Chicken Gizzards, while sounding obscure and intimidating, are not only inexpensive (yet high quality nutrition) they also taste delicious when cooked properly!! With my Pressure Cooker Chicken Gizzards and Broth served with Rice and Chive Blossoms you will enjoy the taste and texture of an otherwise discarded part of the chicken, made into a gourmet treat in less than 30 minutes!
However, if you are avoiding carbs (like me!!) just omit the rice and enjoy the gizzards in their natural broth.
Growing up, I was like the rest of the majority, shunning offal (aka organ meats). But my Grandmother and Mom eagerly enjoyed them every chance they got.
At the time I only thought they were crazy in their affection for obscure cuts of meat, however later realized how nutritionally superior these delicate cuts of meat were. And, let’s not forget delicious.
The only regret is that I didn’t welcome foods like gizzards into my diet until it was too late to enjoy them with amazing cooks, like my grandmother “Gram Elsie” and Ray’s Grandmother “Nan Ryczek”.
What are Chicken Gizzards?
A gizzard is a muscle in the digestive tract of a chicken. If you’ve ever seen chickens pecking away at the ground, they are in fact swallowing tiny bits of grit and gravel, which travels through the chicken’s digestive tract and eventually lodges in the gizzard. Then when actual food arrives, this powerful little muscle contracts, like a tiny fist squeezing a handful of gravel. The gravel grinds up the food, and the food continues on into the stomach.
Gizzards are very small, with a distinctive taste that resembles dark chicken meat, but with a chewier and tougher texture
How to Cook Chicken Gizzards?
Since chickens gizzards are well used muscle tissue in a chicken’s digestive track, they are notoriously tough unless cooked low and slow. And the best way to cook Chicken Gizzards to ensure that they are tender and soft it using a pressure cooker.
A pressure cooker, which historically was a stand alone stove-top specialty pot, is now most known as an Instant Pot or as a function on a wide variety of brands of Multi-Cookers. Personally I use THIS BRAND since it’s less expensive and has better cooking performance!
Why Should YOU eat Chicken Gizzards?
- 100 gram serving of chicken (or turkey) gizzards will supply nearly 3 mg of zinc, (roughly 20% of the RDA of this essential mineral) which is necessary for a healthy immune system.
- Gizzards promote heart health because it is an excellent source of selenium, which supports the antioxidant activity of vitamins C and E in your body. Choline is another heart-healthy nutrient in gizzard.
- Gizzards are a natural source of niacin, or vitamin B-3, vitamin B-12 and vitamin B-6.
- Chicken gizzards have 2.5 mg of iron (14% RD) in a 100-g serving. Iron is an essential mineral for healthy red blood cells, and a deficiency can cause anemia. The iron that you get from animal products, such as gizzards, is in the form of heme iron, which is easier for your body to absorb than the non-heme iron from plant-based foods, such as spinach and beans.
- Gizzards taste really good! I can best describe them as very dark meat chicken. When cooked correctly they are tender and buttery, not tough and chewy as many people have experienced when they cooked them incorrectly!
- Chicken Gizzards are a budget friendly protein option. Organic, pastured, free range chicken gizzards are some of the least expensive parts of a chicken, I pay $2.75 a pound from a local organic farm. To find local farms/farmer’s markets in your area check out LocalHarvest.org or Eatwild.com.
And Last but not least, by choosing to honor the entire animal (aka nose to tail), when we buy even the obscure cuts of meat we help the farmer who raised the animal continue to supply healthy meat to us all! They are also an inexpensive way to eat healthier, since most shun this delicious cut of meat you get more nutrition for less money!
What is the difference between Chicken Gizzards and Giblets??
Gizzards are one of a loosely defined group of miscellaneous chicken parts known as the giblets (which also includes the heart and liver in addition to the gizzard). These are the parts you find in the little bag usually stuffed into the bird’s cavity—but the gizzards can also be purchased separately.
How to Pressure Cook Chicken Gizzards?
When it comes to pressure cooking, you gotta use water (at least 1 cup) so there’s inevitably going to be broth made from the cooking process. Hence why I call this Gizzards and Broth.
That’s why I’m sharing this delicious recipe with you!!!
I, like many others, were afraid that gizzards would be tough and gross. But by pressure cooking them they are deliciously delicate and melt in your mouth tender.
For 1 pound of chicken gizzards, cook them under pressure for 25 minutes with some onion, garlic and water. The garnish them with chopped fresh chives (and their beautiful blossoms) PLUS some my Perfectly Cooked 5-Mintue Rice if you need some carbs!
Have you ever eaten chicken gizzards? Why or why not? What do you think of Chicken Gizzards??
Looking for more recipes featuring nutrient dense organ meats?
- Pressure Cooker Chicken Gizzard with Gravy
- Chicken Liver Nuggets with Southwest Ranch Dip
- Delicious Chicken Liver Pate
Yours in health,
Ingredients
- 1 pound Chicken Gizzards cut into quarters
- 2 Tablespoon ghee
- 1 medium onion chopped
- 2 cloves garlic pressed or chopped finely
- 1 teaspoon sea sat
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 4 cup water
Extras
- perfectly cooked rice
- chives or scallions
- chive blossoms
Instructions
- Using the Sautee feature on your instant pot or muti-cooker on high, saute onions, garlic and gizzards.
- Cook, stirring occasionally until onions are translucent and gizzards no longer look raw, then add in your water.
- Put lid on cooker and cook at high pressure for 25 minutes.
- Allow to natuarlly fully depressurize before opening.
- Serve as a soup or over rice. Garnish with chives and/or chive blossoms. Enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
