Quick and Crispy Fried Pheasant Fritters with Garlic Aioli

Quick and Crispy Fried Pheasant Fritters is one of our favorite pheasant recipes when we need an easy weeknight meal to feed the family.

These fritters are tender, juicy and amazingly flavorful. If you love an easy pheasant recipe, THESE pheasant fritters are for you!

The Garlic Aioli with the addition of shredded celery is utterly delicious and comes together in minutes. Combine everything into a bowl and stir with a spoon. You'll want to dip these fritters, maybe some warm and crispy French fries, or veggies into it. And you might just have to make a double batch of the garlic aioli and give each person their own bowl. Especially when you have an infamous double-dipper like our 9-year-old daughter.

The Secret To Crispy Fried Pheasant

In my quest for homemade fritters with a crispy exterior and flavor-packed, pillowy-soft center, I learned that less is more. Adding just salt and pepper, Mozzarella cheese, and fresh dill balanced the natural flavor of the pheasant. Adding a touch of cornstarch to the flour creates a crispy exterior. This provides a wonderful contrast to the light and creamy interior.

If you're in a hurry on a busy weeknight, you can cook the fritters right after mixing the pheasant batter. However, if you have extra time or want to prepare ahead, refrigerate the mixture for at least two hours or overnight. This extra step allows the pheasant to marinate longer, resulting in juicier and more flavorful fritters.

Can I Substitute Ground Pheasant Or Cooked Pheasant?

YES! The girls and I love the texture and juicy bits of diced pheasant breast. However, you can easily substitute ground pheasant, duck, or goose instead. For another option, I’ve had great success using cooked pheasant meat shredded off the legs and thighs.

Once, I made these fritters with a can of cooked chicken. I fried them on the tailgate of a pickup truck for elk-hunting clients, and they turned out great. This fried pheasant recipe is flexible, so use whatever you have on hand. It’s perfect for a quick meal or snack to simplify your day. If you discover a fun substitution that works well, share it with me, and I’ll gladly share it with everyone on my Instagram stories.

How to Make Fried Pheasant Fritters

1. Gather all of your ingredients.

2. In a large mixing bowl, add the pheasant, mozzarella, eggs, mayonnaise, flour, cornstarch, dill, salt, and black pepper and stir together until well combined. You can make the fritters right away, but if you have time, cover the bowl with a lid or plastic wrap and refrigerate for 2 hours, or up to overnight. This will give the pheasant more time to marinade, so you end up with fritters that are juicier and more flavorful.

3. Line a rimmed baking sheet with paper towels. In a large nonstick frying pan over medium heat, heat the olive oil. Working in batches, drop six 1-tablespoon portions of the pheasant batter into the pan. Use a spoon or spatula to flatten into 2-inch disks. Fry for 2 to 3 minutes per side until the bottom turns golden brown and the internal temperature reaches 160 degrees F using an instant read meat thermometer.

4. Transfer cooked fritters to paper towel-lined baking sheet. Repeat with remaining batter, adding more olive oil as needed. Serve immediately.

How To Make Garlic Aioli

The word aioli is pretty much synonymous with mayo, and is usually just a simple mayonnaise (store-bought or homemade) that is flavored with a generous amount of garlic. The addition of the shredded celery is a gift to my wonderful wife who is a HUGE celery fan. Any chance I can sneak in some extra celery, celery salt, or celery seed in a recipe I'm making for her, you're going to see me do it.

1. In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the mayonnaise, shredded celery, minced garlic, lemon juice, salt, black pepper, onion powder, and celery seed.

2. Serve the garlic aioli with the fritters or store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.

How To Serve This Quick Pheasant Recipe

Honestly these fried pheasant fritters disappear just as soon as they are out of the pan, making them one of our favorite fried pheasant recipes. You could serve them as appetizers, between sliders as mini pheasant sandwiches, or as a main dish for dinner. I quickly learned they are a crowd pleasing treat for both kids and adults alike, when on two different occasions, our friends with toddlers came over and gobbled them up as soon as they hit the serving platter. That garlic aioli is all kinds of yum!

You will love the crisp cheesy edges and juicy center of these fried pheasant fritters. They are even delicious at room temperature (I discovered right after finishing the photo shoot for this fried pheasant recipe), or chilled in the refrigerator - and you won’t be able to stop at just one. If you’re lucky enough to have leftovers, they re-heat really well in about a minute on a skillet.

More Quick Pheasant Recipes

If you are looking for more great ways to use pheasant in your diet, be sure and check out these quick pheasant recipes that come together in 30 minutes or less:

• Lemon Pheasant Soup
• Pheasant Florentine
• Pheasant Salad
• Pheasant Olive Garden Gnocchi Soup

Come Pheasant Hunting In North Dakota

If you are headed our way to hunt pheasants in North Dakota, check out the Top 5 Places in North Dakota to Hunt Pheasants. And if you want me to come along with you as your camp cook, photographer, or butcher, you can find out more details here.

If you want to do a DIY public land hunt here in North Dakota, I highly suggest you take the time to read this article from Project Upland on "Tactics to Increase Public Land Hunting Success" written by Kyle Hedges.

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