What Are Cornish game hens and How Can I Use Them?

Wondering what to do with cornish game hens? This guide covers how to pick them, cook them, store them, and swap them — with 60 recipes to put them to work.

Nutrition

Where found

Cornish game hens are usually found in the poultry section or aisle of the grocery store or supermarket.

Food group

Cornish game hens are a member of the Poultry Products US Department of Agriculture nutritional food group.

How much do cornish game hens weigh?

Related

Poultry Products

Recipes using cornish game hens

There are 60 recipes that contain this ingredient.

Cornish Hens & Plums on Baby Spinach

Grilled Cornish hens with a honey-cumin plum rub tucked under the skin, served on baby spinach with grilled plums and balsamic vinaigrette. A showstopping summer grill dinner.

Roasted Game Hens

Simple roasted Cornish game hens with lemon, onion, butter, and white wine. Elegant individual birds that roast to golden perfection in under an hour for special dinners.

Butterflied Cornish Hens Rubbed with Lemon Garlic Butter

Butterflied Cornish game hens grilled with ancho chile and finished with a bold lemon garlic compound butter. Impressive enough for company, simple enough for any night.

Cornish Hens with Apple Glaze

Roasted Cornish game hens basted with a sticky apple juice and cinnamon glaze with lemon. Just 5 ingredients for a gorgeous, golden bird with sweet-tart lacquered skin.

Cornish Hen

Asian-style Cornish hen wraps split hen breasts around asparagus spears and steams them in a bamboo steamer over rice with bok choy, broccoli, and peppers. Elegant pan-Asian dinner.

Barbecued Cornish Hen

Barbecued Cornish Hens on a vertical roaster over covered charcoal, basted every 10 minutes with a Worcestershire-forward brown sugar BBQ sauce. Rich, deeply flavored grilled poultry in under an hour.

Cape Cod Cranberry Glazed Ham

Cornish game hens roasted with a Cape Cod-style cranberry glaze made from jellied cranberry sauce, soy sauce, and cinnamon. Sticky, glossy, and holiday-ready.

Wildfowl Stock

Slow-simmered wildfowl stock from game bird pieces with wild celery, onions, carrots, and watercress. A patient, traditional method for a deeply flavored base.

Grilled Cornish Game Hens

Grilled Cornish game hens marinated in lemon juice, olive oil, and coarsely crushed black pepper with a rosemary sprig tossed on the coals for smoke. Simple, elegant grilling.

Glazed Cornish Game Hens

Glazed Cornish game hens roasted with a homemade curry powder, corn syrup and mustard glaze. An Indian-leaning dinner for two with lacquered, deeply spiced skin and tender juicy meat inside.

Cornish Hens with Creamy Chipotle Sauce

Roasted Cornish game hens marinated in tomatillo-chipotle salsa with a creamy pan sauce, green beans, and onions. A smoky, elegant one-pan dinner with Mexican flavors.

Four Alarm Game Hens

Grilled Cornish game hens glazed with a fiery red pepper sauce made from roasted peppers, Dijon mustard, and three kinds of hot pepper. Four-alarm heat with a sweet roasted pepper backbone.

Cornish Hens with Toasted Rice Stuffing

Cornish hens roasted over a toasted long-grain rice stuffing studded with pecans, raisins and orange juice. An elegant holiday-worthy dinner with juicy birds and aromatic fruit-and-nut rice.

Maple Mustard Game Hens

Maple mustard game hens spatchcocked, marinated overnight in Dijon, lemon, and maple syrup, then roasted in a hot oven until skin is bronzed and crackling. Date-night dinner with restaurant flair.

Grilled Cornish Hens

Grilled Cornish hens roast halved in the oven, then get glazed with plum barbecue sauce during the final 45 minutes until tender and sticky. Elegant personal-sized dinner from just 2 ingredients.

Thai Hens

Broiled Cornish game hens in a teriyaki-lemon-garlic marinade, showered with fresh cilantro. A simple Thai-inspired main that looks like a restaurant plate.

Cornish Hens (Gallina De Cornuallo Al Ajillo)

Spanish-style butterflied Cornish hens rubbed with crushed coriander and garlic, roasted crisp, then topped with sauteed almonds and julienned bell peppers. Gallina de Cornuallo al Ajillo for a crowd.

Pan-Roasted Squab with Salsify

Pan-roasted squab with bing cherry red wine reduction, butter-braised salsify, and wilted spinach. Restaurant-quality French-American game bird dinner for four.

Brandy-Orange Barbecued Hens

Brandy-orange barbecued Cornish hens: grilled game hens glazed with orange marmalade, brandy, and ginger. An elegant two-bird dinner built for the backyard grill.

Tangerine Hens

Tangerine hens stuffed with fresh tangerine segments, pecans, and mushrooms, basted with honey, soy, and white Zinfandel. An elegant citrus-roasted Cornish game hen dinner for four.

Grilled Game Hens

Grilled Cornish game hens marinated in honey, soy sauce, ginger, garlic, and white wine vinegar. Basted frequently and finished directly over charcoal for crispy skin.

Sauteed Breast of Cornish Game Hen with Herb Sauce

Sauteed Breast of Cornish Game Hen with Herb Sauce recipe

Braised Cornish Hens

Cornish hens stuffed with turnip-apple-potato mash, browned in clarified butter, and braised in Calvados and apple juice. An elegant French-inspired dinner with autumn flavors in every bite.

otaled one

Sumatran Coconut Cornish Game Hens butterflied, broiled, then braised in a fragrant coconut milk sauce with lemongrass, ginger, turmeric, chili, and coriander until tender and lacquered.

Five Spice Game Hens (Siu Yeah Gai)

Cornish game hens rubbed with Chinese five spice and a hoisin-plum-sherry marinade overnight, then roasted to a lacquered mahogany finish glazed with soy and maple syrup.

All 60 recipes