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There you have it, friends. An incredibly moist, perfectly roasted, and individually portioned Slow Roasted Cornish game hen recipe that you can make for a weekend dinner or an impressive special meal when you want to wow your guests. And if you need more inspiration, here are a few other recipes you might also like:
A Creative and impresive chicken dish: It is visually impressive and perfectly portioned worthy enough as the main course of a holiday dinner (or any other special occasion or dinner party) or as a humble Sunday supper when you want to treat your family. Only 15 minutes of hands-on time: While it takes about 2 hours for the cornish hens to bake, the actual preparation time is only about 15 minutes, which makes it ideal when you have a million other things you need to worry about when making dinner. Roasting is the best way to cook cornish hens: You can cook these special breeds of chickens in other ways but I find that roasting is the way to go. Thinking that you might have new to cooking Cornish game hens, I thought it would be great to share some of those questions and cover them in the recipe below. A great alternative to turkey during the holidays: While turkey is traditional, if you are serving a smaller crowd, this slow-roasted cornish hen recipe is ideal and a great alternative to turkey.
A true cornish hen is a 3 to 4-week-old chicken that weighs around 18-32 ounces. As a breed, they are known to have more fat than most chickens, which is why they are so meaty, tender, and flavorful when cooked. Trussing is a technique that helps poultry keep their shape and prevents certain parts of the chicken from burning during the cooking or baking process. Most people use kitchen twine to truss a chicken, but this video shows how to truss a Cornish hen uses nothing but the Cornish hen itself. I am sharing it here as it is such an easy technique that requires no additional equipment and is super easy to apply. With this being said, this is an optional step. If you are short on time, you can simply tie the legs with butcher’s twine and call it a day. When shopping for cornish game hens at the grocery store, look for birds that are about 1 to 1 1/4 pounds. I find that smaller birds are ideal, especially if you want to serve one per person.
Ingredient Substitutions & Variations:
Lemon vs Lime: You can use an equal amount of lemon juice (and lemon wedges or lemon slices) instead of limes. Fresh herbs: While fresh oregano is delicious in this recipe, you can play with other fresh herbs like Italian parsley, thyme sprigs, and fresh rosemary sprigs. Extra liquid: This recipe uses a cup of water as an additional liquid to use during the roasting process. If you have it, you can substitute it with chicken broth.
Make the Cornish Hen Marinade:
How To Roast Cornish Hens
To cook cornish hens in the oven: I served my hens over some Cuban black beans and rice mixed with fresh oregano leaves. However, you can also serve them with but bulgur pilaf, wild rice pilaf, black rice pilaf, seasoned quinoa, roasted potatoes, or any other one of my easy side dishes would be just as good. Just make sure to drizzle some of the juices left from baking over the dish before serving. Believe me, even if you serve these with a simple salad, they will disappear in no time. I promise, just the smell in your kitchen as they roast will be enough to make your dinner guests hungry. If I am serving this recipe for a special occasion, I make sure to open up a bottle of white wine as well. I usually go for a crisp Chardonnay or Pinot Grigio.
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This recipe is adapted (with minor changes) from Eva Kosmas Flores’s cookbook Adventures in Chicken. This recipe was originally published in October 2016, but updated with new photos and more helpful information in October 2020.
