This Indian-inspired butter pheasant recipe captures the essence of classic Indian butter chicken dishes using pheasant in place of chicken. It's spicy, creamy, rich, and packed with flavor from the earthy blend of spices. Give it a try today!
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Featured Comment
"Don't know why this recipe hasn't had a review yet but I've just made it and WOW !!! It is absolutely fantastic !! I had to slow myself down whilst eating it as I was wolfing it down so quickly !! My partner was very very impressed also. Thanks. I'll be making it again and again."
- Carla
Why This Recipe Works
Butter chicken or murgh makhani is a very common Indian dish. If you go to any Indian restaurant in the US, they're bound to be serving butter chicken. It's a curry spiced with garam masala and made rich with butter and cream and is completely delicious! If you love the bold flavors of Indian curries, you'll also love Thai-inspired curries like elk massaman curry and halibut green curry.
It gets its color from the combination of spices and tomato paste. Therefore, wild pheasant or other game bird meat is an excellent substitution for chicken in this delicious recipe.
Traditionally, butter chicken does not contain coconut milk. But, the combination of cream and coconut milk makes this dish so rich and delicious that I like to incorporate it. The meat is marinated in yogurt, which is my secret to keeping the pheasant breast meat juicy. Coconut milk is also great for marinating like in this grouse satay recipe!
Once marinated, the meat is simmered in the flavorful sauce which also helps keep the meat moist. This dish is so comforting and full of flavor and picky eaters don't even realize it's not chicken. It's the perfect wild pheasant recipe!
Ingredients
- Pheasant: This recipe uses pheasant legs and breasts, but you can substitute just legs or just breasts. Or, use other game bird meat as well. If you’re just using pheasant breasts, put the legs to use by making easy crockpot pheasant stock and pheasant noodles soup!
- Garam Masala: Garam masala is an Indian spice blend that can vary widely in flavor depending on the spices used. Your butter pheasant may taste different depending on the spice blend you use. Depending on how spicy your blend is, you may want to cut back on the cayenne.
- Naan: Naan is an Indian flatbread. It's an optional ingredient but it is so delicious to mop up all that flavorful sauce.
See recipe card for quantities.
How To Make Indian Butter Pheasant
One of my favorite pheasant breast recipes, this dish only has a few simple steps. That said, it does take a bit of time to make due to the marinating of the meat. But, don't let that deter you!
It is so worth the effort. Follow the instructions below, and don't forget to scroll down to the recipe card for the complete details.
- Step 1: Cube pheasant legs and breasts, and place them in a bowl with yogurt, lemon juice, and spices.
- Step 2: Stir to combine, and refrigerate for a few hours or overnight.
- Step 3: Cook pheasant in butter over medium-high heat until it starts to brown. It doesn't need to be fully cooked. It will finish cooking in the sauce later. Remove to a bowl.
- Step 4: Cook onion, garlic, ginger, and tomato paste with spices until fragrant.
- Step 5: Add in coconut milk, cream, and pheasant pieces. Simmer for 10-15 minutes or until pheasant is cooked through and golden brown. Remove the pheasant from the pan, and let it rest for at least 5 minutes.
- Step 6: Serve over jasmine rice. Top with chopped cilantro and serve with warm naan for dipping. Enjoy!
Pro Tip
Marinating the pheasant pieces in yogurt overnight will help keep the meat moist and flavorful.
A Note on Hanging Pheasants
There is a lot of debate on whether or not it's necessary to hang pheasants. The purpose of hanging pheasants is to increase the tenderness of the meat and make it more flavorful.
You can process pheasant meat right away, hang it for a few days, or hang it for many days. It all depends on preference! If you're interested in trying it out, here are a few takeaways:
- You need special equipment or an extra fridge in order to hang pheasants. They should be hung at fridge temperatures with little variation (i.e. don't hang them outside with 20-degree temperature swings). If you have an extra fridge, all you need is a piece of wood or bar to hang the pheasants from and some sort of rope, paracord, etc. to wrap around their necks.
- Pheasants can be hung anywhere from 3-10 days. If you get towards the 10 days or further, you might start developing some off-flavors in the meat. Hanging only 1-2 days will probably not make much of a difference and you might as well save yourself the effort.
- Pheasants that have been hung will be harder to pluck if that's something you wish to do. Fresh pheasants are much easier to pluck.
- Pay attention to where your bird was shot. If any guts were shot, process it right away, and don't hang it.
- For recipes like this butter pheasant, you probably won't notice much of a difference between a bird that was hung or one that was processed right away. The difference can be seen in recipes like this sous vide pheasant breast or smoked pheasant where you can taste the meat more than the spices used.
How to Serve this Pheasant Breast Recipe
Once you have your delicious butter pheasant sauce, all you need is some warm jasmine rice (or your favorite rice), chopped cilantro, and warm naan for serving. You're going to love making this tasty Indian dish with your game bird harvests!
Recipe FAQs
Pheasant breasts are typically very lean and do well with moist heat like sous vide cooking, or cooking in a sauce like in this butter pheasant recipe.
Soaking pheasant in milk can help remove off-flavors and retain some moisture in the meat. This Indian butter pheasant recipe calls for a yogurt marinade which has a similar outcome.
Using moist heat like sous vide, braising, etc. helps keep pheasant meat moist. Dry heat like pan-searing or roasting can dry out the meat quickly if it gets overcooked.
I haven't tested this recipe in a slow cooker, but it should work. Marinate and sear the meat before combining the ingredients. Then, add everything to a slow cooker, cover, and cook on low or high until the bird cooks through.
Related Recipes
Looking for more tasty game bird recipes? Try these:
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Spicy Indian-Inspired Butter Pheasant
Equipment
- large saute pan
Ingredients
- 1 ¼ lb pheasant breasts and legs, cut into bite-size chunks (about 1 ½ whole pheasants)
- ½ cup plain Greek yogurt
- 1 lemon, juiced
- 4 teaspoon garam masala, divided
- 1 onion, grated
- 6 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 tablespoon fresh ginger, grated
- 2 tablespoon salted butter, divided
- ⅓ cup tomato paste
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1 teaspoon turmeric
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon cayenne
- 1 can coconut milk
- ¾ cup half and half
- ¼ cup fresh cilantro, chopped, for garnish
- 3 cups cooked jasmine rice, for serving
- warm naan, for serving
Instructions
- Combine yogurt, lemon juice, and 2 teaspoon garam masala in a medium bowl. Add in pheasant pieces and toss to combine. Refrigerate for a few hours or overnight.
- Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add in 1 tablespoon butter. Add pheasant to pan, working in batches if necessary to avoid crowding the pan. Cook until starting to brown, about 5-10 minutes. It's ok if it doesn't get cooked all the way through, it will finish cooking in the sauce. Remove pheasant to a plate.
- Add in remaining 1 tablespoon butter. Add in onion, garlic, and ginger. Cook until softened, about 3-5 minutes. Add in tomato paste, remaining 2 teaspoon of garam masala, cinnamon, turmeric, cumin, paprika, cayenne, and salt. Cook, stirring frequently, until fragrant, about 2-3 minutes.
- Add in coconut milk and cream. Stir until tomato paste dissolves in the liquid. Add pheasant back in. Bring to a simmer and cook until pheasant is done and sauce is slightly thickened, about 10-15 minutes.
- Serve over warm jasmine rice and top with fresh cilantro. There will be extra sauce but it's perfect for dipping warm naan in.
Notes
- Marinating the pheasant meat overnight in yogurt helps retain the moisture in the meat and helps tenderize it.
- You can substitute just legs or just breasts or use other game bird meat for this recipe.
- Garam masala can vary widely in flavor and spiciness depending on the blend you use. Make sure you know what your blend tastes like before trying this recipe. If your garam masala blend is already spicy, you may want to cut back on the cayenne.
Misty says
I made this tonight after our first pheasant hunt of the year. Let me tell you, this is delicious!!!!!!! We put ours over brown rice with naan and it did not disappoint! Will make again:) Thanks for the great recipe!
Annie Weisz says
Thank you for your kind review, Misty! I'm so happy you loved this recipe as much as I do!!
Carla Volante says
Don't know why this recipe hasn't had a review yet but I've just made it and WOW !!! It is absolutely fantastic !! I had to slow myself down whilst eating it as I was wolfing it down so quickly !! My partner was very very impressed also. Thanks. I'll be making it again and again.
Annie Weisz says
Thank you so much for your kind words, Carla! I'm so glad you and your partner loved the recipe!