Foie gras substitutes

Chicken livers cooked gently, blended with a large quantity of butter, brandy, shallot and cream, then sieved and chilled.

Best for

terrines, canapes, toast, cheese boards, starters, sauces, stuffing for beef Wellington

The best substitute available and a genuinely great dish in its own right. The technique is what makes it work: blending in a lot of soft butter and pushing the mixture through a fine sieve is what gives that smooth, cool, melting mouthfeel people associate with foie gras. Chicken liver tastes more mineral and slightly more bitter than foie gras, which is unusually mild and sweet, so a splash of brandy or Madeira, a pinch of sugar and generous salt bring it closer. It is also darker, a deep brown rather than pale pink-beige, so a foie gras terrine slice will not look the same.

A commercially made chicken or duck liver mousse, often labelled mousse de foie or pate de foie, sold in tubs and tins.

Best for

canapes, toast, cheese boards, sandwiches, en croute fillings

The easiest option, and many products labelled pate de foie contain a small proportion of actual foie gras, which is worth checking on the label since it makes a real difference. Compared with whole foie gras the texture is lighter and more aerated, closer to a whipped spread than a dense terrine, and the flavour is saltier and more emphatically livery. It also usually contains added fat and stabilisers, so it holds up better at room temperature than the real thing, which softens fast.

Mushrooms cooked down hard with shallot and thyme, blended with toasted walnuts, butter or olive oil, and a splash of sherry or brandy.

Best for

canapes, toast, cheese boards, vegetarian starters, tart fillings, stuffed vegetables

The right choice for anyone avoiding foie gras on ethical grounds or cooking for vegetarians, and it deserves to be judged as its own dish rather than as an imitation. It matches the role exactly, a rich, savoury, spreadable thing on toast, and mushrooms bring the same deep umami. What it does not do is taste of liver or feel as fatty and melting on the tongue, since walnuts give a slightly granular body no amount of blending fully removes. Cook the mushrooms until genuinely dry and browned or the pate will taste watery, and be generous with salt and the alcohol.

Pate made from ordinary duck liver, or shredded duck confit potted under its own fat.

Best for

toast, terrines, cheese boards, canapes, starters

Duck liver from a normally raised bird is a closer flavour match than chicken, sharing that slightly sweet, rounded richness, though it is stronger and more mineral than foie gras and firmer in texture. Rillettes are a different but very satisfying answer: coarse, stringy and rich rather than smooth, so they read as rustic where foie gras reads as refined. On a cheese board nobody will feel short-changed; in a plated starter meant to look elegant the coarseness shows.

Whole chicken livers, trimmed, patted very dry and seared hard in a hot pan for a minute a side.

Best for

hot starters, salads, on toast with a sweet glaze, with pan sauces

The honest least-bad option for a hot foie gras course, and it should be described accurately rather than oversold. A slice of seared foie gras is unique because the fat inside melts as it cooks, so the interior turns to something close to warm butter. A chicken liver has almost no internal fat, so however well you sear it, it stays firm, dense and slightly grainy in the middle and tastes distinctly more mineral. What it does share is the pairing logic: sear it hard, keep the centre pink, and serve it with something sweet and sharp such as a Sauternes or port reduction, caramelised apple or fig, which is where much of the pleasure of the dish actually lives.

Beef marrow bones split lengthwise and roasted until the marrow is soft and glossy, then scooped onto toast.

Best for

hot starters, on toast, spread under steak, with a sharp herb salad

The closest match for foie gras texture of anything in this list, which is why it is worth knowing about. Roasted marrow is unctuous, wobbling and melts on the tongue in a genuinely similar way, and it is cheap. The flavour is quite different: beefy, mild and faintly sweet rather than livery, with none of foie gras's slight iron edge. Serve it exactly as you would foie gras, with something acidic alongside, a parsley and caper salad or pickled shallots, or the richness becomes overwhelming after three bites.