Easy to follow, step-by-step, photo illustrated instructions to make our delicious Chicken Gizzards with Gravy recipe.
Chicken Gizzards with Gravy Recipe
Southern style Chicken Gizzards with Gravy, served over Rice.
I guess that Chicken Gizzards are just another one of those items that fall into the “acquired taste” category. Much like our Fried Chicken Livers. You might want to check out that recipe as well.
When I posted the Fried Chicken Livers recipe, I was kind of wondering how it would be received.
I knew it wouldn’t be as bad as the recipe for Chitlins that I posted, but thought it might get some odd reactions at least. Turns out, more folks like Fried Chicken Livers than I thought. Thus, I decided to proceed with the Chicken Gizzards.
If you’ve never had them, they have a slight taste like the chicken livers, or pretty much any type of liver product. Some folks seem to like it, and some folks just don’t care for it.
Gizzards do have a tendency to be tough. They have a connective tissue on them that just never seems to get tender no matter how long you cook it. There are folks that say they like the “chew” part about them. I guess they still have good teeth. Smile. Others think it’s like gnawing on a chicken leg trying to get all the meat off of it.
You can take the time to cut this connective tissue off if you prefer. It does take a good sharp knife and a bit of patience. It also leaves you with just small morsels of meat, much like popcorn shrimp or chicken in size, but it certainly makes it easier to chew and enjoy.
I’m going to leave that bit of tissue on though, and boil these for a good hour to get them as tender as possible. They will still have a little of that chew factor, but not enough that you have to spend the day trying to eat them. Smile.
If you prefer to have just Fried Chicken Gizzards, cook on down to where we get to that point and don’t make the gravy. Since I had already done a recipe for Fried Chicken Livers, I thought I’d go ahead and do the gizzards with some gravy. I hope you’ll enjoy them.
They are really pretty simple to make. And, when you can buy meat for what little you’ll pay for livers or gizzards, you’ll find them very economical as well.
In the old days, folks used every bit and piece of an animal they could, no need to waste it. You should be able to find whole packages of gizzards in the poultry section at your supermarket.
So, if you’re ready for a new adventure, or just want to bring back some old Southern comfort food memories, let’s head on into the kitchen and… Let’s Get Cooking!
Chicken Gizzards with Gravy. You’ll need these ingredients.
Place the gizzards in a colander and rinse them well, one at a time, under cold running water.
Gizzards will have this tough connective tissue on them. Some folks like to trim this away while cleaning them as they just never seem to get very tender, even after cooking.
We’re leaving them on in this recipe because we plan to boil the gizzards which will help.
A good sharp knife and a cutting board will make it easy to remove the tissue if desired.
Be sure to clean the gizzards well, looking for any dark or green spots that might still be on them.
If you look closely in the photo above, there is a small layer of dark, slightly green skin that will peel right off if you pull it. It’s usually attached to the side that has the “wrinkles” in it and should be removed.
It just wasn’t clean thoroughly before it was packaged.
You can see it a bit better here after I pulled it off. I only found two pieces like this in the package that I had and the other one was larger. I had just pulled it off before I thought about pointing it out to you.
This little piece is part of a sack attached to the gizzard. Chickens do not have teeth so they eat a few rocks along with their feed. The rocks are in the sack and help grind the food for the chickens as they eat. The sack is removed but sometimes you’ll find a piece of it still attached to a gizzard. It’s just best to peel it away and discard it as it’s tough like the connective tissue.
After you get them all cleaned, place the gizzards in a large stock pot and cover them with several inches of water. I filled my pot about half full since they will boil for about an hour.
Place the pot on the stove top and let it come to a boil. Reduce the heat down to a low boil and just let them cook for at least an hour, checking the water every 20 minutes or so to make sure it doesn’t totally boil away.
Almost all of the water had boiled out of the pot after an hour. I just turned the heat off, let them set in the remaining hot water for about 30 more minutes to continue cooking a little more while they cooled.
Drain the remaining liquid off the gizzards and place them in a small bowl or container.
Pour enough buttermilk over them to cover them. Just let them sit in the milk mixture for about 15 minutes.
Now it’s time to prepare the flour to dredge them in for frying.
I use a large zip lock type bag, but a paper bag or something similar will work.
Add the flour to the bag.
Place a teaspoon of salt in with the flour.
Then add the teaspoon of black pepper.
Close the bag and give it a few good shakes to mix the ingredients together.
Remove the gizzards from the buttermilk, gently shake off any excess liquid, and then place them in the bag with the flour mixture.
Close the bag up again, and shake and turn the bag until the gizzards are fully coated with the flour mixture.
I’m using just over a pound of gizzards. If you have more, you might want to do this part in batches.
As you remove them from the bag, place the flour coated gizzards on a foil lined sheet pan and let them rest for about 15 more minutes.
This resting period allows the flour to sort of dry onto the meat and helps keep it from all falling off once the meat goes into the frying pan.
Place about 1/2 inch of oil in your skillet and carefully add the gizzards, one at a time, into the oil once it’s hot enough for frying. The oil needs to reach about 350F degrees before you add the meat.
Don’t let the oil get to hot or the gizzards will quickly begin to burn. Test one or two before you add the rest so that you’re at a good frying temperature.
Watch for the bottom edges to start turning slightly brown, then turn the gizzards over in the skillet.
The meat is already done of course from where we boiled it, we’re just browning them a bit in the skillet. Again, you do not want to let them burn. This step will only take a couple of minute on each side.
You’ll probably have to do this in batches since you don’t want to overcrowd the pan.
Once they are browned on both sides, use a pair of tongs or a slotted spoon to remove the gizzards from the hot oil. Place them on a wire rack or on some paper towels to drain.
Paper towels have a tendency to make crispy fried meats lose some of their crispy coating. Normally, I suggest you place fried meats on a wire rack or on something like a brown paper bag to drain them, but we’re fixing to put these back in the pan so I’m just using the paper towels.
Of course, you could just stop here and start eating. It’s kind of hard to not do so. If you prefer them fried and without the gravy, you’re all set and ready to go at this point. Smile.
The pan and the oil will be hot, but carefully drain off all but about 2 Tablespoons of the oil. Leave any of the browned “bits” in the pan. It’s time to make some gravy.
Reduce the heat a bit on the pan also.
Add about one heaping Tablespoon of flour to the remaining oil in the skillet.
Quickly start stirring the flour into the oil and continue to stir it as you let the flour darken.
The darker you let the flour get, the darker your gravy will be. Problem is, the flour will burn if you let it get to dark, so watch it carefully. If it just looks all dried up, you added too much flour. You can fix this though by adding a little of the oil you strained out back into the pan, or add a bit of butter to it to make it smoother. This will help reduce the possibility of having lumps in your gravy.
Now, let’s begin to slow stir in some of the chicken broth.
Start by adding just a little of the broth at first, and quickly stirring it into the browned flour. This is your chance to stir away any lumps that you might see. Just continue to stir the soon to be gravy, a little at a time, until you don’t see any lumps. Then, you can go ahead and add the remaining broth, stirring it continually as you go.
Next, continue to stir the gravy as you add the cup of water.
If you’re using a cast iron skillet like mine, be sure you’re not adding cold water to the pan. I like to have it about room temperature at least, and it’s going to help that we just added the can of chicken broth as well.
Pouring cold water into a hot skillet could cause it to crack, and you don’t want that to happen. Smile.
Continue to stir the gravy as you gradually bring the heat back up. Let the gravy come up to a slight simmer before you add the gizzards back in.
Carefully add the gizzards back into the skillet and the gravy.
It’s not necessary to stir it any longer. Just let the gravy come to a slight simmer. You should see some small bubbles around the edges of the pan, and maybe some in the middle. You just don’t want it at a hot rolling boil.
Let the gizzards simmer, uncovered, for about 30 more minutes. This will help them continue to cook and get more tender, and it lets the broth reduce down to form the gravy.
Keep an eye on it so it doesn’t boil away. When it’s thickened the way you like it, it’s time to eat.
Enjoy!
I like to serve these over a bed of rice.
Mashed Potatoes, or even Egg Noodles would work just as well. Make the recipe your own and dig in to a plate of Chicken Gizzards with Gravy.
