Cornish game hens are a delicious and showy meal for the holidays or any time. We have made them for our Thanksgiving and Christmas Celebrations and even for guests on New Years Dinner. This is a really simple and delicious recipe that we just know that you will love. It is perfect if you want a really special meal and you don’t have a big crowd. This would be perfect for singles, new couples, empty nesters, or people with a small family that a turkey is just too much for them and they would not use all the leftovers. This is a great meal for a special date night too. It looks fancy and like you have put a lot of work into it but it really does not take that much time.
We used cranberry sauce in it and that will infuse into the meat as it cooks. If you don’t like cranberry sauce you can use a marmalade or just the butter and herbs. The butter will go into the meat and the herbs will make the meat taste wonderful.
So, get out your fancy dishes and roast some of these beauties up. It really does make a very special meal.
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Cornish Game Hens
What You Need To Make Cornish Game Hens:
- Lidded Roasting pan
or electric roaster or baking pan - Meat thermometer
- Measuring Cups
- Measuring Spoons
- Meat Forks (to remove from pan)
- Hot pan holders
- An apron
or 
or 
(to remove from pan)
Ingredients:
- 4-5 cups of cooked long-grain or wild rice
- 4 Cornish Game Hens
- Mrs. Dash Tomato Basil and Garlic
- 2-3 Tbsp Soft Butter
- 1 Tsp Himalayan Pink Salt
- 1/4 tsp Pepper
- 1/2 tsp Paprika
- 1/2 tsp Poultry Seasoning
- Cranberry Sauce (see our recipe below if desired)
Directions:
Wash hens inside and out, remove giblets.
Part skin from the meat in back and front, season with garlic, salt, paprika, sage, poultry seasoning, and pepper if desired.
Mix some of your herbs into the butter and slide the butter inside the skin.
Spoon inside of bird cranberry sauce (you can find our recipe here), follow with rice, then sauce then rice again until filled.
Season outside of bird and cook covered for 1 hour 19 minutes in a greased pan at 380 F.
You can spoon more cranberry sauce over the top if you would like.
Serve with a couple of vegetables and some cold cranberry sauce.
Print Recipe Here:
Mrs. Cottage's Cornish Game Hens
Ingredients
- Leftover cooked long-grain rice
- Mrs. Dash Tomato Basil and Garlic
- Butter
- Himalayan Pink Salt
- Pepper
- Paprika
- Sage
- Poultry Seasoning
- Cranberry Sauce
Instructions
Wash hens inside and out, remove giblets.
Part skin from the meat in back and front, season with garlic, salt, paprika, sage, poultry seasoning, and pepper if desired.
Slide butter inside the skin.
Spoon inside of bird cranberry sauce (you can find our recipe here), follow with rice, then sauce then rice again until filled.
Season outside of bird and cook for 1 hour 19 minutes in a greased pan at 380 F.
You can spoon more cranberry sauce over the top if you would like.
Serve with a couple of vegetables and some cold cranberry sauce if you like.
