Roasted Duck Breast with Ginger-Rum Sauce

Roasted duck breast is one of those dishes that sounds like it should come with a white tablecloth and a sommelier, but you can absolutely pull it off at home. With crisp skin, juicy meat, and a rich rum ginger sauce that tastes like you’ve been simmering secrets for hours, this recipe is a total flex. Fancy without the fuss, and bold enough to earn you some serious kitchen cred.

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Here is Why This Recipe Works

Deeply flavorful sauce: The rum and ginger combo creates a rich, slightly sweet, slightly spicy sauce that makes the duck sing.

Perfectly rendered skin: Scoring and searing the skin lets the fat render out properly, leaving you with golden, crispy goodness.

Juicy, tender meat: Roasting the duck to medium-rare keeps the meat moist and flavorful, not dry and rubbery.

Restaurant-quality at home: This dish feels like it costs $35 a plate, but you made it in your own kitchen (and didn’t have to put on fancy pants).

Want more duck? Try my cozy, slow-cooked duck cassoulet next.

Duck Temperature Chart

Craving more duck with a sweet-savory twist? Check out my spiced duck legs with fig sauce. It’s rich, aromatic, and unapologetically bold.

Prep Time: 30 minutes mins

Cook Time: 45 minutes mins

Total Time: 1 hour hr 15 minutes mins

5 from 23 votes

Roasted Duck Breast with Ginger-Rum Sauce

By Pat Nyswonger

Roasted duck breast with ginger-rum sauce. The breast is tender and juicy while the sweet-savory sauce pairs well with the rich duck breast.

If you make this recipe, please leave a star rating and comment.

Servings: 2 servings

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Ingredients 

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For the Rum Ginger Sauce

• ▢ 1 tablespoon olive oil
• ▢ 2 garlic cloves, grated or minced
• ▢ 2 tablespoons grated fresh ginger
• ▢ ½ cup ginger preserves
• ▢ 1 cup chicken broth
• ▢ ½ cup rum , See Notes
• ▢ ¼ cup heavy cream
• ▢ Salt and pepper

For the Roasted Duck

• ▢ 2 duck breasts , 6 ounces each
• ▢ Salt and pepper

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Instructions 

For the Ginger-Rum Sauce:

• In a small saucepan set over medium heat, add the olive oil and when it is warm add the garlic and ginger and cook until the garlic is fragrant but not brown, about 30 seconds. 
• Add the chicken stock, rum and ginger preserves, bring to a boil stirring to melt the preserves. Lower the heat to medium low and cook, reducing the sauce to a thick sauce, about 20-25 minutes. Stir in the cream and add salt and pepper to taste. Cover and reserve while preparing the duck breast.

For the Roasted Duck Breasts:

• Preheat the oven to 425°F
• Score the skin on each duck breast, diagonally, turn and slice again in a crisscross pattern. Sprinkle each breast on the skin side with salt and pepper, rubbing gently, working the salt into the cuts. Sprinkle the underside with salt and pepper.
• Heat a cast iron skillet or other heavy oven-proof skillet over medium-high heat until hot but not smoking. Add the duck breasts, skin side down. Cook until the skin is well browned and the fat has rendered, about 5 minutes. You will see a lot of fat bubbling out around the breasts. 

  Pour off the fat, flip the breasts to skin side up and transfer to the middle of the oven. Roast the duck breast until they have reached an internal temperature of 135°F on an instant read thermometer, about 8 minutes. *(See Notes)
• Remove the skillet from the oven and transfer the duck breasts to a cutting board, tent with foil and let rest for 5-minutes, then slice diagonally.
• To serve, spoon a puddle of the sauce onto each of two warm plates and arrange the slices of one duck breast on each plate.

Notes

• I used the golden, light colored rum for this sauce, the dark-colored rum can be substituted. This will make approximately one cup of sauce. Nutritional Values for ¼ cup of sauce – 183 cals, 6g fat
• The USDA recommends cooking duck breasts to an internal temperature of 170°F, but since we prefer the meat medium-rare, we cook it to only 135°F. To our taste, that yields the perfect degree of doneness.

Nutrition

Serving: 1breast, Calories: 343kcal, Protein: 41.6g, Fat: 18g, Saturated Fat: 4.9g, Cholesterol: 231mg, Sodium: 143mg

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

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Storing Leftovers

Refrigerate: Store sliced duck and sauce separately in airtight containers for up to 3 days.

Freeze: Duck breast can be frozen for up to 2 months. Wrap tightly in plastic and foil. Sauce can also be frozen in a small container.

Reheat: Warm duck gently in a 300°F oven, covered with foil, until heated through. Reheat sauce on the stovetop over low heat, adding a splash of broth if it thickened too much.

Duck Breast in Ginger Rum Sauce

This roasted duck breast with rum ginger sauce is the kind of dish that makes you feel like a kitchen boss. Crispy, juicy, and dripping with flavor, it’s proof that from-scratch cooking can be both simple and spectacular. So go ahead and treat yourself.

Not feeling duck tonight? My roasted Cornish game hens bring the same crispy-skin energy in a more petite, no-fuss form.