Nourishing Beef Liver Tacos
Updated: Aug 22
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Organ meats are some of the most nutrient-dense foods that exist! However, they are not a common staple in many people’s diets today. Liver, specifically, is jammed-packed full of good vitamins and minerals! The nutrients in liver are also bio-available, meaning your body can easily absorb them! Liver especially tends to have a strong flavor that many people don't appreciate. These tacos are an excellent way to sneak in extra nutrients!
Nutrient-Density
Liver contains vitamin A in very high quantities, 6 B vitamins, vitamin D, zinc, iron, phosphorus, selenium, and copper. It’s always best to get your vitamins and minerals from whole foods instead of supplements. Vitamins and minerals from whole foods are almost always more bioavailable, and in quantities more appropriate for your body.
Beef liver is nature’s multivitamin! It contains several important minerals that can be otherwise difficult to get in a standard American diet.
I try and eat liver at least once a week as a part of an ancestral diet. See my post here for what an ancestral diet is!
Liver can be a bit tricky to incorporate in your diet. It has a strong flavor that many people don’t like. It can be soaked in milk for 1-2 hours before cooking, and this can make it less bitter.
Sourcing Organ Meats:
We look for farmers with grass-fed cows who do not use unnecessary antibiotics or hormones. If you're able to visit the farm, please do. Walking onto the farm, and seeing the conditions that the cows live in is the absolute best way to ensure you're eating a healthy animal. I've visited a farm with too many cows crammed into a tiny muddy pasture, wading through a foot of their own feces. The barn was hard to breathe in, and the farmers fed these cows GMO grains and had to supplement various minerals. This is not the kind of meat we want to eat or the kind of farming we want to support! When you visit the farm, look for open, green pasture! Cows are ruminant animals, meaning they should be grazing and eating a variety of plants.
If you have a farmer in your area with healthy farming practices, reach out and ask about purchasing organ meats! What we've found is that most people don't like organ meats, and so many farmers consider them waste products. Our local farmer sold us beef liver for $.12 and an entire cow heart for $.9!
I actually blended these together, placed them in smaller baggies, and then froze them. Now whenever we want to boost to the nutrient profile of a meal, I just grab a bag of the organ meat mix, and add it into the ground beef dish!
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The Recipe
Cooking time: 10 minutes
Prep time: 5 minutes
Yield: 8, 6-inch tacos
Total time: 15 minutes
Ingredients
The meat:
1 pound ground beef (Preferably organic, grass-fed)
1/2 cup of finely diced or blended cow liver
Seasoning:
2 teaspoon chili powder
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
½ teaspoon chili flakes (optional if you like it spicy)
Other:
Tortillas (These, Siete tortillas are my favorite, as they do not use any seed oils)
Lettuce
Cheese
Salsa
Sour Cream
Guacamole
Pickled onions
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1. Mix your seasonings and set aside.
2. Begin cooking the ground beef on low heat.
3. Using a clean cutting board, finely dice your liver, until it has a similar consistency as the ground beef. It's easiest to cut the liver when it's still slightly frozen, if possible.
4. Add your liver to the ground beef.
In my experience, liver tends to cook much quicker than the ground beef, so I add it later on, so it's not overcooked.
6. Drain off any excess fat from the beef.
7. Add the seasonings.
8. Let it cook for about 2 more minutes on low heat, stirring regularly to evenly distribute the seasoning.
9. Prep your toppings.
10. Serve up a great taco!
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These tacos are a WEEKLY meal in our home as they are very healthy and versatile! They can be fixed up however you like! Don't like quac? No problem, add in sour cream! They are nutrient-dense and can be fixed up and eaten anyway! Have you ever tried organ meat? What is your favorite way to eat it? Let me know in the comments!
Want to learn more about ancestral eating?
10 Meals to Sneak Beef Liver Into
Ancestral Eating Meal Prep Tips and Tricks
