Pickle Brined Fried Pheasant Tenders
Pickle Brined Fried Pheasant Tenders are impossible to resist! Crunchy on the outside and juicy and perfectly seasoned throughout. You know that Chic-fil-A place with the amazing pickle brined fried chicken nuggets that you can’t get on Sundays? Now you can! And you can use some of that pheasant you have in your freezer instead of chicken. Simply place the pheasant tenders in pickle juice in the morning and it will be ready to fry up at dinner time for a quick and tasty meal!
Servings: 4 servings
Ingredients
- 1 cup dill pickle juice (the leftover brine from a pickle jar)
- 1 egg
- 1 pound pheasant tenders, trimmed
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 2 Tablespoons cornstarch
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1 teaspoon ground rosemary
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- 6 cups vegetable or canola oil
Instructions
- Gather all of your ingredients.
- Whisk together pickle juice and 1 egg in a medium bowl. Add pheasant tenders to the pickle juice mixture. Cover and chill at least 1 hour or up to 8 hours.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, cornstarch, baking powder, garlic powder, smoked paprika, rosemary, ½ teaspoon of the salt and ¼ teaspoon of the black pepper.
- Set wire rack on rimmed baking sheet. Remove half of the pheasant tenders from the pickle marinade, add to flour mixture, and toss to coat, pressing to adhere. Transfer breaded pheasant tenders to wire rack. Repeat with remaining pheasant and remaining flour mixture. Refrigerate for 30 minutes or up to 2 hours. The pheasant tenders need to chill in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes after coating. This cooling time will help the layers of breading ingredients solidify and adhere to the meat better after the pheasant cooks.
- Line a large plate with a few paper towels. Add the oil to a large Dutch oven until it measures about 1 ½ inches deep. Heat oil over medium-high heat until it reaches 350 degrees F.
- Add half of the breaded pheasant tenders to the hot oil and fry for about 2 minutes until a golden rim appears around the edges before you turn them over to the other side to fry for another 2 minutes until deep golden brown.
- Transfer fried pheasant to the paper towel-lined plate. Return the oil to 350 degrees F and repeat the process with the remaining half of the pheasant. Sprinkle with the remaining salt and black pepper. Serve with your favorite dipping sauce.
