This is the best chicken liver pate recipe and I have been making it for over 2 decades. It has also become very popular on my site and you can see the positive feedback in the comments below. I love my original version but have also included a second recipe which uses a splash of cream and less butter. So choose which you prefer.
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I love to serve chicken liver pate with crispy melba toast and a dollop of something sweet. It’s silken smooth so it needs the crunch. The Marmalade offers a bitter-sweet flavour which is rather delicious and quite Christmassy too. If you want to be really wild, stir a splash of whiskey into the marmalade to give it that boozy edge.
I had the intention to make a clementine jelly to go with the pate, but that plan fell apart when I realised I was running out of the year. You know the feeling as you catapult towards Christmas in the silly season and suddenly realise you have bitten off more than you can chew? Literally and figuratively.
I once made jelly out of dessert wine which was delectable with this pate.
I had also planned on doing a few more Christmas recipes (as I do EVERY year) – but didn’t get it together. Note to self to be a bit more organised next year.
I love this season and the food that comes with it the most, so I always disappoint myself if I haven’t come up with something as innovative as my mince pie and frangipane tart, or my apple mince-pie crumble bars (My favourite ever), and my boozy cherry and Christmas pudding strudel with chocolate. These hot cross cinnamon sticky buns would be perfect for this time of year too. Ah well, there is always next year.
Here are a few of my favourite recipes for Christmas.
In the meantime, this is my best chicken liver pate which is so very easy to make. I always make a double batch and freeze off ramekins for later use. It’s so nice to pop in a basket for a summer picnic.
Can you freeze chicken liver pate?
Chicken liver pate freezes very well and I always make a double batch using 500gms of chicken livers.
I fill ceramic ramekins with the pate, top them with melted butter and a bay leaf and then wrap them tightly in plastic wrap to freeze.
To thaw chicken liver pate, leave it at room temperature for a couple of hours or thaw it in the fridge overnight.
I have made focaccia melba toast before, or actually melba toast from any good bread, and it’s also perfect withcrispy flatbread, but for these little party canapes, I made them from very thinly sliced stale baguette. The marmalade is a very good quality store-bought Seville marmalade which has nice bitterness. I use free-range chicken livers here.
*UPDATED RECIPE WITH CREAM*
PS: I have a little recipe update in case you prefer to use less butter and like to use cream. For this I recommend doing a double batch:
500gm free-range chicken livers
125gm butter (and a bit extra to coat the top if desired)
1 large onion (white), chopped
1 – 2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 – 4 bay leaves
Thyme leaves from about 4 small stalks
125ml cream
80ml good brandy
freshly ground black or white pepper (I prefer white)
Follow the instructions above, just add the cream after you have added the brandy and allowed it to cook off for a couple of minutes. Then add the cream and cook for about another minute or two further.
The best ever chicken liver pate recipe
This is a really easy and delicious chicken liver pate recipe that will instantly become your favourite too.
Print Recipe
Ingredients
250gm free-range chicken livers
125gm butterand a bit extra to coat the top if desired
1large onionwhite, chopped
1– 2 cloves garliccrushed
2bay leaves
20 – 40mlbrandy
freshly ground black or white pepperI prefer white
Thinly sliced stale baguette for the melba
Instructions
Melt the butter in the pan and saute the onion for about 5 minutes until turning soft.
Add the chicken livers, garlic and bay leaves and cook over moderate heat, stirring until the chicken livers are just done – about 4 – 8 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Add the brandy just before finishing off and allow this to cook for a couple of minutes.
Remove from the heat and let it cool.
Remove the bay leaves and blend in a food processor until it is as smooth as it will go. It takes a few minutes. Season with salt and lots of freshly ground white pepper (to taste). Spoon the pate into ramekins or other serving dishes and cool.
When cool melt some butter (microwave is great) and pour over the pate which looks pretty decorated with a bay leaf. Cool in the fridge until serving.
To make the melba toast slice a stale baguette as thinly as possible and lay the slices out on a cooling rack which you have placed over a large baking tray. This allows for the warm air to flow under and over the bread to dry it out.Bake in an oven preheated to 150C for about 20 minutes until dried out and just starting to colour. They do not need to be golden brown. Store in an airtight container until you are ready to serve.
If you are making the canapes yourself vs allowing your guests to spread themselves, do so just before serving as the melba toast will soften quite quickly.
Refrigerator: Refrigerate chicken liver pâté tightly covered for up to 1 week. To refrigerate it longer than 1 week but no longer than 1 month, pour a little melted lard or clarified butter on top to seal. Each time you dip into the pâté, you will need to reseal the top to preserve it.
Homemade pâté recipes, for example, often suggest pouring a layer of melted butter on top of the finished product to extend its shelf life, even though pâté keeps well in the refrigerator. If the extra fat bothers you, you can take it off the part of the pâté you'll be consuming at the moment, but it's not necessary.
A second great accompaniment is gherkin, the perfect combination of crunchiness and tartness, which pairs very nicely with rich meaty pâtés. All types of chutneys are a suitable choice to serve with pâté, for a seasonal Christmas twist try Classic Cranberry Sauce too.
People who eat liver or liver pâté once a week may be having more than an average of 1.5mg of vitamin A per day. If you eat liver or liver products every week, you may want to consider cutting back or not eating them as often.
Yes you can freeze chicken liver pate. Wrap the dishes well and freeze for up to 2 months. Defrost overnight in the fridge and remove from the fridge an hour (less if its very hot) before serving to take off the chill off.
If you're not familiar with cooking liver the temptation is to overcook it but this will cause your pâté to become grainy. The best thing to do is to not overcrowd the pan – this way the livers will get enough heat to colour and cook within 6 minutes.
Blood can give the pâté a bitter taste. (Step 2) Livers soaking in milk under refrigeration. Using a sieve, separate the milk from the livers and allow the livers to drain for two minutes before rinsing them under a running tap to remove the last traces of milk.
Assuming it's chicken liver pate, have you tried adding butter, cream or other saturated fat? This can thicken and so firm pate quite well. Or you could use some kind of meal - oat flour or matzo meal, breadcrumbs etc that would absorb the liquid.
As the name suggests, hard cheese is firm and goes perfectly well with our creamy and decadent mousse pâtés. Often savory, hard cheese can be divided into two categories: hard (such as Parmesan), and semi-hard (such as Gouda). We suggest pairing the former with Black Peppercorn, and the latter with Chicken Liver.
Toasts are also a great partner with Pate. A grilled, properly spiky sourdough bread would be the ideal here, but any decent, thick-cut real white or granary bread will do. But also any type of fresh baguette, sliced toasted baguette, or crackers works very well.
Some of the most popular types of pâté in France include pâté de campagne, made with pork, pâté de foie gras, made with duck or goose liver, and pâté en croûte, which is baked in a pastry crust.
You'll also want a sweet component to balance many of the salty and prominent flavors on the board. Seasonal fruits, such as figs, pears and apples are a classic way to add balance, and a drizzle of honey enhances the savory flavors of pâtés and cheeses.
Once opened eat within 7 days. The rillettes are preserved in fat and can last much longer, use your judgement. Unopened the pate can be stored for about 2 weeks. Pate can also be frozen.
For raw ground meats, poultry, seafood and variety meats (liver, tongue, chitterlings, etc.), refrigerate them only 1 to 2 days before either cooking or freezing. Beef, veal, lamb and pork roasts, steaks and chops may be kept 3 to 5 days.
"Pâte, smoked salmon, deli meats and soft cheeses are specific foods that may contain listeria, which is a particularly nasty organism that can cause serious illness," Moir says. "These foods should always be stored correctly, and never consumed after their use-by date.
Introduction: My name is Arline Emard IV, I am a cheerful, gorgeous, colorful, joyous, excited, super, inquisitive person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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