Old Fashioned Slow Cooked Liver, Bacon and Onions. Meltingly soft, tender pieces of liver cooked in delicious onion gravy with the bonus of bacon thrown in too! This recipe is so flexible, we've added options for you to cook this on the stovetop, slow cooker or oven, pressure cooker, multi cooker, Instantpot too!

Old Fashioned Slow Cooked Liver, Bacon, and Onions! Love it or hate it?! As a child, I hated it. Now I'm all grown up, this happens to be one of my favorite meals. It is strange how our taste changes over time.
My Welsh grandmother used to make this when I was a child and I would always enjoy the mashed potato, dipping it in the gravy which came with the liver, bacon, and onions, but alas, at the end of the meal, my plate was pretty clean, apart from the slices of liver.
Sometimes, I can remember trying it hide the liver under my mashed potato when she wasn't looking. Of course, she always found out.
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This recipe for slow-cooked liver, bacon, and onions is pretty close to what my grandmother used to make, with the exception that I have added garlic and tomato puree, both of those things she didn't like. I guess the wartime generation didn't really care for garlic!
When I think back to when my grandmother was born, it was in the late 1800s, so meals were pretty budget-friendly, (garlic would have been classed as an exotic item I expect!), hearty and full of flavor.
This liver, bacon and onions recipe certainly delivers on flavor, comforting you with every bite.

I have used pigs' liver in this recipe. My grandmother used lambs liver, but I personally find that a little stronger in flavor, and also it does seem to be 'chewier'. Pigs liver is softer to the bite and doesn't have that strong offal taste you get.
The bacon in this recipe is a fabulous addition. Bacon adds another dimension to this dish, and yes, I have left the fat on, just like my grandmother used to. She would often cook using bacon drippings!
Here, I've served this with a lovely creamy cheesy mashed potato, and for the vegetables, I've simply steamed some carrots and broccoli.
We also have a basic mashed potato recipe without cheese for those of you who aren't sure how to make it.
You can, of course, choose whatever vegetables your family enjoys, and why not follow your dinner with our lovely Traditional English Tea Loaf recipe. It'll certainly fill you with nostalgia if you remember the days of your grandmother's baking!
I know not everyone has a slow cooker, so I've given some directions if you wish to cook in the oven or stove top.
My grandmother always started off her liver, bacon, and onions on the stove top then transferred to the oven.
The photos you see in this recipe are from cooking it in the slow cooker.
The liver is incredibly tender and soft. It really does melt in your mouth. The gravy has heaps of flavor, and that alone if you have any left over is worth saving in a bag and freezing. You could warm it up and use it for another meal with sausages and mashed potatoes! It is a delicious gravy!
If you enjoy eating liver, try our Creamy Garlic Chicken Livers, bacon, and mushrooms recipe. It's great served on some hot buttered toast for brunch or supper and takes just minutes to make!
So let's get straight to the recipe and see how we make our Old Fashioned slow cooked Liver, Bacon and Onions. Please enjoy!
Prep Time
20 Minutes
Cook Time
5 Hours
Serves
2 -3 Persons
Ingredients
1 lb or 500 g Lamb's or Pig's Liver, washed and sliced
½ lb or 250 g Bacon, chopped
2 Medium Onions, sliced
3 Cloves garlic
1 Cup or 70 g Mushrooms, cut to bite-size pieces
1 Tablespoon Tomato Puree
½ Cup Flour
1 Pint Beef Stock
Salt and Pepper to taste
Optional: 1 teaspoon fresh or dried herbs of your choice, such as Thyme or Oregano.
Instructions
1. Wash and slice the liver in to bite size pieces.
2. In a large mixing bowl, add the flour and season with salt and pepper.
Then add the liver and toss, making sure each piece is coated with flour.

When done, take 3 tablespoons of flour and place in a cup and add a little cold water to form a paste.
We will use this to thicken the gravy later. Set aside.
3. Chop the bacon

and slice the onions, mince garlic etc.

Over a medium heat, fry off the bacon until cooked.
Use a slotted spoon and put the cooked bacon on a plate, leaving the bacon fat in the pan.

4. Turn the heat up on the pan and add the liver slices.
Carefully turn them until they are browned on all sides then remove on to a plate.

5. Add the sliced onions, garlic and mushrooms to the pan.
You may need to add a drop of olive oil if there is not much fat left from cooking the liver.
Gently cook until the onions are soft. If using herbs, add them now.

6. Add the bacon and liver back to the pan with the onions and mushrooms and combine.

Then add the tomato puree and beef stock.
Add the cup of flour water you prepared earlier and gently stir until everything is combined.

Cook times for slow cooker, Multi cooker, oven and stove top
- For cooking on the stove top, place the lid on the pan and gently cook on the lowest heat setting you have for about 2 hours or until the liver is tender.
- For cooking in the oven, transfer everything to an ovenproof casserole dish and place in the oven at 300 F or 150 C for approximately 2 hrs 30 minutes.
- For cooking in the slow cooker, transfer everything into your slow cooker and cook on low for 5-6 hours.
- For those of you who would like to make this recipe in your Multi cooker or Instantpot, using the browning setting, saute as the instructions above and then add the broth mixture to the pot. Select MEDIUM Pressure and cook for 35 Minutes. Release the steam and serve!

7. When ready, serve hot with some lovely mashed potatoes and steamed vegetables!
We'd love to hear from you and what you thought of our Old Fashioned Liver, Bacon and Onions recipe. Did you make any changes or add some other goodies? Let us know in the comments below. Thanks for reading and happy cooking!

Recipe Card

Old Fashioned Slow Cooked Liver, Bacon and Onions
Old Fashioned Slow Cooked Liver, Bacon and Onions. Meltingly soft, tender pieces of liver cooked in a delicious onion gravy with the bonus of bacon thrown in too! Options to use stove top, slow cooker or oven, pressure cooker, multi cooker, Instantpot too!.
Ingredients
- 1 lb or 500 g Lamb's or Pig's Liver, washed and sliced
- ½ lb or 250 g Bacon, chopped
- 2 Medium Onions, sliced
- 3 Cloves garlic
- 1 Cup or 70 g Mushrooms, cut to bite size pieces
- 1 Tablespoon Tomato Puree
- ½ Cup Flour
- 1 Pint Beef Stock
- Salt and Pepper to taste
- Optional: 1 teaspoon fresh or dried herbs of your choice, such as Thyme or Oregano.
Instructions
- Wash and slice the liver in to bite size pieces.
- In a large mixing bowl, add the flour and season with salt and pepper. Then add the liver and toss, making sure each piece is coated with flour. When done, take 3 tablespoons of flour and place in a cup and add a little cold water to form a paste. We will use this to thicken the gravy later. Set aside.
- Chop the bacon and slice the onions, mince garlic etc. and over a medium heat, fry off bacon until cooked. Use a slotted spoon and put the cooked bacon on a plate, leaving the bacon fat in the pan.
- Turn the heat up on the pan and add the liver slices. Carefully turn them until they are browned on all sides then remove on to a plate.
- Add the sliced onions, garlic and mushrooms to the pan. You may need to add a drop of olive oil if there is not much fat left from cooking the liver. Gently cook until the onions are soft. If using herbs, add them now.
- Add the bacon and liver back to the pan with the onions and mushrooms and combine. Then add the tomato puree and beef stock. Add the cup of flour water you prepared earlier and gently stir until everything is combined.
- For cooking on the stove top, place the lid on the pan and gently cook on the lowest heat setting you have for about 2 hours or until the liver is tender.
- For cooking in the oven, transfer everything to an ovenproof casserole dish and place in the oven at 300 F or 150 C for approximately 2 hrs 30 minutes.
- For cooking in the slow cooker, transfer everything into your slow cooker and cook on low for 5-6 hours.
- For those of you who would like to make this recipe in your Multi cooker or Instantpot, using the browning setting, saute as the instructions above and then add the broth mixture to the pot. Select MEDIUM Pressure and cook for 35 Minutes. Release the steam and serve!
- When ready, serve hot with some lovely mashed potatoes and steamed vegetables!
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Nutrition Information:
Yield: 2 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 1668Total Fat: 105gSaturated Fat: 40gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 57gCholesterol: 528mgSodium: 2956mgCarbohydrates: 44gFiber: 4gSugar: 7gProtein: 131g
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Mo
says:My comment is dated August 6th 2018 – it is actually December 1st 2021 and it is 08.41 am. ??????
Mo
says:Just making this now in the UK , am going to use my Instant Pot but in slow cooker mode – have done this before -. The question I was going to ask is can you freeze, I can see one answer saying yes, as there is only the two of us it will be good if I can freeze for another day. Being 76 I dont eat a lot these days nor does hubby. So if I can freeze it , that is marvellous.
Lovefoodies
says:Hi Mo, yes this can be put in the freezer with no problems.
Lovefoodies
says:Hi Mo, thanks so much for pointing out this date issue. I have our technical team looking at this right now, so hopefully it will be fixed soon!
Mo
says:Thank you so much for putting my mind at ease. I wont waste any of it in future. I am sure the date and time issue will be fixed soon. Stay safe.
Saskia
says:Just wondering. when cooked in the Instant Pot doesn’t this burn on the bottom? I’ve found that attempting to thicken sauces before pressure cooking tends to result in a burn warning, so flour is usually best added at the end (this is also the official advice from the manufacturer!).
Lovefoodies
says:Hi Saskia, I havenāt experienced any burning on the bottom, the multi cooker I have is a heavy non stick pot. I guess all manufacturers are different so if yours advises to add the flour later, please do as we definitely donāt want it to burn!
Carrie
says:I ended up adding some oil to the pan to get the liver to start cooking/browning as it just sat there despite being on a high heat. Did anyone else do that? If not, why did I have to?
Patricia
says:I made this tonight with calf liver as that’s what I had. We had no mushrooms so maybe next time. It is marvelous! My Instant Pot doesn’t have a medium setting so I cooked it on high for 22 minutes. The liver is so tender! Thank you so much for sharing the recipe.
Tara Noland
says:Wow, this really does look amazing, I bet the flavors are so good with the dish being slow-cooked. Thanks for the recipe.
Roger Coe
says:Can this be frozen for another day dont want to make a big batch if not.
Lovefoodies
says:Hi Roger, I havenāt tried to freeze this before, however, I should t see any problem so long as itās in an air tight container and you reheat it thoroughly. Itās delicious so hopefully youāll get to try it soon!
Sean
says:Itās even better after being frozen, made this recipe numerous times in bulk & frozen it. Itās twice as good after being in the freezer
Lovefoodies
says:Hi Sean, thatās good to know about the freezing. Glad you wrote in and told us in case any others wanted to freeze too!
Paul
says:Pigs liver is way stronger than lambs liver. Did you mean to say it the other way round?
Lovefoodies
says:Hi Paul, I find lambs liver tastes a lot stronger but I guess itās down to personal taste so choose whichever you prefer. Itāll taste great anyway!
Emsi
says:Hm… Really a lot of errors : I SHOULD have read more carefully before sending. But the place to write the message shows a rather small writing (different from the result when really on the website !) and above all, all the words highlighted in red (because english is not my computer tongue) which does not help !!! Of course you have to read “GB” cookking and not “GV”, and other errors… :-)
Lovefoodies
says:Hi Emsi, lovely to hear from you.
I’ve only recently bought a multi cooker so I don’t have hundreds of recipes available yet, however, I have a few which you might enjoy, you can find them here https://lovefoodies.com/?s=multi+cooker
Hope that helps!
Emsi
says:Hello ! I love the way you tell us about you eating the liver at your grand mother’s (and I like your grand mother to be Welsh ! I’m Breton, a cousin in language) . I did the same at my parents’s conceernig some foods that I now, grown up, I like (or even love). I love GV and america US foods, not apprciated in France as they should be (French people are “sometimes” a bit too sure of beeing the best cookers in the world… Well, the best in everything, to be honest !!!)
I’m interested in slow cookers recipes different from those, too “tipically canadian” (well, I love Canada and some of there recipies, anyway !!!) that are usually found on the web. Yours are closer (or even similar) to our french way of cooking, same ingredients, same associations, and allow much more variety of cooking with the slow cooker.
Unfortunately, slow cooker is not popular here in France : french prefer the instant cooker. Well instant cooker helps saving times, sure, but alos the slow cookerhelps; bu cooking when you’re out (or sleeping… if you enjoy the cooking smelling when getting off of bed, which I don’t like very much, prefering cafe smelling !). Is there a special place in tour website for slow cooker cooking ?
Please forgive my old fashioned english, learned a long long time ago; and got still more uneasy for you to understandbecause of numerous writing errors, I guess !
Hwyl fawr (good by in welsh !)
Emsi
Sandra
says:Absolutely fantastic thanks for this amazing recipe it was so yummy i did everything u said and it was perfect i did it in the slow cooker will do it again
louise rogers
says:I used a tea spoon of brown sugar and that is all, I followed the rest of the recipe too the t. Very tasty.
Lorna Newman
says:Made this today, was delicious. Was a time I thought it wouldn’t turn out OK and I’d messed up as my pan isn’t very non stick and thought I’d floured the liver too much but it really was amazing. Used my slow cooker and it was ace. Really easy to follow. Thankyou, will definitely make this again, but will make the bacon bits larger next time.
Anne Harris
says:Tried this recipe for family and friends. Voted the best ever !! Many thanks.