Video Roasted Cornish Hens – Plating Pixels

Looking for a delicious and wholesome meal that’s easy and affordable? Roasted Cornish Hens are small and roast into a wow-your-guests dinner. They require almost no prep and are guaranteed crisp, tender, and oh so fancy.

Reading: How to roast cornish hens

Chicken is usually my go-to poultry of choice and makes up some of my most popular recipes on the blog. Roasted Cornish Hens are a great alternative and just as easy to make. A bonus is roasted hens bake much faster than a whole chicken and are less prone to drying out.

Table of Contents

What are Cornish Game Hens?

If you’ve never roasted a hen, think of it as a small chicken. In fact, that’s exactly what they are. It’s a smaller breed that originated in England. They typically weigh 1 to 2 pounds each, instead of the 4+ pound starting weight of traditional chicken.

Hens are fully mature and the meat is super tender. If roasted whole, I like them better than chicken. The flavor is pretty much the same, but they bake much faster and are often more tender. An added bonus is you get a more crispy skin-to-meat ratio.

Cornish hens are found in the frozen section of most grocery stores. It’s best to purchase them at least 3 days before baking, letting them fully defrost in the fridge.

How to Season Cornish Hens

The easiest way to season a cornish game hen is simply with olive oil, salt, pepper, and dry seasonings such as Italian seasoning and garlic.

Pro tip: I like to sprinkle a bit of salt into the opening of the hens. This will help it penetrate from the inside, add flavor and make the meat more tender. You can also add the salt for up to a day and store the hens in the fridge before roasting to allow it to soak into the meat more.

Here are Some Seasoning Options

Mix and match however you like:

Dried Italian seasoning
Lemon pepper
Paprika (regular or smoked)
Garlic salt
Greek seasoning
Poultry seasoning mix
Fresh chopped herbs (best as part of an olive oil mix and rubbed onto the meat)

Prepping the Hens

Preparing cornish hens is as easy as can be. Follow the steps below:

Rub with a bit of olive oil, then top with salt, pepper, and desired seasonings. Season the insides as well.
Place hens on a foil or parchment-lined baking sheet or pan.
Bake as instructed in the recipe below. Let sit about 5 minutes at room temp, then serve.

How Long to Roast Cornish Hens

At 400º F a 1.5-pound cornish hen should take about 50 minutes to bake. The final time depends on the size, but the internal temp should reach 165º F with a thermometer.

Is High Heat or Low Heat Better?

Some roasted Cornish Hen recipes call for preheating the oven to really high heat, adding the hens, then reducing. Others call for a lower temp (350-375º) and longer baking times. To make things simpler, I suggest meeting in the middle. A single mid-high temp, which reduces the baking time, but still creates brown, crisp skin.

Do You Need to Bring the Hens to Room Temperature?

As with most meats, it’s best to let it sit at room temp at least 15-30 minutes before cooking. This allows for more even cooking. I’ve tried both ways and the hens are tender enough to skip this step. Just be sure to not overcook.

If cooking from room temp, you can cut back the baking time by about 5 minutes.

Roast the Hens with Veggies

To make this a simple, all-in-one meal, I like to add vegetables while baking. You can do this towards the end since most only take about 12-15 minutes to roast. If adding heartier veggies such as potatoes, you can add them at the beginning.

Some of my favorite veggies to roast with game hens are carrots, asparagus, broccoli, brussels sprouts, and potatoes.