How to Cook Chicken Gizzards

If you are lucky enough to find chicken gizzards at your local meat market, buy a pound and take them home! Chicken gizzards make a great low calorie, low fat snack. And if you cook them using the slow simmer method, you will find that they come out so tender that they practically melt in your mouth.

Start by rinsing the chicken gizzards. Then put them in a pot that is large enough so they do not fill the pot more than half full. Cover the gizzards with about 2 inches of water. Put the lid on the pot and put on the burner at high heat. Then wait for the water to boil.

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While waiting for the boil, you can cut an onion into quarters and add that to the pot. You can also add a couple cloves of garlic if you like. The onion and the garlic will give the gizzards a nice flavor and will also turn the water into a nice stock for soup. You can also add a bit of salt and pepper to the pot.

If you want, you can experiment by adding more seasonings to make a good soup stock. Some options are lemon pepper, cayenne pepper, basil, poultry seasoning, onion powder, garlic powder, paprika, allspice, or whatever you feel like using for seasonings. Just add your seasonings to the pot then continue to watch it as it comes to a boil.

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When the stock comes to a boil, lift the lid a bit to let the steam escape and turn the burner down to medium-low. Let the stock come to a simmer. Check the simmer in about 5 minutes. If the pot is boiling too much, turn the heat down a bit. If it's not simmering, turn the heat up. Once you get to pot to a simmer, cover the pot and let the turkey necks cook for about 90 minutes.

Check the pot every now and then to see if you need to add water. If you need to add water, add boiling water or very hot water. If you add cold water, you will lose your simmer. If you lose the simmer, just turn the heat up a bit and watch the pot. When it starts to boil again, just turn it back down to simmer.

After one hour of simmering, check a gizzard for doneness. Cut one in half and chew it. If it's very tender, the gizzards are done. If you like them a bit chewy, that's fine too. If they are not as tender as you like, simmer them longer and check every 15 minutes or so for doneness.

You can serve the gizzards as a side dish or you can chop them up and add the meat to rice, stuffing or soup. If serving as a side dish, try serving them with a dipping cup of honey or mustard. The kids will gobble them up!