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Christmas Dinner: Glazed Cornish Hens with Pomegranate-Rice Stuffing

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Christmas dinner at its finest includes making Glazed Cornish Hens with Pomegranate-Rice Stuffing. Elegant, but incredibly easy to make, and gorgeous, too.

Christmas dinner at its finest includes making Glazed Cornish Hens with Pomegranate-Rice Stuffing. Elegant, but incredibly easy to make, and gorgeous, too. | PassTheSushi.com

Christmas wouldn’t be the same (in this modern world of ours) without Christmas dinner and the specials on TV. I love finding the same classic movies on over and over again, starting around Thanksgiving. Nothing quite makes you smile like the distant hum of all the Whos down in Whoville, or when Linus gives his Christmas monologue. That is the meaning of Christmas, Charlie Brown.

So what do Christmas specials have to do with food? Not a whole lot. But, these Cornish hens reminded me of the humble Christmas dinner that Bob Cratchit served to his family. That’s another Christmas classic my dad would always watch late at night, after everyone was in bed, and he stayed up making sure all the presents looked just so.

Cornish game hens are the perfect portion for a small family/friends get together for the holidays. And they cook faster than a big roasted turkey. The pomegranate-rice stuffing is an interesting take on traditional stuffing and really dressing thins up a bit.

I hope your Christmas dinner is magically perfect.

Christmas dinner at its finest includes making Glazed Cornish Hens with Pomegranate-Rice Stuffing. Elegant, but incredibly easy to make, and gorgeous, too. | PassTheSushi.com

Holiday meals can become quite the extravagant feasts. If you are looking to fill yours out a little, try these recipes! So Good!

Home-Style Mashed Potatoes and Roasted Green Beans
Slow Cooker Rum Soaked Fig Cranberry Sauce
Double Cheddar Biscuits

If you’ve tried my Cornish Game Hens with Pomegranate-Rice stuffing recipe or any other recipe on passthesushi.com please don’t forget to rate the recipe and let me know where you found it in the comments below, I love hearing from you! You can also follow along for more good eats and travel tips on Instagram @passthesushi & @girlcarnivore, Twitter & Facebook.

Glazed Cornish Hens with Pomegranate-Rice Stuffing

Christmas dinner at its finest includes making Glazed Cornish Hens with Pomegranate-Rice Stuffing. Elegant, but incredibly easy to make, and gorgeous, too.
4.59 from 17 votes
Print Pin Rate
American
Author: Kita Roberts
2 hours 20 minutes
Serves: 4 Game Hens

Ingredients

  • 3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
  • Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
  • 4 Cornish hens - about 1 1/4 pounds each, rinsed and dried
  • 3 cups low-sodium chicken broth
  • 1 1/2 cups wild rice blend - I used a box of Uncle Bill’s Wild Rice blend without the seasoning package.
  • 6 tbsp unsalted butter
  • 1 large shallot - minced
  • 1 clove garlic - minced
  • 3/4 tsp ground ginger
  • 3/4 tsp ground cumin
  • 1/2 cup pomegranate seeds - plus more for serving*
  • 2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley - plus sprigs for serving
  • 2 tbsp chopped fresh cilantro - plus sprigs for serving
  • 3 large egg yolks
  • 3/4 cup fresh orange juice
  • 1 tbsp pomegranate molasses

Instructions

  • Mix the cinnamon, 4 teaspoons salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper in a bowl; sprinkle all over the hens and inside the cavities.
  • Place the hens on a rack set on a rimmed baking sheet and refrigerate, uncovered, at least 2 hours or overnight.
  • Bring the chicken broth and 2 cups water to a boil in a saucepan; add the rice blend and cook as the label directs. Drain and rinse under cold water.
  • Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
  • Melt 4 tablespoons butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the shallot, garlic, ginger and cumin and cook, stirring, until soft, about 3 minutes.
  • Remove from the heat; add the cooked rice, pomegranate seeds, and chopped parsley and cilantro; toss to coat. Season with salt and pepper.
  • Add the egg yolks and stir to combine.

Make the glaze:

  • Bring the orange juice and pomegranate molasses to a boil in a small skillet over medium heat. Cook until reduced by half, about 5 minutes.
  • Remove from the heat and swirl in the remaining 2 tablespoons butter.

Stuff the Hens:

  • Fill the cavity of each hen with about 1/2 cup of the rice mixture (reserve the rest); tie the legs together with twine. 
  • Roast 20 minutes, then brush with the pomegranate glaze.
  • Continue roasting, glazing every 10 minutes, until a thermometer inserted into the thigh registers 165 degrees F to 170 degrees F, 1 hour to 1 hour, 10 minutes. (Rotate the hens halfway through cooking; if the skin gets too dark, cover loosely with foil.)
  • Spoon the reserved rice into a pie dish, sprinkle with water and cover with foil.
  • After the hens have roasted about 20 minutes, transfer the rice to the oven and cook until heated through, about 45 minutes. Keep an eye it because it goes for browning to dark brown in a matter of moments as evident by my pics.
  • Transfer the hens to a platter and add some parsley and cilantro sprigs and pomegranate seeds.

Notes

*I got enough seeds from one pomegranate to use for the rice and to serve. To remove the seeds, cut the pomegranate in half over a paper towel and in a bowl of cool water, rub your thumbs over the seeds to extract them, as seen in this video.

Nutrition

Serving: 1g | Calories: 559kcal | Carbohydrates: 24g | Protein: 35g | Fat: 35g | Saturated Fat: 13g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 20g | Cholesterol: 284mg | Sodium: 227mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 6g

Nutritional informations provided as a courtesy and is only an approximatation. Values will changes based on ingredients used.

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Now that Christmas dinner is taken care of…

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Exciting News! Today I bring the cookies to Katrina’s Kitchen! Please go check out my Grasshopper Pie Cookies on her site. I can’t tell you how excited I am to be featured on Katrina’s site and how much fun it was coming up with this cookie recipe for her cookie exchange. I would love for you to go over and check out my recipe and all the other wonderful cookie recipes my foodie friends have been sharing all month on Katrina’s site.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Jeannette says

    wow, that looks SOOO goood. can you come over to my house and make me xmas dinner? ;P

    my favorite christmas special is the charlie brown christmas. i haven’t watched it in YEARS but i like that it’s still on tv every year for the younger generations to enjoy. heck, i don’t even think MY generation grew up with charlie brown.

    Reply

  8. Liz says

    What stunning Cornish hens!!! Perfect for any celebration. And such a great giveaway, too!

    I’m only going to enter once since I own that great cookbook…but I do follow you everywhere :)….and will stumble your post! My favorite holiday special is The Grinch Who Stole Christmas! Merry Christmas, my friend.

    Reply

  13. Katrina @ In Katrina's Kitchen says

    Thank you for bringing the cookies! I’ve been waiting for this post you know? Ever since you tweeted that you had cornish hens. 😀 I just knew that you were going to do something awesome with them.

    You do all in one comments/entries, yes? I follow on Facebook, Twitter, RSS. I stumbled and tweeted 😉

    Reply

  16. Carolyn says

    Those are gorgeous, Kita and I agree…perfect portion control for a smaller family. My fave holiday special? I always loved the really old one with Rudolph and Baby New Year, where the baby has the big ears he wants to hide under his hat all the time.

    Reply

  17. bekee says

    my favorite holiday special is a christmas story! hands down. the grinch who stole christmas is a second, and rudolph (the stop-motion animation) is third.

    i also subscribe to your rss feed.

    Reply

  18. The Mom Chef ~ Taking on Magazines One Recipe at a Time says

    Merry Christmas! I think your cornish hens look SO much better than the ones in the magazine! I have the recipe tabbed but don’t think I’ll be able to get to it before the end of the year. Now you’re making me really want to. The hens look fantastic.

    The original Grinch will probably always be my favorite (who can resist Max?), but we’ve grown fond of Shrek Christmas. Dudette watching it a jillion times this season has absolutely nothing to do with that.

    Wishing you and yours the best!

    Reply

  19. Debbi Hook says

    What an outstanding dish! I’m definitely saving it to make soon.
    My favorite Christmas special…hmmm, so many to choose from!
    I’m old school – I love to watch Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer with my adult kids 🙂 and the grandchildren. My middle son used to watch it year-round on video tape (back in the days when we had a Beta video player…and you’re probably too young to know what that is!)

    Reply

  20. Joy says

    The hens look wonderful. That is one of my favorite thing to make for the holidays. I have to say my favorite dish to make is prime rib. Happy Holidays!

    Reply

  22. amanda @ fake ginger says

    Those look awesome! You really can’t go wrong with pomegranates.

    I’m not much of a Christmas show person although I have watched Elf approximately 27 times already this year.

    Reply

  27. Rachel @ Baked by Rachel says

    My favorite special is always It’s A Wonderful Life. But you know… I REALLY miss the the Claymation Christmas special from growing up. BTW I’m dying to find some hens and cook them up. I bet they’d be really fun and would probably spark some pretty hilarious comments from the kids.

    Reply

  37. Shari says

    I never miss the Charlie Brown Christmas special, as it is just about the only one anymore that gets to the REAL meaning of Christmas.

    Reply

  57. Dana Hannsgen says

    My favorite Christmas special that I whip out for the holidays is definitely my 7 layer cookies. They take a bit more time and work, but it is so worth it in the end. Definitely a show stopper for the holidays. My favorite thing you have made here are the maple bacon cupcakes. Such an underrated combination that I think everyone should have on Christmas morning 🙂

    Reply

  62. Eliot says

    It just dawned on my that the only Christmas special we have watched this year was a new Ice Age one. (It really didn’t measure up to the old classics.) The best ever holiday classic has to be Christmas Story—don’t shoot your eye out! 🙂 Happy Holidays!

    Reply

  63. Sail2byzantium says

    Tweeted, followed, I think I’m subscribed, I stumbled, and I’ve rss’ed, *knead* an awesome bread book 🙂

    Reply

  64. Ann says

    What a great post! I love Linus’s monologue, too! I think it’s one of the all-time best Christmas moments!

    Thank you for the amazing giveaway! I “like” your Facebook page

    Reply

  94. Peggy says

    Oh girl, these are the sexiest hens I’ve ever seen! I’d almost feel dirty eating these babies – but trust me, I would enjoy every bite. Yeah… I’m a little loopy, but you’re still fabulous!

    Reply

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