How to prepare and cook pheasant meat

Learn how to safely prepare pheasant meat and get the most out of your harvest.

Cleaning and meat preparation

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The video above shows a quick and easy method to clean and remove the breasts and legs from a harvested pheasant. Additional tips for field dressing and cooking your pheasant are listed below.

• Wear gloves
• Use a sharp knife
• It may be helpful to pluck and clear away feathers along the breastbone before inserting your knife for the first cut
• Inspect the meat for shot pellets before cooking
• Cool the meat as quickly as possible, and store at or below 40°F
• Always heat game meat to at least 165°F before eating
• Read more about best practices for wild game processing and preparation

Tuscan pheasant legs and thighs recipe

Ingredients

• 2-4 pheasant legs and thighs
• 3 cups fresh baby spinach
• ½ onion
• ½ cup diced sun dried tomato
• ¾ cup chopped mushrooms
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 ½ cups cherry tomatoes, halved
• 2 tsp. oregano
• 3 tbsp. butter
• ½ tsp paprika
• 1 ½ tsp. salt
• 1 tbsp. black pepper
• 2 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
• ½ cup fresh grated parmesan cheese
• ¾ cup heavy cream (or half and half)
• Pasta or egg noodles

 

Directions

1. Heat oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add pheasant legs and thighs and season with salt, pepper, oregano, and paprika.
2. Cook until golden brown and no longer pink inside (roughly 8 minutes per side). Remove pheasant from skillet and set aside.
   Cook game meat thoroughly to an internal temperature of 165°F.
3. Using the same skillet, melt butter over medium heat. Add onions and cook for 2 minutes. Stir in garlic, sun dried tomato, mushrooms, and cherry tomatoes. Season with salt and pepper and cook until tomatoes begin to burst. Add spinach and cook until spinach begins to wilt.
4. Boil water and cook pasta or egg noodles according to directions.
5. Once pasta is added to the boiling water, add heavy cream and grated parmesan to the skillet and bring the mixture back to a simmer. Reduce heat to low and simmer until sauce is reduced to a creamy consistency (about 3–4 minutes).
6. Return pheasant legs and thighs to the skillet and cook until heated through (about 5 minutes). Serve hot over pasta.