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Animal fats

Chicken Fat

Also: Rendered chicken fat, Schmaltz, Poultry fat (Gallus gallus domesticus).

Calculate a 100 % Chicken Fat bar

The saponification value here is derived, not published. No primary document we could use gives one for Chicken Fat, so it is calculated from this record's own fatty-acid composition: chain lengths fix the molar mass, which fixes how much hydroxide a gram of fat consumes. That gives 195.8 mg KOH/g, ±3 %.

That is stoichiometry on a measured composition rather than a guess, and it is about as well determined as a published figure: checked against the 35 Codex oils where both fields come from the same standard, the method's median error is 0.90 % and its 90th percentile 2.74 %, with no meaningful bias. The formula page shows the working. If you have a certificate of analysis for your lot, enter its measured value in the calculator and this estimate is set aside.

Published values

Saponification valuenot published
Derived from composition195.8 ± 3 % mg KOH/g
Used by the calculator195.8 mg KOH/g (derived)
SAP for NaOH0.1396 g/g
Iodine value
INS (SAP − IV)
Melting point22.74 °C
Unsaponifiable matter0.19–0.43 %

A bar made of 100 % Chicken Fat

Hardness 31 29–54
Cleansing 1 below 12–22
Conditioning 61 44–69
Bubbly lather 1 below 14–46
Creamy lather 30 16–48

Conventional qualities summed from the fatty-acid groups; a single-oil bar is a reference point, not a recipe.

Fatty-acid profile

Fatty acidPublished range, %Used
Myristic acid C14:0 · saturated 0.51–0.69 0.6
Palmitic acid C16:0 · saturated 23.87–24.62 24.2
Palmitoleic acid C16:1 5–5.65 5.3
Stearic acid C18:0 · saturated 5.87–6.22 6.0
Oleic acid C18:1 36.1–42.13 39.1
Linoleic acid C18:2 17.53–22.84 20.2
α-Linolenic acid C18:3 n-3 0.96–1.53 1.2
Gadoleic acid C20:1 0.42 0.4

Where these numbers come from

MDPI - Foods (open access via PubMed Central)Quality of Chicken Fat by-Products: Lipid Profile and Colour Properties (Foods 2020, 9(8), 1046; DOI 10.3390/foods9081046) · read 2026-09-20

Table 3 lipid profile (% of total lipids) pooled across three farms; sample description in Materials and Methods. Published 2020.

Wiley - Food Science & Nutrition (open access via PubMed Central)Rheological and functional characterization of gelatin and fat extracted from chicken skin for application in food technology (Food Sci Nutr 2022; DOI 10.1002/fsn3.2807) · read 2026-09-20

Chicken skin fat: fatty acid composition table, slip melting point 22.74 C, unsaponifiable matter 0.19-0.43 %, FFA, peroxide value.

USDA Agricultural Research Service - FoodData Central (SR Legacy)Fat, chicken (SR Legacy, fdcId 173564, NDB 04542) - fatty acid nutrients · read 2026-09-20

Retrieved through the FoodData Central API search endpoint; g fatty acid per 100 g fat (total lipid 99.8 g). Used for cross-check in notes only.

Fatty-acid ranges span two open-access studies: (a) Foods 9(8):1046 (2020), Table 3, lipid profile (% of total lipids) of chicken fat by-products (65 % abdominal + 35 % gizzard fat) from 'Parrilleros' broilers, 13 birds x 3 farms, Antioquia, Colombia: oleic 36.10, palmitic 23.87, linoleic 22.84, stearic 5.87, palmitoleic 5.00, linolenic 1.53, myristic 0.51; SFA 30.23, MUFA 41.13, PUFA 24.37; (b) Food Science & Nutrition (2022, DOI 10.1002/fsn3.2807), fat extracted from chicken skin (Babol, Iran): 14:0 0.69, 16:0 24.62, 16:1 5.65, 18:0 6.22, 18:1 42.13, 18:2 17.53, 18:3 0.96, 20:1 0.42 %, slip melting point 22.74 +/- 0.07 C, unsaponifiable matter 0.19-0.43 %, FFA 0.48-0.55 %, peroxide 4.91-9.84 meq/kg. USDA FoodData Central 'Fat, chicken' (fdcId 173564, NDB 04542) agrees in g/100 g fat: 12:0 0.1, 14:0 0.9, 16:0 21.6, 18:0 6.0, 16:1 5.7, 18:1 37.3, 20:1 1.1, 18:2 19.5, 18:3 1.0, 20:4 0.1 (not normalised to total FA; recorded here for cross-check only). Neither open paper reports a saponification or iodine value; the LWT 2023 review on duck fat quotes 192.16 mg KOH/g for chicken fat but could not be opened, so sapKohMgPerG and iodineValue are null - do not fill from generic poultry-fat tables. Chicken fat is highly variable with feed (linoleic 17-23 % here). INCI not verified (null).

This record is part of the open ingredient database (ODbL). Found an error or a better primary source? The dataset is on GitHub; corrections with a document link are welcome.