Humans have been hunting and cooking wild rabbits for longer than we’ve been recording history. We loved eating rabbit meat so much that we domesticated the critters way back in 1000 BC. However, wild rabbit meat is darker and has a richer flavor than the meat from its domesticated relatives. It also tends to be tougher, which makes sense considering wild bunnies live a much harder life. The best wild rabbit recipes employ cooking methods that help break down the meat’s toughness while enhancing its rich flavor.
How to Skin and Butcher a Wild Rabbit
There’s no doubt that hunting rabbits can be serious fun. However, a freshly harvested cottontail doesn’t look like anything you’d pick up at the grocery store. It can be difficult to know exactly how to clean a rabbit for cooking if you’ve never done it before.
If you need some help with how to skin a rabbit, we’ve broken it down into some easy-to-follow steps.
Once you have the rabbit skinned, you can use a sharp knife to separate the carcass into servable pieces.
How to Cook Wild Rabbit
Wild cottontails tend to cook up far differently than farm-raised rabbits. For one thing, wild bunnies tend to be smaller than their farm-fresh cousins. You may be able to easily feed a family of four off a single store-bought rabbit, but you’ll probably need at least two wild rabbits to accomplish the same feat. Especially, if you have big eaters and you don’t want anyone to leave the table hungry.
Also, hard living in wild, brambly places creates strong, lean muscles. Unfortunately strong muscles tend to be tough if they aren’t prepared with care. Frying may work great for a farm bunny, but slow cooking tends to yield the best results when working with wild cottontails.
If you’re dead set on frying up a passel of rabbits, try soaking the pieces in buttermilk before dredging in flour and frying in hot grease. Patience is the name of the game if you want something moist and tender. An overnight soak will allow the enzymes in buttermilk to break down some of the meat’s toughness. The longer you let it marinate, the more moist and tender it will be after it hits the dinner plate.
Wild Rabbit Hasenpfeffer
Hassenpfeffer is a traditional German recipe, which works incredibly well with wild cottontails, even if the classic recipe calls for a hare. The stew is rich, warming, and flavorful. Pair it with creamy mashed potatoes and braised greens and it is the perfect dish for warming up in cool weather.
Marinade Ingredients
- 1 large yellow onion, sliced
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 cups red wine
- 3/4 cup red wine vinegar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon cracked black peppercorns
- 1 tablespoon dijon mustard
- 1 tablespoon whole cloves
Stew Ingredients
- 2 wild rabbits, cut into portions
- 1 cup flour
- 4 tablespoons butter
- ¼ cup sour cream
Instructions
- Mix marinade ingredients and pour over rabbit pieces. Refrigerate for at least 24 hours (48 is even better), making sure that rabbit pieces are thoroughly covered in marinade.
- Remove rabbit from marinade and dredge in flour.
- Remove onions and then strain marinade through a fine sieve. Set both aside.
- Heat butter in a large pot or Dutch oven over medium heat. Brown flour-coated rabbit pieces on all sides. Remove from the pan and set aside.
- Add reserved onions and saute until tender.
- Add reserved liquid from marinade to the pot, stirring and scraping any brown bits from the bottom of the pot with a wooden spoon.
- Return rabbit pieces to the pot, tucking them close together, preferably in a single layer.
- Bring to a low simmer and then transfer pot to a 325-degree oven for 2 hours or until rabbit is fall-off-the-bone tender.
- Remove from the oven and stir in sour cream.
- Serve pieces smothered in sauce.
Wild White Rabbit Salad
This is a wild game take on traditional chicken salad. It makes a great addition to any office party or pot luck. Serve it with crackers or make it into those cute little crustless tea sandwiches that grandmas and book clubs seem to love.
Ingredients for Rabbit
- 1 whole wild rabbit
- 4 cups chicken broth
- Bay leaf
- 1 chopped onion
- 2 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons whole black peppercorn
Ingredients for Salad
- 1 rib celery finely chopped
- 3/4 cup mayonnaise
- 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 teaspoon fresh dill, chopped (or substitute ¼ teaspoon dried dill)
Instructions
- Add all rabbit ingredients to a slow cooker.
- Cook on low for 8 to 10 hours.
- Remove rabbit and allow to cool for 10 minutes.
- Remove meat from bones.
- Chop rabbit meat finely.
- Mix together rabbit meat and remaining salad ingredients in a medium bowl.
- Chill for at least one hour before serving.
Classic Chicken-Fried Wild Rabbit
No list of best wild rabbit recipes would be complete without this classic. The key to making tender, juicy fried wild rabbit is soaking it in buttermilk. Don’t rush this step. Soak it for several hours at least. Overnight is better, especially if you’re cooking a mature cottontail, which tends to be a whole lot tougher than the youngsters.
Ingredients
- 2 wild rabbits, skinned and cut into pieces
- 3 cups buttermilk
- 1 tablespoon Tabasco (or hot sauce of your choice)
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- Vegetable oil for frying
Instructions
- Using a fork, poke several holes in each piece of rabbit meat.
- Marinate rabbit sections in buttermilk and Tabasco overnight (at least 6 hours).
- Mix flour and seasonings in a large zippered storage bag.
- Remove rabbit from buttermilk mixture.
- Drop pieces into the seasoning bag one at a time and shake until each piece is well coated.
- Allow coated pieces to rest on a wire rack for five minutes. This allows the coating to adhere to the meat, preventing it from coming loose during cooking.
- Heat ½ inch of oil in a large cast iron frying pan over medium heat until hot.
- Fry rabbit portions in small batches in the oil with enough space between them that the meat doesn’t touch.
- Cook on one side until golden brown (about 10 minutes), then flip and cook on the opposite side. The internal temperature should be at least 160 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Remove cooked pieces to a plate lined with paper towels to drain off excess oil.
Other Great Wild Rabbit Recipes
If you’re looking for other creative ways to prepare wild rabbit, here are some of my favorites.
Wild Rabbit Ragu and Gnocchi — This delicious recipe calls for one pound of ground rabbit, which is another great way to work with tough, old bunnies.
Rabbit and Squirrel Gumbo — Two of the most under-appreciated game meats become the star of this South Louisiana classic.
Wild Rabbit Stew — This stew is hearty, filling, and delicious. I like to slow down the cooking to really tenderize tough bunnies. Once the pot hits a simmer, turn it down to low and let it go for at least an hour, maybe two if you can wait that long.
Creamy Tomato and Pepper Braised Rabbit — This recipe is easy to make and serves as the perfect comfort food.
Slow Braised Wild Rabbit with Mushrooms and Smokey Bacon — Bacon makes a great culinary companion for wild rabbits. It also adds a bit of moisture and fat, which is important when working with super-lean rabbit meat.
Read Next: The Best Guns for Rabbit Hunting
Final Thoughts on Cooking Wild Rabbit
Cooking wild rabbit can be challenging. These critters live and survive in the wild, dodging predators from the air and the ground. As a result, they end up lean and tough. The best wild rabbit recipes take this into consideration, typically using slow cooking or long marinating to develop a tender, juicy, mouth-watering end product. Perfectly cooked wild rabbit will rival the texture of store-bought chicken, but with tons more flavor.
