19 Ground Venison Recipes | What to Make with Your Deer Meat (2024)

FAQs

What is the best to mix with ground venison? ›

Depending on what you're planning to cook, you may want to add fat to your ground venison. This added fat can be bacon, pork shoulder, pork belly, beef tallow, etc. It's purely personal preference. I always add about 15-20 percent fat if I'm making hamburger or kebabs, which makes the meat juicier and more flavorful.

Cook to a minimum of 160 degrees F. When you grind meat, you spread any bacteria present throughout the entire batch.

Beef fat works well with ground venison, and makes the flavor closer to ground beef. Pork fat is lower in saturated fat, has less flavor and will allow the venison flavor to shine.

I personally prefer pork fat, my friend prefers beef fat, while other friends prefer adding bacon as fat. I know a few and far between people that actually prefer deer fat, while others like duck and bear fat.

Large cuts of venison taste best when pot-roasted for several hours. If you have access to a crock pot, use any recipe for beef pot roast and you'll be pleasantly surprised. However, instead of cooking for two to four hours, venison may require substantially longer cooking time for the meat to become tender.

Since deer meat is a leaner meat than beef, you'll more than likely have to add olive oil to the meat when cooking it. This is especially true for browning ground meat. I usually just add onions, garlic, and bell peppers with a little olive oil in the pan while I'm browning the meat.

Particularly for medium-rare doneness, venison needs to achieve an internal temperature of 145°F before removing from the heat, whereas ground venison must be cooked at 160°F. Additionally, a casserole dish made from venison including leftover meats must be reheated to 165°F .

Once the meat is ground, mix in your favorite burger seasonings. If you want juicier burgers, mix 20 – 25% fatty ground beef or pork to the grind. If you grind it yourself, untrimmed pork shoulder ground together with the venison adds just the right amount of fatty flavor.

Why is my ground venison tough? ›

The toughness is partly the nature of venison, but it is further compounded by how unforgiving the near-zero fat percentage makes it. The most tender cut on the animal for doing a rare or medium rare fast cook method (sear/grill) I've come across is the diaphragm, often discarded upon field dressing.

If you want to keep your venison grind for upwards of 3 years, potentially longer, you may want to reconsider adding fat, especially if you're the type who always reaches for sub-primal cuts first and finds a stack of frost-caked chub bags years later.

Good hunters know to never bust stomachs, spill bladders, or cut the wrong spot because those mistakes ruin the meat.

The restrictions and definitions vary from state to state. However, in most states native species (like whitetail deer) are deemed to be "game animals" while non-native species have different classifications, usually deemed "livestock." If it is restricted then it will not be inspected and cannot be sold.

The better quality steaks fetch $15 per pound or higher. So a smaller deer would be worth $525 in meat (relative to your local farmer's market meat prices). A bigger deer could be worth $1000!

In a large bowl, gently fold together the ground venison, grated butter, Worcestershire sauce, garlic powder, onion powder, and cayenne pepper with your hands. Be careful not to overmix the ground venison: overworking and compacting the meat will make it tough and dry.

Many hunters suggest soaking your game meat in vinegar. However, vinegar's acidity can often dry the meat, making it especially tough. Instead, try soaking the meat in milk or even buttermilk, which will produce better results with most wild animals, especially when dealing with backstraps.

Recently I ground some of the frozen meat, mixed it with pork, and cooked these delicious venison burgers in the oven. My husband and son raved about them!

Given that deer are leaner than cows, venison is generally healthier to eat than beef. An average cut of venison, in fact, has around half the calories and a sixth the saturated fats of a similarly sized cut of beef. It also has more proteins, vitamins and minerals than beef.