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What Do Squirrels Taste Like? Closer to Rabbit Than Game

What do squirrels taste like: mild, slightly sweet, nearer rabbit than venison. Why age decides whether it roasts or stews, and the 2 safety rules that matter.

By Zakaria 3 min read Save to Pinterest — opens Pinterest in a new tab
A grey squirrel sitting on a tree stump among fallen leaves, holding food in its paws
Photo: JonPauling, Pixabay Content License, via Pixabay
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The short answer is that squirrel tastes mild — nutty, faintly sweet, and much closer to rabbit than to anything most people mean by “game”. The strong flavour people brace for is not there, because the thing that produces it is not there either.

Why it is not gamey

Gaminess is mostly a fat and diet question. The flavours people find strong in venison, wild duck or goose come from fat that has taken on the character of a varied wild forage, and from blood left in the meat.

Squirrels have almost no fat to carry that flavour, and their diet is narrow: nuts, seeds, buds, fungi and fruit. The result is a lean white-to-pink meat that darkens with age and reads as mild rather than strong.

Squirrel against meats people know
FlavourFatTextureClosest to
SquirrelMild, faintly nuttyVery lowFine, firmRabbit
RabbitMild, cleanLowFineChicken thigh
Chicken thighMild, savouryModerateSoft—
VenisonStrong, mineralLow, distinctiveCoarse—
Wild duckStrong, liveryHighDense—

Age changes everything

This is the part most descriptions of the taste leave out, and it explains why reports of squirrel vary so much.

  • Young, current-season animals are tender. The meat fries, roasts or grills successfully and tastes closest to rabbit.
  • Older animals have worked connective tissue through the legs and shoulders. Cooked quickly they are tough and stringy, and that is the version people remember badly.

You cannot reliably judge age from a skinned carcass, which is why the traditional recipes — Brunswick stew, squirrel pie, squirrel and dumplings — are all long, moist cooking methods. Braising makes the question irrelevant.

Tip

If you only cook squirrel once, braise it. Two hours in stock with onion, bay and a little bacon produces meat that falls off the bone regardless of what age the animal was, and it is the method every regional tradition arrived at independently.

The two safety rules

Wear gloves when skinning. Squirrels can carry Francisella tularensis, the bacterium behind tularemia. The realistic route of infection is handling an infected carcass with broken skin, not eating cooked meat. Gloves and washing afterwards remove essentially all of that risk.

Cook it through, to 165°F. The same rule that applies to poultry. Tularemia and most other concerns do not survive proper cooking.

Beyond those two, use the same judgement you would with any wild animal: do not take one that was behaving oddly, looked unwell, or had visible lesions or lumps under the skin.

Where it is eaten, and why

Squirrel is a traditional food across the American South and Appalachia, in parts of the UK, and historically almost everywhere squirrels and poverty overlapped. Brunswick stew began as a squirrel dish before chicken replaced it.

In the UK it has had a recent revival on conservation grounds — grey squirrels are an invasive species that displaces the native red, so eating them is argued as ecologically defensible in a way most wild meat is not.

Check the rules where you are. Squirrel is a regulated game species in almost every US state, with a season, a bag limit and a licence requirement. The animal in your garden is not legally the same thing as the one taken in season with a permit.

Common questions

Is squirrel meat gamey?

Much less than people expect. Squirrels are herbivores living on nuts, seeds and buds, and diet is what drives gaminess — the strong flavour in venison or wild duck comes from fat and from a varied forage diet. Squirrel is lean, mild and slightly sweet, and most people who try it compare it to rabbit or dark chicken meat rather than to deer.

Is squirrel safe to eat?

Generally yes, with two real precautions. Cook it thoroughly to 165°F, and wear gloves when skinning — squirrels can carry tularemia, which is transmissible to humans through handling rather than through properly cooked meat. Avoid any animal that was behaving strangely or looked unwell, and check your state's rules, because squirrel is a regulated game species almost everywhere.

Can you eat city squirrels?

It is legal in some places and inadvisable everywhere. Urban squirrels forage on refuse, and in older neighbourhoods they live on soil and buildings with lead contamination. Rural animals eating a natural diet are the ones hunters take, and the difference is about what the animal has accumulated rather than about the species.

Why is squirrel usually stewed rather than roasted?

Age. A young squirrel from the current season is tender enough to fry or roast, but an older animal has worked connective tissue that only breaks down with long moist heat. Since you cannot reliably tell age from the carcass, braising or stewing is the method that works either way — which is why almost every traditional recipe is a stew, a pie or a braise.

How much meat is on a squirrel?

Roughly 6 to 8 ounces of meat from a typical grey squirrel, so two animals is one generous portion. The hind legs and saddle carry most of it, the forelegs very little. That ratio is why squirrel appears in dishes that stretch meat — Brunswick stew being the best-known.

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