In my opinion, the best way to cook pheasant is in a pressure cooker. Pheasant has wonderful flavor, but can be tough so it is a natural for the pressure cooker which preserves the flavor and juices, but makes it tender. I’ve cooked it different ways over the years, but this is my go to, all purpose, never fail pheasant recipe. It doesn’t have a lot of ingredients, because pheasant is so wonderful, it doesn’t need much dressing up.
PrintHow to Cook Pheasant in a Pressure Cooker
Ingredients
Scale
- 1 pheasant – bone in, cut into pieces
- 1 egg
- 1 C flour
- 1 t salt
- 1 t pepper
- t Hungarian Paprika
- 1 1/2 C of chicken broth
- 2 or 3 T of butter
- vegetable oil
Instructions
- Beat a few eggs with a little water
- Mix the flour, salt, pepper and paprika in another bowl
- Dip the pheasant in the egg
- Dredge it in the flour mixture
- Heat a few tablespoons of vegetable oil in the bottom of the pressure cooker, on the brown setting
- Brown the pheasant in the oil
- Add the chicken stock
- Cover and bring up to full pressure for 25 minutes
- Let the pressure release naturally
- Remove the pheasant
- Add the butter to the pan and whisk in while on the brown setting to make a rich sauce
I usually pair pheasant with Pinot Noir
It looks really delicious ! And I love the picture on your previous post !! 😀
Long ago gave away my pressure cooker. Space was a real problem when I made my move to Florida. I used to hunt pheasant (I’d not admit that to many people) and so ate if often as a child and into motherhood. My mother lightly floured it and fried it as I recall. I don’t remember it being tough, but never liked it as well as wild duck. Probably because I am not a white meat lover.
Reply to Barbara: I know well the caution in revealing to those outside my circle that I & my husband are hunters. I grew up Northern Minnesota & hunted from age of 8. Ducks, geese, deer, squirrel, rabbit, an annual trek over to So.Dakota for pheasant & grouse & antelope in WY all graced our table. I’m not ashamed of it just sick to death of people’s attitudes. They think nothing of ordering that fast food burger with no thought to where the meat came from, where it was raised, what it was given in the way of hormones nor the conditions it lived in. We much prefer a nice back rack of fresh venison & offer no apologies to anyone. We use every bit of game we harvest from our deer hides to pheasant feathers we use to tie flies for fly fishing. We’ll be enjoying my Grandmother Marie’s recipe for Barded & Smothered Pheasant. Falls off the bone & delicious. Btw we have a winter home in FL South of Sarasota but don’t go down til deer.season is over. 🦌🦃🦆🐟 Happy Holidays 😁
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Now, where the heck did you get a pheasant? I last cooked one in a crock pot about 30 years ago after picking the buckshot out of it (my husband’s first and last foray for pheasants). So much work for such a little bird!
Barb,
I have a bunch in my freezer right now! A friend of mine hunts them and gives them to me in exchange for cooking them for him….
I love pheasant, it’s probably my favorite game bird…
xxoo,
RMW
Hi It looks to me by reading your first post, that you have an electric pressure cooker. Right? My pressure cooker is not electric and uses a 15 lb clicker. Do you think the time of 25 minutes you recommend would be the same with my cooker?
Thanks for sharing.
Scott
Hi Scott,
I do have an electric pressure cooker and more recently, I’ve been using an Instapot. I have no experience with stove top pressure cookers, but I would think that 25 minutes is a good place to start. If it isn’t done after 25 minutes, you can always just simmer it on the stove until it’s done.
Good luck!
Let me know how it turns out?
RMW
I buy them at Wegmans. They always have the D’Artagnan brand.
I love my pressure cooker so thank you so much RMW for the pressure cooker friendly recipe!! 😀
I have never used a pressure cooker or cooked pheasant. This looks like a wonderful meal.
Growing up on a farm in the middle of Kansas, I had plenty of pheasant on the table. Never quite loved it. As you said a little tough. I got a pressure cooker for Christmas and haven’t used it yet. Now, if I can just find a pheasant. 🙂
I loved how simple this recipe was. Family loved it. I forgot to take a picture.
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Yay! That makes me so happy!
My father always cooked rabbit and pheasant in the pressure cooker. He would brown it up, place the meat in about 1″ of water and put whole peeled potatoes on top of the meat and pour BBQ Sauce over both potatoes and the game meat. Then pressure cook it for about 35 minutes. 🙂
Laura,
I will try that! It sounds wonderful…
Thank you. I am going to try that as well.
We fixed Pheasant and Chukar in pressure cooker. My sister and I actually put 3 fowl in and cooked 30 minutes instead of 25…. Ooo my loved by all!! Some of us,around 10 give or take a few, had never had in pressure cooker! Let us just say Yum and so rich in flavor and not dry at all! Actually was very moist! Even the young kids liked! Great recipe!
Thank You!
Marci
Marci,
Thanks for taking the time to let me know that you liked the recipe. It made my day!
xxoo,
RMW
I’ve got to find a way of adapting my preferred cooking a pheasant to the instapot. Growing up in Northeast South and being a lifelong Hunter I’ve had of hundreds pheasants in many forms of cooking. After trial and error, my preferred way is 2 pan fry them in butter, pineapple, green peppers and barbecue sauce. I use the sauce minus the pheasants on mashed potatoes. Being new to instant pot cooking, I’ve never done them up that way in the pot. I don’t see why I couldn’t do them the exact same way what’s very good results. Can’t wait for pheasant season in October.
Thanks for the pressure cooker recipe. I always slow cooked the pheasant for 4 hours in cream of mushroom soup and water right after cleaning, then dipped in flour and browned making a sauce from the COM soup adding the spices you like of course.
Is the pheasant held together enough to fry afterwards or does it fall apart and has too much moisture?
Thanks,
JohnnyD
Hi JohnnyD,
I usually brown it first and then cook it in the pressure cooker. It’s fall apart tender and if you want a sauce, you can make one from the drippings in the pressure cooker. If you really wanted to fry it after you cooked it in the pressure cooker, I don’t think it would stay together.
Thanks for coming by!
RMW
Followed receipe exactly. Came out just as you said. Delicious!! Certainly will make again.
Hi Dave,
I am so happy you liked it!
Made my day hearing from you.
RMW
Did you keep the pheasant whole, or broken down into pieces? Or, did you debone it? Thanks!
Hi Rebekah:
I cut it into pieces.
Let me know if you try the recipe!
xxoo,
RMW
Thanks Rebekha. I was just about to do it whole. Here in Scotland. My garden is full of pheasant. If I put the pot out. With the lid off. They would jump into it. My neighbor shot me this one. I will give it a try. Will be a change from supermarket chicken. I make tastier sawdust than that.
Excellent recipe! I used two whole pheasant, followed your directions with seasoned flour & egg. I added onion, carrots, celery, thyme & doubled recipe & pressure cooked everything 35 minutes, had a lot of gravy, I thickened it with cornstarch & added 4 cups of cooked wild rice, a little cream, white pepper, a few teaspoons of soy sauce and oh my goodness everything was delicious and tender pheasant-wow!
We’re in North Dakota and eat pheasant when husband hunts, the pressure cooker is my new favorite way to prepare pheasant. Thanks for recipe.
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I just cooked this. It was the best pheasant I ever had. I like hunting them, but never cared much for the meat because it was tough. This was fantastic! Thank you very much
Hi Marty,
Thanks for taking the time to let me know. You made my day!
RMW
Is there a difference between old school pressure cooker cook time and an insta-pot cooking time?
You came to my rescue when I’d been given a brace of pheasant and a brace of partridge…. and I was cooking for one person with the use of only one arm, and a blind lady! I cooked the birds following your recipe, but then removed all the bones, made a sauce with bacon, onions and the cooking juices and popped it all in a pie with a puff pastry crust. Delicious, and moist…. easy to eat for several reasons. Thank you so much!
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Hi Liz,
That makes me so very happy!
I’ll have to try making a pie from pheasant. It sounds amazing!
RMW
I picked up a whole, frozen pheasant at grocery store and I’m wondering…hoping that’s what you used here, not cut up pieces. The recipe sounds good and I will be cooking it in my instant pot.
No, I had a fresh pheasant from a friend who hunts. I would think you could use a thawed frozen bird, cut into pieces. Let me know how it turns out!
I stumbled across this recipe and followed it just as written; couldn’t be simpler and my husband loves it. I also browned some birds up and finished them in the slow cooker just for kicks, and they’re saucy and delicious, too! Thank you for sharing this; it’s my new family favorite.
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Hi Mary,
Thanks so much for letting me know!
I love pheasant so much and this is my very favorite way to make it.
XXOO,
RMW
How long to you let the natural pressure release for?
Hi Tami,
I let it come all the way down until the lid unlocks.
RMW
hi- my husband cleaned the pheasant and we just have boneless breasts – do you think I could use this recipe and if so, should I change cooking time in my instant pot?
thank you!
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I had someone else try it with boneless breasts and it didn’t turn out. If you do try it, I would lower the time by 10 minutes or so. You could try browning the breasts and then adding a little water to the pan, covering it and steaming them for 20 minutes or so.
can i add a can of cream chicken soup with your recipe?
Hi Tom,
Sure, if you’d like to do that, it would probably be delicious. You might think about adding it on the end instead of the butter? Or maybe in addition to the butter? You can never really have too much butter!
Let me know if you try it?
Thanks,
RMW
Hi! I have two pheasants that I just browned and could barely fit across the bottom of my Instant Pot. Happy to find your recipe. Should I cook on low or high pressure for 25 minutes?
Hi Stephanie
High pressure.
Hope you like it!
RMW
Hi. I plan to use your recipe this weekend for Easter. We have 5 pheasant to prepare. When you say allow cooker to build pressure in 25 minutes, should I set the cooking time to 25 minutes? That seems like it will build pressure for several minutes before cooking for 25 and that may over cook the birds. Thanks for confirming cooking time. If you have any tips for amount of eggs and flour for 5 birds that would be helpful too.
Hi Amy,
I’m sorry I just saw this question! I cook mine for 25 minutes after pressure builds, but I’ve never tried making 5 pheasants. Did you try it? Did it work? Inquiring minds want to know!!!
Barb
While waiting for our Korean take-out to get ready, we checked the asian food store next door, and the rest they say is history! First time cooking & eating pheasant. I love cooking with my pressure cooker and this recipe turned out great! Thanks! Unfortunately we ate is all too quick for a photo…so delicious!
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Yay! I’m so happy that you liked the recipe and that your first time cooking pheasant was a success!
RMW
Really easy and tasted delicious. I had Olive oil infused with truffles. I used this for the browning of the pheasant
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Hi Cynthia,
I’m so happy it worked out for you! The truffle olive oil sounds like a wonderful addition.
RMW
Delicious! I’m also from northern MN and my nephew “shared” his pheasant with me. Ok, he may or may not have been storing his game and fish in my mom’s freezer and she may or may not have checked a cooler the last time she came to visit me. 😉
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So glad you liked it! It’s my very favorite.
XXOO,
RMW
I was wondering what do serve along side this pheasant dish? Do have a recipe for that as well? I have always cooked my pheasants in a pot. But, my daughters bought me an instant pot for Christmas. I’m old school so I’m learning to IMPROVISE, ADAPT and OVERCOME. I have a few pheasants in the freezer I can experiment with. I’ll be hunting pheasants this coming Fall with six other guys and we’ll be staying at a cabin and I would like to be able to cook up pheasants for dinner. So I’ll take any suggestions that you can offer me. So recipes to feed six hungry guys after a day of hunting is what I’m trying to put together.
Thank you,
Rickie
Hi Rickie,
I love the sauce that this recipe makes, so I usually serve rice or mashed potatoes to soak some of it up. A loaf of crusty bread is always good too. I don’t know what kind of cooking set up you have at your cabin, but if you wanted to make something ahead of time, maybe some marinated vegetables would be nice or even some pickled vegetables which would also double as an appetizer with some cheese and crackers Pickled Peppers I’m not sure when your hunt is planned, but if it’s not too far away, I would suggest spring asparagus Luscious Brown Butter and Caper Asparagus I hope some of these will work for you, but if not, let me know and maybe we can come up with some additional ideas.
Hi there
I just read your recipe 😋 sounds wonderful.
My husband raises jumbo ring neck pheasants so we have been processing them and I have been experimenting with recipes. He loves it fried but it’s really tough as you said. I love my instapot so going to give it a go. Are you using the trivet ? Or just placing the fried pieces in the bottom?
Thanks so much
I just place them on the bottom of the Instapot, I don’t use the trivet.
Let me know if you try the recipe? I’d love to hear your opinion!
Barb
Really good! Husband said ‘best pheasant’ recipe so far! Will definitely make it again. All parts were really tender. The juice was really good but I think I could have gotten away with adding the butter. I served creamy polenta on the side with a nice salad.
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Yay! Thanks for taking the time to let me know. I’m so happy it worked for you…
One of the easiest and tastiest pheasant recipes I’ve had. It went well with wild rice and roasted squash with ricotta cheese.
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Hi Kristie!
I’m so happy you liked it. Thanks so much for taking the time to let me know.
XXOO,
RMW
I have small pheasant breasts bone in. I also have lots of breasts with no bones. Can I cook them together in this recipe.? Can I do just breasts with no bones.
My husband hunts pheasants so I have soooo many boneless and don’t know what to do with them. Any ideas?
Thank you.
Virginia Pierce
Lots of pheasants are released near me and I find them on the way to work – they don’t have much road sense! The latest was a cock pheasant with sharp spurs, so might have been tough, but not cooked like this. I prefer it to any pheasant recipe I’ve had before. Flavour was really good. Thanks!
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Hi Susan,
Thanks for taking the time to let me know! I’m so happy it worked for you.
Barb
I used my stove-top pressure cooker, and the timing of the recipe worked out great! It was cooked through without getting tough with this method. It was great with roasted purple yams and grated brussel sprout salad!
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Hi Terri,
Good to know that the timing is good on a stove-top pressure cooker.
It makes me so happy that you enjoyed the recipe!
Barb
Excellent recipe! We were gifted some pheasants and decided to try this recipe…it did not disappoint. Easy to make and delicious.
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Thanks for letting me know Gale! I’m so happy it turned out for you…
Barb
Has anyone tried to pressure cook pheasant legs? I had a few given to me, and thought this would be the way to cook them.
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I think it’s the best way to cook them. They come out tender and delicious!