Pork and Chicken Liver Pate for Banh Mi
Banh mi without good pate and mayonnaise feels almost naked and incomplete. While you can find decent premade pate in specialty stores and at Lee’s sandwiches, nothing beats making your own–and it’s not that hard to do.
This is Hong’s mom’s easy pate recipe which goes great on anything but especially banh mi such as banh mi nem nuong and banh mi thit nuong.
Stay tuned for the next post in this series on banh mi with making homemade mayonnaise and banh mi thit nuong.

Servings: 12 servings
Calories: 226kcal
Equipment
- steamer
Ingredients
- 2 cup bread crumbs
- 1/2 cup water
- 1 lb chicken liver cleaned
- 1 lb ground pork 80/20 fat to lean
- 2 tbs sugar
- 1 tbs salt
- 1/2 tb ground black pepper
- 6 cloves garlic peeled
- 2 drops red food coloring optional
Instructions
- Fill steamer pot with water and turn heat to high and bring to boil.
- Clean chicken liver by removing any brown or green trimmings and fatty vestiges. Combine water and bread crumbs, mix and set aside. Slowly add all the ingredients together in a food processor and puree well until smooth. (After cooking, liver tends to turn a pasty gray. Add a few drops of red food coloring for aesthetics)
- Add the mixture to a loaf pan/ceramic baking pan (use 2 if necessary) and steam until internal temperature hits 160 F, about 40 minutes. Allow to cool before transferring to a canning jar or other air tight sealed container. You may taste and adjust any seasoning at this point.
- Pate lasts about 1 week if sealed in airtight container. If you plan on storing it longer, melt some butter and layer over the top of pate to refrigerate or freeze.
Notes
This results in a mildly smooth pate. If you like a very smooth pate, run the cooked mixture in the clean food processor one more time and adjust any seasoning as needed.
Nutrition
Sodium: 762mg | Calcium: 45mg | Vitamin C: 7mg | Vitamin A: 4187IU | Sugar: 3g | Fiber: 1g | Potassium: 240mg | Cholesterol: 158mg | Calories: 226kcal | Saturated Fat: 4g | Fat: 11g | Protein: 15g | Carbohydrates: 16g | Iron: 5mg
Tried this recipe?Share it with us on Instagram @ravenouscouple !