Favorite Pheasant Recipes

I figured I’d start this here instead of continuing on the pheasant reports thread. I’m sure it has been covered many times but maybe some new guys want to chime in or your favorites have changed.

What are your favorite recipes for cooking pheasant? Whole bird recipes? Breast meat recipes? Legs?

I have a half dozen birds in the freezer that I should hurry up and do something with. I’ve already given a few away.

Last winter my grandpas friend gave me a package of smoked pheasant legs and they were an awesome, tasty snack if you don’t mind picking through tendons/ligaments in the lower half. Great finger food. Only thing I didn’t like about them was the cracked molar, courtesy of the hidden steel shot…

Thanks, and share away!

I don’t remember the exacts or where I found it, but a few years ago I did honey-glazed, baked whole bird.

Off the top I can remember rubbing honey all over it, along with salt, pepper, garlic powder, and onion powder. Inside the cavity too. Don’t remember if I had to spray oil on it before or after the honey, or at all for that matter. Baked it low and slow In the oven if I remember correctly. It turned out pretty tender and actually really good!

I’ll see if I can dig it up.

Edit: Nevermind, cannot find the exact one for the life of me despite my professional google skillz. I do believe I mixed the honey with a splash of lemon juice prior to coating. Whatever. Forgive me!

Pheasant Tortilla Soup – it’s excellent. Of course, the sour cream and cheese make a good soup great. It’s also very easy to make.

Back in the day I worked for a guy that was a transplant from Iowa.
He invited me over for dinner and served Pheasant Stoganoff on egg noodles. It was out of this world.

This Pheasant Jagerschnitzel recipe is really good! Probably my favorite way to make pheasant.

I know a lot of guys don’t bother with legs/thighs, but I like to save them all and throw them in a crock pot when I have a bunch. It takes some time to sort through the meat, bones, ligaments, etc, but you end up with some really good pulled pheasant sandwiches.

When I have the time, I use my Grandmother’s old recipe.

I’ll forewarn you, its super unhealthy. Not a lot of ingredients, just a little time consuming.

I roll the breasts and legs in flour, brown them in butter, and then bake it at 350 for a couple hours. 30 minutes into the baking, I add a pint of heavy whipping cream and a can of cream of mushroom soup mixed together. The gravy that it makes after a couple of hours is thick and tasty. The pheasant itself turns out very tender.

I’ll often throw a cut up potato into the pot too. A cast iron pot works best if you have one. Next time I make it I’ll try to remember to take a photo of it.

Honestly I think you could probably make pheasant just about any way you make chicken since its so similar.

This recipe is great for both pheasant and grouse

Pheasant/Grouse Parmesan
-pheasant/grouse breasts
-Favorite red sauce
-Italian bread crumbs
-shredded parmesan cheese
-spaghetti noodles

*breast out grouse/pheasant, trim, rinse in cold water, poke holes in meat with fork, soak in water/lemon juice/Lemmon pepper seasoning mix for a few hours

• Rinse breast in cold water after soaking
• Roll and coat grouse thoroughly in bread crumbs
• Preheat oven to 350
• Place breast on greased cooking sheet
• Bake for 20-25 minutes or until breast’s internal temp is 160
• Heat up red sauce
• Boil 1 box of spaghetti noodles

⁃ Place serving of noodles on plate.
⁃ Cover noodles with red sauce
⁃ Place baked breast on top of noodles/sauce
⁃ Sprinkle grated Parmesan cheese on top and ENJOY!

gim wrote:

When I have the time, I use my Grandmother’s old recipe.

I’ll forewarn you, its super unhealthy. Not a lot of ingredients, just a little time consuming.

I roll the breasts and legs in flour, brown them in butter, and then bake it at 350 for a couple hours. 30 minutes into the baking, I add a pint of heavy whipping cream and a can of cream of mushroom soup mixed together. The gravy that it makes after a couple of hours is thick and tasty. The pheasant itself turns out very tender. I substitute a can of Cream of Celery for the whipping cream, throw chopped carrots, potatoes and onions in the pot. Still not especially healthy but tastes great.

I’ll often throw a cut up potato into the pot too. A cast iron pot works best if you have one. Next time I make it I’ll try to remember to take a photo of it.

Honestly I think you could probably make pheasant just about any way you make chicken since its so similar.

I do a similar recipe, substitute Cream of Celery for the whipping cream. I also toss in chopped carrots and onions. Still not real healthy but tastes great.

I grew up plucking the entire bird. Mom would then wrap the whole bird in bacon and sear the bird until the bacon was done. Then she would put the birds in a dutch oven and cover them with bavarian kraut, the sweet stuff. We’d slow cook them until they pulled apart and that to this day is still my favorite way to cook them. even the legs come out tender and delicious.

Oh boy lots of good ideas here. I’m definitely gonna try some of these when I cook these birds. They all sound really tasty, tbh. Now I’m hungry!

Epg- what, no pheasant chili?

LabDaddy1 wrote:

Epg- what, no pheasant chili?

I make a pheasant white chili that’s pretty good. I’ll try to dig out the recipe one of these days.

Steven Krapfl wrote:

I grew up plucking the entire bird.

I plucked one a few years ago and will probably never do it again. Their skin is so delicate.

These do sound good. Just checked my freezer and I am out of birds. Bummer.

Jalapeno Pheasant

Ingredients
o 6 breast, skinned
o 1/2 cup freshly squeezed lime juice (about 4 limes)
o 1/4 cup honey
o 2 tbs. fresh cilantro leaves
o 3 jalapeno peppers, sliced – leave seeds in
o 2 tbs. soy sauce
o 3 cloves garlic, chopped
o 1/4 tsp. salt
o 1/4 tsp. pepper

Directions
1. Place pheasant in a 13x9x2 inch dish (or plastic freezer bag), and set aside.
2. Combine lime juice and remaining ingredients in a blender. Blend until smooth.
3. Pour mixture over pheasant, turning to coat. Cover and refrigerate 8 hours or overnight
4. Smoke-cook 2 1/2 hours at 225° F using 2 ounces of apple or hickory wood.

Rodwork wrote:

These do sound good. Just checked my freezer and I am out of birds. Bummer.

Jalapeno Pheasant

Ingredients
o 6 breast, skinned
o 1/2 cup freshly squeezed lime juice (about 4 limes)
o 1/4 cup honey
o 2 tbs. fresh cilantro leaves
o 3 jalapeno peppers, sliced – leave seeds in
o 2 tbs. soy sauce
o 3 cloves garlic, chopped
o 1/4 tsp. salt
o 1/4 tsp. pepper

Directions
1. Place pheasant in a 13x9x2 inch dish (or plastic freezer bag), and set aside.
2. Combine lime juice and remaining ingredients in a blender. Blend until smooth.
3. Pour mixture over pheasant, turning to coat. Cover and refrigerate 8 hours or overnight
4. Smoke-cook 2 1/2 hours at 225° F using 2 ounces of apple or hickory wood.

Man that sounds good! No birds in the freezer, but definitely doing a run with chicken.

I’m going to try this one tomorrow from the reports thread:
http://www.nevadafoodies.com/perfect-butter-pheasant-using-sousvide-supreme/

Let us know how it turns out BigWerm. I need to do another this way soon!!

Netguy wrote:

Let us know how it turns out BigWerm. I need to do another this way soon!!

Turned out very good, I tried to serve as an app which was not ideal on a cracker. But it was good, poached in butter so how could it not be, I mixed the leftovers with some pad thai noodles which was a good way to use it up.

I use the recipe listed below. 1st I fillet the breast off keeping the 2 sides connected. It is kind of tricky around the breast bone. I use my fish fillet knife. Place the cheese in the middle and pin the whole thing together with tooth picks. It ends up having 3 sides. I saute all 3 sides. It is a bit of extra work but folks that don’t care for wild game eat it up.

https://www.food.com/recipe/chicken-rondele-75032

Debone and cut into cubes. Heat some oil in a pan. Coat cubes in cornmeal based fish breading IE Andys chef Robert’s. Fry on each side of cube remove from oil put on paper towels. In another pan start cooking potatoes onions and carrots In golden mushroom soup. When vegetables are done add back pheasant cubes until heated thru then serve. I have cooked pheasant ,sharptails and grouse like this for over 30 once people try it they never cook any other way. The frying keeps meat moist.

Mwal

a. Filet the breasts off of the bone.

b. Laying the breast flat and cutting the long way, angle the cut so it is cutting thin strips that are about 1″ to 1.5″ wide.

c. Wrap the strip around slices of jalapeno peppers and pepper jack cheese, (or just chunks of cheddar cheese if no spice is wanted).

d. Holding it together, wrap a half a slice of bacon around the pheasant roll so the bacon is wrapping around the sides of the pheasant roll (to hold the pepper and cheese inside).

e. Tooth pick the bacon through the pheasant to hold it all together. I usually use 2 toothpicks to mark the ones with peppers and only one with the cheese just to identify the difference in case you have people who don’t like the peppers….like me!

f. Put in a tupperware container and pour one to two bottles (depending on how many you have) of Lawrys Caribbean Jerk marinade over the rolls. They do not have to be totally covered.

g. Make sure the container you use has a good tight seal. Place in the fridge. Every so often, turn the container over so as to distribute the marinade to both sides of the rolls.

h. Marinade for as short as 1 hour or over night (best). Take out of container. I have a cooking basket for my grill. I put them in the cooking basket, let the excess marinade drain off and place on the grill. Cook at medium heat. The key is not to cook to fast and dry out the meat. Cook until done. When I know the insides are done, I crank up the heat for a few minutes to crisp up the bacon.

Most of my pheasant breasts get used for pot pies generally following the recipe in the pheasants forever cookbook. My wife and kids love it. Sometimes I deep fry or pan fry some strips. Maybe occasionally smoke some poppers.

I freeze all my pheasant thighs separate. Make white chili or chislic with the thigh meat.

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Steven Krapfl wrote:</div>
I grew up plucking the entire bird.

I plucked one a few years ago and will probably never do it again. Their skin is so delicate.
[/quote]

Grandpa always told me not to grab more then 3 feathers when plucking them, or you’d tear the skin

tornadochaser wrote:

Most of my pheasant breasts get used for pot pies generally following the recipe in the pheasants forever cookbook. My wife and kids love it. Sometimes I deep fry or pan fry some strips. Maybe occasionally smoke some poppers.

I freeze all my pheasant thighs separate. Make white chili or chislic with the thigh meat.

Yup, Forgot about pheasant pot pies. We usually make 3 and freeze two of them. Yum…

More often than not I chunk it up and deep fry just like fish with the same breading.

Pheasant With Scotch Whiskey
Ingredients:

* 1 pheasant, quartered or use just the breasts from a couple of pheasants
* 4-6 tbsp. butter 
* 1/2 cup Scotch whiskey 
* 1/2 cup chicken broth 
* 1 tbsp. flour 
* 1 cup heavy cream 
* Salt and Pepper 
* 1/2 to 1 cup hot water 
* 1 sm. onion, thinly sliced 
* 1/2 cup mushrooms 
* White or wild rice (or a mixture)

Directions:
Pat pheasant dry, season with salt and pepper and roll in flour. Slowly brown in butter, uncovered. Pour Scotch over meat; cover and cook 5 minutes. 
Add chicken broth and 1/2 cup water. Simmer until meat is tender. Remove meat; cover and keep warm. 
Simmer pan drippings, 1 tbsp. butter, thinly sliced onion, and mushrooms until tender. Heat the cream until just under boiling in a separate pan. Turn heat up under drippings and rapidly mix in 1 tbsp. flour. Add 1/4 to 1/2 cup additional hot water if needed. Stir in hot cream. Serve pheasant on hot cooked rice and pour gravy over meat.