Roasted Cornish Hens

Individual Cornish Game Hens always make a meal feel special and are a great holiday meal choice as well. This simple roasting method leaves them with juicy, succulent meat and crispy golden skin.

Course Main Course

Cuisine American

Diet Gluten Free

Prep Time 20

Cook Time 50

Total Time 1 25

Servings

Calories 1020kcal

Author Toni Dash

Equipment

Butcher's twine
Instant Read Food Thermometer

Ingredients

4 Cornish Game Hens each 1 ¼-1 ½ pounds (all hens the same size); fully thawed if frozen
2 teaspoons Kosher Salt
2 teaspoons Black Pepper , freshly ground
2 small Lemons 1 cut into 4 wedges lengthwise, the other sliced crosswise into paper thin slices
1 small Yellow Onion , cut lengthwise into 8 wedges leaving the root end intact*
8 sprigs fresh Thyme
5 sprigs fresh Rosemary each cut in half
8 fresh Sage leaves

Ingredients for the Basting liquid:

3 tablespoons Olive Oil
1 teaspoon Unsalted Butter
1 small Shallot , diced
2 medium Garlic Cloves , diced
1 sprig Rosemary
3 slices Lemon (see ingredients above)

Instructions

Set the Cornish hens out to come to room temperature about 1 hour before cooking. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees and set a rack to the middle position of the oven.
While the hens are coming to room temperature, make the basting sauce.
In a small sauce pan over medium-low heat, combine the olive oil and butter.
Once the butter has melted add the shallot, garlic, rosemary and lemon slices. Allow to simmer for 3 minutes and then remove from the heat to cool and infuse.
Stuff each hen with 1-2 onion wedges, 1 lemon wedge, 2 sprigs of thyme, 2 rosemary sprig halves, 2 sage leaves. Tie the legs together with butcher twine, in a crossed position but not overly tightly.
Spray the sides of an 11-inch by 13-inch baking pan (this helps prevent the sides of the hens from sticking to the pan while cooking), add remaining lemon slices and any of the onion wedges that were not stuffed into the hens (separate them into pieces).
Baste the hens fully and place them with breasts up in the baking pan. Cook on 425 degrees for 30 minutes.
Lower the heat to 350 and cook an additional 20 minutes.
When an instant read thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the thigh reads 165 degrees remove the pan from the oven.
Allow the hens to rest for 15 minutes before serving.
Reserve the flavorful pan juices to drizzle over the hens when serving.

Notes

Pro Tips

Onion trick. Instead of cutting off the ends of the onion, peel the onion and cut through the root end but leave it intact. That functions to hold the onion wedge together, making it easier to handle when inserting it into the hen's cavity.

Trussing trick. Don’t have Butcher’s twine? You can also secure the legs by wrapping a piece of aluminum foil around them or secure with toothpicks.

Hen cavity sizes vary so if there is excess onion or lemon which cannot fit, add it to the base of the roasting pan before placing the hens on top. This will add to the flavor of the pan juices which are drizzled over the hens when serving.

How to Store

Remove the stuffing from the cooked hens and store the birds in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 3-4 days

Nutrition