Turkey Liver Vs Chicken Liver: What’s The Difference?
When talking about turkey, people think of holiday seasons with celebration meals.
But do you know what besides the traditional baked whole turkey, you can refresh your family meals with turkey livers?
In this article, we will compare turkey livers with their chicken counterpart to see how they differ from each other as well as what they have in common.
What are turkey livers?
The turkey liver is offal meat from the liver of a turkey.
Despite the unappealing name, turkey livers are actually very nutritious, healthy, and delicious.
Turkey livers are an excellent source of protein, vitamin A, B12, folate, riboflavin (a water-soluble vitamin), iron, and copper.
All these nutrients play an important role in maintaining optimal health by supporting brain function, healthy skin, and immune system to name a few.
Turkey livers are usually sold in a package that also contains turkey giblets, including turkey neck, heart, and gizzard, in which the liver is the largest internal organ part.
Turkey livers are usually used to make pate, sauce, stock, or just simply pan-fried with vegetables and spices.
What are chicken livers?
Chicken livers are the liver of a chicken.
Each chicken has one liver which can be cooked whole, sliced, or blended.
Since the chicken liver is very small, a serving of chicken livers is usually about 55 to 60 grams, which is equivalent to 10 or more livers.
The liver performs many important functions in the body of any animal, such as detoxifying substances before they enter the bloodstream and filtering out toxins from the blood.
It also produces bile which helps break down fats and cholesterol into smaller particles for easier digestion by enzymes in the chicken’s small intestine.
Chicken livers can come in different colors depending on the chicken’s age and diet.
However, the most common color of chicken livers is brown-red, and they will turn brown when fully cooked.
Chicken livers can be cooked in numerous ways, such as being sauteed, grilled, baked, or made pate and mousse to serve with sliced baguette.
What are the differences between turkey livers vs chicken livers?
Turkey livers and chicken livers differ in numerous ways.
The comparison table below will break these differences into several criteria so that you can easily compare these two types of organ meat from two species of poultry.
| Turkey livers | Chicken livers | |
| What poultry it comes from | Turkey | Chicken |
| Size | Larger, usually four times bigger than chicken livers | Smaller |
| Texture | Softer and smoother | Soft but coarser |
| Taste | Milder | Sweet, nutty, more intense |
| Price | More expensive | Cheaper |
What are the similarities between turkey livers vs chicken livers?
Turkey livers and chicken livers also share numerous similarities besides the aforementioned differences.
Look below to figure out what characteristics that both turkey livers and chicken livers have:
1. Turkey livers and chicken livers are packed with many health benefits
First of all, we all know that livers are one of the most nutritious types of organ meat.
It is true with turkey livers and chicken livers as well.
You will get numerous essential nutrients by consuming turkey livers or chicken livers.
They are rich sources of protein, vitamin A, vitamin B12, vitamin K, folate, iron, copper, and phosphorus.
However, you should have a proper diet of livers to get rid of excess nutrients which might be harmful to your body.
2. Turkey livers and chicken livers can be cooked in numerous ways
Another similarity between turkey livers and chicken livers is that they can be cooked in plenty of ways.
You can pan-fry, grill, make sauces, stock, or pate from turkey livers and chicken livers.
3. Turkey livers and chicken livers and be used interchangeably
The good news is that turkey livers and chicken livers can be used interchangeably in most cases.
Although turkey livers have a milder taste and softer texture, basically, they are quite similar to chicken livers in terms of flavor and texture.
Therefore, you totally can substitute chicken livers in any recipe that calls for turkey livers, or vice versa.
However, keep in mind that a turkey liver is four times larger than a chicken liver, so you will need to adjust the quantity too.
Which one is better?
With so many options for what to serve up, the choice can be tough.
But hopefully, by looking at turkey livers and chicken counterparts side-by-side, we have helped you understand more about this type of poultry organ meat.
You may want to try them out for yourself before deciding which one is right for your family’s next holiday meal, turkey livers or chicken livers.