Pheasant Tacos

Pheasant tacos are an easy recipe to make with leftover pheasant. Serve with your favorite toppings and you have a delicious meal.

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Pheasant is by far one of our favorite things to hunt for and to cook. Chicken doesn’t hold a candle to the delicious, tender and juicy pheasant. Although you can make leftover chicken tacos with this recipe too.

Even if you don’t hunt, pheasant, it has become fairly easy to find at restaurant stores and in some higher end grocery stores. You can also locate them online.

This recipe will work for other upland birds such as ruffed grouse, chukar or gray partridge. These birds work hard to find sustenance so the legs and thighs are notoriously tough and contain lots of tendons. The slow cooker does a great job of breaking these down so the meat ends up tender and juicy.

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What you need

For the pheasant

• pheasant meat – use our smoked pheasant for a different flavor profile. Or use any leftover cooked pheasant breast, whole, breast filets, legs or thighs
• onion
• garlic
• orange
• crushed tomatoes with juice
• cumin
• kosher salt
• black pepper

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For the tacos

• corn tortillas
• pheasant mixture

Optional taco toppings

• shredded lettuce
• diced tomatoes
• grated cheddar cheese or Jack cheese
• cotija cheese or queso fresco
• pickled or fresh sliced jalapeño
• Mexican creme or sour cream
• chopped cilantro leaves
• pickled or fresh onion
• pickled or fresh radishes
• sliced avocado
• black olives
• your favorite salsa or pico de gallo
• hot sauce
• spicy slaw
• lime wedges or squeeze a bit of lime juice on each taco

How to make it

Cover pot. Cook on low for about 4 hours, until pheasant shreds easily with a fork.

If your meat contained bones, let the taco filling cool enough to handle. Then remove bones. Place meat on cutting board and “pull” the meat with two forks. Remove the orange rinds from the crockpot. Place pulled thigh meat, pulled leg meat and pulled breast meat back into slow cooker and mix with the remaining ingredients. Warm in slow cooker on the warm setting until hot enough to serve.

How to assemble tacos

Do Mexican street tacos which are sold by street vendors in Mexico. Just warm tortillas a few at a time in the microwave on a plate covered with a damp paper towel for about 30 seconds (or use a tortilla warmer).

Or fry tortillas briefly in a cast iron skillet with olive oil coating the whole bottom of the skillet for just a few minutes on each side, until the tortillas are as crispy as you like.

Once your tortillas are warmed, place the taco meat in a serving bowl. To assemble, spoon a few tablespoons of the pheasant mixture into the tortilla. Top with your favorite toppings.

More taco recipes

• Brisket Tacos
• Instant Pot Chicken Tacos
• Venison Tacos
• Chorizo Tacos
• Rabbit Tacos

Helpful Tools

• 4 qt crockpot
• chef’s knife
• extra large bamboo cutting board

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I hope you enjoyed the recipe today!

Enjoy. And have fun cooking!

📖 Recipe

Originally published June 17, 2022.

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