I wanted to see how a smoked rabbit would taste using very basic ingredients. The result, according to the highly credible survey I did with my friends Wil and Landon, was well worth the experiment. I like the idea of smoking a rabbit because they don’t take up very much space. This means it would be easy to add a rabbit or two to the BBQ for a snack while you are hanging around waiting for that Boston butt to finish cooking.
Ingredients
| Amount | Ingredient |
|---|---|
| 1 or more rabbits, separated into legs and backstraps. You could also do this with a whole rabbit. | |
| Your favorite BBQ rub. You probably have an old spice jar with a premade BBQ rub sitting in your cabinet that you always forget to use. If you like how the BBQ rub smells, you will probably like how it tastes. Rabbit is very mild, so it will quickly take on the flavor of the rub. | |
| If you don’t have a BBQ rub lying around, a simple combination of salt, pepper, paprika, brown or white sugar, and a ¼-½ teaspoon of cayenne will do just fine. Feel free to experiment. You just want to make sure the rabbit has a nice thin coating of the rub before adding to the smoker. |
How to Prepare
- Set your smoker to 170⁰-200⁰F.
- Put your rabbits in a large stainless bowl where you can thoroughly rub them with the seasoning.
- Add the rub/seasoning to the rabbit. You can add a little olive oil or mustard to help the rub better adhere.
- Confirm the smoker has reached 170⁰-200⁰F. The meat will cook quickly, so I like to go real low and slow on this one. I highly recommend getting a wireless meat thermometer that you can leave in the meat. I put the thermometer in the thickest part of one of the hind legs and wait for it to reach 160⁰.
- Once the rabbit has reached 160⁰, pull it off the smoker and let it rest under some loosely tented foil for a few minutes before serving.
- Grilled asparagus with olive oil, salt, pepper, and paprika is a great side for the smoked rabbit.