This pâté recipe is one of my favorites. I must admit that learning how to prepare and consume organ meats has been a journey for me! It took me a while to learn to like most organ meats, but this pâté recipe has a mild and savory flavor and I liked it right away.
Organ meats are an excellent source of iron, fat soluble vitamins, B-vitamins, and more. They are often called “nature’s multivitamin” and with good reason as they are one of the most nutrient dense foods available. Like bone broth, organ meats were once a commonly consumed food but they have been largely forgotten in our fast-paced world.
Some organ meats are difficult to prepare, but this pâté recipe is simple enough for even a beginner cook to make easily and its mild flavor is a great introduction to organ meats. It can be served on grain free crackers, cucumber, or other vegetable slices. I’ve found that my children naturally love pâté when it is made this way, especially if they are served it at a young age.
Our youngest daughter was given bone broth, liver, small amounts of meat and a lot of fermented and cooked vegetables as first foods and she now loves a wide variety of foods. I’ve talked before about our “Food Rules” that we follow with our children to teach them to like a wide variety of foods and how these rules (guidelines) were derived from my mother’s French heritage. I’ve heard it said that “The French enjoy food more and obsess about it less” and I think that the French are also great at focusing on a diverse and (mostly) real food diet with an emphasis on healthy fats, properly prepared organ meats, and exquisite vegetables.
Perfect Pâté Recipe
Ingredients
- 6 TBSP butter (or coconut oil, divided)
- ½ cup onion (or shallot, finely minced)
- 1 clove garlic (finely minced)
- ½ lb chicken livers
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ tsp pepper
- ½ tsp thyme
- 1 bay leaf (optional)
- 3 TBSP brandy (or scotch or apple cider vinegar)
- 2 TBSP heavy cream
Instructions
- In a medium size skillet, melt 3 tablespoons of the butter.
- Add the finely minced onion and garlic and cook on medium until translucent- 3-4 minutes.
- Meanwhile, trim the connective tissue off of the livers.
- Add the livers to the pan and sprinkle with salt, pepper, and thyme, and add the bay leaf if using.
- Brown livers for 6-10 minutes until cooked on the outside and barely pink on the inside.
- Add the brandy or scotch and cook until it thickens, 2-3 minutes.
- Remove the skillet from the heat and let it cool for about 5 minutes.
- Discard bay leaf.
- Put the livers in a food processor or blender and puree until smooth.
- While blending/pureeing, add the remaining butter and cream if using.
- Add more salt and pepper to taste, if desired.
- Once mixture is completely smooth, remove it from blender and put in ramekins or a glass container and cover tightly.
- Put in the refrigerator for at least 5-6 hours or overnight (preferred) to harden and let the flavors meld.
- Serve with homemade grain free crackers or vegetables.
- Enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
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If you’ve been hesitant to try offal, this pâté recipe is a great place to start!
If it is your first time to consume organ meats, please let me know how you liked it!
Thanks for the recipe! I have been dragging my feet about getting offals into my diet. Would this recipe work for beef liver? I know it has a more pungent flavor than chicken or duck, but it’s what I have in my freezer.
It would but I’d try slow cooked liver and onions or grinding it in to ground beef first to make it easier to adjust.
I love liver! It’s scary at first but now it’s something I really crave. When I lived in Greece I remember my father-in-law chasing me around the house with a forkful trying to get me to eat it. Wish I had listened to him sooner!
This is great…I just tried liver for the first time a few week ago and love it with onions. Have been wanting to try a pate.
Is it normal for leftover liver to turn green? I sauteed liver, onions, and butter. When I took the leftovers out of the fridge parts of the liver had turned green. Liver was in the fridge for about 48 hrs in a airtight glass container.
I love pate! I add diced bacon to mine from time to time. It’s delicious on grilled summer squash, atop scrambled eggs, or or in lettuce wraps.
Hi there!
The ingredients aren’t listed 🙂 excited to try it as the last time I made pate didn’t turn out so good…
Hi Katie, the ingredients for this recipe is missing. This is a recipe I would like to try. Thanks
Tech bug on our side.. working on fixing it ASAP
Looks good – would like to know what ingredients are though! Always looking for new ways to prepare offal.
I’d love to try this! Looks like the ingredient list got forgotten 🙂
Should be there now 🙂 Tech glitch
Is cream supposed to be one of the ingredients? Because I see cream in the recipe…I’ve only had liver once and it was store bought and I hated it. I really want to try this though!
Yep. Should be fixed now. Had a tech glitch with the ingredients and still working out the bugs. THanks for letting me know!
Can you do this recipe with beef liver? I just bought so much grass fed beef liver. I am trying to see what to do with it–going from vegetarian to eating organ meat is a HUGE shift for me!
I haven’t tried it. It would have a little stronger of a flavor but you definitely could try it
Hmmm…I don’t see the ingredients. Is it just me? It sounds delightful though. I love pate, but I hate that store bought has sodium nitrite in it. I want to try this recipe!
Thank you for the recipe. My kids love liver (both chicken and beef) and I adore pate as well. I love new ways to prepare one of our favorite organ meats!