
Welcome to my latest Instant Pot recipe and today is one of my childhood favourites and that is chicken liver and onions.
The most frugal meat you could possibly eat, tasting just as delicious as you had in the old days!
I have delicious childhood memories. There was the black pudding for breakfast, the fishcakes, the fish stew, the dumplings, the meatballs and the liver and onions.
All of these lovely foodie memories happened around at my Grandparents house.
My grandparents were poor. A very low state pension and no spare money meant that they were very good with their money and made things last.
My grandad would often buy me great things that were second hand and he cooked for me all the time.
But what they lost out for in money they made up for in love and I loved my grandparents to bits. Sadly my grandad passed away in 1993 and my grandma followed in 1998.
One thing that will stay with me forever though was my grandads cooking. It was amazing and as well as his legendary fishcakes he also made awesome liver and onions. They were not rubbery, they tasted good and I always wanted to eat them.
My parents were never pleased though, as along side my black pudding it was these flavours that I had discovered away from them for food they hated.
But they embraced it and would even fry a slice of black pudding when I asked.
Now as an adult I can’t believe that something that tasted so good cost so little. When I bought it for this recipe a big pack of chicken livers cost us just a Euro, half of what we pay for a small pack of chicken wings….

Its rare we have them though, this is because we are addicted to chicken liver pate, so any chicken livers end up in the blender instead!
But in this recipe I am modernising my Grandads great liver and onions and cooking it much faster in the Instant Pot. Forget all that rubbery meat this is the real deal.
This is my favourite childhood meal that brings back such great things of growing up, so over to you what was yours?
Instant Pot Chicken Liver & Onions
Ingredients
- Instant Pot Duo
- 1 Pack Chicken Livers
- 1 Large Onion peeled and diced
- 1 Tbsp Olive Oil
- 1 Tbsp Tomato Puree
- 1 Tsp Garlic Puree
- 2 Chicken OXO Cubes
- 1 Tbsp Parsley
- 1 Tbsp Rosemary
- Salt & Pepper
Instructions
- Chop any sinew off the chicken livers and place them into the Instant Pot with the olive oil and the garlic. Turn the Instant Pot on via the sauté setting and cook for 3 minutes or until the onions have started to soften.
- Mix in your tomato puree.
- Add a pint of water (568ml) to the pot and then add your chicken seasoning along with your other seasoning and mix well.
- Place the lid on your Instant Pot and set the valve to sealing. Place them on the meat and stew setting for 10 minutes.
- Remove the onions and livers and put them to one side. With the liquid that is left in the bottom you can make your gravy.
- To make your gravy – put the Instant Pot back on sauté and when it starts to bubble you can add your thickening agent and stir regularly until it resembles gravy.
- Place your gravy into serving dishes and using a ladle pour over chicken liver and onions.
- Serve with fresh tomatoes.
Notes
Nutrition
Where To Source Your Chicken Stock To Make Instant Pot Chicken Liver and Onions:


Instant Pot Recipes – The Outtakes
Kyle: What’s for lunch I am starving?
Sam: Liver & Onions!
Kyle: But I only like liver in pate!
Sam: Trust me you’ll like it!
Kyle: Have you left me any?
That is how all conversations go as he expects to eat my leftovers as well as his own portions in typical teenager style.
Did you do quick release or natural release?
Hi A Conover,
We quick released because we did not want to over cook the chicken livers and they turned out ok with the quick release but you could cut down the actual cooking time then do a natural release if you wanted.
Thanks.
Dom
Can this be frozen and if yes, for how long.
Thanks in advance,
Frank
Hi Frank
I would not freeze it because liver is quite a rubbery meat so if you then freeze it and defrost it and then heat it up i can only think it would turn out almost uneatable.
Thanks.
Sam
How much chicken liver is in a pack of chicken livers?
Hi Jay,
The pack of chicken livers we use are 800g uncooked 🙂
Thanks
Wow. This is hands down the best chicken liver recipe I’ve seen. I made it tonight and the liver is so juicy and tender. I just joined a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) and used my pasture raised chicken livers. For the broth, I used what remained after I pressure cooked a whole chicken. So yummy!
Glad you enjoyed it Karen 🙂
Like!! Love liver and onions and this recipe is perfect.