Honeyed Cornish Game Hens

Cornish game hens are marinated in a a delicious ginger, garlic soy sauce and then cooked in the oven. Don’t be scared of cooking Cornish game hens, they are easy and cook up into small, delicious dinners! This goes great with my Kiwi & Lime Strawberry Salad.

How to Cornish Game Hens

I love Cornish game hens, they are just the right size for quick cooking, a healthy source of protein and relatively inexpensive. I can find them for about $6 apiece at a local super store we have here. Cornish game hens are the perfect thing for a romantic dinner, dinner with guests or even expanding your children’s palates into trying something new. Cornish hens aren’t really that different tasting than chicken is and your kids will probably be thrilled to have their own miniature chickens!

Ingredients Needed for Baking Cornish Game Hens

• 2-4  Cornish game hens (1/2 game hen per person)
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1/2 tsp ginger
• 1/2 cup soy sauce
• 1/2 cup honey
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoons of orange juice

Mix all the ingredients, except the hens, in a blender. Mix until the garlic is completely pureed into it. You can also use a food processor or even a hand immersion blender to mix up the marinade. Worst case, mince the garlic and add it into the marinade if you don’t have any of those appliances.

Place the game hens into a seal-able container.

Pour the mixture over the game hens and marinade in the fridge for a few hours, or even overnight.

When you are ready to cook, place the hens on a lined with aluminum foil.  Place the hens as far apart from each other as possible to enable the skins to get browned and crispy,  Place the Cornish hens in the preheated oven and roast for 20-25 minutes, until they reach an internal temperature of 165 °F.

Cook in a 350 degree oven for 25-35 minutes, these cook very fast when halved. The Cornish hens are done cooking when an instant-read thermometer placed in the thickest part of the thigh registers 165°F. While you do treat these like chicken, you cannot get the thigh area to 185°F like you do with chicken, the breasts will turn into dry sawdust.

Tips and Tricks for Cooking Cornish Game Hen

• Treat Cornish hen like a small chicken that will cook quickly. You can marinade, BBQ or otherwise cook them just like you would a chicken.
• The flavour of Cornish hens is not gamey at all in my opinion, they have a slightly deeper poultry flavour but nothing like wild game does.
• Cook to 165°F.
• Making these with a marinade adds moisture to the chicken, while you can roast them ( and I will most likely have a recipe coming up for that) I love marinated poultry baked up with crispy skin!

Happy cooking! Who here has made up Cornish game hens lately? What is your favourite way to make them?

Love,

Karlynn

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