The meat of slow-cooked cornish hens with herbs literally slips off the bone and is extremely delicious.
| Prep Time: | 10 mins |
| Cook Time: | 4 hrs |
| Total Time: | 4 hrs 10 mins |
| Servings: | 4 |
| Yield: | 4 servings |
Ingredients
- ⅓ cup lemon juice
- ¼ cup margarine, melted
- ½ teaspoon dried thyme
- ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
- ⅛ teaspoon ground cumin
- ⅛ teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 2 Cornish game hens
- ½ teaspoon ground thyme
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- ⅛ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 cup chicken broth
- ⅓ cup lemon juice
- ¼ cup chilled margarine, cut into cubes
Instructions
- Mix 1/3 cup lemon juice, melted margarine, 1/2 teaspoon thyme, garlic powder, cumin, and red pepper flakes in a bowl. Pour and rub lemon juice mixture over Cornish hens. Mix 1/2 teaspoon thyme, salt, and black pepper in a bowl; sprinkle over Cornish hens.
- Pour chicken broth and 1/3 cup lemon juice into a slow cooker.
- Place about 1 tablespoon chilled margarine in the cavity of each hen; place hens in the slow cooker. Arrange the remaining margarine cubes in the chicken broth mixture.
- Cook hens in the slow cooker on High for 4 hours or Low for 8 hours.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 516 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 5 g |
| Cholesterol | 152 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 0 g |
| Protein | 26 g |
| Saturated Fat | 10 g |
| Sodium | 650 mg |
| Sugars | 2 g |
| Fat | 44 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
Awesome
Came out as specified in the recipe. I put two in my larger crockpot, but hubby and I only shared one. the other one we deboned, threw it in the freezer and will use it for soup later on this winter! Really good… thank you!
Easy to cook and very tasty, perfect for two people. I serve it over a bed of rice and heat the leftover broth to put on top.
This was a fantastic dish! The only change I made was I used butter instead of margarine. The meat fell off the bone. I also really loved the slight kick of the red pepper flakes. Definitely a keeper!
I had 4 hens, so I doubled the recipe. The problem was that the juice and oil (I subbed olive oil for the margarine but used 1T butter in the cavity of each hen, and no extra) nearly covered the hens, so they were basically stewed. Also, my crockpot is too hot, so I cooked it for 6 hours on low, which turned out to be too long. In the end, they were swimming in grease, and the meat was both dry and mushy. If I were to try it again, which is doubtful, I would cut WAAAAYYYYY back on the oil, if I used it at all, and would cut the juice in half. And I’d cook it only 4 hours on low.
Didn’t have all the types of pepper, but my fiancé raved about it! Poured the sauce over the chicken after removing all the bones.
The dark meat was tasty but the white meat was dried out, and I even stopped the cooking before the recommended time. My hens were plump and meaty, so it was not a case of too-small birds for the time cooked.
I followed the recipe, and while it had nice flavor because of the spices used, it didn’t have a nice brown skin. It was more like boiled hen… Seemed a waste of all that butter used. Next time I would like to see more color. I feel it would’ve tasted just fine using the melted butter/lemon juice and because I like some color— roast it.
This recipe was just so-so. The flavors just didn’t stand out for me.
The recipe is great as is no need for change. Delicious
Instead of margarine, I used olive oil and it was very tender, moist and savory. Paired it with some traditional thanksgiving fixins’ for a “mini” thanksgiving. My family loved it.
Fantastic. I used the liquid margarine in the pot but substituted the cubes for butter.
The flavor was good, but way too mushy. I plan to use the same lemon, butter, etc. but will bake in oven for crispier skin.
Made exactly as written, except put hens under broiler for 10 minutes to crisp skin. Absolutely amazing flavor and tenderness. Made again a few days later and doubled the strength of the spices. Didn’t believe it could get better, but it did. The second time around, I left the hens in the slow cooker approx. 5 hours. They literally fell apart when I took them out. Still tasted amazing though
It was bland. No real flavor. It did turn out moist.
We loved this. We will make thei again
I made two small changes. I used lime juice rather than lemon and added 2 heaping tablespoons of Dijon mustard. It smoothed the citrus and added another layer of complexity to the flavors. Definitely going to make again.
Added the lemon rinds, onions and carrots to the bottom of crockpot and they came out so juicy. Cooking time seems a bit long, for 3.71lb I’d next time do 3.5 hrs. The ease of the concept of this recipe is ideal but not without some tweaking
Made it for Mother’s Day. Had to substitute marjoram for thyme since I was out, but it worked fine and the hens turned out great! Tasty, tender and juicy!
I haven’t gotten one complaint yet!
This recipe is amazing! I made this for dinner tonight and everyone loved it! I took the advice of another reviewer and broiled it for about 10 minutes to golden up the skin. I did not measure the seasoning because I was on a time limit to prepare, I also added paprika, fines herbs and I used butter instead of margarine. I paired it with butternut risotto, cabbage, various veggies and gravy from the stock. Delicious. I was nicely surprised and will make it a regular in our meal rotation. I also used fresh lemon juice because I had none from concentrate. Thank you for sharing this masterpiece!