# What does rabbit taste like? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 23, 2015, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-rabbit-taste-like/735533 "2015-10-23T13:25:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2015, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-rabbit-taste-like/735533/21 "2015-10-23T20:14:33Z")
> [@Ukulele\_Ike](#): > > Also, it takes longer to cook than poultry. I’ve had broiled, grilled, and fried rabbit, but it’s best after a long, slow braise, when the meat is very tender and coming off the bones. > > Elmer Fudd was no fool. Elmer Fudd was a vegetarian. He only hunted for sport. Cite: _Rabbit Fire._ ---
**Author:** ![P-man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/p-man/32/3606_2.png) [@P-man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/P-man)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2015, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-rabbit-taste-like/735533/22 "2015-10-23T21:06:09Z")
I remember being surprised to see rabbit in grocery stores in New York. I never saw it growing up in TN, and don’t remember seeing it since we moved to DC. ---
**Author:** ![dracoi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90db22/32.png) [@dracoi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dracoi)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2015, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-rabbit-taste-like/735533/23 "2015-10-23T21:06:29Z")
The one time I ate rabbit, it was raised by friends of my family who had a lot of their own animals (including goats and chickens). If you didn’t tell me it was rabbit, I would have assumed chicken. Lots of people here are comparing it to chicken breast. This particular one tasted more like a chicken thigh, but with the leanness of a chicken breast. It was tender, but they braised it in a wine-based sauce for long enough to make anything tender. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2015, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-rabbit-taste-like/735533/24 "2015-10-23T21:11:57Z")
> [@HoneyBadgerDC](#): > > Durring the 1950’s rabbit was becomming very popular possibly because of the price. It seemed to loose its popularity rather quickly, I would guess it had about a 5 year run where you could find it in any supermarket. I prefer chicken, the taste is very similar but I like chicken better. My mother made it a few times in the 1950s or early 1960s. I think she tried Hassenpfeffer once. Besides that, I’ve ordered in restaurants a few times. I ordered _conejo_ once in a restaurant in a provincial town in Panama, expecting it to be domestic rabbit, only to be surprised that it was actually _conejo pintado_ (“spotted rabbit”), or [paca](http://www.biolib.cz/IMG/GAL/173840.jpg), a large forest rodent that’s a popular small game animal here. I actually like paca better, but I think it might have been illegal for the restaurant to be selling it. ---
**Author:** ![kayT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayt/32/3633_2.png) [@kayT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayT)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2015, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-rabbit-taste-like/735533/25 "2015-10-23T21:14:32Z")
Wild rabbit doesn’t taste all that much like chicken to me. It’s much denser and I would almost say sweeter. I have had wild and tame rabbit, wild and tame chicken, and wild squirrel (is there tame squirrel?). Wild rabbit is my favorite. Oh for a day hunting with my dad and some rabbit and squirrel braising in the skillet. Now I’m homesick for a home that is gone forever. Thanks ever so much everyone. Oh well, hell with it; I have carrots in the fridge. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2015, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-rabbit-taste-like/735533/26 "2015-10-23T21:45:15Z")
> [@AHunter3](#): > > Depends on your source of rabbit meat. Wild jackrabbit hunted and brought home and skinned & cooked has a stronger gamier taste than rabbit meat bought in the supermarket in a shrinkwrapped package. > > Hmm, to be fair I haven’t gone into the woods and shot a wild chicken for the sake of comparison. Jackrabbits are hares, despite the name. Many hunters consider jackrabbit inedible, but it is. I’ve had it, it’s not bad although I should’ve tried another recipe. Rabbit is ultra-high protein and low fat compared to chicken. You [don’t want to eat it exclusively](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabbit_starvation). ---
**Author:** ![Sattua](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sattua/32/11906_2.png) [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2015, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-rabbit-taste-like/735533/27 "2015-10-23T21:48:12Z")
“Chicken, but browner” is what I would have said. Also a less favorable meat-to-bone ratio, and the bones are bigger. ---
**Author:** ![crucible](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5f8ce5/32.png) [@crucible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crucible)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2015, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-rabbit-taste-like/735533/28 "2015-10-23T22:24:02Z")
Agsually, rabbit tastes more like squirrel than it does chicken. turtle tastes a lot like chicken. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2015, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-rabbit-taste-like/735533/29 "2015-10-23T22:59:46Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > Elmer Fudd was a vegetarian. He only hunted for sport. > > Cite: _Rabbit Fire._ Okay, change “Elmer Fudd” to “Lauren Bacall.” “Baby wants…wabbit stew.” ---
**Author:** ![Sattua](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sattua/32/11906_2.png) [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2015, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-rabbit-taste-like/735533/30 "2015-10-23T23:00:50Z")
> [@crucible](#): > > Agsually, rabbit tastes more like squirrel than it does chicken. turtle tastes a lot like chicken. But has the texture of dried-out whitefish. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2015, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-rabbit-taste-like/735533/31 "2015-10-23T23:52:02Z")
> [@Wile\_E](#): > > I had it once and never forgave my mother. I had a pet rabbit at the time and although she didn’t feed me my own pet it was still a betrayal or sorts as she claimed it was chicken. I realized as I was eating it that the bones were wrong and I probably didn’t have more than a couple bites before I confronted her but I remember it was a lot like chicken just drier and sort of denser. I feel like you could have made better use of your username in this thread. ---
**Author:** ![P-man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/p-man/32/3606_2.png) [@P-man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/P-man)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2015, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-rabbit-taste-like/735533/32 "2015-10-24T00:54:18Z")
> [@Sattua](#): > > But has the texture of dried-out whitefish. As I remember it different parts of a snapping turtle were very different in taste. Some Mom stewed and it indeed tasted like chicken. Some of it, fried, tasted like flounder. ---
**Author:** ![JKilez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e5b9ba/32.png) [@JKilez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKilez)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2015, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-rabbit-taste-like/735533/33 "2015-10-24T03:25:57Z")
> [@P-man](#): > > If I didn’t know it was Hasepfeffer, I’d swear it was carrots. Seriously, I don’t ever remember thinking either the wild or domestic variety tasting like chicken. Squirrel is the best comparison I can think of, but I realize that doesn’t tell most people very much. I would agree. There must be some different kind of rabbit that other people are eating, because I have consumed a number of wild and domestic rabbits and would not compare the taste to chicken. That is the problem with rabbit–it tastes like rabbit. If it tasted like chicken, there would be a much larger market for such a lean meat. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2015, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-rabbit-taste-like/735533/34 "2015-10-24T04:37:33Z")
> [@crucible](#): > > turtle tastes a lot like chicken. Sea turtle, however, tastes like beef. (I had a can back in the 1960s.) ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2015, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-rabbit-taste-like/735533/35 "2015-10-24T05:01:38Z")
The first time I had rabbit, the guy who served it said it was chicken, and I remember taking a thigh, and taking a bite, and thinking, “this tastes more like breast than thigh… but not quite right.” Most people at the party thought it was chicken until the host revealed it was rabbits. (Fat, domestic rabbits that he raised.) It is white, and tastes very mild, and more like chicken than like beef, horse, lamb, or pork. More like pork than like the darker meats. But not as much like pork as like chicken. The rabbit I had that time was sort of fatty, which I guess is unusual in rabbit. I had it one other time, and it was lean, but otherwise similar. I’ve never had squirrel. ---
**Author:** ![Your\_Great\_Darsh\_Face](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/ac8455/32.png) [@Your\_Great\_Darsh\_Face](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Your_Great_Darsh_Face)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2015, 7:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-rabbit-taste-like/735533/36 "2015-10-24T07:45:46Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > I feel like you could have made better use of your username in this thread. Well, to be fair, it’s not like he has the first idea what _Geococcyx californianus_ actually tastes like. ---
**Author:** ![freckafree](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/freckafree/32/3050_2.png) [@freckafree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/freckafree)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2015, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-rabbit-taste-like/735533/37 "2015-10-24T12:33:54Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > Does anybody think it tastes like chicken? I’ve heard it tastes like chicken, but don’t have a cite. Can anybody back me up on this? Anybody else heard it tastes like chicken? I have heard that, too, but it makes me wonder…I’ve think I’ve also [heard](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=489848) somewhere that goose is greasy. Is that true? ---
**Author:** ![Staggerlee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/staggerlee/32/3134_2.png) [@Staggerlee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Staggerlee)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2015, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-rabbit-taste-like/735533/38 "2015-10-24T13:15:50Z")
I’ve cooked rabbit stew a few times, and have always found that while it imparts a distinct, delicious flavour to the stew, the meat itself remains fairly bland. Maybe my poor cooking, though I think the lack of rabbit fat leads to some flavourlessness. ---
**Author:** ![Oly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/oly/32/8255_2.png) [@Oly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oly)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2015, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-rabbit-taste-like/735533/39 "2015-10-24T15:30:42Z")
When I was a kid we raised and ate rabbits a lot. When we butchered the rabbits we’d throw some of the innards into the chicken yard. They loved that. The rabbits tasted like chicken. The chickens tasted like chicken. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2015, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-rabbit-taste-like/735533/40 "2015-10-24T17:11:50Z")
> [@freckafree](#): > > I have heard that, too, but it makes me wonder…I’ve think I’ve also [heard](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=489848) somewhere that goose is greasy. Is that true? :lol: I added a recipe to that thread. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-rabbit-taste-like/735533.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-rabbit-taste-like/735533.md?page=3)