Air Fryer Cornish Game Hen Recipe?
November 22, 2020 12:13 PM   Subscribe

Since it's just me for Thanksgiving, I thought I would use my air fryer to make a small, easy main course.

I got my air fryer this summer and I've been enjoying it, but I've doing mainly small nibbly things. I'm mobility impaired and on my own. Originally I was going to do a roast chicken, but honestly just the thought of that makes me exhausted.

It hit me I could use the air fryer for a cornish game hen, but when I googled it I was flooded with recipes and didn't really have an idea where to turn as up until now my air fryer cooking has been very simple. So, I turn to the hive mind to help me find a delicious air fryer recipe for cornish game hen.
posted by miss-lapin to Food & Drink (3 answers total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
Hi, professional cook here. This might sound slightly like a derail, but bear with me.

So an air fryer is just a convection oven. There’s no real special thing about it. The good news is that there is no better way to cook poultry than in a convection oven. The crispy skin is amazing. The downside is, there’s not really any special thing about it, so basically any recipe for chicken will do. Also, a Cornish game hen is just a small chicken. Personally, I’m a big fan of brining birds, and for a Cornish hen, I’d say make a half gallon of brine (1/2 gallon water, 1/2 cup salt, 1/2 cup brown sugar, maybe a couple bay leaves and peppercorns if you’re feeling froggy; dissolve salt/sugar in hot water, cool, then immerse the bird). 8 hours should be good enough for a typical Cornish hen. Rinse, Pat dry, season to taste, then cook at about 375 until it reaches 160 F in the thickest part of the dark meat, (I’d start to check the temp after about 30 minutes, assuming a whole bird, ie not pieced out). If it browns too quickly, cover with foil.

If you want to get further into it, you can make a compound butter w/herbs and garlic, and cut it into small pieces and place under the skin.

But honestly, if you’re just going for simple, you can forget about all that, just throw on whatever seasonings float your boat, and cook it without brine, or fancy schmancy compound butter or anything, and it’ll come out great. Just make sure you pat dry before seasoning and cooking, and don’t let the temp get higher than 165, and you’ll be fine.

If you’re looking for more specific “recipe” type stuff (people often hate talking food with me, because I almost never give a “recipe”, more a general “here’s the technique” kind of thing) I’m glad to add more, but it’s difficult to give a particular recipe without knowing what kind of flavors you’re into, or at a minimum what you have handy in your kitchen/spice rack. Chicken is a fantastic delivery vehicle for just about any savory flavor out there, so your choices are kinda endless.
posted by esquandolad at 3:42 AM on November 23, 2020 [3 favorites]


Response by poster: I am very happy for all food talk you have. Normally, I would make a roasted chicken with herbed butter massaged under the skin. But I took out the recipe, which I normally consider fast and easy and just got tired reading it. So yeah, I may just buy a rotisserie chicken at this point.
posted by miss-lapin at 10:43 AM on November 23, 2020 [1 favorite]


Response by poster: Alright I got shamed into making cornish game hen. I'll be making this recipe as it is close to the herbed chicken dish I usually make.

https://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/herb-stuffed-roasted-cornish-hens/
posted by miss-lapin at 8:09 AM on November 24, 2020


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