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How to cook and use chicken, duck or turkey giblets to obtain the nutrient-dense health benefits without any fuss or complaining from your family.
As you ready your duck, chicken, or turkey for roasting, do you throw away or feed your pet the giblets that usually come tucked inside the bird?
The giblets can provide concentrated and hugely beneficial nutrition to your holiday meal. Why not use them instead of tossing them this year?
In this fourth of the five βTurkey Tipsβ I filmed a few years ago for the NBC Channel 8 Today Show here in Tampa (anchored by Gayle Guyardo), I show you how to very simply incorporate those giblets even if you are not the best of cooks.
The flavor is amazing when added toΒ homemade gravy drizzled over your favorite healthy stuffing recipe.
What are Giblets?
Giblets are the edible offal of fowl. Some people also include the neck too. Gram for gram, organ meat is far more nutritious than muscle meats.
- Neck βΒ great for adding additional flavor, color, and extra minerals to the gravy. You can simmer the neck on very low heat with some grass-fed butter while the turkey is roasting and then add the juice to the gravy drippings.
- Gizzard βΒ loaded with Vitamin A! The gizzard can be simmered along with the neck and then chopped up finely and blended into the gravy for additional flavor and trace minerals. For more information on the benefits of gizzards, check out this excellent article by Sally Fallon Morell.
- Heart βΒ the heart muscle contains the highestΒ concentration of Coenzyme Q10Β (CoQ10) of any food. CoQ10 is also known as ubiquinone.Β Levels of this nutrient begin to diminish as early as your 20βs and can affect your heart and brain health significantly as this nutrient is required for cellular energy.Β Turkey heart can be simmered with the other giblets in grass-fed butter. Tip: pork heart is very mild tasting, and when ground, can be mixed in small amounts with grass-fed beef.
- Liver βΒ liver is the worldβs number one superfood. Inexplicably, it has all but disappeared from the diet of Westerners. It is chock full of vitamins A, K2, antioxidants, and trace minerals. Traditional cultures viewed it as aΒ sacred foodΒ due to the health and fertility it bestowed on children and couples. It can be blended with the heart after simmering in butter with the other giblets. Mix in some additional butter with a few pulses of the food processor. Now you have a delicious and nutrient-dense pate spread for crackers. It is the perfect appetizer for your holiday meal.
A special thanks to Sally Fallon Morell, author of Nourishing Traditions Cookbook for suggesting some of the ideas for this video clip.
*The video below was originally filmed for NBC News Channel 8 in Tampa.
How to Cook Poultry Giblets
How to cook and use chicken, duck or turkey giblets to obtain the nutrient-dense health benefits without any fuss or complaining from your family.
Ingredients
- giblets from one turkey, duck, or chicken
- 2 tbsp butter
- sea salt
- pepper
- crackers optional
Instructions
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Remove giblets from the cavity of the bird and place them in a small pan.
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Simmer giblets uncovered with butter on very low heat. Add additional butter as needed.
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Remove pan from heat after giblets are soft and just cooked through. This will take longer for turkey giblets because they are larger.
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Drain the drippings from the giblet pan into a large skillet. Add the drippings from the roasted bird and blend together to make gravy.
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Chop up the cooked gizzard very finely and blend into the gravy when finished.
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Blend the cooked heart and liver in a food processor until smooth. Add sea salt and pepper to taste and serve on crackers.
Recipe Video
Love the tip Sarah, I was planning on giving the giblets to my dog but not now!
Don’t eat the liver, it’s where toxins that the body can’t eliminate are stored. So only toss it.
The kids young and older fight over them at my mom’s. Adults have no chance at them.
People would throw away the giblet parts?? Nooooo!
We’ve always put them in the stuffing too.
I put all the giblets into the food processor. That way they’re easy to sautee and sneak into the stuffing!
My mom always uses them. She uses the neck meat in the gravy, and uses the others in her dressing. Every year…. I guess she is pretty smart lady π
What a great video series for your local TV viewers! Short, sweet and packed with good information. Can’t wait for the final installment.
Thanks Beth. I was thrilled to be able to link “grassfed butter” and “healthy” together in this segment π I was very excited to learn that this show is carried by a number of NBC affiliate stations around the country so I am hopeful that this series was able to reach many more than just those in Florida.
My mom has always boiled them in water, mashed up everything but the neck then added the juice and giblets to the stuffing instead of broth. Her stuffing has the best flavor!!
YES! Wonderful and easy idea. Thank you for adding.
My mother and grandmother have always done this, as well! Growing up on the farm, there was no waste. Everything had a use. The food tasted SO good, and everyone was the healthier for it!
This is what my grandma always did for her cornbread dressing too!!! But she cooked the neck long enough for the meat to easily be pulled off the bone or for it to fall off on it’s own and added it with the rest. Fabulous flavor and none of us kids knew it was in there! I found out because I was always the kitchen helper and she taught me everything I know about cooking, but my sister just found out this last Christmas and was extremely repulsed by the idea she had been eating organ meat in one of her favorite holiday dishes. She ended up eating it still though π
I never do, in fact growing up and raising chickens, one of my favorite part was a heart, and i do love to make a spread with liver.