FirstNom
Meat & fish
Chicken liver for babies
Chicken liver is the gentler of the two livers — milder in flavour, just as rich in iron, and subject to the same vitamin A limit of about once a week.
When can babies have chicken liver?
From around 6 months, in small amounts once a week. The vitamin A limit is the constraint, not the iron.
How do you serve chicken liver to a baby?
The shape is what makes a food safe, and it changes as your baby’s grip and chewing change. Find your baby’s age band.
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6–8 months
Cook thoroughly, purée, and stir a teaspoon or two into mashed potato, sweet potato or a familiar sauce.
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9–11 months
Finely chopped or blended into minced meat, or as a home-made unsalted pâté on toast.
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12–18 months
Small amounts in bolognese, pâté or blended into burgers.
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18–24 months
Small portions, once a week at most.
Prep tip
Blending a small amount of chicken liver into minced beef is the least detectable way to use it — the flavour disappears and the iron does not.
Storage
Cook fresh liver within a day. Puréed cooked liver freezes very well in ice-cube portions.
Is chicken liver a choking hazard for babies?
Cooked chicken liver is soft and purées readily. Cook it through — liver should never be served pink to a baby. Overcooked liver goes dry and grainy.
Whatever you serve, stay within arm’s reach, keep your baby upright in a supportive seat, and never let them eat in a moving car, buggy or carrier. Gagging is loud and normal. Choking is silent.
Is chicken liver a common allergen?
Chicken liver is not one of the nine most common food allergens. Any food can trigger a reaction, though, so offer it on its own the first time and watch for hives, vomiting, swelling or a change in breathing over the next two hours.
Is chicken liver healthy for babies?
Chicken liver is milder than beef liver and marginally easier to hide in other food, while delivering comparable heme iron and even more folate. Like all liver it is extremely high in preformed vitamin A, which accumulates — the NHS advises against liver more than once a week for this reason.
| Iron (heme) | Very high |
|---|---|
| Vitamin A | Extremely high |
| Vitamin B12 | Extremely high |
| Folate | Extremely high |
| Copper | Very high |
| Iron per serving | ~3 mg |
Common questions about chicken liver
How often can a baby have liver?
Small amounts once a week. The NHS advises against liver more often than that because preformed vitamin A accumulates in the body.
Chicken or beef liver?
Chicken liver is milder and higher in folate; beef liver is slightly higher in iron. Both are exceptional iron foods and both are limited by vitamin A.
Reference material
Guidance on this page follows the sources listed below.
Foods parents look at next
Meat & fish
Beef liver
Nothing comes close on iron — but the vitamin A content means small amounts, not often.
Meat & fish
Chicken
Mild, familiar and easy to shred — the protein most babies accept without argument.
Meat & fish
Beef
The single best food for closing the iron gap that opens at 6 months.
Beans & legumes
Lentils
The best plant iron source for babies — cheap, soft, and it cooks in twenty minutes.