Kokanee Quinn stumbled onto this fantastic recipe, and trust us—once you try buffalo pheasant crescent bites, regular game-day snacks feel boring. It is basically hot-wing flavor wrapped in a warm, golden pastry, and it comes together fast with just a handful of ingredients and your favorite hot sauce, with Frank’s being recommended by the original chef. Shredded pheasant, cream cheese, ranch, melty jack, and blue cheese all get tucked into Pillsbury crescents and baked into little flavor bombs you’ll absolutely fail to eat “just one.” If you need a new party hit, this is it!
This easy and relatively fast recipe makes a perfect game-day snack. I’m a big fan of hot wings, and buffalo pheasant is a fun offshoot. You can use any of your favorite hot sauces, but I prefer Frank’s RedHot Original, as it suits the spirit of buffalo-style hot wings. Good luck eating just one.
Ingredients
- ½ lb. pheasant (approximately 2 breasts or 8 thighs)
- 2–3 cups game bird or chicken stock
- 2 tbsp. butter
- 6 oz. cream cheese
- 3 tbsp. ranch dressing
- ¼ cup Frank’s RedHot sauce
- ½ cup shredded monterey jack cheese
- ¼ cup blue cheese crumbles
- 1 to 2 cans Pillsbury Crescent Rolls
Sauce
- 1 cup ranch or blue cheese dressing
- 2 tbsp. Frank’s Red Hot sauce
Also works with
Any upland bird
Special equipment
Pressure cooker or Instant Pot
Preparation
- Heat oven to 375°F.
- Place pheasant pieces in an Instant Pot or pressure cooker (if you have one, cover with stock, and cook on high pressure for 15 minutes. Release pressure, remove, and set aside to cool. Note: If you don’t have a pressure cooker, bring the stock to a boil over medium heat in a stockpot, add pheasant pieces, cover, reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer for 30 minutes. If pheasant pieces are tender, remove and set aside to cool, otherwise keep simmering until they soften, adding stock as needed.
- Once the pheasant meat is cool enough to handle, pull from the bones and chop or shred until fine.
- In a medium saucepan, melt butter over medium-low heat. Add cream cheese, ranch dressing, and hot sauce. Heat and stir until smooth. Add chopped pheasant and Monterey jack cheese. Continue to stir until cheese is melted and all ingredients are combined. Remove from heat.
- On a flat surface, open your Pillsbury crescent rolls. Unroll the dough, and separate out each individual triangle. Place a generous spoonful of the pheasant mix in the middle of a dough triangle. Add 1/2 tablespoon of blue cheese crumbles to the mound. Pull all three corners of the dough triangle to the center and twist to seal. Repeat this process for all crescent rolls.
- Place each formed pastry on a baking tray lined with parchment paper. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes or until golden brown.
- For the dipping sauce, mix 2 tablespoons of hot sauce with 1 cup blue cheese or ranch dressing, whichever you prefer.
- Serve this appetizer hot with dipping sauce at your next party.
