Rabbit Stew Recipe

This is the rabbit stew recipe that gives you a second helping from the rabbit your family ate yesterday.

In our home, rabbit stew turns out differently every time, and believe me, we eat quite a bit.  Whatever vegetables we have on hand may very well go into the pot. 

For example, in addition to the veggies suggested below, we’ve added beets, cabbage, and leeks at various times. And each pot of rabbit stew ends up becoming a hearty meal for the whole family, stretching one rabbit into two meals for a family of four. 

Ingredients for this Rabbit Stew Recipe:

• Bones and meat scraps from one or two rabbits (leftovers)
• Filtered water to cover
• 1 tablespoon vinegar
• S&P to taste
• 6 cloves garlic, chopped or crushed
• 1 med or large onion chopped
• 2-3 carrots, chopped
• 3-4 celery stalks, chopped
• 1 tablespoon poultry seasoning
• 1 teaspoon herbs - your choice of: rosemary, basil, sage, thyme, freshly crushed in mortar, or, fresh sprigs to taste

2-3 potatoes, chopped (with skins), or: 

• 1 cup barley, OR: 1-2 cups noodles, OR: 2 cups brown rice
  
  

Add any combination of the following vegetables when nearly finished:

• Frozen peas -- half a small bag
• Frozen spinach -- 1 small bag
• Frozen mustard or collard greens -- 1 small bag
• Any leftover veggies you may have in the frig

Top the finished rabbit stew recipe, if desired, with your choice of finely chopped herbs/cheese:

• Chopped green onions
• Chopped cilantro
• Chopped parsley
• Shredded cheddar, swiss or parmesan cheese

Below: Who says one must follow a recipe to the 't'? This rabbit stew-du-jour contained only beans, oats, rabbit, sun-dried tangy tomatoes, and spices. It was wonderful!

Rabbit Stew Recipe Directions:

Make a bone broth: After a meal of fried rabbit, or after crock-potting a stewer rabbit and using the rabbit in another recipe (leave a little meat on the bones), gather up the bones and meat scraps and place all in a dutch oven. Cover with filtered water. Add S&P, garlic, onion, carrots, celery, poultry seasoning, basil and vinegar to the pot. 

Bring to boil and simmer for several hours, or until bones become soft.  (The vinegar helps leach the mineral goodness out of the bones without imparting a vinegar flavor.)

Remove pot from heat, and allow to cool. 

When cool enough to handle, remove the bones from the pot and discard. To do this, I put a second dutch oven in the sink, place a large colander on top, and pour the rabbit broth, bones and veggies into the colander. (Makes the job of getting the bones out easier.)

You can also discard the veggies (my thrifty hub balks at this) and then re-add various amounts of fresh veggies -- garlic, onion, carrots, celery -- back into the rabbit stew recipe. This will enhance the flavor of the stew as well as add additional nutrients.

Reheat. Taste; adjust seasoning to taste.

Once you’ve brought the pot of rabbit stew to a boil once again, add to the pot your choice of, or combination of, potatoes, barley, noodles or rice. (More often than not, we simply omit these ingredients altogether in order to limit our intake of simple carbs.)

Simmer until the newly added fresh veggies and grain are soft, about 30-40 minutes.

When the rabbit stew is just 1-2 minutes from ready, add any assortment of finely chopped herbs and/or cheese to the pot.

Or, you can put these items in bowls and place on the table so family and friends can help themselves.

Bon appetit!

This rabbit stew recipe supplies a hefty dose of immune-system-strengthening nutrients

Meat broth tends to solidify into a gel in the refrigerator. The reason for this is the presence of glyconutrients -- the immune-system-supercharging ‘alphabet’ whereby your body communicates with each of its parts. 

This is hugely important for health, and a great reason to regularly include bone broth soups and stews (such as this rabbit stew recipe) in your monthly meal plans. Without eating enough glyconutrients, your immune system has to function with some of its ‘phone lines’ down, possibly resulting in garbled communication between various systems in the body, and delays in recuperation from illness.  

Raising rabbits? Consider a membership to the American Rabbit Breeders Association