The Easiest Way to Eat Beef Liver to Improve Your Health
If you have been anywhere on social media and the digital "wellness space" over the last couple of years, I am sure you have heard about beef liver. Especially if you are looking into pro-metabolic wellness or ancestral eating. It has been all over wellness accounts as one of the "most nutrient-dense foods" and "nature's multivitamin".. and well, they aren't wrong!
This post is aimed at giving you all the information you need to know about incorporating this into your diet in a healthy, effective way! (plus, my favorite ways to sneak it into my husband's and kid's meals 😉)
Health Benefits of Grass-Fed Beef Liver
Liver is a nutritional powerhouse. Not only is it packed with nutrients, but it is nutrient dense! Meaning you can get everything your body needs in a small amount! Some studies have even shown that just once ounce allows you to reach the RDI (recommended daily intake) of multiple nutrients.
When you look at ancient civilizations and traditional cultures, the liver was one of the most coveted parts of the animal for this exact reason!
Here are some of the nutrients you can get in just one 3.5 ounce serving of beef liver:
b vitamins! 3460% of your daily B12, 200% of your daily riboflavin (b2), and 65% of your daily folate (b9)
860-1000% of your daily vitamin a
80% of your daily heme iron
1600% of your daily copper
It is also a great source of choline, niacin, selenium, and lean protein! Not only do these nutrients help make sure you are getting all your essential nutrients, but support your immune system, energy production, and overall health.
How Much Beef Liver Should I Be Eating
Because of how nutrient dense beef liver is, you do not need much of it! Most nutrition experts recommend 1-2 servings per week. That is a few ounces mixed up in ground beef for tacos, or a few cooked pieces with dinner. Or, if you are opting to take a desiccated liver supplement, you usually end up taking a few pills per day to reach that same amount.
Either way, there are many easy ways to get this amount of liver into your diet regularly! Here's how i do it...
How to Get Beef Organs into Your Diet
I am always an advocate of eating REAL food before ever trying to add in a supplement. This means that before taking a multivitamin, aim to get those foods naturally from a well balanced diet and healthy lifestyle. Not only will you create healthier habits and a solid nutritional foundation, but your body will be able to use those nutrients far more effectively than from synthetic supplements.
For the last couple of years we have purchased our meat from a local farm, and with that comes all the bones and organs. If you have never seen a raw beef liver- they are massive. Some can weigh anywhere from 10 to 15 POUNDS. And while there are many different processing methods, i have found the technique that works best for our family since none of us realllyyyy love the taste of liver.
When we pickup the meat from the farmer, I set aside the liver before freezing. Then I cut it up into smaller chunks and throw about half of it into the blender! Once it is pureed, I pour it into silicone freezer molds of 3-4 ounce servings each.
Then I pop them into the freezer. Anytime I cook ground meat, I will pop one or two of the frozen pureed beef liver into the pan and cook it up with the meat. This is the EASIEST way to sneak it into your families diet, especially if you are using taco seasoning, or spaghetti sauce, or throwing it into a casserole or dish with other ingredients. Even with the strong flavor of liver, you can hardly tell it is in there.
Then with the other half of the liver that is cut into smaller pieces, I do basically the same thing. I freeze the smaller pieces into 3-4 ounce servings and will use those smaller pieces in stews, soups, and chili, or throw into the crock pot while making bone broth. I have found that in soups, i would rather have smaller bits of pure beef liver rather than a puree.
These are the silicone trays we use to freeze!
They are so convenient for having pre-portioned amounts frozen and ready to easily add into meals.
If you are one of those people who enjoys the taste of liver, you can skip all the chopping and blending and just take the fresh liver and cook it into steaks. Unfortunately my family needs a little more prep work to get it into our diets regularly!
If you or your family cannot get past the acquired taste of liver, then this may be a great spot for your to add in high-quality and well-sourced desiccated liver pills. (or you can also begin your organ journey with chicken liver- a much more mild and easier to handle option!)
My Favorite Grass Fed Beef Liver Supplements
I am not a fan of pushing tons of supplements, and actually am really conservative in the supplements i do take. But like I mentioned before, liver can be hard for some people to regularly incorpoarte into their diet. This is why freeze-dried beef liver capsules can be a great way to take advantage of the benefits of beef liver in a more convenient way.
When shopping for the best beef liver supplements, I had high standards of quality. I make sure that everything is third-party tested so that you are actually getting the supplement that you think you are purchasing (because did you know that NO supplement on the market is regulated??).
I also want to make sure that the company is sourcing from clean, organic, and ethical sources. Especially when eating beef liver, I want to make sure the cattle were not fed a diet where there was any use of pesticides, synthetic supplements or hormones. Just healthy pasture-raised cows eating their natural diet.
That is why I only purchase desiccated beef liver supplement from Perfect Supplements. Their whole supplement line is great and my family uses their products every single day! I especially love having it on hand when we are going to be traveling or not in our usual daily routine. Even then, I can be sure that we are getting key nutrients into our diet.
The code kaelyn10 always saves you 10% on your order from Perfect Supplements!
My experience including beef liver into my diet
I have regularly been having beef liver in my diet since 2019. At the time I started I was struggling with PCOS symptoms, brain fog, poor energy, migraines, amenorrhea, and cystic acne. I completely revamped my view on health, nutrition, diet and exercise.. and to be honest, have never looked back. It is ultimately what encouraged my to become a health coach and help others find holistic wellness themselves!
Now in 2023, i attribute much of the health I have experienced the last several years as a direct result of prioritizing nutrient dense foods (like organ meats and beef liver!)
carried two, healthy, full-term pregnancies
breastfed for over two years of the last 3 years with a healthy supply
stable energy levels throughout the day and rarely "crashing" in the afternoons
more mental clarity
more stable emotional regulation and far less mood swings
If you are trying to figure out your own health, or are not really sure where to start, I would love to hop on a free consult call with you to chat about health coaching. Another great option is to sign up for the monthly newsletter where I share about the latest updates on the blog, easy to implement health habits, and all the newest offerings! My goal is to help support people on their journey to more simple, sustainable holistic wellness.