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Pheasant toastie recipe with smoked cheddar & BBQ sauce

Tim Maddams gives that classic lunchtime staple, the cheese toastie, a gamey twist with pheasant breast, finished off with sauerkraut

Pheasant toastie recipe with smoked cheddar & BBQ sauce
Tim Maddams
Tim Maddams 26 March 2026

You may be looking at this recipe and thinking: “This is just an excuse to use up some more pheasant breasts.” And you may well be right – but what an excuse it is. Everyone loves a cheese toastie and this bad boy is loaded with smoked cheddar, sauerkraut and BBQ sauce.

Choosing ingredients for maximum flavour

I have used shop-bought sauerkraut here as it seems to work better in a toastie than home-made. I have also used a sandwich loaf from a high-street bakery, along with a little lard on the bread for extra toastie excitement. You don’t really need a recipe for most of this, but the BBQ sauce is well worth the effort.

Make-ahead BBQ sauce for versatility

This recipe makes far more BBQ sauce than you need for the sandwich, so it’s perfect for keeping in the fridge and using up on your other culinary endeavours wherever you think it will suit.

Preparing the pheasant breast

I have butterflied the pheasant breast – mostly so that it will cook quickly, but also to make it easy to bite through. There’s nothing worse than when you bite into a sandwich and the filling fights back.

 

Pheasnt breast butterfly bap smoked cheese and spicy BBQ sauce

 

Prep: 15 mins
Cook: 15 mins

Ingredients

For the BBQ sauce

  • • 300ml passata
  • • 2 tbsp dark brown sugar
  • • 1 tbsp treacle
  • • 1 tbsp Henderson’s relish
  • • 1 tbsp soy sauce
  • • 2 tbsp rice wine vinegar
  • • 1 tsp ground coriander
  • • 1 tsp lightly crushed coriander seeds
  • • 1 tsp fennel seeds
  • • pinch of mace
  • • 3 tbsp smoked paprika
  • • 3 cloves of garlic, finely grated
  • • 1 dsp mixed dried herbs
  • • 1 tsp chilli flakes (or chipotle)
  • • 1 tsp salt & Ground pepper to taste

For the toastie

  • • 10g lard
  • • 1 large pheasant breast, butterflied and seasoned
  • • 2 slices bread
  • • 50g grated smoked cheddar
  • • 1 Dsp well-drained sauerkraut

Method

  1. Prepare the sauce: Put everything together in a saucepan and simmer for 15 minutes, tasting and adjusting the seasoning as you go. You may need more acidity to balance out the sweetness. If you don’t have any Henderson’s, Worcestershire sauce will do.
  2. Once simmered, blitz with a hand blender and leave to cool to room temperature before refrigerating—it should keep for weeks.
  3. Cook the pheasant: Heat a large frying pan over moderate heat. Place half the lard in the pan, then cook the pheasant breast for about 2 minutes per side until cooked but still juicy. Set aside to rest. Turn the pan heat right down.
  4. Assemble: Place the grated cheese on one slice of bread, then add the pheasant breast and sauerkraut—spread it around evenly—and top with the second slice of bread.
  5. Toast: Add the rest of the lard to the pan. Carefully place the sandwich in the pan and cook for 2 minutes, then turn it over. Once turned, place another heavy pan on the top to press it down. Cook for another 2 minutes.
  6. Take off the heavy pan, remove the toastie and cut it in half. Serve with lashings of that homemade BBQ sauce.
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