Green Chicken Liver

Questions and Answers – Green Chicken Liver 

 

Question:

I bought a whole chicken and cut it up for baking.  Inside, we found a liver which was half green. First time this happened in 30 years.  Liver is usually reddish.  Do you know what this is?   Is chicken safe to eat?  Chicken looks fine otherwise.

 

Answers:

This usually happens when the gall bladder, attached to the liver, sometimes breaks when it is removed, and some of the liquid runs on the liver and makes it green.

Any greenish part of the liver should be removed, because it will be very bitter.  The liquid inside (the bile) is extremely bitter.

 

Comments and Reviews

13 Responses to “Green Chicken Liver”

  1. Robert Ysaguirre

    Chicken liver had a bright green attachment ( like a green pepper) is that the gall bladder? Is the rest of the liver ok?

    Reply
    • Brenda

      Here’s what we found on Cookepidia on green chicken liver: https://www.cookipedia.co.uk/recipes_wiki/Liver
      Green chicken liver
      If you find a chicken liver with a funny green dill-pickle looking sac attached it’s the gallbladder. Remove it without rupturing it and discard it. It is filled with bile which is very bitter tasting. The rest of the liver will be ok to eat.

      If the liver is coloured green it is very likely that the gallbladder has burst and the bile has escaped, causing the green discolouration and accompanying bitter taste. Trim and discard any green parts. Wash and rinse well and maybe even clean with milk as described above.

      Reply
  2. exploited college

    You’re so cool! I don’t believe I’ve read anything like that before. So great to discover someone with a few original thoughts on this topic. Seriously.. thanks for starting this up. This web site is something that is needed on the web, someone with a little originality!

    Reply
  3. Karen

    Green liver, will let everyone know.

    Reply
  4. Cosmo

    Yes…TY! I have been cooking chickens for 40 years and that’s the first time I have ever seen that. I don’t eat liver anyway but thought it might have contaminated the chicken too so I just tossed it. Also in that same chicken, the interior carcass was orange. That didn’t help. Any idea what that was?

    Reply
  5. mike

    know what you mean by dark green liver , I thought it was some sort of cancer!!?! Yuk. My chicken was a little orange also but on the exterior, thought it was freezer ( commercial type) burn. Have yet to eat it , , will l et you know if I die or just barf! if no post, i’m ok !!!!

    Reply
  6. Lisa Mulligan

    1st. Time I ever cooked store bought chicken livers and 2 livers had the small dill pickle looking thing!! Yuck! Found out it was the gallbladder frim reading these post. Did Not cook those babies!!

    Reply
  7. Ani

    It’s worth remembering that for most of the birds we buy at the store, the giblet bag tucked inside doesn’t come from that chicken. The innards and body are cleaned and processed separately and then brought back together for packaging, with a collection of giblets put into each chicken, hardly the ones that belonged to them.
    If you’re uncomfortable with the green giblets, don’t toss and waste the whole animal! Chances are, unless you can afford the expensive, small farm chicks (if only we all could!), that gallbladder never belonged to your bird. Do the animal the honor of eating the whole bird, following basic poultry protocol, innards aside.
    Thanks for a comment thread with respectful energy, all!

    Reply
  8. Carolyn Wilson

    I just ate an improperly cleaned chicken fried chicken liver and I am here to tell you it was the most horrific taste I have ever experienced!!!!
    I immediately spit it out🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮
    It took a while to get the taste to subside… brushed teeth….. flossed…. ate skittles!!!!!
    One if my favorite foods…. but unless I clean and prepare I will never allow myself to ever experience that again!!!! Still gagging🤢🤢🤢🤢🤢

    Reply
  9. AndyB

    I only rarely find gall bladders or bile-stained chicken livers. I suppose it depends on how careful the processing plant is when they do the trimming.

    Reply
  10. Mary

    Geez! Thank you for writing this article and all the comments! Yes, I get chicken livers for my dog and boil them, as I cleaned them I found 2 green pickle things, which to me looked like a green invading slug! Wasn’t sure what to do…all I can say is YUCK!!!! I don’t want to eat any chicken livers myself and have reserve whether to give them to my dog…I did discard the green slugs…removed some fatty parts and found a heart in the bunch…I think the chicken industry is a mess!

    Reply
  11. sharon wertz

    I emailed Tyson and they sent me coupons for replacement livers.

    Reply
  12. Angela Wyrick

    I too found the green slug looking thing attached to several of my chicken livers and was like what in the heck is that. So i seem to have stumbled onto this interesting community of folks sharing this much needed into so ty for this. I boil them for my dogs and was very turned off by that green color on my chicken livers which came from Amish Farms brand from my local Foodcity grocery. I was thinking of writing/emailing the company to share this what do y’all think.

    Reply

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