lye Solution & Oils: Slowly pour the lye mixture into the liquid oils while stirring with a spatula. Using an immersion blender, keep it submerged, and pulse for about 15 seconds. Then use spatula to stir the mixture, switching between pulsing and stirring until you’ve reached a light trace (a pudding-like consistency). 

Mix Inclusions into Soap Batter: Add honey and cinnamon to the soap batter and pulse together using an immersion blender. Add essential oils and mix until a medium trace is reached. Pour into the mold(s).

Finishing Soap

Texture the Top: After all of the batter is poured into the mold, lightly press bubble wrap to texture the top of the soap and sprinkle a bit of cinnamon and bee pollen where bubble wrap is not covering soap.

Cool: Put soap molds on a cookie sheet for easier transporting. Depending on whether you want a full or partial gel, you can place the soap into the refrigerator for a couple of hours to try to prevent a full gel and overheating.

Saponify, Cut, & Cure: Lightly cover soap with plastic wrap (to help prevent soda ash) and place in a cool, dry area. Allow it to fully saponify for 24-48 hours before unmolding. Cut into bars of desired size and cure for 4-6 weeks for best hardness and lather. 

You are going to love this nourishing Spiced Honey Vanilla Tallow Soap. The combination of honey, vanilla, and cinnamon creates a rich lather with a luxurious feel, and the tallow ensures long-lasting bar that doesn’t melt in the shower. This soap is as beautiful as it is beneficial!