The aim of this study was to determine the effect of the inclusion of different lipid sources [whole cottonseed (CS) and protected fat in diets containing sugarcane, corn, citrus pulp, CS meal, and urea] on animal performance, hot carcass dressing (HCD), ribeye area (RA), fat thickness (FT), and postmortem pH of the meat of Nellore cattle during finishing. The treatments evaluated were feed with 2.50% CS (control diet, T1 treatment); feed with 11.50% CS (high CS, T2 treatment); and feed with 3.13% CS added of protected lipid (PL) (T3 treatment), all on a DM basis. The forage:concentrate ratio of the diet was 50:50. Thirty-nine intact steers with average initial body weight of 494 kg and 36 months old were confined for 63 d. The addition of lipid sources tested in this study did not affect dry matter intake, crude protein intake, neutral detergent fiber intake, final live weight, average daily weight gain, HCD, RA, FT, and meat pH. It was concluded that the addition of PLs in the diet did not affect weight gain and carcass characteristics.