This delicious Nigerian Chicken Gizzard Stew is made by frying and slow-cooking gizzards in a rich, spicy homemade sauce. This peppered gizzard is filled with bold flavors of bell peppers, tomatoes, scotch bonnet and thyme!
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This super easy recipe for Chicken Gizzards involves frying gizzards and cooking them in homemade gizzard sauce. It is a mouth-watering West African Gizzard recipe filled with savory and exotic flavors. This recipe includes bell peppers, tomatoes, and onions.
Serve as a side dish with One-Pot Nigerian Fried Rice, Easy Coconut Jollof Rice, Nigerian Meat Pie Recipe, Yam Porridge (Asaro) and Nigerian Puff Puff with Pepper.
Why You Should Try This Recipe
- This Nigerian chicken gizzard stew is filled with flavor and is budget-friendly!
- You can air fry or bake them as well for a healthier alternative.
- Gizzards are a big favorite in Nigeria, and they are traditionally served as a side dish in a sauce on special occasions.
- You can make the sauce before the gizzards are ready or after frying them.
Nigerian Chicken Gizzard Stew Ingredients
See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities.
- Chopped Tomatoes: I have used a can of chopped tomatoes in this recipe, but feel free to use fresh tomatoes instead. Tomatoes add incredible thickness and tanginess to the gizzard sauce.
- Gizzard: This is the star ingredient of this recipe. This recipe uses chicken gizzard, though turkey gizzard would also work great without any changes to the recipe. Make sure to clean the gizzard thoroughly. This step is important and can't be skipped.
- Scotch Bonnets: Add mild heat to the sauce. You may adjust it to your liking.
- Red onions: Work best for this gizzard recipe. You may also use white or spring onions.
- Red, yellow and green bell peppers: Bell peppers add sweet and sour notes to this sauce. I love the addition of crunchy and colorful peppers.
- Chicken seasoning: I use Knorr chicken seasoning in this sauce to add a chicken flavor.
- Salt to taste: Add salt to taste to enhance each ingredient in this sauce.
- Thyme: Adds a delicious herby flavor to this sauce. You may also use parsley or cilantro. Fresh greens work best, though you may also add dried ones if you are busy.
- Water: Add water to adjust the sauce's consistency—it can be as thick or thin as you like it.
- Vegetable oil: Any oil like sunflower, avocado or coconut oil works great for this recipe.
Tips and Substitutions
- Bake: For a healthier alternative, cook gizzards in the oven instead of frying. Bake gizzards at 170C for about 10-15 minutes or until brown.
- Sauce: Add water to the sauce if it gets too thick.
- Water: Don't cook gizzards with a lot of water while boiling. Just cover it with water and cook until soft. Covering the pot with a lid may reduce cooking time.
- Turkey Gizzard: Feel free to make a turkey gizzard. The steps would remain the same.
- Gizdodo: This dish combines gizzards and plantains (aka dodo), hence the name! If you would like to try this delicious alternative, chop the plantains into cubes, fry them, and add them 10 minutes before the dish is ready. For a healthier option, add raw plantains to the dish when you add the gizzards instead of frying.
- To make it spicier: Add more scotch bonnet. You can also add powdered pepper instead.
- Add sweet spicy flavor: To make a sweet and spicy gizzard sauce, add powdered ginger, grated fresh ginger or chopped ginger.
- Serving: These gizzards can also be served on a stick to make gizzard kebabs or bell peppers to make peppered gizzards. For a spicy kick, make suya gizzard, similar to Quick and Easy Suya Recipe.
How to Make Nigerian Chicken Gizzard Stew
- Start by washing and cleaning gizzards thoroughly. Then, add the gizzards to a large pot, pour in water to cover them, season with the chicken stock cube (optional), salt, and thyme, and stir.
2. Cook for 25-30 minutes or until soft.
3. Next, fry the gizzards.
4. Add oil to a pan and fry gizzards on each side for 5-7 minutes or until brown and set aside.
5. Grab a blender and add chopped tomatoes, scotch bonnet, and onions, blending until smooth. Set aside.
6. Add a splash of vegetable oil to cover the base of a pan. Pour in the tomato sauce and season it with salt to taste, chicken seasoning, and a pinch of thyme. Stir and bring to a boil. Then, leave to cook on low/medium heat for 10-15 minutes.
7. Finally, add the fried gizzards to the sauce.
8. Then, add fresh onions and bell peppers and stir. Leave to cook on low heat for 3-5 minutes.
9. The crispy and delicious Gizzard with pepper-tomato sauce is ready! Serve it with Easy Nigerian Jollof Rice You may also enjoy this Nigerian Beans Recipe (Ewa Riro).
Recipe FAQs
Gizzards take about 30 minutes to cook. You can boil them in water with salt and spices, but I prefer to fry them after boiling them for more flavor.
Chicken gizzard may be fried, boiled, or sauteed to make different dish varieties.
A gizzard is a small, muscular part of a bird’s stomach where food is broken down and digested. Because birds do not have teeth, they are cleaned out before they are sold.
You may store the leftovers of Gizzard in the refrigerator in a dry container with a lid for about 3-4 days. If making it ahead, you may keep the fried gizzard and sauce separately and cook them together just before serving.
More Delicious African Recipes
Nigerian Chicken Gizzard Stew
Equipment
- 1 Frying pan
- 1 Pot
Ingredients
- 1 kg of gizzards washed and cleaned
- 1 can of chopped tomatoes
- 1 scotch bonnet
- 1 ½ onion slice ½ thinly
- 1 red bell pepper chopped
- 1 yellow bell pepper chopped
- 1 green bell pepper chopped
- 1 chicken stock cube
- Salt to taste
- 1.5 teaspoon of thyme
- Water
- A splash of vegetable oil
Instructions
- Start off by washing and cleaning gizzards thoroughly. Then, add gizzards to a large pot, pour in water to cover the gizzards, season with 1 chicken stock cube (optional), salt to taste, ½ -1 teaspoon of thyme and stir. Cook for 25-30 minutes or until soft.
- Add oil to a pan and fry gizzards on each side for 5-7 minutes or until brown and set aside for later.
- Then, add chopped tomatoes, scotch bonnet and onions to a blender and blend until smooth. Set aside.
- Add a splash of vegetable oil to cover the base of a pan. Pour in the tomato sauce and season it with salt to taste, 1 cube of chicken seasoning, a pinch of thyme, stir and bring to a boil. Then leave the cook on a low/medium heat for 10-15 minutes.
- Finally, add the fried gizzards to the sauce. Then, add fresh onions, bell peppers and stir. Leave to cook for a on low heat for 3-5 minutes.
Notes
- For a healthier alternative you can cook gizzards in the oven instead of frying them. Bake gizzards at 170C for about 10-15 minutes or until brown.
- Add water to the sauce if it gets too thick.
- Don't soak gizzards with a lot of water while boiling. Just cover them with water and cook until soft. Covering the pot with a lid may reduce cooking time.
Larissa
looks yummie, will try this
Jen Sim
Thanks! It's so delicious
Lois Luckovich
I'm going to try it with both gizzards and hearts
Jen Sim
Hi Lois, hearts are a great addition! Let me know how it goes. 🙂
Eli
I tried the healthier alternative and made the gizzard in the oven. It was so scrumptious. I’ll have to make this recipe again