Chicken Liver Pâté is a luxuriously rich and deeply nourishing addition to any dinner table. Spread atop sprouted grain toast points and garnished with dried cranberries, toasted walnuts and microgreens, chicken liver pâté can make a full meal in and of itself. And, for those who are wary of organ meats, chicken liver pate is an excellent entrance into these deeply nourishing foods.
Chicken liver pâté, like roe, oysters, lobster and other foods we now consider a luxury, were born of practicality and a waste-not-want-not attitude – a way to make every bit of the harvest count. North Americans are peculiar about their foods – preferring muscle meat to other more nutrient-dense variety meats. Even my 4-year old who has a palate that rivals the most adventurous eater squirms at the thought of eating liver (I do too, by the way), saying that he’s not a “Body meat kinda guy, just a muscle meat kinda guy.” It’s an intellectual aversion, rather than one of taste, so we simply refer to this chicken liver pâté as pâté de foie de volailles. A little pretentious, perhaps, but he gobbles it up not having learned the translation quite yet.
Organ meats, like the chicken livers in this pâté, are exceptionally rich in micronutrients and have been enjoyed cross-globally since the dawn of man. Liver is a nutritional powerhouse thanks to its high content of B vitamins and preformed vitamin A. It is deeply nourishing and considered a depression busting food by nutritional researcher Amanda Rose who blogs at Rebuild from Depression.
In conventional media, we hear a lot about folate and its importance for women in their child-bearing years as lack of folate contributes to significant birth defects. While many people recognize leafy greens as a good source of folate, liver beats them every time packing more than twice the amount of folate as spinach on an ounce-per-ounce basis. Moreover, liver contains retinol or performed vitamin A which is also essential to reproductive health and the health of the developing baby. Indeed, poor maternal vitamin A intake is implicated in cleft palate as well as other congenital malformations.
I can’t underscore this point enough: Liver is an important food - a sacred food – and is worth learning to like. Like many foods that can seem initially off-putting like wheat grass and fish roe, for example, and you may need to try it more than once to acquire a taste for it. Fortunately, this chicken liver pâté is quite mild and has a pleasing flavor and texture, and it presents an excellent opportunity to learn to love a new, nourishing food. Remember: just one appetizer-sized portion of sage and chicken liver pâté provides approximately 41% of the RDA for folate, 79% of the RDA for vitamin B12 and 88% of the RDA for vitamin A.
Sage and Chicken Liver Pâté
This recipe for sage and chicken liver pâté serves approximately 16 as an appetizer. It’s excellent served on sprouted grain or sourdough toast points, with apples and grapes or alongside naturally fermented cornichons. It also makes a good addition to the holiday table.
Sage and Chicken Liver Pâté: Ingredients
- 1 lb Livers from Pasture-fed Chickens
- 1 Quart Fresh Milk (recommended, but optional)
- 14 oz Ghee from Grass-fed Cows OR 8 oz Butter and 6 oz Ghee (see sources)
- 2 Large Shallots, Finely Chopped
- 2 Tablespoons Rubbed Sage
- ½ Cup Sherry
- Fresh Sage Leaves (to garnish)
Sage and Chicken Liver Pâté: Method
- Rinse chicken livers gently, drain them and set them in a bowl.
- Pour 1 quart fresh milk over the chicken livers and allow them to marinate in the milk for at least 4 hours and preferably overnight.
- Drain the chicken livers and rinse them again.
- Heat 4 oz ghee in a skillet until melted.
- Add the sliced shallots and brown.
- Add the chicken livers to the onions and ghee. Note that they will release a significant amount of liquid.
- Simmer chicken livers until browned through and until the liquid has largely cooked away. Note that at this point many of the chicken livers will be falling apart on their own – a very good thing.
- Add the rubbed sage and deglaze the pan with sherry.
- Continue to cook until sherry is largely cooked away.
- Allow the mixture to cool.
- Add mixture and 8 oz of softened butter or ghee to your food processor and process until smooth.
- Melt remaining 2 oz of ghee until liquid.
- Spoon pâté into individual ramekins or dishes, garnish with fresh sage leaves and pour melted ghee gently over the pâté.
- Allow the sage and chicken liver pâté to set in the fridge for a few hours or overnight, but bring to room temperature prior to serving.
Nutrition Information1 per 2-oz serving: 225 calories, 22 g fat (13 saturated), 210 mg cholesterol, 24 mg sodium, 1 g carbohydrate, 7 g protein, 4381 IU vitamin A (88% DV), 8.1 g vitamin C (13% DV), .8 mg vitamin E (4% DV), 3.9 mcg vitamin K (5% DV), .1 mg thiamin (6% DV), .6 mg riboflavin (33% DV), 3.1 mg niacin (16% DV), .2 mg vitamin B6 (11% DV), 164 mcg folate (41% DV), 4.8 mcg vitamin B12 (79% DV), 1.9 mg pantothenic acid (19% DV), 11.9 mg calcium (1% DV), 3.3 mg iron (18% DV), 8.5 mg magnesium (2%), 121 mg phosphorus (12%), 89.2 mg potassium (3% DV), 24.3 mg sodium (1% DV), 1.2 mg zinc (8% DV), 0.1 mg copper (7% DV), .1 mg manganese (6% DV), 23.4 mcg selenium (33% DV).
1. Nutrition information sourced from Nutrition Data. Information believed to be reliable, but not guaranteed.
My husband has made this before and I’ve never dared try it. I told him if he uses your recipe I’ll try it…he defensively said it’s not much different than what he does, but I know he’ll be happy to accommodate me…lol! I know it’s good for me, so I’ll try.
I had a different pate recipe printed out to make tomorrow, but now I just have to try yours!
Oh I wish I could try this! I cannot have dairy of any kind–even ghee gives me hives. It looks lovely! I wonder what I could sub for the milk and ghee?
The milk is just for soaking so you could omit it. You can use pork fat instead of ghee – it has roughly the same consistency and tastes great. Coconut oil would work also.
In the Jewish Traditional way you would use rendered chicken fat (schmaltz) to cook the onions and liver. The recipe for Chopped liver (liver pate) is different in the Jewish culture. I may try a version of your recipe with the chicken fat as I don’t really like Ghee.
I’m seriously thinking about trying this, although maybe in a half batch as I am the only one who likes liver.
A couple of things. One, I just recently found your blog and have been enjoying it, so I added you to my One Lovely Blog Award list at: http://commonsensehomesteading.blogspot.com/2009/11/one-lovely-blog-award.html
Two, any chance you’ve made beet kvass? I just brewed my first batch this week (from the Nourishing Traditions recipe) and it seems very salty for my taste – almost too strong to drink. I’m wondering if it’s supposed to taste like this?
i tried beet kvass from NT… i will do just about anything for health… but i just can’t stomach beet kvass.
@ Laurie –
I found with the last batch I made that it was very salty after 3 days – but then I noticed that it also wasn’t that deep dark purplish red it should be. I realized that things had been too cold in my house and hadn’t drawn much out of the beets – so I poured off and saved the 1st ferment, and proceeded to the second ferment, using some of the liquid from the first as “starter” on the 2nd (per the recipe). The 2nd sitting turned out wonderfully (and less salty). I then combined both ferments – which turned out just right! and have them bottled in my fridge right now.
I’m half way through the first quart. I really enjoy the slightly salty/tangy taste (it gets more tang as it sits) – but I’ve also gone half and half with some good whole milk yogurt too. 
hth
This seriously looks good. I have two tried and true pate recipes that I use, but I just may have to branch out with this one.
I’m wondering about the milk. What does it do to the pate? I haven’t seen that before. I’m wondering how it affects the results.
Thank you!
Tara
the milk “sweetens” the meat… meaning it pulls those flavors out the we North Americans call gamy or strong.
I use this method when I prepare wild rabbit or venison for the uninitiated.
It might actually tenderize as well but I have always let my *stellar cooking skills take the credit for that
Can you use coconut ghee instead of butter ghee in this recipe?
Sounds yummy.
I use dry vermouth and rosemary, mustard, and garlic in my pate. When I bring it to parties, it is devoured. People don’t know it has liver in it because it is 2/3 mushroom and onion. I am often asked to bring pate to parties from people who have had it before.
If you prefer a liverwurst type of taste, add hard boiled egg.
I am eager to try the sherry and sage recipe.
Hi Amy, Your recipe sounds delicious — would you mind sharing the details? Thanks, Dawn
I’ve got a pile of liver (beef, lamb and chicken) cooked in rendered duck fat in my fridge waiting to be pate-ized later today. I don’t know if the rest of the duck fat that I have is still good, but if it doesn’t taste fresh, I’ll make it with onions cooked in butter and possibly some hard cooked egg in part of it. My question is, how well does it freeze? I can’t eat five plus pounds of liver before it spoils.
Can you suggest somewhere online to get pastured chicken livers? The place where I order chickens from does not sell just the livers. Thanks.
Hi Jenny. I’ve got some beef livers that I’m going to be turning into a pate. Would you recommend soaking those in milk overnight as well? This is a new thing for us so anything to mild out the liveriness would be great! Thanks! I look forward to hearing back from you.
Erin (Has it warmed up a bit? I’m in AK and I don’t think even we have had -20!)
Oh WOW! I made this tonight, and it’s quite good! I was a bit dubious when the livers were sauteeing (not the best smell – lol), but once I added to sage & sherry…. oh my goodness, it turned into something heavenly!
One question, though – can you freeze pate? I’m not sure we can eat as much as I made, and I’d love to be able to freeze some to enjoy later (like next week!
).
i read that you can freeze it. i’ve done it, but it’s still in the freezer; so not sure how it will be once thawed.
I have a recipe from Julia Child for pork liver pate that I am just so excited to try…a nice dosing of cognac sold it for me!
Could you point me in the right direction for the julia child recipe? I’d love to do a pork liver pate
Hi Jen,
This sounds amaaaazing! I so love liver, I can taste it now! Is it okay to use soured milk to marinate, or do you think this will change the flavor too much? Picked up some milk late from my co op, and it sours almost instantly upon opening. So, I’ve got some excess soured milk. Other ways to use it up?
I once used up some sour milk to make kefir. I just added my kefir grains and the end result was yummy! You couldn’t even tell that the milk had gone sour!
let it sit out and separate… top will be cream cheese; bottom will be whey. put a breathable lid on and it takes about one week.
this was amazing, thank you for sharing your wonderful recipe and your gift of nourishing us all.
Is ghee a must?
I’ve got some duck liver in the freezer. think I could use that instead?
Oh most definitely. It’s great with duck liver too.
Jenny
Just chiming in to say that I have made a very similar recipe using Coconut Oil (plus a little seasalt to counter it’s sweetness) in place of the softened butter – and it worked well.
hi,
just made your paté and loved it. Since I can’t keep myself from tinkering with recipes, I added an apple while frying the livers (since I made it with 250g of livers it would be 2 apples for a lb) and 3 cloves of garlic. HEAVEN! The apple actually didn’t mash up completely in the food processor (mine is small, old, wheezing and not always cooperative) which left my with tiny sweet apple chunks throughout the paté. I like!
Hi,
Why are they marinated in milk? Can we substitute milk for kefir?
Thanks!
I made a similar pate recently that called for Applejack brandy instead of sherry. I didn’t really like the Applejack flavor, so I substituted a little B&B that I had in the pantry. I liked it. Hubby said it tasted “boozy”. He’s Brooklyn Jewish and not used to having his “chopped liver” dosed with brandy. I’m not partial to sherry, either. So I’m wondering if the booze can be left out or does is it integral to the “science” of the recipe (if you know what I mean). Is it just for flavoring, or will the recipe not work without it?
You can substitute stock for sherry, if you like.
Jenny is this ok to give to kids with the sherry in it?
thank you
LAra