Rabbit meat smell and taste?

So I just got rabbits and had two succumb to the heat already

So I butchered the two and cooked one. I didn't like it. The smell was strange to me and it really did taste like chicken except every few bites I would taste/smell something that was gross to me. It smelled/tasted like the smell of raw rabbit.


So, am I just not a fan of rabbit meat? Does this sound normal?



I pan fried it in flour and in butter. It was fully cooked.

It could be that the heat messed up the heat or the rabbits where to old to be cooked that way.

Sounds like the meat was spoiled.

I'm assuming you butchered the rabbits after they had already died so they weren't bled. That would negatively effect the flavor of the meat. Rabbit meat tastes like white chicken meat to me but has a skunky/gamey smell while cooking.

My experience has always been that there shouldn't be any off odors or flavors present during cooking (or eating) in properly dressed and handled domestic rabbit meat. There's several things that can affect the flavor of all meats, but fresh domestic rabbit meat should be similar to chicken in the sense that it's also pretty much a mild, blank canvas, and, like chicken, domestic rabbit meat should be sweet smelling and very mild flavored during cooking and eating.

If they're not fully dressed immediately after death and chilled rapidly (many use ice baths for quick cooling to the proper degree within a matter of just a few minutes), like any meat, it begins to spoil rapidly, and it's spoiling meat (bacteria and other organisms) that creates unpleasant odors or taste to various degrees depending on the amount of spoilage present.

Spilling cavity contents while processing the rabbit can also taint the meat...along with other things.

I wouldn't eat gamey smelling/tasting domestic rabbit meat any more than I would eat gamey or off smelling/tasting beef, pork, or poultry.

Did you wash, then soak in a little salt water? Also the age of the rabbit will change how they taste. We process, skin, clean and put in cold salt water right away, then either debone and can or freeze them whole (and can later). We found canning an older rabbit is extremely tender and tastey - no gameiness at all.

Your buns may have been dead longer than you thought (thin intestinal walls allow bacteria into the meat pretty quickly too).

Isn't it amazing how melt in the mouth tender canned meat is? I like using pressure cookers for stewer hens and stewer rabbits, and even the cheapest cut of whit leather tough beef becomes fall-apart tender.

I agree Dewey!

I thought I posted a reply yesterday but I guess it didn't post. Sorry for the delay.

With all of your suggestions I think the following all contributed to my problem.
-I did not bleed them.
-They were dead 10-15 minutes before I butchered, but add in my inexperienced butchering time and that they were butchered outside in the Texas heat (but not direct sun)- it was a while before they were put in freezer.
-I did get a little "juice" on it. (although I did rinse them well)
-I did not soak them in salt water.

Things that did not contribute to the problem.
-The rabbits were 2 1/2 months old.


I pretty much did everything to ensure a bad smell and taste
So everything combined = funky rabbit.

Thank you all, I hope it do it better next time