Tender & Juicy Roasted Rabbit Recipe (2024)

Baked Rabbit is a very simple recipe to make with guaranteed results. It is impossible to resist its tantalizing aroma because rabbit is one of the most delicate and valuable meats. Baked rabbit is a perfect recipe to surprise your guests and is easily prepared, using ingredients and aromas typical of Mediterranean cuisine.

Do you want a rustic dish that can bring the whole family together? This time I will proudly share with you a delicious recipe of baked rabbit with white dry wine and bacon. Rabbit meat is one of the most delicious meats, certainly very lean but at the same time tender and juicy. When cooked correctly and served with a creamy dor-blue sauce, everything becomes more appetizing!

Besides being a delicious food, rabbit meat has some excellent qualities; it is white, lean, and easily digestible meat, therefore also suitable for those who follow a low-calorie diet. More rabbit recipes can be found here.

Ingredients for baked rabbit

This rustic recipe of roasted baked rabbit requires only a few ingredients that you can easily find in any grocery store at any time of the year. Most of the ingredients are part of the Mediterranean cuisine, this is why it is a recipe that you must try. As you can understand, as a first thing, you need rabbit meat. You can buy a whole rabbit, or you can buy pieces of meat as I did. I am lucky enough to be able to buy already marinated pieces of rabbit.

However, whatever meat you have available, you can always cut it into chunks and have it marinated with olive oil, some herbs, and garlic for at least a couple of hours before having it baked.

To make the recipe, you will also need some butter, fresh rosemary, a few garlic cloves, a glass of dry white wine, and some bacon for the extra flavour. Don’t skip the regular seasoning – salt and pepper.

How to fry rabbit meat?

For perfect baking of the rabbit, you should always first fry the pieces of meat until beautifully golden on each side. Take a large frying pan and put some butter to melt at medium heat. Then, add the pieces of meat along with crushed garlic and rosemary. It is an essential step in sealing the odour of the meat, and also, avoiding dispersing the juices. It is also imperative to cook it properly, considering rabbit is low-fat meat; prolonged cooking at an excessive temperature would make it dry and gummy.

To make the baked rabbit even more fragrant, try adding other herbs, such as thyme and a few bay leaves. In the end, pour half a glass of white dry wine and let it evaporate.

How to bake rabbit meat?

As soon as you have fried the rabbit meat pieces on each side and it all becomes golden brown, it’s time to proceed to the second step. Transfer the meat with care to a baking tray or, better, to a casserole. Do not forget to pour over the juice, herbs, and garlic from the frying pan.

Chop some bacon, and Spread it all over the casserole with the rabbit meat. Stiff it well under the meat and on top of it. The bacon will melt its fat during baking and add extra greasiness to the low-fat rabbit meat. A little trick will make a big difference when backing the dish. Mainly, bacon is necessary when you want to make the rabbit meat tenderer.

You may add a little more salt, black pepper and granulated onion before introducing the baking tray to the oven. Finally, add half a glass of dry white wine and cover the casserole with a piece of aluminium foil.

Now it’s time to transfer the casserole into the oven at 360° Fahrenheit and have it baked with aluminium foil on top for about 30 minutes. By covering the meat, the heat spreads evenly in the interior of the casserole. It is a commonly used technique in baking meat similar to boiling. During these 30 minutes, the meat will simmer in its own juice, as well as in the fat melted from the bacon and in the perfumed white wine. Isn’t that tempting?

When the time expires, take out the aluminium foil and let it bake for another 20-30 minutes until it becomes crispy on top. Baste the meat periodically to moisten the meat during baking and to prevent it from drying out. This is a necessary thing to do to get the baking effect.

That is all. Take out the casserole and let it rest for about 10 minutes before serving.

How to make blue cheese sauce?

This blue cheese sauce might be one of the best sauces you have ever tried. The combination of the spicy, sour blue cheese with white wine and heavy cream is beyond imaginable. It is a perfect sauce to suit any roasted meat dishes as well as fish dishes. Since I discovered it, I have used it whenever I can because it is simply perfect.

Heat 1 cup of heavy cream in a saucepan on medium-low heat to prepare the sauce. In the meantime, cut the Blue cheese in small chunks and make sure you have half a glass of white wine available. As soon as the heavy cream reaches a high temperature, lower the heat and add the blue cheese then stir continuously till it melts. After that, pour 1/3 of a glass of white wine and let it come to a boil. If you want the sauce to be thicker, let it simmer for about two minutes on low heat, stirring occasionally. That is all it takes to have a mind-blowing sauce that everyone will go crazy about.

When you take out the meat from the oven, arrange it carefully on a plate and pour some sauce on top of it. You can as well pour the sauce in a small sauce dish and keep it right next to you because you’ll never have enough of it. Give it a try and you’ll never regret it.