Minnesota Cooking: How to Make Pickled Chicken Gizzards and Hearts

Char Milbrett is a creative writer and artist from Minnesota. She enjoys sharing recipes, crafts, hobbies, and games from her home state.

Chicken Gizzards and Hearts Need Pre-Boiling

Chicken gizzards need to be washed, placed in a large stockpot, covered with water, and then lightly boiled for three hours. They need to be boiled so that they become tender. This takes up to three hours. The water that you cook them in should have some sort of salty seasoning added to it. A package of Lipton Onion Soup mix would work. We did a venison roast the day before with Lipton Herb and Garlic, which made the roast taste amazing.

I did not have another package, so I used a garlic, herb, and wine marinade package from McCormick. This was added to the boiling water. I also added two frozen garlic gloves to the water and two bouillon cubes I don't recall if I added canning salt, but if I did, it was 2 tablespoons.

Cook Time

Ingredients

• 4 pounds raw chicken gizzards/hearts
• 1 package garlic, herb and wine marinade, McCormick
• 2 boullion cubes chicken flavor
• 2 tablespoons canning salt
• 1 package, prepared Mrs. Wages Spicy Pickle Mix, 2 cups per jar
• 2 cloves garlic cloves, per jar

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Instructions

1. Boil gizzards in water for 3 hours. Use enough water to cover the gizzards (3 quarts). The water should have 2 chicken bouillon cubes, Grill Mates Garlic, Herb and Wine dry marinade and 2 whole garlic cloves.
2. After three hours of boiling, drain the gizzards and place them in a clean quart jar. Place 2 garlic cloves in each jar and fill with Mrs. Wages Spicy Pickle brine. Seal the jar with a Kerr Canning lid. Let it cool.
3. Place it in the refrigerator.

Discard the Original Water

1. Remove the gizzards from the water that you boiled them in. Discard the water.
2. The gizzards go into a jar. Add two garlic gloves. I use peeled, frozen cloves. Fill the jar with brine. Put a lid on the jar and let it cool.
3. Put it in the refrigerator and eat within two days.

There is no way to determine the nutritional value of these gizzards. There is no way to determine how much salt or garlic or any ingredient is in them either.

The Brine Mix

I used Mrs. Wages Spicy Pickle Mix in the jar and my vinegar and water. I follow their directions on the label. Previous to using Mrs. Wages mix, I used to mix my own brine, and this seems to be equally as delicious, however, I did not include that recipe on this page. This is easier and the mix is available on Amazon.

How Long Can They Be Refrigerated?

How long do they last in the refrigerator? Well. Good question. The best answer is, until someone eats the last one. Otherwise, if no one eats them, I'm sure they can stay in there a long time. As someone pointed out, you go to the bar and decide you want to eat one out of the jar that is on the counter. They don't even refrigerate them, ever. Like my hubby pointed out, once they are pickled, it's like a corpse. They are pickles. Well. That's the unappetizing thought about it.

Quite frankly, I don't know how long you can leave them in your refrigerator. I have some pickled mushrooms that have been in my refrigerator for at least a year. Why? Because I made so many of them, and of course, I had forgotten about them. Let me go try one, and if I stop typing in mid-sentence, you'll know why.

I think I made my mushrooms last year and they still taste okay. Now, the gizzards are long gone, but as long as they smell okay, I think you're okay to eat them. If you open the jar and it smells like a mouse died in the jar, don't eat them. The garlic does turn the brine a little murky colored and your gizzards will get a little jellied, but that's all okay. I used garlic that was peeled and since I froze it before I used it, I think it softens up a little in the gizzards.

Have You Tried Pickled Chicken Gizzard and Heart?

Hello, dear reader. Have you now tried this recipe? What did you think of it and was it what you expected? Will you make this recipe twice? The reason why I ask is because over 4,000 people have viewed this recipe and I was just curious of what people think. Don't forget to comment below. Once you've tried this recipe, can you please come back and share what you've decided about the recipe, like whether you liked it or not. Thank you.

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Comments

Char Milbrett (author) from Minnesota on July 20, 2020:

Dj. Thank you for your comment. Before I started making the gizzards, I made 1 package of Mrs. Wages Spicy Brine mix. I used two cups of that per jar. You will have to look on your package of Mrs. Wages for the exact amount. I don't have a package right now to look at.

Dj on July 15, 2020:

How much vinegar did you use

Char Milbrett (author) from Minnesota on January 12, 2020:

Kg, thanks for your comment!

Kg on January 11, 2020:

Fabulous recipe, its a keeper

Larry Rankin from Oklahoma on January 17, 2016:

I enjoy an occasional gizzard. I've always had them fried, and I haven't had a chance to eat heart.

I always enjoy articles about lesser known foods. Wonderfully done.