Crockpot Cornish Hens Recipe (2024)

Crockpot Cornish Hens are a dinner obsession in my home. My son (an eating machine) loves them because he gets a whole one for himself.

I love them because they’re so easy to make. You just need a handful of ingredients and 20 minutes to marinate them.

Cornish Hens Are Chickens

Cornish Hens are a specific breed of chicken specially bred in England. Cross-breeding helped them thrive in the mild yet rainy environment. What we buy in US-based grocery stores are labeled “Cornish Game Hens.”

But they aren’t necessarily hens. In fact, Cornish Game Hens are quite often male and are never true game birds.

Cornish Hens Might Not Even Be Cornish

The labeling quirks don’t end there. Due to USDA guidelines, any chicken of any breed or gender can be a “Cornish Game Hen.” It just has to weigh between 1 and 2 pounds and be younger than five weeks old.

How to Cook Cornish Hens in a Crockpot

Start with Thawed Birds

It’s not safe to cook frozen poultry in a slow-cooker. This method of cooking takes longer to reach a safe internal temperature of 165°. Meanwhile, bacteria are breeding that can make the food unsafe to eat.

Also, making Crockpot Cornish Hens by adding frozen birds to the slow-cooker will result in dry, tough meat.

So, if you forget to defrost them in the refrigerator, don’t give up hope. You can quickly defrost poultry — or any meat — in a cold water bath. Here’s a video explaining how.

Give them a Quick Marinade

Start marinating them right after they come out of the freezer. Or dump the marinade into a bag, add the birds, and let it sit for 20 to 30 minutes.

The marinade the recipe below is not acidic, so there is no need to worry it will break down the meat or make it mushy. The marinade’s purpose is to add rich flavor.

Prop The Cornish Hens Upright

For even cooking, prop the birds up off the bottom of the crockpot. Propping them also keeps the undersides from getting mushy.

To prop them up, line the bottom of your slow-cooker with four onion halves, two per Cornish Hen. (A reader says that potato halves work great, too.) If you’re not a fan of onions or potatoes, crumpled balls of aluminum foil work well, also.

Temperature and Cooking Times

Once the birds are in the crockpot, pour any marinade left in the bag over them. Cook them on LOW for 8 hours or HIGH for 4 hours. That’s all there is to it.

Thanks to the marinade, your Cornish Hens are perfectly seasoned, tender, and still juicy. Weeknight dinners don’t get much easier than this!

Adjusting for Single Crockpot Cornish Hens

Many readers have asked if they need to adjust cooking times to make only one Crockpot Cornish Hen. Halving a slow-cooker recipe can be tricky. These devices work best when two-thirds to three-quarters full.

If you don’t have a smaller crockpot, you can get the same effect by using an oven-safe baking dish. Put the dish in your slow cooker, then add the halved recipe. Voila, you’ve created a smaller crock within your crockpot. Now you don’t need to adjust the time to get the same results.

Or, just make the full recipe and freeze half for later. It’s always nice to have a freezer stocked with healthy, heat-and-eat homemade meals.

Reheating Leftovers

With a teenage boy in the house, I rarely have leftover Crockpot Cornish Hens. They’re simple to reheat, though.

Put them in an oven-safe dish and cover with foil. Bake at 350° for 15-20 minutes until warm all the way through. For crispy skin, bump the heat to 450° for 2-3 minutes.