Hey, it's meat, right? Fried squirrel is a real thing, not just a joke in cartoons about cooking up roadkill. They're also pretty common, so it's not like you have to go somewhere special to get the meat. But how do you make fried squirrel? There are lots of recipes online. Here's an overview for small game hunters hoping to make their dinner table a little bit weirder.
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What is Fried Squirrel?
Fried squirrel is exactly what it sounds like: squirrel meat cooked in a frying pan, cast iron skillet, or deep fryer with hot oil. It might sound a little weird, but small game hunters will tell you it's not all that different from frying any other type of meat you might find in a wild game recipe, minus the bushy tails, of course.
How Do You Make It?
There are plenty of fried squirrel recipes out there. Most of them involve buttermilk, salt, flour, and some sort of seasoning like cajun seasoning. Certain recipes call for garlic powder, onion powder, eggs, panko breadcrumbs, cajun pepper, black pepper, seasoned flour, cayenne pepper, or paprika.
You'll also need vegetable oil for frying up the squirrel pieces until they're crispy and golden brown, the flour mixture, paper towels to set them on, and some sort of cooker like an Instant Pot or pressure cooker to fry them up in.
Buttermilk fried squirrel recipes also often call for gravy to eat with the cut-up squirrels, and that can involve milk, all-purpose flour, and pepper to taste, depending on the recipe.
If you've made fried chicken or venison, you can probably follow a similar process to make squirrel. You heat the oil over medium heat in a pan, coat the squirrel meat in whatever breading you've made for it, and fry each piece on all sides for a few minutes, checking periodically to see if you're happy with the color and consistency of the meat.
That's pretty much it! You can eat this with eggs in the morning, or fries and coleslaw at night. Since it's a little bit weird, you can pick whatever sides you want. The sky's the limit when it comes to this unconventional meat.
