Super Easy Pheasant Florentine Recipe (Chicken Florentine)

If you are a fan of Chicken Florentine, then you have to try my Pheasant Florentine Recipe. It's by far the most popular of all of my pheasant recipes.

Pan seared pheasant breast is doused in a spinach and garlic cream sauce. It will soon become your new favorite 30-minute meal. It may look a little fancy, but this pheasant breast recipe is simple and perfect for a quick weeknight dinner. And if we ever run out of pheasant, my wife can use this Florentine recipe with some store-bought chicken.

The ingredients for this ring necked pheasant recipe are straightforward, and the preparation isn’t hard at all. Lightly seasoned and floured pheasant breasts are seared for a couple of minutes on both sides. Once golden brown before, they're plunged into a luscious garlic cream sauce with fresh baby spinach. And if you are like me, you will love only having one pan to clean afterwards!

What Does Florentine Mean?

This Florentine recipe doesn't come from Florence in Italy. Florentine is actually a classic French cooking method for chicken or fish called "a la Florentine." Chicken Florentine consists of a poached chicken on a bed of spinach with a creamy sauce. But as you may have noticed from the photo of this dish, I chose not to poach the pheasant breast, but instead gave it a quick sear on both sides.

What Does Pheasant Taste Like?

Ring Necked Pheasants are lean birds that tends to dry out quickly, so they deserve extra care and attention during cooking. The flavor of pheasant is comparable to chicken with varying amounts of "gaminess" depending on how long the bird is aged.

I like to tease my hunting buddies and insist I only shoot pheasants in the head because it's preferable when hanging these "ditch parrots" to improve their flavor and tenderness. If you aren't a crack shot like myself and the BBs goes through the stomach or intestines, it can contaminate the meat, and the pheasant ends up unsuitable for hanging.

Refrigeration is important in controlling food safety risks associated with meat so it's very important to keep your birds at or just below 40 degrees F. Even if I am able to hang a pheasant to age and tenderize for a few days at my personal favorite temperature of 40 degrees F, I still like to go over the pheasant breasts with a Jaccard meat tenderizer. Anyone who knows me has heard my praises for this great kitchen gadget I use to tenderize everything from big game to waterfowl to upland birds.

The Importance Of A Pheasant Brine

A brine is simply salt dissolved in water. The brine seasons the meat and promotes a change in it protein structure, reducing its overall toughness and creating gaps that fill up with water. This keeps the pheasant meat juicy and flavorful. I prefer to use table salt vs. kosher salt for brining since it dissolves quickly in the water.

Pheasant Brine Directions

Dissolve 2 tablespoons of salt in 1 quart of water in a container large enough to hold the brine and the pheasant breasts. Submerge the pheasant completely in the brine. Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes up to 1 hour - no more! Remove the pheasant from the brine and pat dry with paper towels before cooking.

How to Make This Pheasant Florentine Recipe

1. Place the pheasant breasts on a cutting board and go over each with a Jaccard meat tenderizer. Then place the pheasant breasts in a brine for 30 minutes or up to 1 hour (see brining directions listed below).

2. Remove the pheasant from the brine, pat dry with a paper towel. Season both sides of each brined pheasant breast with pepper and garlic powder. Coat the pheasant in flour on all sides.

3. Add the oil and 1 tablespoon of the butter to a large skillet over medium-high heat. Cook the pheasant for 2 minutes per side until golden and the internal temperature reaches 160 degrees F. This temperature will continue to rise after removing the pheasant from the heat, ideally to a temperature of about 165°.

4. Take the skillet off the heat and transfer the cooked pheasant breasts to a plate.

5. Return the skillet to the heat and add the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter and the minced garlic. Let it cook for about 1 minute.

6. Add the chicken broth and Herbes de Provence to the skillet. Let it cook over medium heat for 3 minutes until slightly reduced.

7. Reduce heat to low, stir in heavy cream, and simmer until thickened about 3 minutes. Once thickened, stir in Parmesan cheese.

8. Add baby spinach into the sauce and cook 2 minutes, just until wilted.

9. Add cooked pheasant breasts back to the skillet and warm through to soak up the sauce.

Pheasant Internal Temperature

For the best-tasting white meat, which includes pheasant breasts and wings, you generally want to cook the meat to an internal temperature of 160 degrees F. The temperature will continue to rise after removing the pheasant from the heat, ideally to a temperature of about 165 degrees. I find that it’s best to pull smaller cuts like a pheasant breast at exactly 160 degrees F. The heat will increase by only about 5 degrees to the recommended 165 degrees F. Past that, you run the risk of eating dry pheasant.

What Can You Serve With Pheasant Florentine

Think of all that creamy garlicky sauce like gravy and serve this Pheasant Florentine over a pile of fluffy mashed potatoes or a bed of rice. We don't buy bread often, but if I have a hunk of crusty bread at my disposal, you bet I'm using it to mop up all the sauce. Add some steamed vegetables or a salad, and you're set. 

Ring Necked Pheasant

Of all the game birds that are hunted across the Midwest every fall and winter, pheasant is the most common. But while we might see the pheasant as a symbol of the Dakotas, it’s actually a native of Asia. They were introduced to Europe by the Romans and started to become popular in Britain starting in the eleventh century. It wasn't until much later in the late 1800's that they were released in the United States in Oregon.

Owen Denny brought the first Ring Necked Pheasants to the United States in 1881. He shipped 60 of them over the ocean and released them in his home state of Oregon. He released more birds in 1882 and 1884. During the late 1800's and early 1900's many pheasants were imported from England and released across the United States.

Pheasants do best in farm country mixed with grasslands, and later in December and early January like cattail sloughs. And we have a lot of both of those here in North Dakota.

Upland Bird Hunting in North Dakota

The beauty of upland bird hunting in North Dakota lies in its simplicity. It’s a walk with a shotgun. Your goal is to frighten a ground-dwelling bird into flight, so you can shoot at its green head with a distinctive red wattle. Even if you don’t find anything, you’ve had a nice walk in the fresh air. When you do find these upland birds, the jolt of excitement you feel as a hidden bird blasts off at your feet is only matched by the tasty reward of a pheasant on your kitchen table. 

If you are headed our way for North Dakota pheasant season, check out the North Dakota Game & Fish Department website. And if you want me to come along with you as your camp cook, photographer, or butcher, you can find out more details here.

More Upland Bird Recipes

If you are looking for more great ways to use pheasant in your diet, be sure and check out my Fried Pheasant Tenders and Pheasant Fritters and Pheasant Pot Pie and Buffalo Pheasant Dip. Or you can find all my upland bird recipes here.

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