This is my rendition of pheasant noodle soup. Everyone who makes this probably does something a little different. If you are short of pheasants, use any white meat. Turkey, rabbit, grouse, partridge or quail all spring to mind. You could even make this with fish if you were so inclined, but if you do, don't cook the broth more than 1 hour. Everything else is pretty easy to find. For me, this is a winter warmer, something to eat for lunch on a cold day. For a dinner, you might need only some bread and a salad to go with it.
Recipe by Hank Shaw on November 23, 2015
Prep time: PT180M
Cook time: PT30M
Total time: PT210M
Rating
4.93 stars (14 reviews)
Keywords
pheasant
Ingredients
2 Pheasants, (breast meat removed)
A little oil to coat the carcasses
Salt
3 bay leaves
2 celery stalks, (chopped)
4 leeks or 1 onion, (chopped)
2 carrots, (peeled and sliced into discs)
1 garlic clove, (mashed)
1 sprig rosemary
2 star anise pods ((optional))
3 tablespoons butter
White parts from the leeks (or 1 chopped onion)
2 celery stalks, (chopped)
2 carrots, (peeled and sliced into discs)
1 bay leaf
1/2 to 1 cup white vermouth or white wine
Salt and black pepper
1 pound egg noodles, (orzo or other soup pasta)
1/4 cup chopped parsley
Categories
Soup
Cuisine
American
Steps
Make the broth first. Coat the pheasants with some oil and salt well. Put them in a roasting pan and roast in the oven at 400°F for about 1 hour. Remove the pheasants and put into a stock pot and just barely cover with water. Set the heat to medium-high. Pour some water into the roasting pan and let that sit for a few minutes to loosen things up. Scrape any browned bits off the bottom of the roasting pan with a wooden spoon and pour that into the stock pot. As soon as the stock begins to simmer, drop the heat to low and let this cook very gently for 2 hours.
While this is simmering, drop the pheasant breasts into the broth and let them cook gently for 20 minutes. Remove them, shred the meat and set aside.
Fish out the pheasants and pick off all the meat from the legs, thighs, wings and carcass. Set this aside and return the bones to the stock pot. Add 2 stalks of celery, 2 carrots, the smashed garlic clove, rosemary, bay leaves and the star anise if using. Separate the light from dark parts of the leeks. Chop the dark green parts and add to the stock, and slice the white and light green parts and set aside for the soup. If you're using onions, just add 1 chopped onion now. Let the stock cook another 90 minutes.
When you're ready to make the soup, you can do one of two things: You can simply set up a fine mesh strainer over the pot you are going to make the soup in, or you can properly strain your stock and use that. To properly strain the stock, put a piece of paper towel in the strainer and set that over a big bowl or other large container. Ladle the stock from the stockpot through the strainer set-up into the big bowl. This will give you a nicer, clearer broth.
To finish the soup, heat the butter in a Dutch oven or other soup pot set over medium heat. Saute the white parts of the leeks (or the onion), the final 2 celery stalks and carrots until soft and translucent, but not browned. This should take about 5 to 8 minutes. Add the vermouth and let this boil a minute or two, then add the bay leaf and about 4 to 8 cups of the stock you just made. Let this simmer very gently.
To cook the noodles, you can do one of two things: You can just drop them into your soup, which is fine but it will make the broth cloudy. Or, you can boil your noodles in some salty water and add them later. I boil mine separately because I like clear broth.
While the noodles are cooking, return all the picked-over pheasant meat (and the shredded breast meat) to the soup. Add salt and black pepper to taste. When the noodles are ready, add the parsley and serve.
Nutitrion
Serving Size: 1 serving
Calories: 918 kcal
Carbohydrates: 51 g
Protein: 87 g
Fat: 39 g
Saturated Fat: 13 g
Cholesterol: 301 mg
Sodium: 233 mg
Sugar: 5 g
Reviews
Gary Mullen on 2026-01-21 (5 stars): I am not a cook but I'm a pretty good pheasant hunte,r and I love soup. I wanted a good recipe specifically for pheasants and this was it. I followed it perfectly and it came out wonderful.
Steve Engelhardt on 2025-10-22 (5 stars): Cleaning out the freezer for the upcoming hunting seasons and found a couple two year old birds. Put them in the stew pot and they cooked up great, thanks to another of your wonderful recipes. Here is to many more years of wild game and your cookbooks!
Jessica on 2022-12-23 (5 stars): I’d been wanting to make soup so I could use up the legs and not waste them. Found this recipe and made it for family Christmas a couple years ago. They loved it so much, it’s now part of our tradition!
Rob H. on 2022-12-19 (5 stars): Hello Hank, This broth is hands down the best broth I have ever had. Whether I made it or someone else's. And just forget store bought. My question is, you have other recipes for a duck broth, why not use this recipe and substitute duck, goose, chukar or chicken for the pheasant? Is there something about this recipe that would not work with the other birds?
Thanks, Rob
Rob H. on 2022-11-28 (5 stars): Absolutely amazing soup. Fabulous on a cold winter day. The broth alone is worth the effort. I may be slow in the kitchen, but plan on this taking most of the day to prepare. As for the 1 pound of noodles, that 1 pound of cooked noodles. I started with 1 pound of dry and that was just far too much.
Pryce on 2022-11-15 (5 stars): This is my favorite recipe for pheasants, the family absolutely loves it. I have even been able to use this method of cooking the bird and making a stock to make some awesome pot pies!
Shouldn't the prep time be 4.5 hours though? 1 hour roasting pheasant, 2 hours boiling pheasant, 1.5 hour cooking broth with vegetables(pheasant meat removed)? Did I miss something?
Seth on 2020-11-12 (5 stars): I love this recipe. I’ve made it with pheasant per the recipe and have used one wild turkey leg (thigh and drum stick). The only modification I made for the turkey leg is I left the meat (on the bone) in the pot for step 2. It worked for me.
Greg Curry on 2019-12-28 (5 stars): I used 4 'breasted' Illinois pheasants (breasts were used for a wonderful mushroom & wild rice dish from meateater.com. Followed Hank's recipe & the soup turned out ridiculously well! Thank's Hank.
Jim on 2019-02-01 (5 stars): My wife and I made this recipe just about exactly as written, including making the stock as described. It was probably the best soup we've made, and we make soup a lot. Really outstanding flavor!