Smoked Cornish Game Hens

thegrillonline.com and the original recipe is here.

My Dad recently purchased a smoker, so I figured a great way to help break it in is to smoke some Cornish game hens. I found a few recipes and settled on tailoring the one here. I made these on 15 Sep 2021, and they are absolutely delicious hens!

5 from 1 vote

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 30

Cook Time 1 30

Passive Time 2

Course Main Dish

Cuisine American

Servings servings

Equipment

Smoker

Ingredients

4 Cornish game hens, whole, thawed

For the Brine - this is for 1 container for 2 hens

2 quarts water, (8 cups)
½ cup kosher salt
½ cup brown sugar, packed

For the Rub - this is for 4 hens.

1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon onion powder
1 tablespoon salt, table or kosher works fine
2 tablespoons black pepper
1 tablespoon dried thyme
2 tablespoons smoked paprika

Instructions

Rinse the thawed hens inside and out, remove giblets if they come with those. Cut off any excess has around the cavity opening. This is 2 of the 4 hens I used, I was checking the size of the mixing bowl to brine them.
For the brine, I used a 3 quart mixing bowl that held 2 hens. To the empty container, add the water, salt, and brown sugar listed for the Brine and stir until the salt and sugar are dissolved, add 2 hens to the brine. Repeat with the second bowl and the brine ingredients as listed. Let hens brine for 2 hours.
While the hens are brining, add the Rub ingredients to a bowl and mix together. Set aside until the hens are brined.
About 20-30 minutes before the time is up for the brining, preheat your smoker to 225° F (110° C), use wood chips of your choice, I used apple wood chips.
Remove the hens from the brine and rinse under running water. Pat dry with paper towels place breast side up on a tray. Rub all over with the dry rub mix you prepared, turn hens over and rub the backside, place hens breast side down on a tray.
Place the hens in the smoker, breast side down, exactly as they were sitting on the tray.
Smoke for 1½ to 2 hours, checking the internal temp of a hen at 1½ hours, target temp is 74° C (165° F), continue smoking for another 30 minutes if the temp is below the target.
Carefully remove the hens from the smoker and place in a baking pan, let hens rest for 5-10 minutes.
Place a hen, breast side up for presentation, on each serving plate. Serve with sides of your choice, and enjoy.