Smoked Cornish Game Hens With Brine And Dry Rub Recipe

Smoked Cornish Game hens are my favorite to make!! I do love to change it up sometimes so this time I decided to see what would happen if I took brined cornish game hens and added a dry rub. Well let tell you this took the flavor to the next level, and now I am not sure I will make them another way besides changing spices around.  (I have included affiliate links to products I love. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. )

Now I love that my old lady is a frugal shopper she picks up these cornish game hens at Safeways $5 Fridays quite often so we always have at least four in the freezer. After being on the road working I was ready to get my smoke game back on!!

Smoke Hollow 30-Inch Electric SmokerBradley Smoker Apple Bisquettes 48 packEatSmart Precision Pro Digital Thermometer

Now I use a Smoke Hollow Smoker to smoke in and also use apple pucks as well when I smoke. Everything smoking equipment I use is above and on Amazon! I did adapt the pipe on the smoker to billow out more smoke to help it smoke at a lower temperature to make the food taste even better.

Smoked Cornish Game Hens With Brine And Dry Rub Recipe Ingredients:

• 4 Cornish Game Hens
• 1 gallon of water
• 1 Cup of salt
• ¼ cup of garlic salt
• ¼ cup of Worcestershire sauce
• 4 tbsp black pepper
• ¼ cup Montreal steak seasoning
• Ice (for next day)

Lea & Perrins Original Worcestershire Sauce 5 oz Bottle (2 Pack)Mccormick Grill Mates Montreal Steak & Chicken Seasonings BundleLawry’s Coarse Ground Garlic Salt With Parsley, 33 oz

Dry Rub Ingredients:

• Sesame oil
• Jack Daniels Chicken Rub

365 Everyday Value, Toasted Sesame Seed Oil, 8.4 fl ozJack Daniel’s Original Quality Chicken Rub, 11.5 oz

Cornish Game Hens Stuffing Ingredients:

• 1 Bundle of Leeks
• 1 Bunch of Green Onions
• 3 Stalks of Celery
• Garlic Herb Butter
• Minced Garlic
• Twine

Smoked Cornish Game Hens With Brine And Dry Rub Recipe Directions:

This meal does take some planning to do. We keep our cornish game hens frozen, this time we put the cornish game hens in the brine frozen on Sunday night and made them for Thursday night football!!

Fill a large container with water and put in all your brine and give a bit of a mix with a whisk.

Place your frozen game hens into the container and keep refrigerated until you are ready to smoke. Note if you are not placing in a refrigerator you need to keep a constant ice bath on the chickens.

Pull your hens and brine mixture out of the fridge a couple of hours before you are ready to smoke to allow them to get to room temperature.

When you remove your cornish game hens pat them dry from the brine.

Rub the sesame oil on the hens and then seasoning with a rub. I used Jack Daniels Chicken Rub but you can use any seasoning flavoring. (Don’t worry it’s on Amazon -> here)

Start your smoker up with the water and wood pucks to get a good smoke rolling and going before putting in your chicken.

Spray your smoker racks with a non stick spray (optional).

Chop up your celery, leeks, and green onion into stalks that are about the same length.

Take your twine and tie a combination of the three into bundles that will fit into the cornish game hens. Note you won’t be eating these, this is to keep the meat moist while smoking.

Scoop premade garlic butter or scoop your garlic butter blend into balls that will fit into the cornish game hens, you can make these any size I used a Wilton cookie scoop. (We swear by this one -> here the old lady uses it for everything)

Hold your hen open and drop in your garlic butterball, minced garlic, and then shove in a bundle of the green mixture.

Place your breast side down chicken on the racks in the smoker. Keep your smoker at about 225 degrees and smoke for about 3 ½ hours.

*Be sure to use a food thermometer to make sure your chicken is cooked to the right temperature!

As you can tell the skin was fallling off the hens, and they were so juicy!

Now, this was my first dinner since getting back into town with my family and we had a nice spread of food! I did doctor up some bbq sauce to my liking that I coated my hen in, and my mom dipped her chicken into it. No one left hungry that night with pasta salad, potato salad, and rice.

What is your go-to way to make Cornish Game Hens?? Have you smoked them before?

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Smoked Cornish Game Hens With Brine And Dry Rub Recipe

These Smoked Cornish Game Hens With a Brine And Dry Rub Recipe and are full of flavor! Stuff with butter, leeks, celery, and green onions for moist meat!!

Course Entree

Cuisine American, BBQ

Keyword brine recipe, cornish game hens, smoke hollow, smoked cornish game hens, turkey dry rub

Prep Time 20 minutes

Cook Time 3 hours 30 minutes

Soaking in brine 4 days

Total Time 4 days 3 hours 50 minutes

Servings 8

Ingredients

• 4 Cornish Game Hens
• 1 gallon of water
• 1 Cup of salt
• ¼ cup of garlic salt
• ¼ cup of Worcestershire sauce
• 4 tbsp black pepper
• ¼ cup Montreal steak seasoning
• Ice
• Sesame oil
• Jack Daniels Chicken Rub
• 1 Bundle of Leeks
• 1 Bunch of Green Onions
• 3 Stalks of Celery
• Garlic Herb Butter
• Minced Garlic
• Twine

Instructions

1. This meal does take some planning to do. We keep our cornish game hens frozen, this time we put the cornish game hens in the brine frozen on Sunday night and made them for Thursday night football!!
2. Fill a large container with water and put in all your brine and give a bit of a mix with a whisk.
3. Place your frozen game hens into the container and keep refrigerated until you are ready to smoke. Note if you are not placing in a refrigerator you need to keep a constant ice bath on the chickens.
4. Pull your hens and brine mixture out of the fridge a couple of hours before you are ready to smoke to allow them to get to room temperature.
5. When you remove your cornish game hens pat them dry from the brine.
6. Rub the sesame oil on the hens and then seasoning with a rub. I used Jack Daniels Chicken Rub but you can use any seasoning flavoring. (Don’t worry it’s on Amazon -> here)
7. Start your smoker up with the water and wood pucks to get a good smoke rolling and going before putting in your chicken.
8. Spray your smoker racks with a non stick spray (optional).
9. Chop up your celery, leeks, and green onion into stalks that are about the same length.
10. Take your twine and tie a combination of the three into bundles that will fit into the cornish game hens. Note you won't be eating these, this is to keep the meat moist while smoking.
11. Scoop premade garlic butter or scoop your garlic butter blend into balls that will fit into the cornish game hens, you can make these any size I used a Wilton cookie scoop. (We swear by this one -> here the old lady uses it for everything)
12. Hold your hen open and drop in your garlic butterball, minced garlic, and then shove in a bundle of the green mixture.
13. Place your breast side down chicken on the racks in the smoker. Keep your smoker at about 225 degrees and smoke for about 3 ½ hours.
14. *Be sure to use a food thermometer to make sure your chicken is cooked to the right temperature!

Recipe Video