How To Cook Beef Heart: 4 Easy Ways
Today's Article, we show you How To Cook Beef Heart: 4 Easy Ways.
Beef heart has some classic yet super simple recipes to help you and your family enjoy the great taste, texture, and incredible nutritional benefits of this powerful organ meat. From simple pan frying like a steak to stuffed beef heart, we have a recipe to suit your tastes and budget.
How To Prep Beef Heart
Before we cover how to cook beef heart, we will review the beef heart preparation process. How you choose to prep beef heart is entirely dependent on how you wish to serve the dish. For example, many chefs and home cooks like to trim the beef heart’s outer membrane, otherwise known as the pericardium.
While it may look a little odd, this part of the beef heart is actually edible. We find that it tastes delicious, particularly when the beef heart is pan-fried or grilled.
Those who want to avoid consuming the outer membrane should trim their beef hearts, removing the pericardium, valves, or tendons. Even though each of these parts is edible, we know they might not be everyone’s cup of tea.
While washing beef hearts is unnecessary, some customers still prefer to clean organ meats. You may do this by steeping the beef heart in a bowl filled with cold water and a half cup of apple cider vinegar.
Many prefer to substitute water for one cup of milk since the beverage’s rich calcium content helps tenderize the offal.
Even though we do not clean or trim beef hearts ourselves, we strongly urge our readers to do whatever makes them most comfortable when cooking organ meats, which might initially seem intimidating.
Lastly, be sure to check for any unpleasant odors! Fresh organ meats, such as beef heart and beef liver, should have no odor when purchased from a reputable source like TruBeef Organic.
How To Cook Beef Heart
Cooking beef hearts may seem complicated at first, but trust us! It is way easier than it looks. Below are four simple recipes that will have your guests asking you how to cook beef hearts in no time.
How To Cook Beef Heart Recipe #1: Pan Fried Beef Heart
We adore cooking pan-fried beef hearts because they come out crisp and flavorful. To make this dish, you will need a cast iron skillet, beef hearts, salt, pepper, and butter or ghee. Once you gather the necessary ingredients and supplies, you will:
- Clean and trim your beef hearts as desired. We recommend slicing the offal into strips, making it easier to cook and eat later.
- Season your beef hearts with black pepper, salt, and garlic powder.
- Heat a cast-iron skillet on high. Then, add butter, ghee, or oil to the pan once it is hot enough.
- Toss your beef heart strips into the skillet, searing each side for about 1 to 2 minutes. Remove the strips from the pan once they have browned.
- Let the beef heart rest for approximately ten minutes before serving, and enjoy!
How To Cook Beef Heart Recipe #2: Grilled Beef Heart
While they may not be as common a choice for summer barbecues as hotdogs and burgers, grilled beef hearts are finger-lickin' good! To make grilled beef hearts, here is a step-by-step guide:
- Preheat your grill on high heat.
- As the grill is heating, slice your beef heart into even strips (similar to the pan-fried beef heart recipe). Season the offal with salt, pepper, garlic powder, and onion powder.
- Put the beef heart strips on the grill, letting them cook for 5 to 6 minutes on each side. Keep the grill covered and avoid moving the offal around before flipping.
- Remove the beef heart strips from the grill. Allow them to cool for at least 2 minutes before serving.
How To Cook Beef Heart Recipe #3: Stuffed Beef Heart
Stuffed oxhearts take the offal to even tastier heights. The dish originated in the United Kingdom, though it is less commonly served nowadays due to beef heart’s undeserved negative reputation. Still, it is among the most flavorful and healthy beef heart recipes out there that are worth tasting at least once.
Ingredients you will need to make a stuffed oxheart include bacon, a beef heart, mushrooms, butter, and some optional leafy greens
Plus, you can always swap out your stuffing ingredients, catering to what you may already have on hand at home. Just be sure to follow the same process below:
- Trim and clean your beef heart as desired. Then, cut the offal in half, making it easier to stuff. Discard any excess fat and valves for optimal results.
- Blanche your kale in salted boiled water followed by an ice bath.
- Cook your bacon on a stovetop frying pan until it is crispy, setting it to the side. Then, add your mushrooms or other stuffing ingredients to the same pan. You can add some butter to the pan if there is not enough remaining bacon fat.
- Next, dice the kale, mushrooms, and fried bacon into small pieces. Season with a sprinkle of salt and black pepper.
- Pre-heat your oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit (160 degrees Celsius).
- Scoop the filling into one half of the beef heart. Using butchers' twine, put the other half of the oxheart on top, tying the two halves together.
- Put the beef heart on a hot cast-iron skillet with butter or cooking oil until it is lightly brown, approximately 3-minutes for each side.
- Once the oven is heated, and the oxheart is browned, place it in the oven on a baking tray. Let the beef heart roast for 40 minutes, or until a meat thermometer reads 160 degrees Fahrenheit (71 degrees Celsius) for medium rare doneness.
- Remove the roasted stuffed beef heart from the oven. Let the offal cool for at least 5 minutes before serving. Pair it with your favorite vegetables and even some juicy homemade gravy.
How To Cook Beef Heart Recipe #4: Beef Heart Stew
Beef hearts make a fantastic addition to soups and stews, providing essential nutrients and flavor. We suggest cooking beef hearts low and slow in an instant pot or slow cooker when making this dish.
The ingredients you will need to make beef heart stew are beef heart, cubed stew beef (aka steak bites), diced onions, minced garlic, beef stock, salt, black pepper, and fresh bay leaves. If desired, you may also incorporate vegetables like carrots, mushrooms, or celery.
- Clean and trim your beef heart as desired. Chop the beef heart into 1-inch cube-shaped pieces.
- Place the beef, onions, and garlic into the slow cooker. Then, pour in a half cup of beef stock (vegetable stock or bone broths are possible alternatives). Toss in any fresh aromatic herbs, like bay leaves or thyme.
- Put the lid back over the slow cooker, allowing the stew to cook on high for a minimum of 4 to 5 hours.
- Remove the stew and serve over rice or roasted potatoes.
Nutrients Found In Beef Heart
Nose-to-tail organ meats like beef hearts are nutrient-dense yet low in fat. It also has a significant concentration of B Vitamins, including Vitamin B12, which naturally boosts energy levels and prevents the risk of heart disease.
Here is a complete list of the vitamins and minerals found in beef heart:
- Protein: 27% DV
- Iron: 68% DV
- Phosphorus: 22% DV
- Copper: 24% DV
- Folate: 2% DV
- Magnesium: 6% DV
- Choline: 36% DV
- Potassium: 6% DV
- Vitamin B12: 383% DV
- Selenium: 48% DV
- Riboflavin: 61% DV
- Vitamin B6: 17% DV
- Zinc: 17% DV
Once you know how to cook beef heart, you can easily incorporate the offal into your everyday diet to take advantage of these health benefits. This is especially beneficial for our anemic readers who may have a Vitamin B12 deficiency.
Best Side Dishes To Serve With Beef Heart
Since you now know how to cook beef heart, let’s go over some popular food pairings. Beef hearts boast a robust flavor, meaning you will want to pair them with simpler side dishes.
Grains like couscous or rice pair well with beef heart, especially if the offal is cooked in some type of marinade. The grains soak up all the juices, giving you an extremely flavorful bite every time.
Other side dishes you may want to serve with beef heart include:
- Grilled Asparagus
- Caramelized Carrots
- Roasted Potatoes
- Leafy Green Salads
- Sauteed mushrooms
Eating Beef Heart Raw
People have consumed raw organ meats for ages, whether for medicinal, spiritual, or other purposes. Several of our customers have admitted to eating beef hearts all-natural and had no issues!
That said, there is no way to guarantee your safety when consuming raw meat, including nose-to-tail organ meats like beef heart or liver.
So, we do not actively encourage eating raw beef heart and advise customers to cook beef heart. Luckily, this post provides you with tons of helpful information about how to cook beef hearts yourself with absolute negligible loss of nutrients.
Taste and Texture Of Beef Heart
Despite the offal’s odd appearance, beef hearts are yummy, offering a beefy yet slightly gamey flavor. Its taste is comparable to a lean steak, such as a New York Strip, although New York Strip Steaks do not have a gamey flavor, it's the leanness that is being compared. The beef heart's taste, on the other hand, is mainly when the beef heart is well-seasoned and grilled on the barbeque.
Beef hearts are large, boasting a distinctive, lean yet somewhat chewy texture since they are muscular organs. However, the mouthfeel is less chewy than beef kidneys and usually more pleasant after cooking. The offal’s outer membrane, the pericardium, also becomes crispy when rendered down.
A beef heart should not be tough when cooked, since the meat will tenderize, which is why we wanted to share how to cook beef heart properly with all of you.
Where To Buy Beef Heart
Knowing how to cook beef heart won’t make a difference if you don’t know where to find it! Unlike popular cuts of beef like the Ribeye, organ meats like Beef Liver and Beef Kidney, Beef hearts are harder to find at your local supermarket.
That said, specialty meat markets may have beef hearts in stock. You can also purchase organic grass-fed beef heart and other organ meats from nose-to-tail butchers like TruBeef Organic. We deliver top-quality beef and lamb products right to your doorstep!
What If You Don't Like Organ Meats?
If Beef Heart or organ meats are not very appealing to you, but you do recognize the nutritional value of organ meats, we would highly suggest our Ancestral Blend which is a blend of our Organic Grass-Fed Ground Beef, Beef Liver, and Beef Kidney, at a ratio that keeps this very mild and palatable, even the pickiest and sensitive eaters won't even notice.
Just use it in place of any normal ground beef recipe but get the amazing nutrient density of organ meats for example Ancestral Blend Beef Burgers.