Grilled Beef Heart | thehealthyfoodie.com

Valentine’s Day being just around the corner, most bloggers out there are lovingly showering us with all kinds of mouth-watering sweet treats and desserts, among which numerous chocolate offerings can be found. Unsurprisingly, a vast majority of said treats are either shaped like a heart or related to a heart, in some kind of way.

Please forgive my lack of enthusiasm in joining the parade, but since I’m currently doing a double round of Whole30®, I am in no position to offer you any such nomness… Besides, I’m not even certain that I’d have elected to do so anyways. I’m just so sincerely thrilled with today’s lovely offering!

You see, I too, am giving you heart. Only I’m not giving you heart shaped anything. I, am giving you the real thing! Oh yeah, baby! We’re making beef heart, today: Grilled Beef Heart!

Now please, don’t be all ewwwwww and yuck and run away from this place as fast as you can … I used to think exactly like that before I actually got to have my first taste of it. Let me tell you: beef heart was one of the rare new additions to my diet that turned out to be love at first bite.

HA! All the more reason for me to share a beef heart recipe with you today. Better than that, I’ve even got another one lined up for you! What can I say, I had an entire beef heart to eat by my lonesome. I figured I’d put it to good use.

Stuffed Beef Heart | thehealthyfoodie.com

I hope you won’t mind, I once again borrowed a few pictures from a previous post to show you what a beef heart looks like and how to prep it.

So this is it. This is what a beef heart looks like. It’s not so bad, is it?

Theoretically, it should already have been cut open, inspected and cleaned by your butcher before you purchased it so really, what you’ll be faced with is a relatively lean and clean piece of meat.

Still, you’ll want to give it a quick rinse under cold running water and then pat it really dry.

Beef Heart

Even though it has been cleaned, there will probably be a few visible strings, arteries and/or blood vessels that have been left behind. Simply cut these out with a sharp blade. They come off very easily and aren’t even the tiniest bit slimy.

Nothing to be afraid of…

Stuffed Beef Heart | thehealthyfoodie.com

Next, trim off the excess fat and remove that silver lining if you want to. Honestly, though, it’s not all that necessary. I didn’t really bother to remove it myself and couldn’t even tell that it was there after the meat was cooked.

Once your meat is all good and prepped, you’ll want to throw it in the refrigerator in a bath of balsamic vinegar and leave it to macerate overnight.

Grilled Beef Heart | thehealthyfoodie.com

When you are ready to cook the meat, take it out of the marinade (or yeah… baslamic vinegar) and pat it really dry once again.

You might want to cut the heart in half so it actually fits into your skillet (or if you wanted to save some of it for another recipe, like the glorious Beef Heart “Stroganoff” I’ll be sharing pretty soon, for instance…)

Now, I gotta give it to you, the color of the meat as it stands right now isn’t all that inviting. Don’t let that put you off, though. It’s the balsamic vinegar that does that… once cooked, your meat will have the most gorgeous and appetizing pinkish red color.

Take my word for it.

Grilled Beef Heart | thehealthyfoodie.com

Melt a fair amount of healthy, heat stable cooking fat, such as ghee, lard or coconut oil, in a large heavy skillet set over high heat.

Once the pan is nice and hot, add the meat and grill it without moving it for 5 to 6 minutes per side, or until a nice golden crust forms.

Grilled Beef Heart | thehealthyfoodie.com

Kill the heat and remove the meat to a plate; tent loosely with aluminum foil and let it rest for 15 minutes then slice fairly thinly against the grain and serve.

Looks amazing, doesn’t it?

Contrary to what you may think, beef heart doesn’t taste livery at all and it’s texture isn’t the tiny least grainy or rubbery. In fact, it’s very similar to steak, in both taste and texture. I’d even say that if you were ever invited to eat at my table, I could easily serve it to you without you ever knowing it. But I would never dare do that to you…

I do beg you to dare and give beef heart a try, though. I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised.

And who knows… you too may experience love at first bite!

Grilled Beef Heart | thehealthyfoodie.com

Grilled Beef Heart | thehealthyfoodie.com
Print Recipe Rate this Recipe
4.43 from 70 votes

Grilled Beef Heart

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Marinating time: 12 hours
Total Time: 12 hours 25 minutes
Grilled Beef Heart has a taste and texture that are surprisingly similar to that of a good grilled steak or roastbeef. Dare try it, bet you'll LOVE it!
Servings: 6

Ingredients

Instructions

  • Rinse the heart well under cold running water and pat it really dry.
  • Cut the heart open (if your butcher hasn’t done that already) and remove any visible strings, arteries and blood vessels that may have been left behind; trim off excess fat and set aside.
  • Place the heart to marinate overnight in balsamic vinegar.
  • When you are ready to grill the heart, pat it really dry once again, and sprinkle generously with salt and pepper on both sides.
  • Cut the heart in half if necessary, so it fits in your skillet (or if you want to save some of it for another recipe)
  • Melt a fair amount of cooking fat in a large heavy skillet set over high heat. Grill the beef heart without moving the meat for 5-6 minutes per side, or until a nice golden crust forms.
  • Remove the meat to a plate, tent loosely with aluminum foil and let it rest for 15 minutes.
  • Slice fairly thinly against the grain and serve.

Notes

This is equally delicious cold, it tastes just like roastbeef.

Nutrition

Calories: 357kcal, Carbohydrates: 4g, Protein: 54g, Fat: 12g, Saturated Fat: 4g, Cholesterol: 375mg, Sodium: 301mg, Potassium: 891mg, Sugar: 3g, Vitamin C: 6mg, Calcium: 27mg, Iron: 13mg
Course: Main Course
Cuisine: American
Author: Sonia! The Healthy Foodie

If you’ve tried this recipe, please take a minute to rate the recipe and let me know how things went for you in the comments below. It’s always such a pleasure to hear from you!

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doing-the-w30-fb-coverCurrently on day 9 of a planned 60 day challenge