Did someone just say beef liver capsules?
You started down this health journey and somewhere along the way you read that you should be getting liver into your diet.
The thought of it completely grosses you out and you have no idea how you will manage to even stomach it.
I was in the same spot as you. To my surprise I actually didn’t mind the taste of beef liver (once I got up the nerve to actually try it). I enjoyed making a stir fry loaded with veggies and some of my homemade rice a roni.
However, I started getting tired of it. I would do really good about getting it into my diet multiple times a week, but then there were weeks where I just couldn’t even bare the thought of it.
Which lead to me not being very consistent with getting liver into my diet.
That’s when I decided to dehydrate my liver, blend it up, and keep some as a powder (for soups, stews, and smoothies… shhhhh don’t tell my family 🤫) and put the rest into capsules I can take daily!
Why beef liver is so good for you.
There are so many benefits to getting liver into your diet. If you really think about it, your own liver is so important.
All the blood that leaves your stomach and your intestines passes through your liver. Your liver then takes that blood, breaks it down, balances it, and creates nutrients to make it easier for the rest of the body to use.
If your liver isn’t working properly, it will be really hard to filter out toxins.
Eating liver gives our body important vitamins and minerals.
Liver contains significant amounts of micronutrients….. some of these nutrients include:
- Vitamin A
- Riboflavin (B2)
- Cobalamin (B12)
- Choline
- Copper
- Folate (B9)
- Iron
A serving size of 3.5oz of beef liver is 100% of the recommended dietary intake for these micronutrients. This is amazing that in one serving you can get all those vitamins and minerals AND that they are 100% of the recommended amount.
In addition, liver is a high quality, high protein, low fat option of meat.
Beef liver is one of the most nutrient dense foods that we have access on. I don’t believe in a “super food” because I believe you need to eat many foods to have a balanced meal, however if I had to choose one I would say beef liver is a super food.
Important things to note when consuming beef liver.
As you probably have already guessed, I highly suggest getting liver into your diet every single week. However, there are a few things you should know ahead of time.
Liver should not be consumed with caffeine. This inhibits absorption.
However, it should be taken with vitamin C. Consuming liver with vitamin C actually enhances absorption.
Taking some of these homemade beef liver capsules with a tall glass of orange juice is just the ticket!
Does other animal liver provide the same benefits?
This post is mainly talking on beef liver. We are cattle ranchers and raise our own meat. So naturally I have lots of beef liver just hanging around!
While I feel beef liver is highly beneficial, it’s not the only animal liver that is great!
If you can get your hands on a good quality chicken liver or even some deer liver, you can use the same process to dehydrate, blend, and put into a liver capsule as I do my beef liver.
Chicken liver has a lot of the same benefits of beef liver, but is also high in selenium and iron. Both are really good for you!
From what I hear deer liver is like a delicacy. So if you can get your hands on some of that it may be a liver you want to just eat and not dehydrate! However, you can also do the same process.
Equipment to make dehydrated beef liver capsules easier.
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Making beef liver capsules is so easy in my Excalibur 9-Tray Dehydrator. Of course you don’t need a dehydrator to do this, you can simply use your oven, but it does make it so much easier!
If using your oven, simply set your temperature to 165 degrees and stick a spoon in the door to leave it cracked slightly while it is dehydrating.
For years, I had to borrow a dehydrator for all my dehydrating needs. However, once I finally got an Excalibur dehydrator I really don’t know how I did without it.
I love to make my homemade mason jar yogurt, dehydrate peppers, and even let my gluten free bread rise in my dehydrator. The possibilities are endless!
If taking the powder and making pill with it, you will need to get some gelatin capsules from Amazon. If you need to stay away from gelatin for any reason, here is a vegan option that is completely plant based.
Ingredients:
- Beef Liver (or liver of choice)
- Capsules (optional)
Directions:
- Wash your liver really well and cut off any tissue or bad spots that your butcher missed. You want your liver to be very pure and clean.
- Cut liver into long skinny strips and place in a single layer on your dehydrator trays.
- Dehydrate liver at 165 degrees for 12-24 hours or until you can break them and they “snap” (see video for explanation).
- Break dehydrated liver into smaller pieces and place in a high powered blender or food processor. Blend until completely smooth and a powder.
Let the powder settle (let it sit for about 1 minute or so) before removing the lid to your blender. Trust me you don’t want to skip this step.
Store powder in an air tight glass jar and use in soups, stews, smoothies, or anything you can think of!
Or you can take the powder and put into gelatin capsules to swallow as a pill.
If taking in a capsule form, start with 2 pills and work up to 4-6 pills per day. I take 4 capsules a day, only when I am not adding powder to any other foods so I don’t consume too much in a day.
Watch how I dehydrate my beef liver capsules here:
When I started to really focus on healing my acne prone skin with foods, liver was one of the first things recommended to get into my diet. Learning about the benefits of liver from my dear friend Kennedy, who is a registered dietician, was life changing for me.
I will never not have liver in my diet again thanks to Kennedy. You can find her on Instagram @the.legendairy.dietician. She is a wealth of knowledge in all things food/health related!
Kennedy and I have a podcast together sharing all things farm life, food, nutrition and more! Our latest Podcast episode, Supplements and You Guessed it…. Beef Liver, talks about the benefits of beef liver along with other important supplements. Go give it a listen!
Do you use a capsulator of some sort? I’ve kinda looked onto them. The auto ones are $$$ 🤪 and the manual one I really looked at is $50 so not unreasonable but is it what they say it is? Just seeing what you do and if you had a suggestion.
I do not use a capsulator. It would probably make my life easier if I did! I just put my powder into a low baking dish (like a pyrex 8×8 baking dish) and then take both sides of the capsule and scoop to fill each side and then connect them. I hold the capsule over the dish while I am doing all this so that if any falls out it just goes right back into the dish. I hope this makes sense!
I’ve tried searching everywhere to get a clear answer on the nutrient value after dehydration of the liver. Do you have any info on that? I’ve read b vitamins being water soluble will be completely lost in the drying process? I don’t want to eat it raw so drying the liver and doing just this has been really easy to take. If nutrient density is lost however, in the drying process, I may need to revisit how I consume my liver. 😩
Hi there! That is a great question, that I actually got on my YouTube channel a few months ago. I work closely with a registered dietician and nutritionist on my facts for healthy foods. I don’t want to just rely on google to point me in the right direction lol So my answer is coming from a dietician background… yes you do lose some nutritional value when you heat the liver, as you do with any food that’s cooked. For example cooked/steamed vegetables will lose some nutrients as opposed to raw vegetables. However, the temperature of dehydration is so low that you don’t lose much value. Liver is such a nutrient dense food that the little bit of nutritional value you do lose in the dehydration process is so minimal. You still get lots of vitamins in this super food even with the dehydration process!
How long would the dehydrated liver last. And I’m assuming a glass container to store?
Yes store in a glass container and It will last 6 months to a year. There is no moisture in it anymore so it can last so long on your shelf!
What tempature do you recommend for dehydrating in an oven?
I would do it at 165 if your oven will go that low. That is the setting on my dehydrator. I would stick a wooden spoon in the door to keep your oven cracked while it is going!
Do you ever dehydrate the heart and put it in capsules? Would the process be the same?
Yes, the process will be the same!
Can you tell me in grams how much dehydrated liver is the recommended daily dose?
I would consult a registered dietician or health care professional to get an exact amount recommended for your body. That would be the safest way to know exactly how much you should be taking.
When using in soups and smoothies, how much do u add? A teaspoon or more?
I honestly never measure. But I would say it is around a teaspoon. I just sprinkle some in!
What size capsules do you use?
I use a size 0 capsule. Here are the ones I get https://amzn.to/3O3aGwF
Thank you so much!! Also, my dehydrator only goes up to 158. Do you think that will be okay?
Yes that should be fine!
How long does it last? I want to do this to incorporate it into other foods, but am wondering about storage
It can last for a year or even longer. I keep either powder or the capsules in a sealed airtight container in my pantry and have not had a problem with it going bad!
if the liver is not dry enough, can you run it again?
Yes you can!
ok, so I ran it again, and this time it definitely had a snap to it! What is the best way to turn it to powder? I ran it through a Ninja and got some powder, but mostly the chunks are still too big to put into a capsule. What do you use?
I use my Vitamix and just keep blending until it all becomes powder. You can try and use a food processor to really get the big chunks powdered.