Do you want soft silky hair, glowing skin, an indestructable immune system, and 20/20 vision? 
It’s clearly my life mission to get people to eat liver, considering I bring it up at least once a week on the blog, and have been tweaking liver recipes for oh, 6 months now. Why would I want you to try those dark red, slimy, detoxifying organs of a chicken? To put it simply, they’re nature’s multivitamin:
3 times your daily B12 in a serving
High iron content, helping to ward off anemia and keep your immune system strong.
Iodine for healthy thyroid functioning
Folate, phosphorous, vitamin A….. need I go on? It has high contents of all of the above, and is also a high protein food to keep you sated. P.S. I’m not a professional on this topic, I just read a lot and like to share the knowledge I learn.
I buy a pound of chicken livers (which are very cheap might I add) about twice a month to make a batch of meatballs with. I’ve found that this is the only way I can stomach the texture of them. You might be thinking, why eat something you can’t even stomach getting down? First off I think its sort of fun to gross out my rooommates with the strange foods I eat, liver being one of them.
But more importantly I was determined to find a way I could incorporate this highly nutritious food in my diet that allowed me to actually enjoy it. And even more importantly, I wanted to share a good recipe in hopes that others may find a way to enjoy nature’s multivitamin too.
My first variation was Dried Cranberry and Liver Meatballs, which I loved. This latest variation is even more simple and they came out fabulous. The sweet potato acts as a binder so there is no need for any flours or nut meals which keeps them a little lighter. And the ground beef helps mask some of the liver’s richness; if you’re new to chicken livers this recipe is a great way to get yourself acquainted.
Sweet Potato Chicken Liver Meatballs
- 1 small sweet potato
- 1/2 lb chicken livers
- 1/2 lb grass fed ground beef
- 1 Tbsp dijon mustard
- 1 clove garlic
- Salt, pepper, garlic, basil, paprika, cumin (or any spices you like to cook with, these are very versatile meatballs)
Grate the sweet potato either with a hand grater or the attachment grater on a food processor.
Rise and pat the chicken livers dry and add them into the processor along with the grated sweet potato, ground beef, mustard, garlic, and spices (about a tsp of each to start). Food process until the mixture is completely combined.
Heat a skillet to medium heat and add coconut oil. Scoop a tablespoon of the mixture onto the skillet and cook about 3 minutes on each side until done, but not overdone and tough. Taste test one meatball and adjust the spices in the rest of the batch to your liking then cook the rest in batches.
The meatballs will almost be like mini sliders, and may not hold a perfect round meatball shape but that’s okay. You could also make burgers out of these by scooping more onto the skillet.
{Makes roughly 15-20 meatballs. I made about half the meatballs (about 10 small meatballs) and froze the rest of the mixture. The meatballs also freeze well and can be reheated quickly.}
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Have you ever tried liver? Would you ever try it?
These may be a good way for me to try liver! Do you know if places like Whole Foods or Trader Joe’s sell any that are grass fed/organic?
I’m not positive since I don’t shop at either of those stores but my guess would be that yes they definitely do. I’m pretty sure they both have certain high standards for the quality of meat and animal products they sell, you should check it out.
Love the blog. I had no idea liver was so nutritious. Where do you usually do your shopping? (If you’ve already addressed this, could you give me a link?) Thanks!
Thanks Elaine. I do most of my grocery shopping at a co-op in Burlington where I live called city market. It’s like a small whole foods with a focus on local products. Sometimes I also use price chopper as it is much less expensive.
im pinnin this shi*!
haha thanks lauren! Hope you’ll give them a try!
I LOVE liver and actually want to share a pate recipe we made in my school with pistachios! It was so good, but your recipe looks equally delicious and far less contraversial!
please share! I’ve been thinking of trying out a pate soon, but not sure I’d be able to eat it fast enough before it goes bad. What can you put the pate on?
I was actually just searching through your archive to see if you had made a pate, and I found this.
I was curious because I love pate, and a friend recently gave me an awesome recipe, but I haven’t been brave enough to try it yet. (The recipe is currently in Croatian… I can share once I translate it!) I usually don’t put pate on anything… I just eat it with a fork alongside other goodies people usually nosh on here in Croatia: olives, prosciutto, cornichons, other veggies, sometimes fresh cheese. I suppose it’s not very ladylike to eat a forkful of pate, but hey, it works for me. (Although I wonder how it would taste on sweet potato chips or these almond crackers: http://www.marksdailyapple.com/paleo-primal-cracker-recipe/#axzz1xcEedvML.)
I like this one, Katie!!! Looks even better than the other one
Love it! Especially since there’s sweet potato involved mmmm
i need to try chicken liver. i’ve tried beef, but not chicken. GOOD STUFF!
I can’t seem to find beef liver, wonder how the taste compares. Chicken liver actually has a very very mild taste, it’s just the texture I can’t do when they are whole.
Yum…I’m making this soon. I’ve been trying to sneak some liver into my life…and my boyfriend’s life…he might not even notice if it’s surround by delicious meatballs…. Thanks for sharing!
You can even do more ground beef to liver ratio to start out and slowly even out the ratios until you’re getting a good dose of liver in there. Promise, it’s mostly undetectable in these, liver has a very mild taste.
I have never tried liver, but this sounds like a good way to try to incorporate it!
I’ve been wanting to try liver for its health benefits but I keep getting scared off by horror stories!! I am bookmarking this recipe though – it sounds great!
yes a lot of people don’t like it- probably because of the texture and how it looks. Grinding it up helps a lot, and the taste is very mild. Meatballs are a good way to get acquainted.
You know me, I LOVE liver … and though I’ve not, yet, made it into meatballs and generally prefer beef liver, I appreciate the creativity of your recipes, Katie! Oh, to just dive into chicken parts, hands-first! yum-o
I need to try beef liver, I haven’t been able to find it. I wonder how the tastes compare. And I wish I could eat them whole like you do, but I’m not there quite yet.
you and your liver
One day I will try it, I promise!
Not a big liver fan myself… but maybe i’ll pick some up next time if it’s cheap and try these!
like .30 cents for a pound cheap sometimes haha! Can’t really beat that.
I saw some livers at Whole Foods last weekend and seriously thought of you.. when I saw the price I almost got them but wasn’t if I could deal….. with ground beef I think I might! Here’s to liver balls this week! Photos and info content are quite convincing, thanks!
hah glad to know I remind you of livers
But they’re so cheap you barely waste anything if you wind up not liking them. Promise these are a good way to start out.
never tried liver before, though we did make our older sister have it when she was at her worst with our stomach issues. not sure if she noticed major benefits though she did not do it for that long.
xoxo
YES! A girl after my own heart. I think we’d be fabulous friends in real-life. Liver, eggs and crossfit galore! You have me loving the chicken liver
Didn’t know you liked liver too, awesome! Can we please cook together sometime?!
I’d love to do a cooking party! That would be SO fun!
I MIGHT venture out and try these if I can find chicken livers. I am scared..just a tad bit, though. =P
“First off I think its sort of fun to gross out my rooommates with the strange foods I eat, liver being one of them.”
Totally agree with this. I do actually enjoy liver though, so I would eat it even without the entertainment value.
This is one thing I don’t see myself eating. Kudos to you for eating liver!
The nutrition stats alone make me think this might be good to try!
I’ve never actually had liver. These look good though!
I tried liver once, on accident! I was in Austria and thought it was matzoh ball soup! Boy was that a surprise
I didn’t read the sweet potato recipe (because I’m lazy) but it reminded me of how I was able to get my gf to finally eat chicken livers.
First, I make mashed sweet potatoes which she loves (boil or bake potatoes until soft, mash with butter, hey paleos, even if you “don’t do dairy” you should be more than fine with 100% grass fed butter, so shut up… unless you’re extremely lactose intolerant, in which case, shut up)
Then, I add raw chicken livers, and keep mashing. I cut them small enough that they seem to integrate and she can barely tell they are there. I don’t cut them small enough that they disappear, but small enough that the heat of the potatoes will gently cook the liver.
I eat it raw myself, most of the time.
This doesn’t work that well with beef liver, I usually just gently cook that in some butter and eat it fast. For me it’s medicine, and it’s not supposed to taste all that good.
Note to all that haven’t tried liver in any form yet:
Chicken livers are VERY mild, they don’t taste “rough” at all.
BEEF livers are the ones that most people find unappealing, and they are indeed harder to eat.
I have not had any other type of liver yet. I would assume duck liver would be pretty good though.
So if you ever had liver and hated it, chances are it was beef, they don’t all taste the same. Definitely go with chicken. If you’re going to get beef, make sure it’s grass fed.
Thanks for sharing that mashed sweet potato recipe, I can see how that would be a good way to disguise them and sounds great. And I’ve never tried beef liver so I was unaware they tasted so different. But I agree chicken livers have a surprisingly mild taste that I’ve grown to enjoy (just can’t do the texture quite yet).
These look delish! My grandma always makes chopped liver for Passover and I look forward to it every single year. It’s so great that I can continue to eat it since it’s Paleo (just mashed up hard boiled eggs, fried onions, and chicken livers). Definitely saving this recipe
I LOVE THIS!! I can’t wait to try it. I have never seen a recipe for liver that grabbed my interest. Thanks.
I come from Austria. We had liver there all the time. The best tasting one is calf’s liver, but I also liked pork liver. Here in the States I now get alternating weekly chicken liver or beef liver. I find the less you cook the liver (beef), the better the taste. Topping the liver with lots of sauteed onions makes it quite tasty.
Chicken livers shortly sauteed with onions, cilantro and a splash of sherry is quite good too.
It takes time to develop a taste for this organ, but once you do, you may find it is delicious and your body craves it.
I also used to eat kidneys. In France they had a great simple way to prepare it with a little bit of cognac. However, I have not found a source for kidneys here in the States and am not sure I can get my family to eat it.
I’ve been lurking on your blog for awhile, and thought I’d finally leave a comment. I made these today using ingredients I already had and they turned out great! I used beef liver, ground chicken, and white potatoes. I haven’t tried very many liver recipes yet, and I am VERY pleased with how good these tasted. I think the hubby will actually eat these! Thank you for all the great recipes!
Hi Katie,
I hate liver. Or rather, used to hate it. I still can’t handle calf’s liver or pork liver, but based on the raving reviews for your chicken liver meatballs, I went out on a limb and gave these a try. I basically combined this recipe with your cranberry meatball recipe and they taste DELICIOUS. I used 1 lb vegetarian-fed, free range liver, sweet potato puree, 1 egg, cumin, onion, fresh basil, cranberries, homemade apple cider ketchup, 3 cloves garlic, and the flavors mesh so well. I have the mixture chilling in the freezer right now, so I’m not sure how they’ll hold up as meatballs, but at this point after tasting the “batter”, I could care less about their form! Thanks so much for your chicken liver posts–consider me converted! My body will be thanking me for this.
This made my night! I love when people give this recipe a try because liver really does not have to be gross! And its so darn healthy, everyone should have a go to recipe they like using it. Hope they turn out well!
Just had them…meatball fail! Hah. The mixture was too watery, I think I’ll have to add some sort of almond flour next time. I also got too lazy and didn’t pat them dry… But nonetheless, they were good!
These look great! I’ve recently reintroduced liver into my life and love it. Excited to try this!
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