Wild Pheasant In Mushroom and Wine Sauce
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Wild Pheasant in Mushrooms and Wine Sauce is a delicious dinner with moist tender, flavorful meat. This amazing recipe features a variety of mushrooms and a delicate Wine sauce.
What a wonderful way to enjoy your wild caught bird.
This pheasant recipe was developed by Heather (our daughter in law). She is an avid Hunter. As is Bill, our oldest son. They love game meats and are experienced in cooking them.I was visiting them recently and Heather shared this recipe. I sat her down and wrote the recipe out. She let me know simple pheasant recipes like this one are very hard to find.
Looking for even more? Visit our Wild game Recipes hub. It includes cooking tips for your favorite wild game, sauce and sides ideas, and more game meat recipes.
Creating a recipe that results in moist tasty Pheasant can be a challenge. Pheasant meat tends to cook up dry. Heather’s recipe creates a beautiful wine sauce. Add in the mushrooms and onions for a scrumptious wild pheasant dinner. She is an excellent cook. I’m so happy to have this recipe to share with you.
A bag of frozen Pheasant came home with me too. All prepped and ready to cook up.
Bill , Heather and Henry
We are So blessed in our family <3
More Game meat recipes:
Here’s a list of our Game meat Recipes:
- Pheasant Marsala
- Rabbit mushroom stew
- German cabbage rolls (with ground Moose, elk, bison meat or beef)
- Crock Pot venison stew
- Smoky moose meat skillet dinner
If you are looking for yet another Pheasant recipe from one of the best cooks on the planet… Check out Heather’s Wild Pheasant in Creamy Marsala Recipe. It is so delicious.
In the sidebar and at the bottom of our recipe card is a video demonstration of the Pheasant Marsala Recipe. Find the complete Printable Recipe here!
Bill and Heather hunt all the time. You just never know what they may run into. Duck Hunting season is here so Bill might deliver a duck to my door one day…we’ll see.
If you have game meat recipes and ideas PLEASE share them in the comment section. We would love to hear from you!
Back to our recipe. This is a hen that Bill hunted up a few weeks ago right at the end of the season. Where we live in Western Washington State it is legal to hunt wild pheasant hens.
Apparently that is not the case in all areas. Here’s a link to a Washington state Pheasant hunting guide that has the rules for our state.
A drake will work for this recipe if that is what you have.
I followed Heather’s recipe exactly and Dave and I both enjoyed it very much! It’s made all in one skillet or dutch oven on the stove top.
There is a wonderful variety of mushrooms in the recipe. I was worried when I looked around the store. I am not a mushroom connoisseur. I learned quite a bit. The Porcini mushrooms were in a package dried.
The store was completely out of fresh Chanterelles so I went with colorful dried Homard Lobster Mushrooms (also in a package) instead. They worked wonderfully well in this recipe.
The mushrooms were so good with the Wine sauce. The Shiitakes were fresh. I like the white button mushrooms rather than brown so that’s what I used. Heather says you can use any mushroom combination you can find. These are my picks this time.
Wild Pheasant in Mushrooms and Wine Sauce Recipe:
- Prepare the Pheasant:
Instructions for the Recipe:
- Preheat a dutch oven (OR cast iron combo skillet or other heavy bottom skillet with a lid) on your stove to medium heat.
- Add 1 Tablespoon olive oil
- Add 2 Tablespoons butter and stir until melted.
- Put in the pheasant legs first and sear two minutes on each sides. After one minute add pheasant breasts. WATCH them. It’s easy to overcook the breasts. Just sear until lightly brown but NOT cooked. (about 2 or three minutes) Scrape pan and stir in the bits. Deglaze with water or a bit of wine as necessary.
- Remove the pheasant from pan and set aside.
- Add the remaining butter. When butter is melted add in the mushrooms. Stir occasionally and cook 5 minutes, covered, until partially cooked.
- Add onions and garlic. Stir together with partially cooked mushrooms.
- Turn the heat to high and Add the wine. Reduce the wine by half.
- Reduce heat to medium high.
- Add chicken, turkey (or either poultry bone) broth, breasts and legs and cover them.
- Reduce heat to simmer. Cook 20 minutes until pheasant is done. (Check a leg)
- Add the cornstarch mixture and cook until the sauce thickens.
- Add fresh parsley until wilted.
- Serve from the pot.
More Wild Game Recipes
Looking for more dinner ideas using pheasant, venison, moose, or rabbit? Start here:
Wild Game Recipes:
This recipe will also work great with Rabbit or chicken. Below is your Printable Recipe Card:
Wild Pheasant In Mushrooms and Wine Sauce
Pheasant breasts and legs make an impressive delicious dinner with a medley of mushrooms in a wine reduction sauce.
Ingredients
- 2 Whole skinless legs and skinless breast of Pheasant., 2 of each-legs and breast.
- 4 Tablespoons butter-divided
- 1 Tablespoon extra virgin olive Oil
- 3/4 Cup whole pearl onions, Or 1/2 diced yellow onions
- 5 cloves garlic, minced
- 5 or 6 whole Shiitake mushrooms , roughly cut
- 1 pint Crimini mushrooms (Or white), Sliced
- 1/2 oz. about 1/2 Cup volume wt. Dried Lobster Homard mushrooms or 5 fresh Chanterelles, chopped or sliced
- 1 oz. about 1/2 Cup dried Porcini Mushrooms, chopped
- 1 Cup White wine (I used Sauvignon blanc)
- 1 Cup chicken broth
- 1/3 Cup fresh curly leaf parsley , finely chopped
- 2 Tablespoons cornstarch 2 Tablespoons water
- 2 Tablespoons Water
- 1 tsp. salt , as needed to rub the meat
- 1 tsp. pepper, as needed to rub the meat
Instructions
- Prepare the Pheasant:
- Cut the bird from neck to bottom or it’s ribs(AVOID cutting into the bowel or stomach). Pull the skin apart.
- Cut off the breasts (breast out the bird).
- Cut off the skin around the leg from hip joint. Remove the legs at the hip joint. Remove remaining feathers from breasts and legs. Rinse and pat dry.
- Preheat a dutch oven (OR cast iron combo skillet or other heavy bottom skillet) on your stove to medium heat.
- salt and pepper all sides of the meat.
- Add 1 Tablespoon olive oil
- Add 2 Tablespoons butter and stir until melted.
- Put in the pheasant legs first and sear two minutes on each sides. After one minute add the Pheasant breasts. WATCH them. It’s easy to overcook the breasts. Just sear until lightly brown but NOT cooked. (about 2 or three minutes) Scrape pan and stir in the bits.
- Remove the pheasant from pan and set aside.
- Add the remaining butter. When butter is melted add in the mushrooms. Stir occasionally and cook 5 minutes, covered, until partially cooked.
- Add onions and garlic. Stir together with partially cooked mushrooms.
- Turn the heat to high and Add the wine. Reduce the wine by half.
- Reduce heat to medium high.
- Add chicken broth, breasts and legs and cover them.
- Reduce heat to simmer. Cook 20 minutes until pheasant is done. (Check a leg)
- Add the cornstarch mixture and cook until the sauce thickens.
- Add fresh parsley until wilted.
- Serve from the pot.
Notes
I have allowed time to prep the bird in the prep time if you are a fast prepper. Allow more time if you need it to prepare the bird. Or less time if the bird is ready to cook.
Use whatever mushrooms you prefer or are in season.
Pheasant is VERY easy to over cook. Please follow Heather's directions exactly for best results.
Below is our recipe demonstration video for Heather's Pheasant Marsala Recipe.
Nutrition Information
Yield
4Amount Per Serving Calories 449
- Heather also made a domestic Rabbit Mushroom Stew recipe that is excellent. AND… these are not our family’s only hunters.
- For Christmas my brother gave me MOOSE meat. I created Smoky Moose meat skillet dinner for a quick N Easy dinner.
- It’s SO good. Moose meat is also used in Brigitte’s German Cabbage rolls. Moose meat is very similar to beef but extra lean. Such a healthy meat.
- My sister Susie does not hunt herself but she helps hunters put up game meat during hunting season. She gave us a jar of canned venison and I made a delicious Crock Pot Venison stew.
- And make Heather’s Wild Pheasant in Creamy Marsala Sauce recipe. It’s delicious.
Visit our entire inventory of game meats for recipes created especially for wild game.
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This recipe is ridiculously good! I made a practice dish of it tonight for my family, and plan to do it again for guests for sure! I didn’t have any white wine so I made it with champagne and it was quite tasty 😊
Hi Margaret, We are so happy you enjoyed Heather’s pheasant recipe. HaHa! Champagne sounds so fun and decadent. I’m glad it worked. Now I’m sure other cooks will be trying it out too. have a great day!
This was outstanding anx dill make this again. I served it over brown rice and made roasted cabbage as a side dish. A great fall dinner.
Okay, this was amazing!!
It’s quickly become my go-to pheasant recipe!
Next time I’m going to forage my own wild mushrooms up here in Northern Michigan
It’s awesome with Chardonnay btw.
thank you!
Phil
Hi Phil, I’m so happy you enjoyed this pheasant recipe. Foraged mushrooms sounds like a fun way to dress up your wild bird. Happy Hunting!
I have not tried the recipe yet, but I can tell that it will be awesome when I do. However, pheasant legs can bit a bit on the tougher side. The recipe says to cook until just done. I would not expect the legs to have softened up with such a short coking time. As opposed to braising, for example. Do you find this to be an issue?
Thanks in advance.
Hi Matt! I hope you try this recipe, It’s amazing! We have not had a problem with the legs being too tough when using a younger pheasant. I wouldn’t expect the best results on an old tough bird though.
I want to thank you for posting this recipe a fantastic option to cooking pheasant.
I enjoying cooking them almost as much as the hunt, this recipe is an add to our home cook book and cant wait to try something similar with other meats and wines.
Keep up the great work
cheers
Hi Robert, You are welcome. Thanks so much for the great review. Enjoy. Hunting season is coming soon.:)
I’m not versed in wild game at all. When you say cook the pheasant until done- check the leg. What am I checking for? Am I checking for blood /red meat at the joint? Or am I checking temperature? Should it be the same as a chicken? Do you serve this over noodles or rice? What did you serve it with?
Hi Lynn,
Pheasant is similar to chicken in this way. When it’s done the juices should run clear and the meat should not be red or pink. Pasta is too heavy for this meal in my opinion.
This is a flavorful dish. Try it with a side of wild rice or brown rice quinoa blend.
Good vegetable choices are roasted vegetables, or roasted asparagus.
A glass of white wine would be good with this pheasant recipe. Sourdough breads and green salads are also nice with this meal.
We’d love to know how you serve it. Thanks for asking and have a great day.
I stumbled upon this recipe on Pinterest. I thawed out 2 whole pheasant from the freezer. Decided to start using stuff in the deep freezer while this coronavirus is going on. My question is: I have deboned the breast, various pieces of meat and also broke off the legs and front wing arms. The little slivers of meat- I probably don’t need to brown in the skillet. I am curious if I should just toss them in the simmering sauce since they’re so tiny. Anyone have thoughts?
Hi Reba, Yes, go ahead and toss them in as long as they cook they should be fine. Great time to get into the deep freeze. Enjoy!
Tried it tonight and instead of Salt/Pepper used Cavender’s Greek seasoning (which, by the way, is awesome on pretty much anything wild game). It was AWESOME. Best pheasant recipe I have ever had, and i have eaten a lot of pheasant in my life. My wife and mother-in law, both of whom are not huge wild game aficionados, loved it too.
Hi Scott, Thank you for the seasoning tip and excellent rating. So happy your family loves this pheasant recipe. Have a great day!
I have a GWP pup that is beginning his first hunting season. I joined a hunting club so we would have a place to train with lots of birds. He’s really catching on fast. Consequently, the red-head girl and I are eating lots of pheasant, chukar, and quail. And, we are trying new recipes. This one is exceptional. A couple of notes:
Fillet the breast meat off and separate the tenders. Lightly fry the tenders when browning the other pieces and they are a wonderful little appetizer while dinner is cooking.
The recipe instructions are to simmer for 20 minutes to finish the dish. We covered the skillet and popped it in a 350 degree oven for an hour. It came out fall off the bone tender, moist, and delicious.
Tal your changes sounds delicious! Thank you sharing your experience with this recipe. And best of luck with your new pup.
DELICIOUS! I am so glad no one wanted our pheasants, that we offered when my husband came back from his first pheasant huntI am hooked on this recipe!!!! Thank you for sharing.
That’s fantastic to hear. Thanks for taking the time to come back and let us know. Enjoy!
We tried this recipe for Christmas dinner last year and loved it. We will be making it again for Christmas this year (I have a feeling it will become our tradition every year!)
Hi Shelley, Wonderful! Happy Holidays
Have used this twice and both fantastic, served over fresh Linguine. I debone my thighs and cook same amount of time as the deboned breast meat.. Need to manage cooking times carefully to keep the meat from getting tough/spongy as there is a sweet spot and would advise less more than more.. . In Connecticut we also are permitted to shoot hens as well as cocks.as they are stocked not wild birds. Thanks for the idea!
Hi Graham, Thank you so much for your input! We are delighted you are enjoying this recipe. Happy hunting and happy holidays 🙂
I have made pheasant for years and basically prepare the same way. If you are avoiding alcohol I substitute organic pomegranate blueberry juice for wine(the brand I use has lemon juice in it also for the extra zip) it’s delicious and nobody notices the difference….enjoy?
Hi Lily, Thanks for the great suggestions for this recipe. Have a great weekend and enjoy!
BTW- A Drake is a male mallard duck. A rooster or a cock bird would be a male pheasant.
Regardless, the recipe looks great and I’ll be trying it out on some pheasants our cocker spaniel helped obtain yesterday.
Hi Robert, Thanks for your input. Please let us know how you like this recipe. And give Your pup a pat for us. Happy hunting!
In the image where you add the pheasant back to the mixture, it appears that the pheasant has flour on it as well as salt and pepper. Are the pieces floured as well as salt and peppered after they are seared, before they are added back to the skillet/Dutch oven? Thanks for any specifics with that!
Hi Cheryl,
There is no flour needed to complete this recipe. What you are seeing in that picture is not flour but just a (poorly lighted-sorry) picture of the seared pheasant. Thanks so much for your question and I’d love to know how it turns out for you. Have a great day.
I plan to make this next week; all the ingredients sound so good together. I’ll let you know how it goes. Thanks for posting.
FYI—The fourth bullet point under instructions for the recipe reads: “After one minute add chicken breasts.” Might want to correct that to “pheasant breasts”. 🙂
Hi Julie, LOL. Thanks for the correction. I never noticed that. Can’t wait to hear how you like this dinner. We really love it.
Has anyone done this recipe in the Instant Pot and how do you do it and how did it turn out?
Hi Erin, I have never tried this recipe in the instant pot. I’m pretty convinced this is best done in the skillet for a couple of reasons. The skillet is more flat and open and you can adjust the heat very quickly depending on the needs of the recipe.
The instant pot is a marvelous tool. However,for this recipe I think the pot is too deep to work the meat pieces. And the heat on sautè function is not as adjustable as the stove top. If you put this recipe under pressure it would be difficult to cook this recipe without losing some quality in the process. Just my opinion. I’ve never given that method a try.
I’d love to know also if anyone else has had success in the instant pot with this recipe. Hopefully you’ll get more feedback on your question from our readers.
This was my first time cooking pheasant, it was an easy recipe to follow and turned out wonderful!
Hi Shelley,
Thank you so much for your feedback.I’m so glad you enjoyed it and found the recipe easy to follow. Have a great day!
Hello,
Do you go thru the process of re-hydrating the dried mushrooms? or just chop them and add to the recipe.
Thanks!
Hi Cheryl, Sorry I just got this. You don’t need to hydrate the dried mushrooms. They should cook up just fine. Let us know how this turns out for you! Have a great week end,
Use the pheasant bones to make a stock in the same manner you make chicken stock. this really enhances the dish, as well as using the etire harvest of the bird….
Hi Richard, This is an excellent suggestion. Have you made bone broth in your instant pot? It’s a very easy and fast method. We show you how in this post. Thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend!
This recipe looks like a good one and i think I’ll try it this fall.
Also I’m sure you misunderstood your friend who said the bird was a hen.;) Only the roosters can be hunted. It is illegal to kill or even be in possession of a dressed hen. Your friend may be more likely to share future wild game if you edit the post.
Hi Dave, I will ask our hunter author to clear this up as soon as they get back from their latest hunting trip. They are bow hunting in the wilds of Eastern Washington as we speak. Thanks so much for the great rating and enjoy. Happy hunting!
Hi Dave, I found the answer. It is a hen.
The hen in this recipe was bagged in Western Washington.Please refer to this Washington Fish and Wildlife guide on page seven.
Thanks for asking. I had no idea we lived in such an obscure place. So for many people making this recipe will require a drake per their local hunting rules.
Bonnie, did you get the receipt?
Dave,
I live in CA and only wild cocks can be harvested, but on private ranches and gun clubs, farm raised birds are released and hunted, both hen and cocks. These farm raised birds have vastly different bag limits, but both sexes are legal. I have a hen and cock in my fridge from yesterday right now.
In my state of Pennsylvania we are allowed to shoot both Roosters and hen. So maybe in their state, they can shoot both as well