Often overlooked, rabbit is an environmentally-friendly, easy-to-produce, yummy-to-eat local meat. Yet most of us shy away from it.
That’s because it’s not one of the Big Four (beef, chicken, pork, turkey) that we casually find in almost every supermarket. Why isn’t rabbit in your supermarket? Having tasted the succulent meat, it’s not because it doesn’t taste good.
The truth is, it’s not being mass-produced in confined animal feeding operations (CAFOs), so it’s just not going to find its way into major grocery stores.
But if you’re trying to source your meats from local farmers and ranchers, you’ll want to give rabbit a try.
Why is Roasted Rabbit a compelling main dish that deserves new popularity in American homes?
Reason #1 to Eat Rabbit: HUSBANDRY PRINCIPLES
For many of us, buying pasture-raised chicken is a high ideal we attain to. We have learned enough about conventional chicken farms that we now seek out meat that is raised with conscientious husbandry principles. Farmers like Joel Salatin have opened our eyes and shown us what it takes to pasture animals, grazing them on grass, allowing them to eat bugs and dandelions instead of potentially genetically modified soy and corn-based feed.
For those of us who don’t pasture our own broiler hens, we have looked for local farms from which to buy these high quality chickens. We have had to be stout of heart; for the price difference between a pasture-raised chicken and an organic chicken can be quite a jump.
HERE’S A LOOK AT THE PRICE SPECTRUM
Rocky Chickens, grown in Petaluma, CA are raised with “access” to green grass and are fed an all vegetarian diet, which can be GM sourced, but no hormones or antibiotics- about $10 a bird. (Diestel chicken has a similar profile and price point.)
Rosie Chickens, grown in Petaluma, CA are raised with “access” to green grass and are fed an organic, all vegetarian diet, which can not be GM sourced, and no hormones or antibiotics- about $15 a bird.
Local Pasture-raised Chickens, grown in our town of Eugene, OR, raised on pasture, eating bugs, dandelions and supplemented with organic, non-GM feed, and no hormones or antibiotics- about $20 a bird.
Our family of five shoots to spend $5-$11 per dinner on meat. If we buy organic drumsticks at Trader Joe’s we can actually spend as little as $5 total, with each person eating 2 or 3 drumsticks!
But I’d rather buy a pastured chicken than an organic one. I’d rather get the “giblets,” the whole bird. And I’d rather buy locally grown meat.
ENTER RABBIT
The price point for rabbit is no better than pasture-raised chicken, really. They can cost around $5 a pound, easily weighing in at 4 lbs. each.
I wish I could say this is an article about how to save money when buying local meat.
Instead this is an article about a great local meat to buy, why and how it makes such a delicious and fun feast; and lastly, if you have a little land and a spirit of adventure how rabbit can also be economical.
Reason #2 to Eat Rabbit: RAISING RABBITS MAKES THEM ECONOMICAL
Are you interested in raising your own rabbits? If you are, they are an efficient animal to raise for meat.
Here is a link to brief interviews with two local couples who raise rabbits mainly for their own families’ consumption: Rabbit Raising Interviews
Rabbits need to be protected from escaping and from predators. But other than this precautionary caging, they are easy to care for and, as you know, have an accurate reputation for “breeding like rabbits.”
Reason #3 to Eat Rabbit: ROASTED RABBIT TASTES SO GOOD
Our family loves roasted rabbit. We love the variety, the excitement of a new, special food; and we, of course, love the experience of picking up succulent meat and licking our fingers after an herbaceous bite.
It’s true what is said: rabbit tastes a bit like chicken. The texture and flavor have similarities. But it isn’t chicken-y. It’s rabbit!
It’s its own thing.
Here’s a link to the Eat Beautiful blog for a simple recipe for a special dinner: Roasted Rabbit Dinner
FINAL STEP?
Use the rabbit carcass to make bone broth! Use the whole animal. 🙂 Here’s a link to my Eat Beautiful recipe for the best Bone Broth: Bone Broth Recipe
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Thank you for this recipe! I’ve been switching over our diets to more organic and grass-fed/pastured meats and because of the price difference, I have needed to add more variety of meats and different cuts….out of my comfort zone. I can cook things tripe and liver like no ones business but when I first tried to work with rabbit I was stumped and did not like the braised recipe I tried. This recipe looks amazing!
I had rabbit (lapin!) once in France, delish. What we don’t see around here to buy, we tend to forget about.
Quail is good too, and quail eggs are amazing!
I agree!! 🙂
I can’t find it! My butcher has it every so often but it’s very expensive. 🙁
Perfect timing on this article….our first litters of meat rabbits are due next week 🙂
I used to eat it in my 20’s. Saw it regularly at Palo Alto Co-op. Wow, those days are long gone and long overdue again!!
It’s good but so many small bones to work around!
Rabbit is very good. Affordable if you find a hunter to buy then from.
I raised rabbits for meat as a teenage entrepreneur , helped put me through my first year in college!
they are 16$ for half a rabbit at Publix.
I go to either the Mexican Market or Asian Market for my rabbit, very affordable than my meat market for the same product!
Rabbit stew….Mmmmmm!
My uncle used to raise them. They are good.
Love this article! I NEED to make it myself soon!
Uhm, NO! I’m German to the core and I’m not even going there.
always ate it as a child (grandfather was a hunter) now its not so commercially available so very rarely do we have it
Braised rabbit gnocchi…. Omg
Thanks for the recipe! We started raising rabbits last year and I’m still trying to learn the best ways to prepare rabbit!
We are raising rabbits for meat. It is a very delicate meat that can dry out quickly so pairing it with bacon is always a safe choice! It’s very good!!
I love rabbit! It’s a delicious, lovely meat, and I agree– rabbit tastes like rabbit. If I had to define it, I would say gamey chicken, but in some ways, the flavor is even more delicate. It’s lovely.
I tried… but I couldn’t get the cute bunny thing out of my head
We will be eating rabbit stew tomorrow for dinner.
Advertising is a tough one. There are so many animal rights people out there that don’t mind breaking the law. They are going after rabbit meat breeders. I personally know of two small meat breeders that were raised due to lies and corruption.
Delicious grilled on the bbq. The dogs get the rib cage, liver & kidneys for treats or I use them in bone broth.
Love rabbit fricassee! Have eaten squirrel, too…bit gamey but if you have nothing else to eat it is wonderful! Dad hunted for our food during rough times…we ate whatever he brought home. Rabbit, squirrel, quail, pheasant, duck, deer. Meat is a wonderful thing when beans and cornbread are the standard fare!
I grew up in the city but my parents and grandparents were farm folks. My Dad and brother hunted when we went to my grandparents farm. I’ve had rabbit, squirrel, deer, and frogs legs. I would eat any of them now, they all taste fine, but rabbit at Sprouts is pretty pricey 🙁
I need to try frog legs but don’t have a good source. One day!
I grew up eating it. Tastes like chicken 😉
Lovelovelove rabbit. Hubby and I raise rabbits for meat. They are by far our favorite animal on the homestead. The meat is super tasty and just as versatile as chicken. We fence them out of the garden and let them run wild in our fenced in back pasture. We have several favorite dishes, but the one I get requests for all the time is Bacon Bunny Mummy. So simple. Rub the carcass all over with salt, garlic and pepper or your favorite seasonings. I usually toss a few garlic cloves and some onion pieces in the cavity. Wrap the bunny carcass in long strips of bacon, using toothpicks to secure. Bake at 350 until the juices run clear and the legs move easily. Or, even better. Grill on a low smokey fire until done. The bacon adds some fat & juiciness to mean that can sometimes (like chicken breasts) be a bit dry. Brining also helps add some juiciness.
That sounds wonderful!!
YUCK. I wish we would could try to eat FEWER animals, not more diversified animals.
We have been talking about raising meat rabbits for the past 3 months-I’ve had rabbit several times and loved it; Hubby’s only had it once (one we got from the local grocery that was IMPORTED from CHINA. I nearly had a heart attack) and it was tough and tasteless. From the tasty meat, low carbon impact, great manure for the garden, and general ease to raise (vs other livestock) they are a perfect addition to the suburban farm. Thank you for the wonderful article!
Thanks for the yummy looking recipe! Where do you source rabbit in Eugene? (I live in Eugene.) I’ve seen it a couple of places but it was definitely more than $5 a lb, and it also wasn’t clear to me where it came from. I’d love to find some local rabbit. My 4 year old loves rabbit pot pie! 🙂
Mmmm, yes, rabbit pot pie! See my article over at Eat Beautiful for a link to a local farmer, Brian, in Eugene. That’s his price, $5 a lb., and he’s happy to include the organs if you’ll enjoy them. Did you see my organ recipe, too, at Eat Beautiful? The organs are scrumptious!
I love rabbit. Greeks make a dish called Stifado (google it for a recipe). It’s basically braised rabbit and onion stew. Delicious, and slightly sweet due to the onions. Haven’t had it for years, but now I’ll be craving it for sure.
Oh I would so love to try that. I’ll look it up!
Rabbits take up very little space, can be fed 100% from garden and yard (if you have enough greens, trees, and seedy grasses), and they produce lots and lots of “cool” manure that does not need to be composted before it is put on the garden, and plants just love it.
We raise meat rabbits, they’re yummy!
I just can’t eat little bunny rabbits. Only if I was starving maybe.
Nope. I tried to eat it once and the head was still attached. The teeth were staring at me.
Lapin a la Bourguignonne
🙁
We have plenty of them here
Happily raising meat rabbits in my back yard.
Shot, cleaned and cooked – cotton tail is much better than snow shoe. I have no experience with jack rabbit or bugs bunny.
Yet:)
cute little bunnies.
I love rabbit when cooked well. It’s just so easy to dry out domesticated rabbit and NOT cook it well. We just scored an awesome deal on a Rosie chicken at Oliver’s in Cotati yesterday, they are selling them for $1.99 a pound so ya’ll better scoot over there for one if you’re local to Sonoma County. The deal is over closing time Tuesday. But more importantly to mention, rabbit is absolutely delicious and I wish I could source it more affordably as it doesn’t make sense why it’s so expensive. I mean there’s the old adage “breed like rabbits”, so really if everyone just jumped on the bandwagon and started buying them the price would plummet exponentially. Farmers would find a real value in raising rabbit because the turnover is so fast. Unlike chicken, and they taste like chicken! So even kids like them, at least the one’s I’ve fed rabbit to.
Oh and a few more things, the Rosie chicken was just under 10 dollars. And there are awesome recipes for cooking rabbit in Irish cookbooks. Also, the best method I’ve found for rabbit is soaking or baking in milk or buttermilk. I’m sure there are other ways, but I don’t have a ton of experience cooking rabbit.
Keep in mind rabbit is listed in leviticus as an unclean meat therefore it will compromise your immune system. And I read in an dutch oven cookbook which was written by an avid outdoors man who has lived off the land that there is an ailment called rabbit starvation. “In that the rabbit is not a perfect food in that it lacks certain vitamins and minerals necessary to sustain human life. lost in the woods for example if you tried to live off the rabbit exclusively no matter how much you stuffed yourself with it sooner or later you would waste away and die”.
I’ve heard about Rabbit Starvation too. I’ve had it served to me when we lived in a small “town” in Nor Cal. It was a poor community and everyone raised them for meat. But it didn’t really taste all that good. At least I was getting raw milk at the time, too.
Rabbit starvation is from lack of vitamin c, a very high protein diet in combination with little dietary fat. AKA: mal de caribou or protein poisoning. Humans are not like mice and cannot healthily live off of a single food source for long stretches off time. It’s not necessarily because rabbit is a poor food source, it’s that rabbit is a poor source if it’s your only food, for prolonged periods of time.
Thanks for this helpful information! 🙂
absolutely Not..although I don’t eat Any animals. We have rabbits for pets…
Rabbit was one of our diet staples growing up. My parents weren’t affluent or even financially comfortable, but it was cheap to raise rabbits so that’s how they provided for us. I haven’t had rabbit in a good many years but just the thought brings back good memories of days gone by.
: (
Katerra Alicia Gates
Yes, lots, during starvation time in Germany after the war!
I have considered it! Was a little intimidated by the whole rabbit (much like I was once intimidated by a whole chicken). Thanks for this motivation to try it.
UGH! Susannah, I can’t even handle fish with the heads attached, let alone rabbit!!!
I appreciated the sections on the economic aspects and when it can save money on meat and the cost per pound buying rabbits. The comment that basically “it tastes just like chicken” gave me a laugh as well. Thanks!
I have raised and eaten domestic rabbit all my life. There are many ways to prepare it, grilled, oven fried, beer braised and the list goes on.It is a white low fat meat. My husband is allergic to chicken so we use rabbit in many ways. I even make “buffalo” rabbit and rabbit nuggets.
This article gave us the inspiration to raise our own rabbits for meat! We set up this weekend and have 3 healthy animals just loving our veggie and fruit scraps, clover and gentle pets.
Thank you for sharing.
YAY!!! Thanks for sharing. Hope you have a wonderful adventure and lovely meat!!
Healthier too
http://pin.it/WzhNmXe
I leave in tustin and want to know where to buy a rabbit to cook, my sister is a good cook and wanted to cook it for our guest