Duck Breast Recipes

goose breast recipe with orange and ouzo over polenta — Photo by Holly A. Heyser

Welcome to where duck breasts are properly cooked.

Duck breasts, or goose breasts, for that matter, really must be cooked rare-to-medium, no matter if you sear your duck breasts, bake them or grill them. Mostly I pan sear my wild duck breasts, skin on, and serve them with just some salt and pepper (celery salt is excellent, too), or sometimes with a nice pan sauce.

Incidentally, I also have my recipes for ground duck ground goose here, too, because it is really hard to get meat off a little wild duck leg to grind, so I mostly grind the breast meat of lesser ducks, like scaup or spoonies. Snow goose and Canada goose breasts are fantastic ground, too.

Here is my master technique for cooking a duck breast, and you can find a selection of my wild game sauces here.

Below are a few special duck or goose breast recipes; and remember you can always use domestic duck instead of wild duck, although you will have more fat to deal with.

While this happens to be a big selection of duck breast recipes to choose from, you can find a whole lot more in my cookbook Duck, Duck, Goose: The Ultimate Guide to Cooking Waterfowl, Both Farmed and Wild. I hope you like it!

WHOLE DUCK BREASTS

Wild Rice Pilaf with Duck

A classic American combination, wild rice and duck are made for each other. This pilaf adds black walnuts and dried cranberries to the mix. A great Sunday supper.

Classic Sauce au Poivre

Yep, this is that French version of pepper steak we all know and love. Great with duck or goose breast, venison or yes, beef. It’s easy to make and wonderful.

Duck Stir Fry with Scallions

A classic, simple Chinese stir-fry — and a perfect use for “off” ducks like divers or sea ducks, as well as snow geese.

Beer Sauce with Duck

A Nordic-inspired dish with a deeply flavored beer sauce and tart berries like currants. This is a simple dish to make, but really fully flavored.

Snow in Winter

Another Nordic dish, this one using snow goose breasts (any duck or goose breast will work), barley spaetzle and winter vegetables. A real stunner!

Wood Duck and Acorn Dumplings

Wood ducks eat acorns, so I figured they’d be good on the plate together. They are. Add a bright winter salsa and we have a winner! No acorn flour? Use semolina.

Thai Duck Curry

Ducks were domesticated in Southeast Asia more than 2000 years ago, and the Thais, Vietnamese and Chinese have a long tradition cooking them. This red curry can be as spicy or mild as you want it.

Chicken Fried Duck

Classic Southern fare, this one is great for skinless breasts of any kind of duck. Teal is ideal here.

Tea Smoked Duck

Classic Chinese tea-smoked duck breasts. Easy to make and you don’t need a smoker!

Duck with Turnips and Rye Spaetzle

This is a Northern Italian dish that would be right at home in Austria or Germany, too. It’s inspired by a dish I had from Chef Staffan Terje in San Francisco.

Wiener Schnitzel

An Austrian-German standard normally made with veal or pork, but also good with pounded, skinless duck breast.

Classic Jaegerschnitzel

Another German standby, this uses the same pounded, skinless duck breast, only this is served with a creamy mushroom sauce.

Goose Pastrami

Another awesome thing to do with goose breasts. This works best with Canada geese or domesticated geese.

Goose with Orange-Ouzo Sauce

One of my all-time favorite dishes for goose or duck breasts, this recipe highlights the perfect match between citrus and anise, which you get from the ouzo.