Chicken Liver with Raw Garlic and Thyme

This post contains affiliate links. Click here to see what that means!

In order to support our blogging activities, we may receive monetary compensation or other types or remuneration for our endorsement, recommendation, testimonial, and/or link to any products or services from this blog.

That being said, we only promote authors, products, and services that we wholeheartedly stand by!

 

chickenliver

You don’t need to dig deep around the internet to read about the benefits of eating liver. This article and this article should convince you. Once you get past the idea, then comes the taste. I am not going to lie, I hated liver when I first started eating it. Fortunately, I have found a couple of ways to cook it so that I actually enjoy eating it. For beef liver, I like this recipe. For chicken, this is my new standard. Making sure the liver slices are nice and dry when you go to fry them ensures that they get a little bit crispy, and the raw garlic masks some of the unpleasant taste of the liver. This was the first concoction that made me go from trying to hide liver in other food to eating it as a main dish, no big deal.

4.7 from 3 reviews
Chicken Liver with Raw Garlic and Thyme
 
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
 
Serves: 4
Ingredients
  • 1 pound chicken liver, sliced thinly
  • 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
  • 1 lemon, juiced
  • 4 cloves garlic, minced
  • sea salt to taste
  • fresh thyme for garnish
Instructions
  1. Prepare the livers by washing and drying them thoroughly. You want them to be as dry as possible before cooking them to make sure they get nice and crispy.
  2. When you are ready, heat a skillet on medium-high and dry-fry the livers for 3-4 minutes before flipping. Cook another 2-3 minutes on the other side, until no longer pink inside.
  3. Remove from the pan and coat with olive oil, raw garlic, sea salt and thyme.

About Mickey Trescott

Mickey Trescott is a co-founder here at Autoimmune Wellness and a co-teacher of AIP Certified Coach. After recovering from her own struggle with both Celiac and Hashimoto’s disease, adrenal fatigue, and multiple vitamin deficiencies, Mickey started to write about her experience to share with others and help them realize they are not alone in their struggles. She has a Master's degree in Human Nutrition and Functional Nutrition, and is the author of three best-selling books--The Autoimmune Paleo Cookbook, The Autoimmune Wellness Handbook, and The Nutrient-Dense Kitchen. You can watch her AIP cooking demos by following her on Instagram.

30 comments

  • Lisa says

    Where does the lemon juice come in? Sorry, but I’m clueless about liver and trying desperately to find ways to make it palatable! help!

    • Mickey says

      Lisa, just a squeeze at the very end with all the other toppings! I use lots of raw garlic to mask the taste. Good luck!

    • Glenda Disselkoen says

      Smoked liver and heart are really good! My boyfriend smokes a whole chicken and we put the liver and heart outside the chicken in the smoker since they will cook faster. It’s delicious!!

  • Christina says

    This was so good!! I’ve been circling around liver for awhile now, but when my Chinese medicine doctor practically gave me a prescription for it, I knew today was the day.

    Slicing it very thinly and frying mitigates any texture issues–they were just super crispy little morsels. That, and a hearty helping of raw garlic with each bite made it really delicious! I served it with some sauteed greens as you have it above.

    Best of all, I feel so energetic! (I know what you mean about not eating it right before bed, now…)

    Thanks, Mickey, for a super easy and delicious intro to liver!

    • Mickey says

      Christina,
      Yay!! So happy it helps. Enjoy your liver-induced energy… its all I get now that I don’t consume caffeine!

      Mickey

  • Shannon says

    Hi Mickey!
    I just discovered your blog. My siblings and I are committing to making one Hashimoto’s friendly meal a week for my mom. Do you have serving size and cook times listed somewhere on the blog for all of your recipes?

    Thank you in advance!

    • Mickey says

      Shannon, not for all of them, but all of the more recent recipes have them at the top of the recipe! So nice of you to cook for your mom! I wish you guys the best of luck! 🙂

      Mickey

  • Tatiana Cordoba says

    Any advice/ideas on what to substitute for garlic? It messes pretty badly with my stomach so I’m trying to stay away from it.

    • Mickey says

      Tatiana, I think this recipe would taste fine without the garlic. It masks the flavor a little bit, but it should not be a problem if you don’t mind the taste of liver. If not, red onion could be a good try.

      Mickey

  • […] Liver Fried “Rice” from Phoenix Helix Chicken Liver with Raw Garlic and Thyme from Autoimmune Paleo Chicken Liver and Mushroom Stir Fry from Kaiku Lifestyle Bacon Wrapped […]

  • gena says

    Just discovered this sight. I was trying to go it alone and found your site. Ordered your book today. Somewhere you mentioned that you bought beef liver reasonable at a market near you. I am having a hard time finding grass fed liver anywhere that is under $10 a pound. I live in the NW and would like the name of the market. I have been using chicken but would like to try beef.

    • Mickey says

      Hi Gena, I buy from Olsen Farms. They are at almost all of the Farmer’s markets (Ballard, University, Capitol Hill, etc.) and I buy it for $3-4 a pound. Hope it helps!

      Mickey

  • becca g says

    Just served this for dinner tonight. I was pleasantly surprised at how easy and tasty this simple recipe is. It may be that I have been trying to serve beef liver much to the dismay of my family. My 6 year-old gobbled up her “chicken” and asked for more. A real winner in my book!

  • Lynn says

    Do you NEED a cast iron pot? What about a coated (enamel) cast iron pot (which seems easier to deal with)? I don’t have either one….but if one is required I can go hunting for it. I really want to try this recipe because, even though I found an iron capsule that works pretty well without constipating me too much, I’d rather use food to raise my ferritin level.. Right now I’m using Seeking Health Optimal Iron (by Dr. Ben Lynch) from Amazon.

    • Mickey Trescott says

      Hi Lynn,
      No, you do not need a cast iron pan but many choose to cook with them because it can increase the iron content in your food. You don’t want to use a nonstick, because then you are adding teflon to your food… not good.

      Wishing you the best!

      Mickey

  • catherine says

    Mickey,

    Do you ever use the organs that come inside whole chickens?? Can you use them for pates? Is there any reason not to use those? I sometimes throw them in with the broth I make with the bones, and I haven’t noticed any bad taste from it, do you think this is a good way to get all the nutrition from them? I finally bought some chicken livers today after trying to convince myself for nearly a year. So I will be making pate with them tonight. And while Im at it, do you know of a way to make canned wild sardines taste less strong, Literally gagged on those. unfortunately I can’t have olive oil so I have to buy water packed ones. Thanks for all you and your team do for this community, it gives me hope I will feel better someday.

    • Mickey Trescott says

      Catherine,
      Yes, absolutely! I don’t throw them in broth, but I’ll either save them in a bag in the freezer to make pate or use to make gravy. Have you tried making a sardine pate with some other strong flavors, like lemon and garlic? That might help mask the flavor. Hopefully they become more palatable to you, because they are so nutrient dense!

  • Amy says

    YIKES!! Raw garlic is very dangerous Mickey! Ayurvedic doctors don’t recommend garlic in any form and especially in raw form because it will actually attack the stomach lining and lead to other complications. The Italians dipped their bullets in raw garlic juice because they were poor shooters and when the bullet entered an opponent’s leg or arm, the garlic would quickly poison their system and debilitate them unto a painful death. I’ve seen mention of the benefits of garlic in cooked form, even aged or fermented garlic is beneficial but great care should be taken in ingesting raw garlic – I tested this on myself accidentally once, I added a marinade to some shrimp that had lots of minced raw garlic…I guess I had too much of it and felt violently ill with cramping and nausea for a few hours! Liver is the best ‘supplement’ – soak in milk to remove that funky flavor and use chicken liver instead 🙂 Thanks for all your wonderful recipes + info! BTW, I eat LOTS of cooked garlic, ginger and onions in all my meals 🙂
    Amy

    • Mickey Trescott says

      Hi Amy!
      I don’t share your beliefs on raw garlic. Many cultures use it even medicinally, as it is a natural antibiotic, antifungal, and antiparasitic agent. I use it in salad dressings and other dishes all the time. While it can be hard on the stomach, I find the strong flavor to replace a lot of what is missing in AIP cooking. As with anything, if you personally don’t feel well eating something, don’t eat it, even if it is an AIP food!

  • Elizabeth says

    This is so, so good. All I taste is olive oil, garlic, lemon and thyme, and a faint chicken-y flavor. The dry roasting also really helps with the texture. Thank you!

  • Doris says

    Is deep frying done in additional oil to the 3 TBS mentioned?

  • Kristina says

    Help please! I just made this and clearly don’t know how to handle livers. When I tried to slice the livers they just fell apart. I had freezed them, then thawed in the fridge – do you think this was a mistake? I washed and drained them, then dried with a paper towel. But when I put them in he hot cast iron skillet they gave off a LOT of liquid. After flipping I ended up with something close to the consistency of ground beef. Any suggestions about what (many) things I might have done wrong?

    • Mickey Trescott says

      Hey Kristina! Oh no! What you are describing does not sound typical, and I think it may have something to do with how you froze them (were they tightly wrapped?). If you decide to try again, I would buy fresh liver from the store and cook them right away (still making sure to dry them thoroughly).

      • Kristina says

        Thanks! I’ll definitely try again. I think I bought poor quality. I’ll let you know how it turns out. 🙂

  • […] Liver Fried “Rice” from Phoenix Helix Chicken Liver with Raw Garlic and Thyme from Autoimmune Wellness Chicken Liver and Mushroom Stir Fry from Kaiku Lifestyle Bacon Wrapped […]

  • Mary G. says

    Hi Mickey,
    Bought your book off of Amazon and excitedly made a few dishes already. I’m no cook but your recipes are easy to follow, so I am loving the experience. I made the chicken liver this evening along with your roasted rainbow root vegetable dish and it turned out wonderful, so tasty! My book though says the time involved to make the liver is 30 minutes but it’s actually closer to what your recipe says here on the website 17mins. I was trying to time it with the vegetable dish and kept thinking I forgot a step.
    Nonetheless, I am thrilled with this book, thank you so much!!!
    Mary

    • Mickey Trescott says

      Hi Mary! I am so happy to hear you are loving the book and the recipes. Good luck to you!

Leave a Comment

Rate this recipe:  

CLOSE
CLOSE
var _gaq = _gaq || []; _gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'UA-39114596-1']); _gaq.push(['_trackPageview']); (function() { var ga = document.createElement('script'); ga.type = 'text/javascript'; ga.async = true; ga.src = ('https:' == document.location.protocol ? 'https://ssl' : 'https://www') + '.google-analytics.com/ga.js'; var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(ga, s); })();