For big events, this cornish hen recipe is ideal. Serve with a lovely mild Chianti wine and crispy garlic bread.
| Prep Time: | 20 mins |
| Cook Time: | 1 hr |
| Total Time: | 1 hr 20 mins |
| Servings: | 4 |
| Yield: | 4 Cornish hens |
Ingredients
- 4 Cornish hens
- 3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1 lemon, quartered
- 8 sprigs fresh rosemary, divided
- 24 cloves garlic
- ⅓ cup white wine
- ⅓ cup low-sodium chicken broth
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F (230 degrees C). Rub hens with 1 tablespoon olive oil; lightly season with salt and pepper. Stuff 1 lemon quarter and 1 rosemary sprig into each cavity. Place Cornish hens in a large, heavy roasting pan and arrange garlic cloves around them.
- Roast in the preheated oven for 25 minutes. Meanwhile, whisk wine, chicken broth, and remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil together in a small bowl.
- Remove hens from the oven; reduce the oven temperature to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Pour wine mixture over the hens and continue roasting, basting with pan juices every 10 minutes, until hens are golden brown and juices run clear, about 25 more minutes. An instant-read thermometer inserted near the bone should read 165 degrees F (74 degrees C).
- Transfer hens to a platter, pouring any cavity juices into the roasting pan; discard lemons and rosemary. Tent hens with aluminum foil to keep warm.
- Transfer pan juices and garlic cloves to a medium saucepan; boil until reduced to a sauce consistency, about 6 minutes.
- Cut hens in half lengthwise and arrange two halves on each plate. Spoon sauce and roasted garlic on top. Garnish with remaining rosemary sprigs and serve.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 814 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 10 g |
| Cholesterol | 340 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 2 g |
| Protein | 59 g |
| Saturated Fat | 15 g |
| Sodium | 1383 mg |
| Sugars | 0 g |
| Fat | 58 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
I used lime instead of lemon as I didn’t have lemon. Tastes awesome
I’ve made this twice. Both times were great successes. Very easy. A little corn in the sauce if you like it thicker. Bon Appetit!
I made this for my husband and I on Christmas Day. I substituted lime for the lemon and I put 1 tsp ground rosemary in the cavity instead of sprigs. I used white cooking wine as well. Delicious with baby red potatoes. We loved it. My new favorite recipe.
I had to add seasoning because the dish was a little bland. Other than that it was good. It was moist and nicely done.
I made this for Christmas dinner for my husband and I. It was amazing. I did substitute a 1/4 of a lime instead of a lemon in each cavity. I made two. Instead of rosemary sprigs I added 1 tsp of crushed rosemary in each cavity.Delicious tender and juicy
Excellent!!! Prepared from the recipe with minor exceptions: I used White Cooking Wine and homemade vegetable broth (lower sodium.
I mostly followed the directions. At the oven temp. drop and basting stage, I removed the lemons and squeezed them out on top of the hens, and put slices of apples in the cavities for the second half of cooking. Great recipe, I’ll be using this for future poultry cooking reference for sure!
This was a pre-Thanksgiving entree. 4 hens, 6 mouths and the platter was empty in 30 minutes! The garlic from the roasting was mashed to give a very earthy taste and aroma to the gravy!
Prepared just as recipe suggested with the exception of putting pat of butter under skin and added Kinders wood fire smoked garlic spice with the salt and pepper. I fixed 2 in my cast iron skillet. Next time will add mushrooms to the sauce at the end. Best recipe I’ve tried in years!
We’ve enjoyed this for years. A traditional Christmas Eve dinner at our house. Lots of Rosemary growing here so put sprig in cavity and lemon wedge. (thought I made this up, LOL). Everything the same except for no wine and used pan juices to make gravy for mashed potatoes. Also I get the smaller game hens and do not cut in half. Much more fun when everyone gets their own chick… Very delicious dinner, easy and very festive!
This was delicious. I actually quartered the recipe did everything the way you described. I just added 3 potatoes and 6 carrots with Italian seasoning and some Adobo on the vegetables. The gravy was perfect even with the vegetables so tasty. Thank you so much definitely making again
The sauce was delicious but there was a fairly thick layer of fat in the roasting pan/sauce which I would separate out the next time. Will also try adding Rosemary sprigs on the outside of hens as well as in cavity. The meat was SUPER moist and tender!
Great Christmas Eve dinner recipe for family
The sauce described using this recipe turns out pretty good, but the recipe itself contains a few massive flaws. First of all, the amount of sauce it tells you to make for 4 hens is grossly insufficient and there is no way you could possibly baste the hens with such a small amount of liquid. I made a double recipe for the sauce and still BARELY had enough for only 3 hens. 2nd the cook time is MUCH longer than stated here. For typical sized hens you will probably need an additional 15-25 minutes depending on the size.
Simple and easy. Just myself so had only one hen and adjusted everything accordingly. Great flavor. I made this in 2020 and am doing it again here in 2021.
This was so wonderful!! The sauce is so delicious that I double it. I decided to thicken it up one time that I made it to make a gravy but I prefer it without thickening.
Made two cornish hens and kept the amounts for the sauce the same as for four. It was delicious.
Very good. I wanted more sauce. Would double that next time.
Wow, best cornish game hen recipe I have ever! I added some butter and herbs under the skin and added some broth in the bottom of the pan. After 25 min, lowered temp and flipped them breast side down when adding the wine/broth and continued basting through remaining cooking time (which was perfect). Don’t waste that precious lemon inside the cavity that has now been infused with broth, garlic, rosemary and butter. Serve with the hens and let your guests use as much or as little as they like. Use the roasted garlic on crusty bread. Just WOW!
Awesome recipe! It was so simple and so delicious! I will definitely make this again!
Recipe was awesome! Not a garlic fan so I left that out. Also used the foil idea….man I love this app