The Best Chicken Liver Recipe is made with tender chicken livers, caramelized onions, and salty bacon in a creamy mushroom sauce. It's a one-pan meal idea that can be served on toast for breakfast or mashed potatoes for dinner!
As you may be aware, I'm a big fan of chicken livers. One of my other favorite recipes is my The Best Chicken Liver and Onions and part of why I adore them is because they're highly nutritious, relatively budget-friendly and they're so versatile. The other part is that they're majorly delicious and easy to make!
Chicken livers are incredibly nutrient-dense and packed with protein and iron among other health benefits. They are one of the healthiest forms of animal protein around. Despite them being robust in flavor and quite meaty, they complement surrounding flavors so well without overpowering anything.
When cooked properly, chicken livers are tender, buttery, and melt in your mouth. This easy-to-follow chicken liver recipe I'm sharing with you will walk you through the steps of how to get chicken livers to the perfect taste and texture in every bite. The secret is soaking them in milk!
If you've ever tried to cook chicken livers before and they were too dry or rubbery, I promise you, it's worth trying again. My hubby loves chicken liver with bacon, which makes the “what's for dinner” decisions super easy!
What are Chicken Livers?
Chicken livers are exactly that. They're not considered red meat, despite their appearance, but they are organ meat. Coming in different sizes, they're rich in Vitamin C, amino acids, folate, and iron (among many many other things). They are quite strong in flavor which is why soaking them in milk helps.
Many people find it has a bit of a metallic taste, but when cooked properly and with the right seasoning, this delicacy can quickly become traditional comfort food!
Ingredients Needed
- Oil – Avocado oil to start the bacon sauté process. Bacon will release its own fat, but the avocado oil is lighter and healthier.
- Bacon - You'll need 6-8 strips of bacon cut into bite-sized pieces.
- Onions – Medium-sized, cut into slices. Yellow onions are nice and mild with a subtle sweetness which is great when caramelized.
- Mushrooms – I use brown mushrooms (cremini) because they're a bit deeper in flavor than white button mushrooms, but you use what you prefer.
- Chicken liver & milk – Rinse the 1 lb of chicken liver and trim the connective tissues and any off colored (usually green/white) things off and soak them in milk for 1 hour. This will help with not only texture but it gets rid of that peculiar metallic taste (probably from the iron) that not everyone can handle.
- Butter & All purpose flour – Once everything has been sautéed we use butter and flour to make a roux. This is used to thicken the broth to create a luscious and smooth cream sauce.
- Chicken broth – The liquid component in the sauce. You can use regular, homemade or low sodium, it's up to you.
- Soy sauce – Adds a nice saltiness to it and darkens it up just a bit!
- Salt & pepper – To taste.
How to Cook Chicken Liver
Step 1: Heat avocado oil in a skillet over medium heat and cook the bacon for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Then, add the onions and cook until soft.
Step 2: Add the mushrooms and cook for about 3-5 minutes. The bacon will have produced a lot of oil, and the mushrooms will have released a lot of water.
Step 3: Use a slotted spoon to transfer the contents of the skillet onto a plate. Leave behind about 2 tablespoon of bacon grease in the pan.
Step 4: Increase the heat to medium-high and add chicken livers to the pan. Cook for 5 minutes until the chicken liver is cooked through, flipping halfway. Remove them to a plate.
Step 5: Make a roux by melting butter and adding the flour and stirring or whisking until it becomes a paste with a nutty aroma. Slowly add the soy sauce until everything is combined.
Step 6: Stir in the broth and season with salt and pepper. Whisk everything until it comes to a gentle boil and the sauce is nice and thick.
Step 7: Add the chicken liver, bacon, onions, and mushrooms back into the pan and smother everything in the sauce. Cook for about 1 minute until everything is heated through.
Garnish with greens over a bed of creamy mashed potatoes. Enjoy!
Recipe FAQ
When cut into smaller pieces, it doesn't usually take them long to cook through. The best most accurate way to tell is by using a digital thermometer.
The internal temperature should read 165 degrees F.
Ways to Eat Chicken Liver
- Usually a quick sauté with a simple seasoning is enough to enjoy chicken livers on any given day. When you want to jazz it up a bit to impress a crowd (or impress your kids!) make this simple caramelized onion, bacon, and mushroom version.
- For a Southern twist, coat them in breading and deep-fry them for a crispy crunchy element.
- Purée the cooked chicken liver into a mousse or a pate.
- Serve it on mashed potatoes to soak up whatever sauce you're cooking them in, or on a bed of rice. You can even have these for a protein-packed breakfast or a special brunch item when served on a slice of toast.
More Yummy Dinner Recipes:
- 10-minute Honey Garlic Shrimp Recipe
- Loaded Mashed Potatoes
- Super Juicy Oven Baked Chicken Wings
- Baked Chicken Pasta in Buttery White Sauce
- Oven Baked Boneless Skinless Chicken Thighs
- The Best Creamy Chicken Pasta
When YOU make this Chicken Liver Recipe tag us on Instagram @MunchkinTimeBlog we would love to see YOUR creation!
If you tried this chicken liver recipe with bacon and mushroom or any other recipe on my website, please leave a * star rating and let me know how it went in the comments below. Thanks for visiting!
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Chicken Liver Recipe with Bacon Onions & Mushroom Sauce
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons avocado oil
- 6-8 strips bacon chopped into bite pieces
- 2 medium onions cut in half and sliced
- 2 cups mushrooms sliced
- 1 lb chicken liver soaked in milk for 1 hour, rinsed & trimmed
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- ¾ cup chicken broth homemade
- salt & pepper to taste
Instructions
- Using a skillet, over medium heat - heat 2 tablespoons of avocado oil and add bacon, cook for 5 minutes stirring few times. Add onions and cook for 10 minutes or until softened.
- Next, add mushrooms and cook stirring few times for 3-5 minutes. After using a slotted spoon, remove bacon with onions onto a plate. Leave 2 tablespoons of bacon grease in the skillet.
- Heat over medium/high heat and add chicken liver, cook for 5 minutes, or until chicken liver is cooked thru, flipping on the other side once. Remove chicken liver onto a plate.
- Now, melt 2 tablespoons of butter with 2 tablespoons of flour and 1 tablespoon of soy sauce, over medium heat. Stir until everything is combined about 1 minute. Pour in ¾ cup of chicken broth. Season with salt and pepper and whisk until gentle boil and the sauce is thickened.
- Return chicken liver and bacon with onions back into the pan, stir with the sauce and let everything heat thru, about 1 minute. Garnish with greens and serve with mashed potatoes. Enjoy!
Video
Notes
Nutrition
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This post was updated on June 7, 2022 the recipe is still the same.
This was a very good meal last night. I made a couple small changes due to my eating. I didn't have bacon, so I used about 1/2 cup of real bacon bits. I used equal amount of Tamari sauce instead of soy sauce. I used glucomannan (powdered konjac root) recipe for the thickener to reduce carbs; excellent consistency. Thank you this is a repeat recipe.
Thank you for and amazing feedback, Margaret!
Chicken livers recipe looks and sounds really delicious I’m going to try and replicate it I hopefully will make it just as good thanks
Sounds great Jamie!
Do you know if you can make those gluten free and soy by substituting with arrowroot flour (or something else) and coconut aminos?
Hi Kelly! I heard people like to substitute soy with coconut aminos! Hope this helps!
I used aminos instead of soy - always do 🙂 same with your thought on using arrowroot instead of wheat flour... that our tapioca should do the trick, but in this case, I skipped the Roux altogether.. onions, bacon with the livers (bell & evans), some avocado oil, aminos & organic chicken broth .... so good!