Cornish Hen Recipe with Cranberry Orange Glaze

This Cranberry Orange Glazed Cornish Hen recipe is perfect for holiday family dinners. Learn how to cook Cornish hens so they turn out juicy and flavorful every single time.

My favorite protein to cook in the holiday season is chicken as it tends to be overlooked when beef and turkey end up in many holiday celebrations. We have so many tasty chicken recipes on the blog and some of our favorites are chicken shawarma, zereshk polo morgh and Mediterranean garlic chicken.

If you're looking for delicious dishes that you can serve when having company, this Cornish game hen recipe is it! I'm going to show you how to cook Cornish hens with an orange cranberry glaze at home and wow everyone. I love making this dish for the holidays because it looks very festive and beautiful on individual plates. 

Jump to:

• About this recipe
• What's the difference between Cornish hen and chicken?
• Ingredients and substitutions
• Instructions
• Serving suggestions
• Frequently asked questions
• Variations
• Notes and tips
• More Chicken Recipes
• Step-by-Step Recipe

About this recipe

This is an easy, quick recipe for juicy Cornish hens that comes together in no time. It's very flavorful and delicious. You only require a few ingredients and it's packed with orange cranberry flavor - perfect for this holiday season. 

This recipe is so simple to make yet taste and look as if you have spent half of the day in the kitchen preparing them. They are perfect for the holidays because of their festive flavors. Cranberry and orange combine so well together and once mixed with soy sauce, the flavors shine more which will result in a delicious dish that your family will love!

What's the difference between Cornish hen and chicken?

The main difference is in size. While a mature Cornish hen usually weighs less than 2 pounds, it's smaller than a whole chicken which usually weighs about 4-5 pounds.

Since Cornish hens are small, they're always sold and cooked whole whereas you can buy chicken whole or cut into pieces. Check out this article about Cornish hen vs chicken for more information. 

Ingredients and substitutions

• Cornish hen: Use ones that are not too big or too small. If using frozen ones, let them thaw in the fridge before you start cooking.
• Soy sauce: You can use regular or low sodium soy sauce for this recipe.
• Orange juice: It's best to use freshly squeezed orange juice for this recipe.
• Cranberries: This recipe calls for fresh cranberries. It's possible to use frozen cranberries as well but dried cranberries won't work.

Instructions

Cranberry orange glaze

The main flavor of this dish comes from a festive and bright orange glaze flavored with fresh cranberries. To make the glaze, follow these steps:

• In a saucepan, stir soy sauce, orange juice, cornstarch and water together. 
• Add the brown sugar and cranberries. Turn the heat to medium high. 
• Bring the mixture to simmer and turn the heat to medium low, cook until the cranberries pop and the glaze thickens. 

The glaze will thicken even more when it cools. You can even make the glaze a day ahead and use it when you're ready to roast the Cornish hens. 

Roast the cornish hen

• Start with pat drying the birds, this will absorb any extra moisture. This step is essential to make sure the game hen will have a beautifully roasted skin after cooking. 
• Make the glaze using soy sauce, orange juice and cranberries.
• Brush the glaze all over the Cornish hens and roast them in the oven at 400ºF until done and fully cooked. You can glaze them again halfway so they're very flavorful.

Serving suggestions

I served this dish with Panko crusted roasted potatoes. These potatoes are very simple and easy to make. All you need to do is to cut up some russet potatoes and mix them with salt, olive oil and Panko Bread Crumbs.

These potatoes also need to be roasted at 400 degrees F so if you have enough space in the oven, you can pop these in 25 minutes before the Cornish hens are ready. They make a simple yet very tasty side dish for almost any dish. 

Other side dishes you can make to serve with this orange glazed Cornish hen are:

• Mediterranean oven roasted vegetables
• Garlic oven roasted brussel sprouts 
• Instant pot brown rice
• Cucumber tomato avocado salad

Frequently asked questions

Variations

Another way to cook this recipe is to make stuffed Cornish hen. You can stuff the birds with cooked rice or quinoa, onions, celery, garlic, bell peppers (capsicum) and even beans.

Once you stuff the bird, proceed with the Cornish chicken recipe as mentioned in the instructions. You need to be very careful when stuffing Cornish hen because the skin in very thin and can rip easily. 

Notes and tips

• It's very important to have your birds cleaned and completely pat dried. The dryness would result in a very crispy skin at the end of cooking.
• The Cornish hen recipe calls for brushing the birds twice with the glaze. You can do this up to 4 times if you would like a darker color on the bird.
• The onions at the bottom of the baking dish will be caramelized and flavored with the glaze. They're going to be very delicious so don't leave them out.
• If Cornish hens are not available where you live, simply use a whole chicken and follow the exact same steps of this recipe. Make sure the chicken is fully cooked by inserting a meat thermometer into the thighs. It should register at 165F. Then insert the thermometer into the breast. It should register at 170F.
• For the Panko crusted roasted potatoes, I used russet potatoes but red potatoes or Yukon gold would work perfectly, too.

More Chicken Recipes

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Step-by-Step Recipe

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