Roasted Cornish Game Hens
These White Wine and Thyme Roasted Cornish Game Hens are perfect if you’re planning a small holiday get together. They are so tender and juicy with so much flavor in every bite!
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Cook Time: 60 mins
- Total Time: 1 hour 10 mins
- Yield: 2 1x
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Roast
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
Units
Scale
- 2 Cornish Game Hens, try to find ones that are around 1.5 lbs each.
- 1 cup Chopped Sweet Onion
- 1 cup Chopped Celery
- 4 Garlic Cloves
- 10–20 Fresh Thyme Sprigs
- 1/2 cup White Cooking Wine
- 1/2 cup Chicken Broth
- Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- Sea Salt and Pepper
- Cornstarch, this is optional and used to make the gravy
- Cooking Twine
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
- Rinse inside and out of Cornish Game Hens with water and place on a wire rack in a roasting pan. If you don’t have a wire rack, you can set them on top of the Onions, Celery and Thyme.
- Stuff each hen with Garlic, Onion, Celery and Thyme.
- If any Onion, Celery or Thyme are remaining, place in bottom of roasting pan.
- Tie the legs of each hen together with cooking twine to keep stuffing in.
- Rub Olive Oil evenly over each hen.
- Sprinkle Salt and Pepper over each hen
- Add Wine and Chicken Broth to the bottom of roasting pan.
- Bake 50 minutes to an hour, basting the hens every 10 minutes with the juices from the roasting pan. Stop basting during the last 10 minutes of cooking time.
- They will be fully cooked when an instant-read thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the thigh registers 165 degrees F and the juices run clear.
- Remove the hens from the oven, loosely tent with foil and let rest 10 minutes before carving or serving.
- Remove cooking twine before serving.
- Enjoy!
Notes
- Use an instant-read thermometer to take the guess work out if they’re done or not. Check it a little earlier than the cook time suggested, because everyone’s oven can vary. Always make sure you cook them until the internal temp is 165F.
- If you can’t find any thyme, you can swap out rosemary or parsley. You could even add orange or lemon slices for more of a citrus flavor.
- Want extra crispy skin? Sprinkle some salt over your hens 12-24 hrs before you need to roast them. Pat the excess moisture and salt off when you’re ready to start preparing them to cook.
- Let them rest. The most important part of cooking meat in the oven is to let it rest! Wait at least 10 minutes before you carve into them. This gives them time to absorb all of the yummy juices and will give them more flavor. Don’t skip this step!
- If 1 hen is too much for a person to eat, you can cut them in half with a sharp kitchen sears.
- Nutrition facts do not include gravy as that is optional.
