Squab substitute

Best substitute

Quail

Use 2 quail for every squab

Best for roasting whole

Different taste

Two quail stand in for one squab and are the closest thing most butchers carry, though they are leaner and much less rich, so baste them and cook them fast. A duck breast is the best flavor match of anything in a supermarket, since squab tastes far more like duck than like chicken, and one breast replaces one squab if you are serving sliced meat rather than a whole bird. For Moroccan pastilla or a Cantonese braise where the meat is shredded or sauced, boneless chicken thighs at the same weight do the job honestly and cheaply. The one thing you cannot carry across is doneness: squab is served pink, and chicken and Cornish hen must be cooked all the way through.

Other squab substitutes

Ranked, with the exact amount to use

2Duck breast
Close match
Use 1 duck breast for every squab, sliced
Skin-on magret or Pekin duck breast, scored, rendered skin-side down and served rare to medium.
What changes
Best for
plated main courses with sauce, salads, anywhere squab breast is sliced and fanned, dishes with fruit or wine sauces
The closest flavor of anything you can buy easily. Squab and duck share that dark, faintly iron, faintly livery richness, and they share the crucial habit of being best cooked to medium rare, so the technique and the sauce both transfer directly. Duck is fattier and more assertive, with a thick fat cap that squab does not have, so the dish comes out richer and slightly more gamey. The obvious limitation is presentation: this is a boneless breast, not a small whole bird, so a recipe built around serving a squab on the plate needs rethinking as sliced breast.
3Cornish hen or poussin
Taste and texture differ
Use 1 bird for every squab
A very young chicken sold whole at roughly squab size, one to one and a half pounds.
What changes
Best for
roasting whole, stuffed and trussed presentations, pastilla, grilling under a brick, dinner-party plating
The best answer if what the recipe needs is a small whole bird on each plate. The size, the shape and the cooking method all match. What does not match is the meat: Cornish hen is pale, mild chicken, so a dish designed around squab's dark richness tastes noticeably lighter and plainer, and it must be cooked through to 165F rather than served pink, which means it will never have that rosy breast. Two things narrow the gap: roast it in duck fat or butter, and put a little chicken liver or a spoonful of liver pate into the stuffing or the sauce, which restores much of the depth people associate with squab.
4Boneless chicken thighs
Taste and texture differ
Use the same amount by weight
The dark meat of an ordinary chicken, the workhorse substitute wherever squab is not served whole.
What changes
Best for
pastilla and bastilla, Cantonese braised pigeon dishes, pies and shredded fillings, stews, rice dishes
In any recipe where the bird is shredded, sauced or wrapped in pastry, this is the sensible and honest choice, and in Morocco chicken pastilla is a standard dish in its own right rather than a compromise. Thigh meat is closer to squab than breast is, since it is darker, fattier and more forgiving, but it is still much milder and softer, and it must be cooked through. Braise it in the same spices and it will taste excellent, just less deep. A tablespoon of chopped chicken liver or a little extra saffron and cinnamon in a pastilla goes a long way toward the richness squab would have brought.
5Wood pigeon or older pigeon
Taste and texture differ
Use the same amount by bird, cooked differently
The wild or mature version of the same species, sold whole or as breast crowns.
What changes
Best for
braises, pies, salads with seared breast, game dishes, stews
It is literally the same bird, which is why the names get confused, but it is a different ingredient in the kitchen. A wild pigeon has flown, so its legs are sinewy and its flavor is strongly gamey and much more livery than squab. Roast one whole as you would a squab and you will get tough legs. Instead, take the breasts off and sear them fast to rare, and braise the legs and carcass separately for an hour or more. Where squab is delicate and refined, pigeon is robust and best in a pie or a red-wine braise.
6Duck legs or a duck leg confit, shredded
Different texture
Use 1 duck leg for every squab, by shredded weight
Slow-cooked duck leg meat, pulled from the bone, for filled and braised dishes.
What changes
Best for
pastilla, pies, ravioli and dumpling fillings, rice dishes, shredded braises
For a filling rather than a plated bird, this is better than chicken thigh and cheaper than squab. Confit or slowly braised duck leg gives you dark, rich, deeply savory shredded meat that lands very near squab in flavor, and the fat it carries makes a pastilla taste luxurious. It is more strongly flavored and stringier than squab, and if it is confit it is already salty, so cut the salt in the rest of the recipe and taste before seasoning.

What is Squab?

Squab is Squab is a young domestic pigeon, about four weeks old and never flown, so unlike wild pigeon it is entirely tender dark meat with a fine grain and a mild, faintly livery richness, and it is traditionally cooked only to pink like duck rather than through like chicken.

Cooking tips

Squab is one of the few birds served pink, and that is the single most important thing to carry into any substitution. Squab and duck are safely cooked to a rosy 130F to 140F in the breast and are dry and liverish beyond that. Chicken, Cornish hen and quail are different: poultry other than duck and squab should be cooked through, so if you substitute a Cornish hen you must accept fully cooked white meat rather than trying to serve it pink.
Small birds live or die on high heat and short time. Roast squab or quail at 450F for twelve to eighteen minutes, or sear the breast in a pan and finish it in the oven, and then rest it for a full five to ten minutes, which is proportionally longer than you would rest a steak because so much of the mass is bone.
Do not throw away the carcasses. Four squab or quail carcasses browned hard and simmered for forty-five minutes with a shallot and a splash of wine make the sauce that these dishes are built around, and the same works with the trimmings from duck breasts. This is where much of squab's famous depth actually shows up on the plate.
In Cantonese crispy pigeon the technique is doing more than the bird: the point is blanching, then a soy and spice marinade, then air-drying the skin uncovered in the fridge for several hours, then a hot fry or roast. A Cornish hen or quail put through the same process will come out excellent, so if you cannot get squab, keep the method and change the bird.
For pastilla, choose by moisture rather than by prestige. The filling wants meat that has been braised until it shreds and then reduced with its own spiced liquid, so chicken thigh or shredded duck leg both work better than roasted breast of anything. Add the cinnamon, saffron, ginger and toasted almonds at full strength, since they carry the dish.

Frequently asked questions

Is squab the same as pigeon?

Same species, different age, and the distinction matters when you cook. Squab is a young pigeon raised for the table and slaughtered before it flies, so every part of it is tender and it can be roasted whole and served pink. Wild or mature pigeon has worked muscles, so it is gamier, chewier and best broken down, with the breasts seared quickly and the legs braised. Menus use squab, pichon and young pigeon for the same bird.

Can I use chicken instead of squab?

Yes, with clear eyes about what changes. In a pastilla, a pie, a braise or any dish where the meat is shredded or sauced, boneless chicken thighs at the same weight give a very good result. For a plated whole bird, a Cornish hen matches the size and the presentation. In both cases the meat is paler, milder and softer than squab, and it has to be cooked all the way through rather than served pink, so the finished dish is lighter. Roasting in duck fat and adding a little chicken liver to the sauce or stuffing recovers a surprising amount of the depth.

Can I serve chicken pink the way squab is served?

No. Squab and duck are the exceptions among birds and are traditionally and safely served pink, but chicken, Cornish hen, turkey and quail should be cooked through to 165F. If a recipe tells you to serve a squab rare and you are substituting chicken, follow the recipe's timing for everything else and simply cook the chicken to done, accepting that the meat will be opaque.

What does squab taste like, so I know what I am matching?

Much more like duck than like chicken. The meat is all dark, fine-grained and tender, with a rich, slightly iron, faintly livery flavor and a clean finish, milder and more delicate than wild game birds but far deeper than chicken. That is why duck breast is the closest flavor substitute and why any chicken-based swap needs a little help from liver, duck fat or a well-reduced sauce.

Can I just leave the squab out?

Not usefully, because squab is essentially always the main protein and the reason for the dish rather than a supporting ingredient. Substitute rather than omit. The only real exception is a mixed pie or a stuffing that already contains other meats, where you can raise the quantity of the others, and even then the dish will taste noticeably less rich, so a shredded duck leg or a couple of chopped chicken livers is worth adding.

Related substitutes

More meat & protein substitutes

Squab substitute

Other squab substitutes

2Duck breast

3Cornish hen or poussin

4Boneless chicken thighs

5Wood pigeon or older pigeon

6Duck legs or a duck leg confit, shredded