Slow cooker Cornish hens get the Creole treatment in this easy one-pot recipe that can also be made in your Instant Pot.
Updated 2020 with Instant Pot instructions
I love slow cooker Cornish hens because they’re perfect for a party of two. Most nights it’s just my husband and me for dinner. Cornish hens can be individual servings or split in half. In my household, we usually split one Cornish hen between the two of us.
What Are Cornish Hens?
Cornish hens (also known as Rock Cornish game hens) look and taste like chicken. Male or female, they’re slaughtered before 6 weeks of age hence their small size. Most Cornish hens weigh around 2 pounds. The ones you see here were approximately 1 1/2 pounds each. It’s common to find Cornish hens sold in your local grocery store in packs of two. If you’re feeding a party of one, cut the recipe in half.
Ingredients For This Recipe
This festive Creole Cornish Hens recipe uses ingredients that you should be able to easily find in your local grocery store.
- Cornish Hens: This recipes uses 2 Cornish hens that should fit in a 6-quart slow cooker or Instant Pot. If you’re using a smaller appliance, you may only be able to cook 1 at a time.
- Creole Seasoning: I provide a homemade Creole seasoning blend in the recipe box. Feel free to substitute your own Creole seasoning if you have one.
- Potatoes: You can use your preferred potato whether it be baby potatoes, russet potatoes or even sweet potatoes. Some work better than others. I discuss that below.
- The Holy Trinity of Creole cooking: This is the Creole version of mirepoix. It consists of bell pepper, celery, and onion.
How To Make Cornish Hens In The Slow Cooker
Sit back and let the slow cooker do the work. Add all the ingredients to the slow cooker and let it cook. I like to take the time to broil the Cornish hens after they’re done slow cooking but ultimately this is an optional step.
Creole Seasoning
The base of a lot of Creole recipes is a good Creole seasoning. In the recipe box you’ll find my homemade Creole seasoning. It’s great on meat, poultry, seafood, and vegetables. You can mix together the spice blend together first or add each spice to the slow cooker one-by-one. I like to mix them all together. I actually keep a big batch of this in my pantry. Of course you can use a store-bough Creole seasoning as well.
The Holy Trinity
Are you familiar with mirepoix? Mirepoix is a combination of diced onions, carrots, and celery. It’s used as a base for lots of traditional recipes like soups (think chicken soup), stews, and stocks. The holy trinity, also known as the holy trinity of Creole cooking is the Creole version of mirepoix. It consists of bell pepper, celery, and onion. It’s the base for lots of traditional Creole recipes so I used it here in this slow cooker Creole Cornish hens recipe. I used one red, one green bell pepper but you can use two of the same color bell pepper.
What Type Of Potatoes To Use
Waxy potatoes always work best for slow cooking because they hold their shape better than other forms of potatoes. Having said that, like most of my recipes, I encourage you to use the ingredients you have & like. You can use your preferred potato whether it be a waxy potato like red or yellow, russet potato, sweet potato, etc. If you use non-waxy potatoes like russet or sweet potatoes, I suggest you cut them into larger chunks than you usually would. This will help them hold their shape during the cooking process and not turn mushy on you.
Broiling The Skin
When I slow cooker poultry that has its skin on, I almost always remove it from the appliance when it’s done cooking to broil the skin. What can I say, I like crispy skin. If you want your Cornish hens to have a crisp skin, remove them from the slow cooker or Instant Pot. Place them on a baking sheet lined with foil and place them under the broiler for 3-5 minutes or until crisp to your liking. This is an optional step of course. If you’re going to remove the skin, don’t bother with this step.
Tips For This Cornish Hens Recipe
- With the slow cooker, I didn’t add any liquid. What you see in the pics is all natural juices. I understand that might make some people uncomfortable so go ahead and add up to 1/2 cup of low-sodium broth or water if you want.
- If you have a preferred Creole seasoning you want to use….use it!
- You can cook the Cornish hens from frozen if you use the Instant Pot. If you do, adjust the cooking time to 50 minutes.
Other Creole recipes you might enjoy:
I used a large 6-quart slow cooker or Instant Pot for this recipe.
PrintSlow Cooker or Instant Pot Cornish Hens
- Prep Time: 15 mins
- Cook Time: 5 hours
- Total Time: 5 hours 15 mins
- Yield: 4 servings 1x
Ingredients
- 2 Cornish hens (approximately 3-4 pounds total)
- 2 tablespoons Creole seasoning (see below for homemade blend)
- 1 1/2 pounds potatoes or sweet potatoes, chopped
- 2 bell peppers, chopped
- 1 large onion, chopped
- 2 celery stalks, sliced
- 1 cup low-sodium chicken broth (Instant Pot only)
- 1 tablespoon + 2 teaspoons oil
- Salt & pepper to taste
- 1 1/2 teaspoon paprika
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon salt (or more)
- 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/2 teaspoon oregano
- 1/2 teaspoon thyme
- 1/2 teaspoon cayenne
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
Instructions
Prepare the Cornish hens:
- Rinse & pat dry Cornish hens. Remove giblets & trim any excess fat.
- Drizzle the Cornish hens all over with the 2 teaspoons of oil. In a small bowl mix together the Creole seasoning. Season the Cornish hens evenly & all over the Creole seasoning.
- Add potatoes, bell pepper, celery, and onion to the slow cooker. Season with salt & pepper. Add the prepared Cornish hens on top of the food.
- Cook HIGH 3-4 hours or LOW 6-8.
- Turn on the pressure cooker and select sauté. Add the Cornish hens and cook 3-5 minutes on each side, until evenly browned. You may need to do this one hen at a time. Remove the hens and set aside.
- Add the bell peppers, onions, and celery to the pot. Cook 2-5 minutes or until vegetables are soft.
- Turn off the Instant Pot. Pour in the broth and deglaze the bottom of the pressure cooker by scraping all the bits off with a wooden spoon.
- Add the prepared Cornish hens. Place the potatoes around the hens.
- Close lid and seal valve. Set high pressure for 20 minutes. When cook time is done, let the pressure release naturally.
Notes
Instant Pot: If you’re using frozen Cornish hens, cook for 50 minutes.
Nutrition
- Serving Size:
- Calories: 215
- Sugar: 7.3 g
- Sodium: 649.7 mg
- Fat: 4.6 g
- Saturated Fat: 0.7 g
- Carbohydrates: 37.4 g
- Fiber: 7.4 g
- Protein: 7.4 g
- Cholesterol: 12.9 mg
This post contains affiliate links, which means I receive money if you make a purchase using one of the links. For more about my disclosure policy see here: https://fitslowcookerqueen.com/about/disclosure-policy/
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42 thoughts on “Slow Cooker Creole Cornish Hens + VIDEO”
If I want to split the hens should I do it before I cook or after?
Honestly, it doesn’t matter. Splitting before might help the hens fit the slow cooker better however cooking them whole will help them hold their shape better than the cooking process. My Cornish hens are usually so tender that they usually fall apart on me when I take them out of the slow cooker. Using tongs and a large spoon at the same time will help to get them out.
Hello and thank you for the recipe! We love it! I have used the recipe several times with great results. I made this last Christmas and because my husband raved about it so much I’m making it again for Easter lunch. It’s just the two of us since we’re still in the middle of Covid-19, but this makes such a beautiful meal, I will send a photo to the kids to show them we had a very nice holiday meal under the circumstances. Thank you for sharing such a great recipe that works so perfectly. BTW, The first time I made this I had some lemons I needed to use, so I quartered a lemon and placed 2 quarters inside the hen. The lemon made the dish so fragrant and even more delicious. Of course, your recipe was perfect as is, but we thought the lemon was a nice addition you may want to try. Thanks again for sharing such a lovely recipe that enjoy cooking. Happy Easter! ?
Not good! I followed Instant recipe for frozen Cornish Hens. The hens juice was red after adding recommended additional minutes. Put hens in oven at 425 after 23 minutes on manual and placed veggies in covered pan on stovetop.
Poor directions
I can not see specific directions for the cornish hen with sweet potatoes. Not sure how long to cook in crock pot.
I love Cornish hens! Thank you for the recipe!
How did you brown the hens
Can I add a bit of broth to the recipe??
Absolutely. I wouldn’t add more than 1/2 cup though otherwise I think it will produce too much liquid because the food will release some as well as it cooks.
Hello! I plan to make this tonight. Should I toss all the ingredients after I sprinkle the spices on top?
Correct, that’s the easiest way!
How did it brown on top without the stove or oven?
My husband is diabetic I think this would be a great recipe for him.
I hope he enjoys it!
Are you talking about the small cornish hens? Two? Cannot wait to try!
Correct two small cornish hens. I hope you enjoy the recipe!
Can I use frozen green beans?
Absolutely
Trying this recipe today.. but I accidentally got white sweet potatoes… will it taste ok or should I go grab one red sweet potato?
It should taste just fine no need to make an extra trip to the store. Personally I prefer white sweet potatoes. ?
Do you baste the chicken or leave it to cook
Leave it to cook. In general, you shouldn’t open the slow cooker lid when it starts cooking because it releases too much of the heat.
I’ve got a 7 and a half quart crockpot , how many hens can I fit in plus dressing if I use the small hens?
Yes that should be large enough. Let me know how it turns out!
I am trying this tonight with split chicken breasts (not a thigh fan).Thank you for this recipe! Made it tonight for my husband and his best friend who enjoyed it very much.Thank you…
I’m so glad to hear you enjoyed the recipe! Great idea to use split chicken breast. I have some in my freezer I think I might use this on them next time:-)
Is the seasoning in addition to emerils seasoning? I’m confused.
Use just the seasoning listed in the ingredient list. I was just letting you know that it’s actually Emeril’s seasoning blend I can’t take credit for it. Enjoy!
Do you put the meat in frozen or thawed?
I put it in thawed and that’s the preferred method but you can use frozen as well. Just add an additional hour or so to the cook time. Enjoy!
NEVER put frozen meat in a crock pot, especially chicken, takes along time to thaw, so basically it is sitting in a warm sealed container allowing bacterial to multiply…. now maybe many people have done this successfully…. but why invite trouble. leave frozen meat to thaw a day or so in fridge, then do your crock pot mea!
You are incorrect. Crock-pot website specifically lists that you can.
How would the recipe change if I only cooked one hen?
Apologies for the late response. Yes, there needs to be modifications when cooking this for one. I would use 1/2 lb sweet potatoes (or potatoes) and the following:
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp onion powder
1/4 tsp oregano
1/4 tsp thyme
1/4 tsp cayenne
1/4 tsp pepper
Enjoy! xShannon
Were your sweet potatos smushy when you included the chicken stock?
I didn’t use any stock:-) The juice you see in the pics is straight from the cornish hens. But to answer your question the sweet potatoes weren’t mushy per say but soft to the point that they fell apart when I took them out the slow cooker. xShannon
Okay great, thats the juice from chicken. I’m like did I overlook something. Thank you so much! I added chicken stock. Really good flavor!
You’re welcome! You’re not the first person to ask me that so I think it’s time I update the recipe to make that clear. I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
How did you get the juice in crockpot?
Hi Jessica – I actually didn’t use any juice. Unless I’m making a sauce, I don’t add broth or water to my poultry slow cooker dishes. In my opinion, they don’t need it, the juice the chicken releases will be enough . However if you want, you can add 1/2 cup low-sodium chicken broth.
Hello regarding this recepeit can I add some chicken stock???
Absolutely. 1/2 cup is more than enough. Enjoy!