Liver and Onions in Slow Cooker

Post was Updated on September 3, 2022

A delicious recipe of liver and onions in a slow cooker that will turn juicy and soft. All you will need is to caramelize a little bit of the onions and to cook the livers for 35 minutes in the slow cooker until perfection. Also, you will find the secret ingredient that will help you to remove the smell of the livers that someone may dislike.

Even if you are not a big fan of eating livers, I recommend giving a try to this recipe. The livers will be so juicy that they will melt in your mouth. As we will use butter, the livers will have a nice creamy texture and by adding a little bit of brandy in the recipe, we will remove the unpleasant smell from the livers.

After trying making this recipe at least once, I’m more than convinced that you will start eating more often livers.

I will also suggest giving a try to this recipe even if you are not the biggest fan of eating livers. We will use a few tricks that will help us to get rid of their smell, on what to pay attention to in order to avoid bitter taste in the end, and what should you do to get the best texture of the livers.

Intrigued? Let’s get started!

👩‍🍳 What You Will Find in This Post?

• How to clean the livers to get a nice and smooth texture.
• How to eliminate the smell of the livers.
• How to cook livers that will be in the end juicy and creamy?
• and much more…

👩‍🍳How to Make it?

• Melt the butter and caramelize the onions.
• Add brandy and cook for another minute.
• Drop the livers over the onions and cook for a few minutes.
• Close the slow cooker and let everything simmer for 30 minutes.

🥰 Why You Will Love This Recipe?

• By adding the brandy to the recipe, we will give a more unique taste to the dish.
• For a sweeter taste, we will caramelize the onions.
• As we are making it in the slow cooker, it will require from you minimum effort to make this recipe.
• This is a one-pot dish, and you will not have a mountain full of dirty plates.
• The livers will have a creamy texture and an aroma of butter and prunes.

🥘 Ingredients and Substitutes

• Livers. I used chicken livers for this recipe but you could follow the same instructions also by using turkey liver. If you decide to make this recipe with beef, pork, lamb, or rabbit livers, keep in mind that you should adjust the cooking time.
• Onions. I used white onions, but you could also use red ones instead. The role of the onions in this recipe is to give the sauce a sweet taste. Also, because of the onions, the livers also will be juicier. If you don’t have onions underhand, you could replace them with leeks.
• Butter. I used unsalted butter to give a creamy texture and extra flavor to the dish. If you opt for salted butter, be careful to reduce the amount of salt that you have to add additional.
• Vegetal Oil. I used refined sunflower oil. You could replace it with any other oil that has a high smoke temperature in order to avoid burning the butter during cooking.
• Brandy. I used brandy to remove the specific smell of livers and to give a special aroma slightly similar to dried plums. If you don’t like the idea of using alcohol in food, you could replace the brandy with soy sauce. If you are going to use soy sauce, exclude the salt. In the end, you can taste the dish and adjust the salt if needed.
• Salt & Pepper. Besides them, you may consider adding a few chili flakes if you prefer spicy food.

👩‍🍳 Step-by-step Directions

First of all, we should clean the livers. Wash them well and let them drain. Remove all the pieces that you don’t like how they look. Also, I will recommend cutting the liver membranes because, during the cooking, those will harden and will ruin the fine texture of the livers.

After this, cut the onion into slices julienne.

After you have all the ingredients ready, preheat the slow cooker to high heat (300°F / 150°C). Put the vegetable oil and butter in the preheated slow cooker and wait until the butter melts.

Right after the butter melts, add the sliced onions, salt, pepper, and other spices you have decided to use.

Mix all the ingredients well and let them caramelize for about 8 minutes at high heat (300°F / 150°C).

Periodically, mix the onions to avoid sticking them to the bottom of the slow cooker pan.

After the onions are slightly caramelized, add brandy and mix all the ingredients. Let the alcohol evaporate. This should take about 1 minute.

After the alcohol from the brandy has evaporated, put the livers on top of the caramelized onions and mix all the ingredients.

Let the livers fry on high heat until they become a little firmer in texture. In my case, this took about 6 minutes.

After this stage, you can close the lid of the slow cooker, set the low temperature ( 195°F/90°C ), and cook them for approximately 25-30 min.

Quick Note: As slow cookers can vary from one model to another and the quality of the liver can be different, I recommend you to check how cooked are the livers after 25 minutes and if is needed to add a few more minutes. In my case, it took 30 minutes.

In the end, you will have a liver that has been evenly cooked, soft and juicy on the inside with a nice creamy texture.

🍽️ Serving Suggestions

You can enjoy these livers with onions as they are, or serve the liver near a plate of mashed potatoes or other root vegetables. Another option will be to serve the livers along with boiled rice, or a slice of bread with which you can enjoy the liver sauce.

🏆 Expert Tips. What to Pay Attention To?

• Remove the white membranes from the livers because after cooking they will harden and will destroy the fine texture and the main idea behind this dish.
• Clean well the livers and make sure that there are no parts with a slightly greenish color on them because this means that the livers have been in contact with the gall bladder and you will get a bitter taste.
• If you don’t like how the livers smell, use brandy or soy sauce to remove it.
• Besides onions, you could also add carrot or leek for a surplus of vitamins and a sweeter taste.

❄️ Make Ahead, Storage and Reheating:

Can You Make it Ahead of Time?

You can cook the livers with onions a day before you plan to eat them and keep them in the fridge because the taste will not change much.

How Long Does it Last in the Fridge?

Wait until the liver cools down and put them in an airtight container then move them to the refrigerator where you can keep the onion livers safely for 2-3 days.

Can You Freeze This Dish?

Do not freeze the livers because they will change their texture and taste after defrosting.

How to Reheat It?

I prefer to reheat these livers with onions on the stove and mix them from time to time. In this way, I can control how hot I want them.

Quick Note: If you decide to reheat the livers in the microwave oven, be careful that if you will keep them for more than a minute, they may explode and stain all your walls in the microwave oven.

📙 Answering Your Questions

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