Stuffed Cornish Hen Recipe

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This Stuffed Cornish Hen Recipe is the perfect recipe for your holiday dinner! Tender, juicy and stuffed with a cheesy rice stuffing, this is THE recipe to impress your guests!

These Stuffed Cornish Hens are just incredible. They get brined for a few hours, stuffed with cheesy rice stuffing, then roasted until the outside is golden brown and the meat is flavorful, juicy, and almost fall off the bone tender.

These little birds are perfect as a single serving at a dinner party, or split between a couple people for a holiday feast! I think they are the perfect alternative to your typical ham or turkey!

You might also want to try these sous vide Cornish hens or these Instant Pot Cornish hens.

What is a Cornish Game Hen?

A Cornish game hen is a type of hybrid chicken.  It is not a game bird, nor is it a hen by definition (can be male or female).  They are chickens that grow large breasts very quickly, in fewer than 5 weeks, enabling them to be slaughtered earlier.

That is how we get the small, personal sized bird we are all used to seeing at the dinner table.  I love to work with these “hens” as it can be fun to personalize each bird, especially if you are entertaining.

Why This Recipe Works

1. The hens are brined to make the meat extra tender and juicy, while also providing amazing flavor;
2. The rice stuffing is made with Velveeta to make it extra cheesy and delicious;
3. They are roasted until perfectly browned and crisped - the meat is tender and juicy and the skin is deliciously flavorful and crispy!

Step By Step Instructions

Before we roast the cornish hens, we brine them and prepare the cheesy Rice a Roni stuffing.

How to Brine Cornish Hens

To get deliciously juicy meat, we first brine the birds. Brining adds an extra boost of flavor to these cheesy roasted Cornish game hens and keeps the birds moist while roasting.

Because these Cornish game hens consist mainly of breast meat, keeping it moist while roasting is very important. I always recommend brining.

So how do we brine? Add all the brine ingredients to a large pot and bring to a boil. Then you want to let the brine cool fully before adding your birds. Once it's cool, add the birds and let sit for 2-4 hours (at LEAST 2 hours).

**Note: I recommend making the brine the day before so you're not sitting around twiddling your thumbs waiting for the brine to cool. 

How to Make Cheesy Rice a Roni Stuffing

Make the Rice-A-Roni according to the package instructions. Then add the cheeses and mix until all the cheese has melted.  Set it aside until you're ready to stuff the hens.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. We are going to start out with a low heat roast then crank up the temperature at the end to crisp every thing up. Place the hens in a large enough roasting pan so they both fit, with a little extra room for roasting veggies and leftover stuffing.

Rub the duck fat over both sides of the birds. Duck fat provides such a wonderful flavor and helps to crisp the skin so nicely.

Once the birds are coated with duck fat, gently separate the skin from the meat (see below). Slide one ¼ of a tablespoon of butter in one side, and ¼ in the other side. Do the same with the other bird.

Now we season the birds on both sides with the Cajun seasoning and the Nacho Cheddar popcorn seasoning.

Then stuff the birds with the cheesy rice stuffing. Any leftover stuffing can be placed in the roasting pan. Also feel free to add potatoes or any other vegetable that you would like to roast.

Tie the legs together with kitchen twine and set in the roasting pan, breast side up. Cover the roasting pan with foil.

Roast for 45 minutes at 350F degrees. At the 30 minute mark, remove the foil so the hens can start to brown.

Turn the temperature up to 450 degrees. Roast for another 15 minutes, or until the internal temperature reaches 160 degrees.

Remove from oven and let rest for 10 minutes. The birds will finish cooking while they are resting.

Expert Tips

1. Make the brine the day before so it is fully cooled when adding the hens;
2. Use a thermometer to check the internal temperature of the cornish hens (I use a Thermapen, which I LOVE);
3. Make sure the temperature of the stuffing reads at least 165 degrees as well;
4. Covering the hens for the first 30 minutes helps prevent them from getting too dark while roasting;
5. Substitute olive oil, coconut oil, bacon grease or lard for the duck fat. I personally prefer duck fat, but any of these will work;
6. To save time, you can make the rice stuffing ahead of time and store in the fridge for up to 3 days. Add a touch of milk when reheating and stir it in.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Do you cover cornish hens when cooking? I cover the cornish hens for the first 30 minutes of roasting. After 30 minutes, the cover is removed to allow the hens to brown.
2. What temperature do cornish hens need to be? Cornish hens should be cooked to an internal temperature of 165 degrees. Typically, I take them out when temperature has reached 160 degrees, and they will rise to 165 degrees as they rest.
3. How many people does 1 cornish hen serve? One cornish hen can serve 1-2 people, depending on the other dishes served. For a large holiday dinner, 1 hen will feed 2 people. For a regular dinner with the stuffing and a salad, 1 hen will feed 1 person.

More Cornish Game Hen Recipes

• Grilled Cornish Game Hens;
• Thai Marinated Cornish Game Hens;
• Roasted Cornish Game Hens from the Daring Gourmet.

Plan Your Holiday Dinner!

Change up your normal Thanksgiving, Christmas or Easter dinner and serve these Stuffed Cornish Hens with some of these blog favorite recipes:

• Start with this Baked Brie appetizer;
• Serve with Crispy Oven Fried Squash;
• This Instant Pot Creamed Corn is incredible;
• Scalloped Potatoes are always a winner (and these have bacon!);
• Roasted Winter Vegetables are packed with flavor;
• Pecan Pie Bars or Millionaire Shortbread would make the perfect dessert!

Did you make this recipe? Rate the recipe and leave a comment to let me know how it turned out!

So this is what the old photo looked like....it's not pretty.