Name: Pork Liver With Gravy
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 25 min
Total time: 30 min
Ingredients: 1 pound pork liver (fresh); 2 ounces smoked bacon; 1 medium onion; 1 Tablespoon all-purpose flour; 1 Tablespoon lard ((or sunflower oil/canola)); 1 1/2 cups vegetable broth; 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper; salt (the amount depends on how salty the used broth is)

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Want to cook pork liver so that it tastes really good? Try this recipe with brown gravy made on a base of onion and bacon. A quick half-hour meal that goes great with steamed rice!

Sautéed pork liver with sauce, served with rice.

Just so you know: The recipe comes from the Czech Republic, where pork is very popular. In the past, the Czechs used to raise pigs and knew very well how to process all their parts, including offal, wasting almost nothing.

➜ What to expect from this pork liver recipe

This is a simple Czech recipe for sautéed pork liver with fried onions and bacon. After a quick fry, the liver is dusted with flour, covered with a light broth, and braised for 15 minutes. As a result, you will get a delicious, rich gravy with a hint of an earthy flavor that complements the liver perfectly.

Czechs most often call this tasty meal "játra na cibulce."

MY TIP: Do you like pork? Try out Czech pork goulash; it's so good!

➜ Ingredients

To make pork liver with onion, bacon, and gravy from scratch, you will need:

Pork liver; fresh
All-purpose flour; to thicken the sauce
Lard; can be substituted with Canola or Sunflower oil
Salt; do not salt the liver before cooking them! (see useful tips later in the recipe)
Black pepper; ground
Onion; adds a sweet, savory flavor and aroma
Smoked bacon; for additional richness and texture. I used smoked, fully cooked bacon with a higher lean meat content, which we call English bacon (Anglicka slanina) in the Czech Republic.
Vegetable broth; I use a light vegetable broth that complements the taste of the sauce and does not overpower the liver flavor

✅ You’ll find the exact amount of ingredients below in the recipe card, which you can also print out.

➜ How to make pork liver with gravy

STEP 1: Rinse the liver under cold water and pat dry with paper towels. Peel away the thin outer membrane, if there is any. Cut the meat into cubes about 1 inch (2.5 cm) in size. Peel the onion and chop finely. Dice the bacon.

Cubed pork liver, diced bacon and finely chopped onion.

STEP 2: Heat the lard or cooking oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Put in the chopped onion and bacon. Fry until golden while stirring.

Fried onions and cubed bacon in a pan with a wooden spoon.

STEP 3: Add the liver cubes and sauté, constantly stirring, until the liver has a brownish crust on the surface. It takes about 3-5 minutes.

STEP 4: Flour the liver pieces through a sieve to prevent flour lumps from forming. Keep stir-frying for about a minute, but no longer.

Sprinkling flour over fried pork liver to thicken the sauce.

STEP 5: Pour in the vegetable broth. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to a third, cover with a lid, and let it simmer for 15 minutes. During cooking, stir the mixture once or twice.

Pouring vegetable broth in a pan of fried pork liver.

TIP: While simmering, a slightly thickened sauce will form, and the liver will soften just right.

STEP 6: Finally, pepper and add salt to taste; stir and serve!

Seasoning pork liver sauteed in cast iron pan with pepper.

➜ Serving

A classic side dish for sautéed pork liver with sauce is steamed rice. When serving, add finely chopped green spring onions—you'll get a light and healthy meal packed with vitamins and minerals!

Mashed potatoes are a less common but still delicious accompaniment to liver and sauce.

➜ Useful tips

Before cooking, do not salt the liver! When salted, the liver hardens and loses softness when sautéed. Only season the sauce at the end of cooking.
Serve the liver immediately after you cook it. As the dish cools, the liver stiffens and loses its tenderness. For this reason, the dish is also not suitable for freezing.

➜ Do I need to soak the liver in milk first?

Even though many recipes say to soak the pork liver in milk first, this step is not strictly necessary. If you have fresh pigs liver, you can get by without soaking it in milk beforehand. The purpose for soaking the liver in milk is that it makes the liver softer and reduces its distinct flavor, which may be too strong for some.

➜ What does liver taste like

The liver is a very flavorful, nutty type of meat that is sometimes described as gamey. The texture can vary depending on how it is cooked, but it has a strong and distinctive taste.

The flavor profiles of liver range from slightly sweet to tart to salty, with earthy and sometimes metallic undertones. It definitely takes some getting used to and can be an acquired taste for many people, but when cooked properly, it makes a delicious meal.

More pork recipes:

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