These Air Fryer Chicken Livers take only 10 minutes to cook! They are easy and so delicious! This recipe is a modern twist on a classic recipe that is a LOT healthier!
Most of us fall into two camps: either we are super fans of chicken livers or we would rather not have them at all! There aren’t too many folks in the middle. Don’t worry, though. If you are a fan, this recipe is for you.
These delicious morsels will convert you into a fan! The flour coating on the outside is just a little bit crispy and crunchy. The center is nice and rich. The best part is you can change the seasonings in the flour to mix it up.
My mom uses seasoning salt on hers. If you haven’t used that, give it a try! It is so delish!
🐔 Why This Recipe Works
Simple Prep | I wanted to create a simple recipe that allows you to make these quick and easy.
Air Fried | This is a delicious air fryer recipe that brings you a deep-fried texture without the excess oil.
10 Minutes | Seriously! Ten minutes is all it takes! This is one of my favorite things about this recipe. There is truly no fussing required.
🐓 Ingredients
If you grew up chicken livers, you are going to want to keep this recipe nearby. It’s so delicious and is full of traditional flavors. Let’s examine some of the ingredients a little closer:
Chicken Livers – The most important ingredient is obviously the chicken livers. You may not realize it, but they are actually very good for you.
Flour & Corn Starch – The combination of the two provides a beautiful and crispy exterior.
It’s essential to use both, so you get the proper crunch. You can use wheat or all-purpose flour.
Seasonings – We season the flour with onion and garlic powder. Just a sprinkle or two gives you the right yummy flavor.
Milk & Egg – Using a combination of milk and egg gives the coasting something to stick to. This is key to giving you a crispy coating. Use a milk alternative such as almond milk, heavy cream, or half and half.
🍽️ Preparation
Chicken livers are organs from chickens that are sold by butchers in small tubs. You’ll find them in the chicken area of the meat department at the grocery store. I usually find them in white containers on the top shelf.
When you get them home, put them in a colander to drain. Rinse them off and pat them dry with a paper towel.
TIP: Make sure you fully clean your sink once you rinse the chicken livers. Treat it just as you would other raw chicken. I use hot water and a little bit of bleach to clean up the sink anytime I work with raw meat.
📝 Instructions
These are pretty simple to make. It is a quick and easy protein for dinner or a great appetizer!
Step One: Mix together ¼ cup flour with two tbsp of cornstarch. Sprinkle in onion powder, garlic powder, and salt and pepper, as desired. Stir it all together.
Step Two: In a separate bowl, combine ½ cup of milk and one egg. Whisk well.
Step Three: Preheat Air Fryer to 390 degrees.
Step Four: After the chicken livers are drained, rinsed and patted dry, dip them in the egg/milk mixture and then dredge it in the flour mixture.
Place them in the air fryer basket or on a tray. Spray both sides with olive oil spray to help them become crispy.
Step Five: Cook in the air fryer for 10-12 minutes, flipping them over half way through.
TIP: Don’t crowd the chicken livers in the basket or on the tray. You need air flow to go around the food to make them fully cooked and crispy.
Each air fryer is different, especially if you are using a basket vs. a tray style. So, check them at the ten minute mark. They should be a nice golden brown.
‼️ Using Flour to Coat the Livers
One word of warning. I tried to cook this recipe without spraying the livers with a dash of olive oil and they turned out like the photo. There was excess flour that didn’t blend with the juices. While it still tasted delicious, it wasn’t as pretty.
A little bit of spray oil worked great to solve that problem. You don’t need much, and you’ll use a TON less than if you were frying these in a skillet. I’ll call that a win!
⚠️ Can I Use Regular Olive Oil
Yes, you can. If you choose to go this route, I suggest that you pull out your Olive Oil Mister like the one here:
If you haven’t used one before, they are incredibly easy. Simply fill it with olive oil from the jar and pump it to mist out a gentle spray that you can use for air frying or to coat a pan to replace a can of Pam.
If you use spray olive oil, you will find it in the grocery store by the olive oils and Pam Cooking Spray. Pam and Bertolli have ones at my local grocery store.
🧅 Expert Tips
- After flipping the livers at the half-way point, spray a bit more olive oil on top of them to keep them moist and crispy.
- If you are using a tray version and using two trays at a time, rotate the trays midway through the cooking process as they may cook at different rates. My top rack cooks a bit faster than the bottom rack.
- Make sure to cut your liver into even pieces so they cook evenly.
- Leave space between each piece of liver so the hot air circulating can touch all areas of the liver. Otherwise, the air fryer will not cook evenly.
- With any air fryer, use the cooking time as a guide. As it can vary on how fast or slow it takes.
- Season your chicken liver with your favorite spices and seasonings.
- For a splash of heat add some hot sauce to your milk to give the liver a subtle spicy flavor.
- Since this is air fried you will find it is best served fresh and hot. As it cools down the breading will become soft.
- These taste delicious dipped in a hot mustard sauce.
- Use either parchment or silicone liners for easy clean up. They come in every shape and size imaginable or you can always poke holes and make your own.
🧄 Recipe FAQs
Chicken livers are a good source of iron and vitamin B. They may be recommended if you are prone to anemia, but check with your doctor first. Air fryer livers don’t use much oil, which is a much better alternative.
You do not have to soak these in milk. You will find a lot of recipes recommend it to help mellow out the liver flavor. If you prefer a less potent flavor, soak them in milk for a few hours.
Liver should be lightly rinsed and then placed on a paper towel and patted dry. This will clean the meat a bit before cooking.
The internal temperature of chicken liver needs to reach 165 degrees. Depending on how big of pieces you have your cook time can vary. I highly suggest a meat thermometer.
Related Recipes
Tried this recipe? Please leave a star ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ rating in the recipe card below and/or a review in the comments section further down the page. You can also stay in touch with me through social media by following me on Instagram, Pinterest, and Facebook!
Air Fryer Chicken Livers
Equipment
Ingredients
- 8 oz Chicken Livers
- ¼ cup Flour
- 2 tbsp Corn Starch
- Onion Powder sprinkle
- Garlic Powder sprinkle
- ½ cup Milk
- 1 Egg
- Spray Olive Oil
Instructions
- Remove chicken livers from container, rinse and dry on paper towel.
- Combine the flour, cornstarch and seasonings in a small bowl. Combine the egg and milk in a separate bowl.
- Dip the livers in the milk mixture and then in the flour mixture. Lay on the air fryer tray or basket. Continue until all are complete. Don't crowd the pan when cooking.
- Using the Spray Olive Oil, spray the livers and the flour mixture will start to get moist but not wet and goopy.
- Cook at 390 for 10 minutes. Turn them over at the half way point and see if they need a bit more spray oil. Continue cooking until the internal temperature reaches 165 degrees. They will be a deep golden brown.
Notes
Nutrition
can cooked liver be frozen?
It can be frozen. I like to use freezer safe bags and then it will keep safely for up to 3 months! Love that we have another chicken liver lover!!!
Just got a oven, toaster, air fryer..did a batch of croutons and was impressed. I love fried chicken livers, kept an old fryer just for them, won’t make them inside as the whole house smells like chicken livers for days.
Saw your recipe on line and wondered how I could make this mine. Years back the local paper would put out supplements in a cookbook format. A recipe I’ve used since was for Southern fried chicken. I have my own collection of herbs and spices to combine with flour, the secret of this crispy chicken is to put it in very hot tap water, shake it in the flour and deep fat fry. No eggs or breading other than the seasoned flour. Always super crispy, even for lunch the next day. Well this same process works for livers, too! The chicken pieces and livers are moist, no dry flour. Can’t wait to try this in my new fryer..fingers crossed and I’ll let you know how it turns out. Thanks, Carol
That is fantastic!! Thank you so much!! My husband loves chicken livers so much!!
Used pam spray and shake and bake. They turn out great!
That’s awesome! I’m telling you I LOVE these but I know it’s not for everyone. I love your creativity and am going to try the shake and bake myself now!!
I have tried chicken livers in my new air fryer3 times now. I follow the directions but still have livers with too much flour on them.
The flour isn’t so much the issue is that you need to make sure the flour is completely COATED with oil. If it isn’t, it will be dry. Dry flour will not cook off at all. It has to be in contact with the oil. We mentioned the ones we like but feel free to use the ones you like in any spritzer you can buy at Walmart or Target. Once the livers are coated completely, they will turn out great. If you look on one of my photos, you can see a little bit of flour that my spritz didn’t get so you can see the photos it happens to all of us from time to time. 🙂
Tried this today. The livers stuck to my air fryer pan, pulling off the coated when I flipped them halfway through. I guess I’ll go back to pan frying.
Oh Beverly, that is so sad! Did you spray them with the olive oil? It’s in STEP 4 and also in the expert tips. If they are not coated in the oil a bit, they will stick. I hope you try it again and they turn out fabulous and people like you and me who love chicken livers need an easy way to make this happen! 🙂 Cheers! Ginny
Your suggestion to serve fresh out of the fryer is certainly valid but few air fryers are large enough to allow a whole serving to be cooked in one batch. By the time you cook the second, and especially the third batch, the first batch is getting cold and loosing its crispness.
So, what’s the solution?
Ken, 100% the biggest problem with air fryers is that we have to do multiple batches of food. That is such a common occurrence on most recipes that we just can’t get around due to the size and the necessity of needing the air to flow properly around the food. I have a tray/oven version and a basket version due to the blog and the oven versions can good over twice as much as my basket one can because of the surface area. The results still make it worth it though! Cheers ~ Ginny
I’ve used Old Bay for years to season my livers.
We have done that too! We just made these again this past weekend and used cajun this time! So much fun!
The recipe is tasty, for sure, but I can’t get mine to brown. I always have white flour showing after full cook time. The only thing I did different was use regular Pam instead of olive oil. Would that make a huge difference?
Awww, this is awesome! I love finding chicken liver lovers! lol!! The key is really that ALL of the flour surface as to be covered. If it isn’t it will remain dry. You can always coat with panko or crushed corn flakes….crushed pork rinds. They will crisp up great but no flour needed. If you do this route, coat everything and put in the refrigerator for 20-30 minutes so the coating doesn’t come off when you start to cook them. The refrigeration helps stop that from happening! Let me know what you try! Cheers! Ginny
The flour has to be covered with the spray, you mean?
Yep! Otherwise there is nothing in there to cook it so it will stay dry.
Can I use whole beef livers instead
Absolutely! Just increase your time! I love beef livers!
Can I use PAM instead of spray olive oil?
You “can” but really should stick to the spray olive oil because the Pam can break down the inside of your AF.
Hi Ginny, you wrote this description for Chicken Liver. “This ten minute meal is so simple and delicious. It is so much easier than pan frying or baking in the oven, and uses a lot less oil. {WW 6 Purple, 7 Green, 6 Blue}.”
What in the world does →{WW 6 Purple, 7 Green, 6 Blue} mean?
Thanks for the great recipe.
Brooklyn! Hello! Thanks for stopping by! They are WEIGHT WATCHER points. lol!!!
These were very yummy. I recommend adding some Worcestershire sauce to the milk mixture, too!
That is awesome! I haven’t ever added Worcestershire sauce to them before and I’ve been eating livers for about 30 years!!I’m going to try it. I love seeing a fellow liver fan!! Enjoy-Ginny
hmm nice…
Thank you! We love them! 🙂 Ginny