Foie Gras substitute

Best substitute

Chicken Liver Parfait

Use the same amount as the foie gras you are replacing

Best for terrines

Close match

For a spread, terrine or canape, chicken liver parfait or a good chicken liver pate is the substitute, at 1:1. Made properly, with a lot of butter, a splash of brandy and passed through a sieve, a parfait is genuinely silky and rich, and it is the closest thing you can make in a home kitchen. For a mushroom-based vegetarian version, a well-made mushroom and walnut pate hits the same savoury, spreadable, luxurious note without imitating liver at all. Be honest with yourself about the seared version, though: there is no substitute for a slice of seared foie gras, because nothing else has that texture. Seared chicken livers or seared bone marrow are the least-bad options and neither is the same thing.

Other foie gras substitutes

Ranked, with the exact amount to use

2Mousse de Foie de Volaille or Shop-Bought Chicken Liver Mousse
Different texture
Use the same amount
A commercially made chicken or duck liver mousse, often labelled mousse de foie or pate de foie, sold in tubs and tins.
What changes
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.
3Mushroom and Walnut Pate
Different taste
Use the same amount
Mushrooms cooked down hard with shallot and thyme, blended with toasted walnuts, butter or olive oil, and a splash of sherry or brandy.
What changes
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.
4Duck Liver Pate or Duck Rillettes
Different texture
Use the same amount
Pate made from ordinary duck liver, or shredded duck confit potted under its own fat.
What changes
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.
5Seared Chicken Livers (for the Hot Preparation)
Taste and texture differ
Use 2 oz chicken livers for every 1.5 oz slice of foie gras
Whole chicken livers, trimmed, patted very dry and seared hard in a hot pan for a minute a side.
What changes
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.
6Roasted Bone Marrow
Different taste
Use 1 split marrow bone for every 1.5 oz slice
Beef marrow bones split lengthwise and roasted until the marrow is soft and glossy, then scooped onto toast.
What changes
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.

What is Foie Gras?

Foie Gras is The enlarged liver of a specially fattened duck or goose, sold whole, as a terrine or as a mousse, prized for a texture that melts like butter and a mild, sweet, intensely rich flavour.

Cooking tips

Butter and sieving are what create the texture, not the liver. If you are making a parfait as a substitute, use at least as much soft butter as liver by weight, blend while the mixture is warm, then push it through a fine sieve with the back of a ladle. Skipping the sieve is the difference between something silky and something that tastes homemade.
Foie gras and every liver-based substitute needs a sweet counterpoint. That is why the classic pairings are Sauternes, port, brandy, fig, apple and brioche. Add a splash of brandy or Madeira and a pinch of sugar to a chicken liver preparation and it moves noticeably closer to the real thing.
Season liver preparations more aggressively than feels right while they are warm. Fat mutes salt, and cold food tastes less seasoned than warm food, so a parfait that tastes correctly seasoned in the pan will taste bland out of the fridge. Taste, add salt, chill a spoonful for five minutes, then taste again.
Do not overcook livers, whichever you use. Chicken and duck livers turn chalky and bitter within about a minute of going past pink in the middle, and no amount of butter rescues them. Pull them off while the centre is still rosy, both for a parfait and for a seared dish.
Serve any of these cool but not fridge-cold, about fifteen minutes out on the counter. Cold fat is waxy on the tongue and mutes flavour, which is the most common reason a homemade pate seems less good than a restaurant one.

Frequently asked questions

Can I just leave foie gras out?

In many recipes yes. If it is a slice seared and set on top of a steak, or a garnish on a plated dish, the dish underneath stands alone and you can serve it with a good pan sauce and nothing else. If it is folded into a terrine, a stuffing or a beef Wellington duxelles, replace it rather than omit it, because it was providing fat and richness that the recipe is balanced around. Chicken liver parfait or a mushroom pate both slot straight in.

What is the difference between foie gras and pate?

Foie gras is a specific ingredient, the fattened liver itself, whether sold whole, as a lobe, or as a terrine. Pate is a preparation, a seasoned mixture of ground meat or liver, which may or may not contain any foie gras. Most tins labelled pate de foie or mousse de foie are chicken or pork liver with a modest amount of fat, and a few contain a small percentage of foie gras. Reading the label tells you which you have and how close it will be.

What is the best vegetarian alternative to foie gras?

A well-made mushroom and walnut pate, cooked until the mushrooms are truly dry and browned, then blended with butter or good olive oil and a splash of sherry. It is rich, deeply savoury, spreadable and looks the part on toast with a fruit chutney. Cashews blended with sauteed onion and miso is another route and gives a paler, smoother, more mousse-like result. Neither tastes of liver, and it is better to serve them as their own thing than to describe them as foie gras.

Can I use liverwurst or braunschweiger instead of foie gras?

For a spread on toast, at a push, and it is cheap and widely available. Be aware it is a substantial change: liverwurst is pork-based, coarser, saltier and much more strongly seasoned with pepper and often mustard or marjoram, so it tastes like deli meat rather than a delicate terrine. Improve it by beating in softened butter, about one part butter to three parts liverwurst, plus a splash of brandy, which smooths the texture and softens the salt considerably.

Is there any substitute for seared foie gras?

Not really, and it is fair to say so. The whole point of a seared slice is that the liver's own fat melts internally and the piece turns almost liquid while keeping a crisp browned crust, and no other ingredient does that. Roasted bone marrow comes closest on texture but tastes of beef, not liver. Seared chicken livers taste closer but stay firm and grainy. If your recipe depends on that slice, consider serving a different starter rather than a disappointing version of that one.

Related substitutes

More meat & protein substitutes

Foie Gras substitute

Other foie gras substitutes

2Mousse de Foie de Volaille or Shop-Bought Chicken Liver Mousse

3Mushroom and Walnut Pate

4Duck Liver Pate or Duck Rillettes

5Seared Chicken Livers (for the Hot Preparation)

6Roasted Bone Marrow