This recipe for brined and rubbed smoked rabbit is a real keeper. It’s one of those standby recipes you’ll want to have on hand. Use it to feed a few or feed a crowd. Use it to make pulled rabbit for sandwiches and all sorts of dishes.
Though it is a long, slow-cooked rabbit recipe, the active time involved is not much of an investment. You can easily make this smoked rabbit while you go about the rest of your day.
Slow foods are the best foods, though, and this recipe is well worth your while!
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Plan Ahead for Best Results
This recipe takes a little bit of planning because you will need to have a fresh or completely thawed whole rabbit to work with. (That said, for the brining process, you can cheat a little and brine the rabbit from frozen or partially frozen; as long as it will thaw and have time for the brine to work in before moving on to the next step, rubbing and smoking.)
Both the brining and the smoking are long processes themselves. Again, they aren’t active working time for you, but good brines and good, smoked meats take time. It’s that simple.
So -- don’t forget to take your rabbit out to thaw if it’s frozen, and have it ready to go into the brine at least 6 to 24 hours before you plan to apply the rub and smoke it.
The recipes here will brine and rub one 3 to 5-pound whole dressed rabbit.
First, the Brine
The first step is to brine your whole rabbit. Brining isn’t hard; it’s just a matter of mixing up the ingredients and then letting your rabbit soak in the brine for several hours.
Plan to brine your rabbit for at least six hours for the best results, but 12 to 24 hours is much better. For the very best results, brine your rabbit for a full 24 hours before smoking.
Why brine your rabbit before smoking?
Rabbit is a very lean meat. If you do have fat in your rabbit, it’s fine to leave it in, but there is not likely to be much either way.
Brining will do two things: help flavor the rabbit and help add and preserve moisture.
By brining your rabbit before you rub and smoke it, you will have the moistest rabbit meat that will fall off the bone easily. Delicious!
Rabbit Brine Recipe:
Ingredients:
- 1 ½ cups water
- 1 cup apple cider vinegar
- ½ cup white wine (preferably dry white wine)
- 2 tablespoons sea salt or kosher salt (non-iodized salt)
- 1 teaspoon cracked peppercorns
- 1 teaspoon dry minced onion* (or 2 teaspoons chopped fresh onion)
- 2 teaspoons dry minced or chopped garlic (or 3 to 4 cloves chopped fresh garlic)
- 2 whole bay leaves
*Shallots are a lovely substitution for onions. If someone in your clan doesn’t like onions, just double up on the garlic! Of course, you can leave out any ingredient that is not liked in your household or party, or to avoid allergen issues.
Instructions for brining the rabbit:
- Combine all ingredients in a bowl.
- Whisk well to incorporate and to dissolve the salt in the brine.
- If your whole rabbit needs any trimming, do that now. Most whole rabbits are ready to go, but sometimes you’ll have some stray fur on your homegrown rabbit that you might want to trim away. If there is a neck stub, it’s good to cut that off before bringing it so that you don’t have bruised or clotted blood, and you don’t get stray cervical spine bone fragments.
- Place the rabbit in either a large bowl, a tupperware-type container, or a plastic bag that can be sealed. Make sure the bag is large enough to fit your whole rabbit. If using a bowl or container, try to find one that the rabbit just fits in without too much excess space. This will keep the brine up close and in contact with the rabbit. You want as much coverage over the carcass as you can get.
- Pour the prepared brine over the rabbit.
- Seal, then refrigerate for 24 hours (minimum of 6 to 8 hours if you’re in a rush).
- Flip the rabbit in the bag or brine at least 3 or four times, so that all parts of the rabbit are soaked and marinated in the brine.
Prepare the Rub
Prepare the dry rub for the rabbit while the rabbit is brining. You can do this at any point while your rabbit is bringing, but it’s often nice just to do it when you set the brine so it’s ready to go.
If you use all dried ingredients, the dry rub can be left on a counter or in a spice cabinet. (It could even be made ahead in bulk for use on demand.)
If you use fresh herbs, onions, or garlic, the rub should be refrigerated when not in use.
Ingredients for the Dry Rabbit Rub:
- ⅓ cup brown sugar
- ¼ cup paprika
- 3 tablespoons white pepper
- 2 tablespoons sea salt or kosher salt (non-iodized salt)
- 1 tablespoon onion powder (or two tablespoons fresh chopped onion)
- 1 tablespoon garlic powder (or two tablespoons fresh chopped garlic, 4 to 6 chopped cloves)
- 1 tablespoon dried celery seed
Instructions:
Combine all the ingredients for the dry rub, then mix with a fork until evenly combined. Set aside until ready to use.
Rinse, Pat, and Rub
After your rabbit has brined for the desired amount of time, remove it from the refrigerator. For the best smoking results, remove the rabbit from the brine and let it sit on a baking sheet for about an hour so it can come up to room temperature. This will allow the meat to warm somewhat and to come to an even temperature, which will be better for even cooking once you start smoking.
You can rinse the brine from the rabbit if you are concerned with it being too salty, though this is not strictly necessary.
Pat the whole rabbit dry with paper towels before applying the rub. This is so that the rub can stick and adhere well to the rabbit meat.
Rub the rabbit all over, inside and out, with the dry rub. Be generous! The more rub, the more flavor for your finished smoked rabbit meat!
Smoking the Rabbit
While your rabbit rests and you rub and prepare it, preheat your smoker.
- Preheat your smoker to 250℉ (120℃).
- Smoke for a total time of 3 ½ to 5 ½ + hours -- see below for more
To smoke your prepared rabbit:
- Put your prepared, rubbed rabbit directly on the smoker rack. To hold more moisture in the body cavity, smoke it with the spine down, belly opening up. Or, you can smoke it on its stomach, flattened like a spatchcocked chicken (just cut through the rib plate so the carcass can lie flat).
- If your smoker has a pan for water, add water to the fill line. This will help keep your rabbit from drying out. If you prefer, you can use something with some flavor in the water pan. Beer, white or red wine, apple cider vinegar, or apple juice are all good options!
- Smoke at 250℉ (120℃) for 2 ½ to 4 hours (longer for larger rabbits).
- Use your favorite wood chips for flavor. Green apple twigs make excellent smoked rabbit meat!
- After the first round of smoking, this is a good time to remove the rabbit from the smoker and remove the bones -- at least the spine, neck and ribs (you can leave meat on the leg bones for the whole time if you like and if it is difficult to remove the meat from the leg bones after the first couple of hours; sometimes they need more time than the spine). The reason to do this is that this way, you can usually get all the ribs and spine bones out in one piece (or close to it). This makes it easier to find all the small, fine bones. It just results in cleaner, more bone-free meat! You do not need to “pull” the meat now; just get the worst of the small skeleton out of it.
- Wrap the meat chunks and legs in several layers of parchment, butcher paper, or aluminum foil. Tie the paper closed with twine.
- Return the meat to the smoker for at least one hour more, or until it is tender and pulls or shreds easily.
- Rabbit is safe to eat when it reaches an internal temperature of 160℉ (71℃), but the longer you slow cook/smoke it, the better it will fall apart and the more tender the meat will be.
- When done, remove the rabbit from the smoker.
- Open the parchment, remove any remaining bones, and pull the meat with forks to shred it.
VIDEO: How to Make Brined, Smoked Rabbit
Serving the Smoked Rabbit
This smoked rabbit can be served in a variety of ways:
- Serve it as a hot meat side with traditional side dishes (rice, pasta, potatoes, and vegetables are all good sides).
- Serve as a pulled rabbit sandwich (with sharp cheddar cheese, barbecue sauce, and optional cole slaw, pickled cabbage, or sauerkraut)
- Toss in barbecue sauce for sandwiches and more
- Use in quesadillas or tacos
- Use in rabbit chili
- Use cold or hot on a cheese and bread or charcuterie board
Saving Some Smoked Rabbit for Later
This smoked rabbit meat freezes well, and then you can have it on hand for all sorts of tasty dishes. Freeze any extra (if you have it!) or, while you have the smoker running, make two! That way, you can have ready-cooked rabbit meat on hand for those busy nights or days, or for impromptu visits with company.
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