Chicken liver pasta with mushrooms and a buttery sauce flavoured with sage and balsamic vinegar is a fantastically tasty and frugal dinner.
This tasty dinner can be all yours in around 25 minutes, 10 minutes of preparation and just 15 minutes of cooking, and you are done!
Pappardelle with Chicken Livers and Mushrooms
I love cooking with offal; it is cheap, nutritious, and, as far as I am concerned, it is absolutely delicious!
I've got old school dishes like braised liver and onions with bacon, to more "modern" favourites like pan-fried calves liver. I've even got some surprising options like an Indian liver curry called kaleji masala and some marvellous peri peri chicken livers.
My latest "offaly good" offering is a superb chicken liver pasta recipe that features sage and balsamic vinegar.
In addition to the chicken livers, I add shiitake mushrooms, which add a wonderful earthiness to the recipe, as well as a lovely textural contrast to the almost buttery chicken livers.
A bit of butter helps create a lovely coating for the pappardelle pasta, and it is all done and dusted in under 30 minutes.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I have to use shiitake mushrooms?
Nope, any mushroom will work well in this recipe.
I like the stronger flavour of shiitake mushrooms, but everything from button mushrooms to portobello mushrooms works well.
Oyster mushrooms are also great in this recipe and provide a much more subtle flaovur and texture.
Can I use a different type of liver?
The flavours in this recipe would work well with both lambs liver and calves liver.
The timing should not be too different if you slice the liver quite thin.
I would avoid ox or pig liver in this recipe, I think that they are much better when cooked a little longer.
Can I use oil instead of butter?
Yes, a light olive oil or rapeseed (canola) oil would work well in this recipe.
Can I make this in advance?
No, because chicken liver benefits from very light cooking, reheating this dish would negate that and result in overcooked liver.
Serving Suggestions
I keep my sides super simple with this fantastic chicken liver pasta number.
Nine times out of ten, I will opt for some garlic baguette or cheesy garlic bread.
However, I have a major food crush on this soft potato focaccia recipe from my friend Rosemary. It freezes wonderfully, and I'll often grab a wedge from the freezer and heat it in my air fryer and serve it with pasta or risotto!
Most of your choices in this recipe come from the type of pasta you use; pappardelle is not the only game in town!
I've tested this recipe with both tagliatelle and linguine, and they both work well, spaghetti is kinda "ok", although not my favourite.
I would avoid pasta types like fusilli and penne because the sauce is not quite the right texture.
Equipment Used
I only name-check brands of equipment if I think that they make a material difference to a recipe. But if you have any questions, feel free to ask them in the comments section below the recipe.
- Hob/Stovetop.
- 25cm or 10" frying pan.
- 20cm or 8 saucepan.
- Stirring and serving spoons and kitchen tongs.
- Chopping board.
- Kitchen knife.
- A combination of weighing scales and measuring spoons.
Chicken Liver and Mushroom Pasta Recipe
Ingredients
- 200 g Chicken Livers 7oz
- 125 g Shiitake Mushrooms 4oz
- 1 Medium Echalion or Banana Shallot 50g
- 3 Garlic Cloves
- 10-12 Sage Leaves
- 50 g Butter 3 tablespoon
- 2-3 tablespoon Balsamic Vinegar
- 1 Pinch Salt Plus Extra for Boiling the Pasta
- ¼ teaspoon Black Pepper
- 200 g Dried Pasta 14oz (I use pappardelle)
- Fresh Chives for Garnish
Instructions
- Bring a 20cm or 8" saucepan of generously salted water to a boil. I use 1½-2 teaspoons of salt in a pan this size.
- Whilst the water is coming to a boil, trim the chicken livers and cut them into bite-sized pieces.
- Remove the stems from the shiitake mushrooms, then cut the caps into 2-3mm (⅛") thick slices.Do not discard the stalks; they make a great stock, so freeze them.
- Cut the shallot in half, peel it, and then cut it into half-moon shapes that are as thin as you can make them.
- Bash the garlic cloves with the side of a knife, remove the papery skin and chop them as finely as you can.
- Finely shred the sage leaves.
- Add 2 tablespoons of butter to a 25cm or 10" frying pan over a medium-high heat, and toss in the mushrooms, sauté for 3-4 minutes.
- After the mushrooms have been in for 2-3 minutes, cook the pasta in the boiling water for 30-60 seconds less than it says on the packet.
- Add the shallot, garlic and sage to the pan and cook for 1 minute.
- Throw in the chicken livers, season with salt and pepper, toss and cook for 2 minutes.
- Add the remaining tablespoon of butter and the balsamic vinegar, toss to coat, reduce the heat to low, add a lid and cook until the pasta is ready. This should be 4-5 minutes if your timing is right.
- Drain the pasta, reserving some of the cooking water, then add the pasta to the pan, tossing to coat, adding as much pasta water as needed to create a silky sauce.
- Serve sprinkled with fresh chives.