Raw Beef Liver - How Many Calories?

Raw beef liver: calculate the ingredient before cooking

“Raw” describes when the ingredient is weighed; it is not advice to eat raw liver. This table covers the edible portion of beef liver before cooking. Veal, lamb and chicken liver, and beef lung, are different foods.

Calories and protein per 100 g

The USDA reference supplies 135 kcal and 20.36 g protein per 100 g. Its 85 g portion provides 115 kcal and 17.31 g protein; a weighed 50 g gives 68 kcal. These are raw ingredient weights, not fixed equivalents for restaurant servings or skewers. [1]

Why does cooked liver have different values?

Cooking changes the food's weight and water content. A separate USDA pan-fried beef-liver sample contains 175 kcal and 26.52 g protein per 100 g. That does not mean a 100 g raw piece stays 100 g after cooking. Flour and fat added to a recipe need counting too. Use a cooked entry when weighing the finished liver, and this raw entry when calculating ingredients before cooking. For another species, the lamb reference on the cooked sheep-liver page must be assessed separately; it is not the cooked equivalent of raw beef liver.

The edible-weight calculation for prepared liver skewers is a separate recipe example that includes added oil. A 100 g raw-liver entry cannot stand in for 100 g cooked skewers.

The vegetable liver sauté recipe contains onion, pepper and fat alongside liver; the finished dish weight is not liver weight alone.

Iron, B12 and vitamin A

100 g of raw beef liver contains 4.9 mg iron, 59.3 µg vitamin B12 and 4968 µg RAE vitamin A. Cholesterol is 275 mg. These values do not make liver a substitute for finding and treating the cause of a deficiency. Beef tongue and liver have different vitamin profiles. The nutrient calculation for simmered beef heart describes a different organ meat; neither liver’s vitamin A figure nor its raw weight transfers to heart.

Beef lung is not liver. The cooked-lung record reports 12 µg RAE vitamin A per 100 g; similar offal names are not a reason to transfer liver’s panel to lung.

Can you eat it raw or during pregnancy?

Do not eat raw or undercooked liver. USDA guidance specifies an internal temperature of at least 71.1°C (160°F) for organ meats such as liver, checked with a food thermometer. Fresh appearance or a lemon marinade does not replace that cooking check. [2]

NHS guidance advises avoiding liver and liver products during pregnancy because of their high vitamin A content. Cooking does not remove that pregnancy advice. Outside pregnancy, the figures still do not establish a daily or weekly portion suitable for everyone. [3] Processed liver products such as pork liver cheese are also included in pregnancy avoidance advice.

1. USDA SR28: 13325 raw and 13327 pan-fried beef liver.
2. USDA FSIS: safe internal temperatures for organ meats.
3. NHS: liver and vitamin A in pregnancy.