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A pressure cooker is a perfect tool for cooking game meat, and squirrel is no exception.
Pressure cooker squirrel is simple to make at home, in an old-school stovetop pressure cooker or in a countertop electric pressure cooker (instant pot).
They say you can cook anything in an instant pot, beans, and meat, to popcorn and cheesecakes. What about pressure cooker squirrel?
Squirrel meat used to be popular in American cooking, and it’s still quite common in rural areas where small game hunting traditions are still alive. It takes ingenuity to hunt squirrel, along with impeccable aim.
Once you have a squirrel in hand, they’re easy to clean and there’s a remarkable amount of flavorful meat on them. A single grey squirrel has enough meat to feed a family as a squirrel stew. That same animal can easily feed two adults as a main course.
The trick to cooking a squirrel is making sure the flavorful meat stays moist. Since a pressure cooker is a completely sealed environment, it helps keep the meat from drying out. Add in the pressure in cooking, and you’ve got a recipe for a tender pressure cooker squirrel.
Once a squirrel has been cooked in a pressure cooker, the meat is ready for use in most squirrel recipes that start with a braised squirrel. Try using it in a squirrel pot pie or squirrel ragu.
Pressure Cooker Squirrel
Ingredients
- 1-4 squirrel
- 1 cup stock
- Spices of your choice
Instructions
- Clean and gut the squirrel.
- Place the squirrel into the pressure cooker whole, or cut into manageable pieces.
- Add one cup of stock and seal the pressure cooker according to the manufacturer's instructions.
- Allow the pressure cooker to come up to 10 pounds pressure (high pressure in an instant pot) and cook for 10 minutes.
- Once the cooking time has elapsed, allow the pressure cooker to depressurize naturally.
- When the pot is completely depressurized, release the vent and open the pressure cooker.
- Remove the meat from the bones and use the pressure cooked squirrel meat as you would any braised squirrel meat, adding it to soups, stews or pot pie.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
More Wild Game Recipes
Looking for more recipes to cook up the catch? I’ve got you covered…
- Buttermilk Fried Squirrel
- How to Render Squirrel Fat (and squirrel fat cookies…)
- Making Fatwax (Animal Fat Salve with Squirrel Fat)
- How to Cook a Deer Heart
- Pemmican Lollipops for Your Bushcraft Sweetheart
Say if I wanted to do 10-15 squirrels in my big stove top pressure canner/cooker would the time be the same or would it be longer
I would guess that you might need to increase the time but I’m not sure how much. You will probably just have to experiment or do some research to see if there is anyone else who has done larger batches.
The cook time will only be 10 mins on high pressure then 10 mins release with 5.5 squirrels? I made sure to cut the arms, legs and bodies then put 1.5cups of chicken broth with salt and pepper. This is my first time cooking squirrel so I just want to make sure I’m cooking it long enough. Thank you
I would just check it. I wouldn’t think that you would need more time than that.
Teaching my kids to make snare traps and thin out the squirrel population around here. They have a really good diet of mostly acorns and pecans and the meat is really tender and delicious … your recipe is far easier than roasting them as we did before. Thanks!
It’s great that you are teaching your kids! I am so glad you enjoyed the recipe.
I would love to learn how to make and set the snares to catch squirrel…I’ve snared rabbits, coyote, fix and raccoon……but never squirrel.
Oh yea! I am going squirrel hunting now I want to try this with my squirrel and dumplings recipe.
Been thinning out the squirrels in my yard so they stay out of my attic. Have a good mess but no time to cook them as usual. Would’ve overlooked the heck out of them in the instant pot if you hadn’t published directions! My daughter loves squirrels n’ rice. Thanks!
-Busy mom
Eye brown Squirrel first then pressure cook
YUM! Can’t wait to try this.
YUM! Can’t wait to try this.
Well. Looks interesting.
Well. Looks interesting.