Chicken Liver with Apples and Onions

A Dinner I’ve Known Since Childhood

Chicken liver with apples and onions is one of those dinners I’ve known for as long as I can remember. I ate it as a child, and I still genuinely look forward to it now. There is something about the combination of soft onions, slightly sweet apples and tender chicken liver that just works.

And when I make it, the liver is definitely the main event. I always have to control myself a little because I could easily eat far too much of it. My plate usually has a generous amount of liver with plenty of apples and onions, and literally just a few boiled potatoes on the side.

It’s simple food, but for me it’s a proper dinner.

Why I Always Use Chicken Liver

For this recipe, it has to be chicken liver. I find it much more delicate than other types of liver, without that strong, heavy texture that can put people off. It’s also easy to prepare. I simply trim away any excess fat and tougher connective pieces, then cut the liver into smaller pieces ready for frying.

Traditionally, liver is often soaked in milk before cooking, and I used to do this too. Eventually I stopped because, in all honesty, I couldn’t notice enough of a difference to make the extra step worthwhile. Now I clean it well, cut it into pieces and lightly coat it in plain flour. That’s it.

I fry it separately from the apples and onions, which gives me much better control over everything. The liver can cook quickly in a properly heated pan while the apples stay in nice pieces rather than disappearing into the rest of the dish.

Apples and Onions Are Half the Dish

I start with three onions, sliced into half-moons and gently cooked in extra virgin olive oil. Then I add three peeled and cored apples cut into wedges and let them cook with the onions until they’re tender.

The apples really matter here. I want something sweet but slightly tart, with firm flesh that can handle being cooked without immediately turning into apple sauce. Braeburn works particularly well, and Pink Lady is another good option.

I don’t want the apples to disappear into the onions. I want to be able to pick up a proper piece of liver, apple and onion together. That’s the best bite.

How I Cook the Liver

Once the apples and onions are ready, I put them aside and cook the liver separately. After cleaning and cutting it, I lightly coat the pieces in plain flour and fry them in hot extra virgin olive oil or ghee.

The fat needs to be properly heated before the liver goes into the pan. I fry it for a few minutes, turning and stirring so that it cooks evenly without burning. And a little warning from experience: liver sometimes spits in the pan, so don’t lean too close when you’re frying it.

I add the salt towards the end rather than before frying. Once the liver is cooked through, I add the onions and apples back to the pan, season everything, cover it and turn off the heat. I leave it covered for another few minutes, just long enough for everything to come together.

While that’s happening, the potatoes are simply boiling in salted water. No complicated side dish is needed here.

One of My Favourite Iron-Rich Meals

I also love this dinner for what it brings nutritionally. Chicken liver is naturally very rich in haem iron, the form of iron that our bodies generally absorb more efficiently than non-haem iron from plant foods. It’s also exceptionally rich in vitamin B12 and vitamin A, and provides folate and other micronutrients.

For me, that’s real nutrient-dense food. A relatively small amount gives you an impressive concentration of nutrients, without needing to turn dinner into something complicated.

Liver is so concentrated in vitamin A that it’s not something I think of as an everyday food, and more isn’t necessarily better. But as part of a varied diet, it’s one of those traditional foods I think deserves a place on the table.

Maybe that’s another reason I’ve never lost my love for this meal. But really, nutrition came later. I loved it long before I knew anything about haem iron, B12 or nutrient density.

Back then, it was simply chicken liver with apples and onions and a few boiled potatoes on my plate. And that’s still exactly how I like it.