Easy Cornish Hens with Rosemary Wine Sauce

These Baked Cornish Hens with Rosemary Wine Sauce are perfect for a special dinner and are totally company worthy (so they are fancy enough for a dinner party). This recipe is also economical, simple, easy to make and you can make it in advance. All my favorite things...

It's also Weight Watchers friendly - yay! And it's only 2 WW points on my plan. I love fancy dinners that are healthy and don't break the WW points bank! This is, by far, the easiest and tastiest of the Cornish hen recipes out there!

These Easy Baked Cornish Hens with Rosemary Wine Sauce are the perfect date night recipe, Valentine's day, birthday dinner, Thanksgiving dinner, Christmas dinner or fancy enough for a dinner party. This recipe is also economical, simple, easy to make, Weight Watchers friendly and can be made in advance.

🐓What is a cornish hen?

And if you have never made Cornish hens, don't be intimidated- they are just little chickens and nothing more. Really- it's true! Many assume that they are like a pheasant or grouse because they are also known as Cornish Game Hens, but the "game" part doesn't mean wild or refer to anything remotely exotic in this case; they are simply chickens that were cross-bred to be smaller with more breast meat. Yet they somehow gained and retained this reputation of being "exotic."  You can read more about Cornish hens HERE.. But even if they aren't exactly exotic, because they are smaller, cuter and you get half a hen all to yourself, they just feel fancier than eating your typical communal roasted chicken.

💭Top Tip

The only difference is that when you cook a Cornish hen, it's best to remove the backbone because the bones are super tiny and you don't want your fellow diners to choke on them. It's really easy to do -see instructions below and in the recipe card. Otherwise, you roast Cornish hens in the oven, as you would a roasted chicken, but in this case, in wine sauce.

🔪 Instructions

How to Cook a Cornish Game Hen

1. Remove and discard giblets and necks from hens. Rinse hens under cold water and pat dry. Split each hen in half lengthwise.
2. Partially remove the backbone from the middle.
3. Cut backbone from each side.
4. Place hens, meat side up, in pan and whisk together wine, white wine vinegar, soya sauce, rosemary, thyme and garlic in a separate bowl, then pour over hens. *Cover the hens' legs with a little aluminum foil to prevent burning (this can also be done during the cooking process, if you start to see them browning faster than the rest of the hen)

🥗 What to serve with Cornish hens

Although rice is the most popular accompaniment to this dish, you can serve Cornish game hens with:

• Potatoes, such as my 3 Ingredient Onion Baked Potatoes in Foil, Chipotle Mashed Potatoes or Greek Style Potatoes
• Pasta: my  Easy Greek Pasta Salad is a great pairing
• garden salad
• Rice: if you decide on rice, my Sausage Apple Rice goes very nicely with this recipe!
• Buns: if you're making a holiday dinner (like Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner, ) they go nicely with my Granny buns (dinner buns) or my WW Everything Bagel Cloud Bread Recipe
• WW sides: You can also check out my Weight Watchers side dishes for more ideas!

🐔Cornish Hen Sauce

I love this sauce for Cornish hens because it's so easy! It's a wine sauce with only a few ingredients, that takes minutes to throw together, but tastes like it took hours. The best part of this recipe is that it can be made ahead! I personally, don't like the stress of cooking while guests are over or for a special dinner, so I always cook ahead.

My Easy Homemade Lasagna is another one of my make-ahead dishes for entertaining. I love that I can make it waaay ahead and freeze it!

🍰Don't forget dessert!

If you're looking for a dessert to go along with this dinner and want to stay on track, then I would suggest my Weight Watchers Friendly Healthy Chocolate Cake

BUT....if you want to indulge, then give my Grand Marnier Cheesecake with Chocolate Glaze a try!

👪 Serving size

This Cornish Hen recipe serves 4. The serving sizes in all my recipes are adjustable by simply clicking on the blue number of servings, so you can make this recipe for all of the above and as many as people as you want!

⭐ Reviews

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These Baked Cornish Game Hens with Rosemary Wine Sauce are a great EASY option for any special occasion meal. So, if you're looking for Cornish hen recipes, give this one a try!

Enjoy!~

📋 Cornish Hens with Rosemary Wine Sauce Recipe

These Easy Baked Cornish Hens recipe with Rosemary Wine Sauce are the perfect date night recipe, Valentine's day, birthday dinner, Thanksgiving dinner, Christmas dinner or fancy enough for a dinner party. This recipe is also economical, simple, easy to make, Weight Watchers friendly and can be made in advance.

5 from 8 votes

Print Pin Rate

Course: dinner, main

Cuisine: American, Canadian, North American

Keyword: cornish game hen, cornish hen, wine

Servings: 4 servings

Calories: 64.11kcal

Author: Terri Gilson

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 1 hour

Total Time: 1 hour 10 minutes

Cook ModePrevent your screen from going dark

Ingredients

• ▢ 2 1 lb Cornish hens ½ per person
• ▢ 1 cup dry white wine * you can use any type (it doesn't have to be expensive wine)
• ▢ ⅓ cup white wine vinegar
• ▢ 2 tablespoon low- sodium soya sauce
• ▢ 1 teaspoon dried rosemary
• ▢ ¼ teaspoon dried thyme
• ▢ 4 cloves garlic, minced

Garnish

• ▢ fresh rosemary sprigs (optional)

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 9X13 pan with non-stick cooking spray
• Remove and discard giblets and necks from hens. Rinse hens under cold water and pat dry. Split each hen in half lengthwise.
  
• Partially remove the backbone from the middle
  
• Cutting from each side
  
• Place hens, meat side up, in pan.
• Whisk together wine, white wine vinegar, soya sauce, rosemary, thyme and garlic in a separate bowl, then pour over hens. *Cover the hens' legs with a little aluminum foil to prevent burning (this can also be done during the cooking process, if you start to see them browning faster than the rest of the hen)
  
• Bake uncovered (preferably on roast if you have a convection oven) for 50 - 60 minutes basting occasionally, as you would a chicken or turkey; just spoon the sauce over the hens to baste. Cook until juices run clear and hens are cooked inside (no longer pink).
• Serve warm (½ a hen per person) with a spring of fresh rosemary, if desired.
  

Notes

 

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Nutrition Facts

📋 Cornish Hens with Rosemary Wine Sauce Recipe

Amount Per Serving (0.5 hen)

Calories 64.11 Calories from Fat 1

% Daily Value*

Fat 0.11g0%

Saturated Fat 0.03g0%

Cholesterol 0.51mg0%

Sodium 508.19mg22%

Potassium 73.71mg2%

Carbohydrates 3.17g1%

Fiber 0.14g1%

Sugar 0.76g1%

Protein 1.27g3%

Vitamin C 0.94mg1%

Calcium 10.83mg1%

Iron 0.6mg3%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

Nutrition

Serving: 0.5hen | Calories: 64.11kcal (3%) | Carbohydrates: 3.17g (1%) | Protein: 1.27g (3%) | Fat: 0.11g | Saturated Fat: 0.03g | Cholesterol: 0.51mg | Sodium: 508.19mg (22%) | Potassium: 73.71mg (2%) | Fiber: 0.14g (1%) | Sugar: 0.76g (1%) | Vitamin C: 0.94mg (1%) | Calcium: 10.83mg (1%) | Iron: 0.6mg (3%)

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