The 10 Venison Slow Cooker Recipes Made for Setting and Forgetting (2024)

Whether you're a hunter or just a venison enthusiast, there's one thing you can't deny - version is good for you. It's high in protein, low in fat, and filled with lots of iron and other beneficial vitamins. Yes, venison might be better for you than beef but it's also harder to cook, too. It's so lean it tends to dry out very quickly and easily. That's why I love venison slow cooker recipes!'

How To Use Your Slow Cooker

While you can 'technically' make these recipes on the stove top under a watchful eye, we highly recommend adding a slow cooker into your kitchen arsenal. Not only are they great for slow cooking meat and protein, they are also a game-changer when it comes to potlucks and parties, espically if you are in charge of bringing the dip.

Crock Pot 8 Quart Programmable Slow Cooker

The 10 Venison Slow Cooker Recipes Made for Setting and Forgetting (2)

These slow cooker recipes make it super convenient to cook up a delicious venison roast or venison stew in your Crock-Pot. So get to pair your favorite slow cooker venison recipes with red wine and enjoy!

1. Venison Chili

Ground venison is perfect for making an amazingly flavorful venison chili. It's so lean, which means you don't have to worry about draining off the fat after cooking it. And that wild game flavor really pairs well with fire-roasted diced tomatoes and kidney beans. If you're into making a bowl of Texas chili, feel free to omit the beans and double up on more meat. This chili will be ready to eat in four hours of cooking time on high or eight hours on low.

This recipe can also be made in the Instant Pot as well! The cook time is less than if you prepare on the stove and the prep time isn't so bad either!

Get the recipe here from Culinary Hill .

2. Crock-Pot Venison Stew

This is a great way to cook down a savory venison roast so it becomes melt-in-your-mouth tender. All you need is a can of mushroom soup and a few spices and seasonings. Or, if you're feeling ambitious, you can make your own one-pot cream of mushroom soup before you whip up this venison stew. Either way, you can choose whether you want to cook this stew on low for nine to 11 hours or speed it up on high heat for four to five hours.

Get the recipe for slow cooker venison stew here from The Spruce .

3. Crock-Pot Barbecued Venison Sandwiches

One look at this delicious pulled venison sandwich and I may give up pulled pork for life! You can use any cut of venison you like for this recipe, so long as it's not ground venison. So pull out a few venison steaks or a venison roast and toss them into the slow cooker. They will be shreddable and tender in the total time of 10 hours on the low setting. Then pull out your favorite soft buns, barbecue sauce, and maybe some pickles and jalapenos. Talk about comfort food!

Get the recipe here from Food.com.

4. Beer Braised Venison Roast

I like chopping my venison roasts and steaks up into bite-sized pieces, but I also appreciate the presence of a bit old hunk of meat on the table. This beer braised Crock-Pot venison roast does just that. The beer helps tenderize the meat while accentuating that perfectly gamey flavor with malty backbones. You can choose to use a boneless venison roast for ease, or toss in a bone-in steak. Cook this roast on low for six hours and it'll be perfect for slicing and topping with fresh thyme.

Get the recipe for this slow cooker venison pot roast here from Curious Cuisiniere.

5. Crock-Pot Venison Stroganoff

Are you ready for this amazing pasta recipe? It seriously couldn't be easier than some cubed venison steak in the slow cooker with a package of dry onion soup mix. Add in some cream of mushroom soup and finish it off with sour cream and you'll swear this recipe could be served in a restaurant. Cook up your pasta noodles and get ready to plate it up. This slow cooker favorite is ready on low in only six to eight hours.

Get the recipe here from Legendary Whitetails.

6. Slow Cooked Venison with Apples and Sweet Potatoes

If you closed your eyes and took a bite of this sweet-and-savory venison slow cooker recipe, you might think this was made with a beef roast. That makes this the perfect recipe to serve to those who think they don't like game meat. The apples give everything a perfect level of sweetness and the sweet potatoes really soak up all the flavors from the beef broth. Four hours later on low and you'll have a perfectly tender roast. Sounds pretty nice to me!

Get the recipe here from Scratch Made Wife.

7. Crock-Pot Venison Loin Recipe

If you're wondering what to do with that venison loin or tenderloin, you should definitely make this Crock-Pot venison recipe. Dredging it in flour before cooking it on high for six hours will make a super thick sauce, which makes the perfect gravy for a side of mashed potatoes. And who doesn't love a slice of roast drowning in gravy?

Get this venison roast recipe here from Genius Kitchen.

8. Easy Crock-Pot Venison Korean BBQ

I don't know about you, but I love Korean barbecue. It has such sweet and salty flavors, with just a touch of spice. You don't even to make anything that fancy using this recipe - just a package of Campbell's Korean BBQ Slow Cooker Sauce and five to seven hours on low. Including the spinach and rice noodles for serving, this recipe only uses five pantry-staple ingredients.

Get the recipe here from Julie Golob.

9. Slow Cooker Teriyaki Venison

If you're not into Korean flavors but you like Asian-style venison, our very own slow cooker teriyaki venison recipe is for you. By combining soy sauce with brown sugar, ginger, and apple cider vinegar, the sauce gets the perfect sweet-and-spicy flavors. Serve this up with some of your favorite stir-fried veggies and some rice for a quick and easy weeknight meal. It only takes an hour on high followed by three hours on low for this dish to come together.

Get the recipe here.

10. Classic Slow-Cooked Venison

This recipe is perfect for venison shanks or venison shoulder. Both of these cuts are notorious for being super tough, but slow cooking them allows them to braise up low-and-slow. They should take about eight to 10 hours on the low setting, so this recipe is a great one to set up before you go to work. Cook up some savory red potatoes to serve alongside this fork-tender deer meat dish.

Get the recipe here from Epicurious.

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This post was originally published on January 31, 2018.

The 10 Venison Slow Cooker Recipes Made for Setting and Forgetting (2024)

FAQs

How do you cook venison so it's not tough? ›

Here are a few tips and guidelines on how to cook deer meat:
  1. Marinate the meat: To tenderize the meat and add flavor, marinate it in a mixture of acidic ingredients, such as vinegar or citrus juice, and herbs and spices. ...
  2. Cook low and slow: Venison is lean meat, which means it can dry out easily i.
Sep 22, 2018

Is it better to cook venison fast or slow? ›

Areas for working muscles include the shoulder and leg muscles. Working cuts of venison must be cooked for a relatively long time at a low temperature (220° to 325° F) to allow the connective tissue to breakdown. Once this happens you will get a fork-tender, flavor packed piece of meat.

What is the secret to slow cooking meat? ›

secondary cuts of meat work the best. This is because they're generally from the 'harder working' parts of the animal, so the meat tends to be tougher. They benefit from being cooked for longer and at lower temperatures than leaner meat, as the connective tissue breaks down to give that deep flavour and rich texture.

How is venison best cooked? ›

General tips:
  1. Don't overcook or cook at temperatures above 375 F. The short fibers in wild game meat will get tough.
  2. Serve game meat very hot or very cold. Lukewarm game fat has a very greasy taste.
  3. Baste very lean cuts with additional fat to improve flavor. Covering roast with bacon strips will provide self-basting.

What is the best seasoning for venison? ›

Ideal flavours for venison
  • Fruits: quince, cherries, prunes, blackberries, apples.
  • Herbs: thyme, rosemary, bay, sage.
  • Spices: star anise, allspice, black pepper, cloves, juniper.
  • Alcohol: red wine (e.g. Grenache, Zinfandel), cider, ale. Other: chestnuts, celeriac, red cabbage, chocolate, mushroom.
Mar 7, 2016

What tenderizes deer meat? ›

Enzymatic tenderizers that are already prepared can be found in most grocery stores. They use papaya, figs, or pineapple to break down the amino acids in the meat. Personally, I prefer using homemade dry rubs because enzymatic tenderizers take away from the flavor of the venison.

What makes venison taste gamey? ›

Venison silver skin, fat, ligaments, and other undesirable parts of a deer that aren't muscle don't taste very good. Deer fat is generally bitter, unlike beef fat. This is probably the number one reason why folks think venison, particularly ground venison, tastes gamey.

What is best to soak deer meat in before cooking? ›

Soaking: The most common soaking liquids are buttermilk, saltwater, white milk, vinegar, lemon juice and lime juice. While some hunters swear by certain soaking methods to take the “gamey” flavor away or bleed the meat after processing, others don't find it all that helpful.

Should you wash deer meat before cooking? ›

Washing deer meat

Rinsing deer meat or venison before cooking is not recommended by food safety agencies. Like other meats, washing venison can spread contamination in a kitchen.

Why can't you put raw meat in a slow cooker? ›

If you simply pop some raw meat in your slow cooker, it won't have a chance to brown, which adds some much-needed flavor and cuts down on plenty of unappealing grease. Instead, you're better served by browning raw meat in a skillet before adding it to the slow cooker with your other ingredients.

What tenderizes meat in a slow cooker? ›

So how does slow cooking tenderize? Broth, water, or juices are always added along with the meat. The moist heat they provide softens the connective tissue that binds the muscle fibers in the meat, helping it to fall apart more easily.

What is the best meat to slow cook in a slow cooker? ›

Choose the right cut: Chuck roasts, short ribs, pork shoulders and lamb shanks (think fatty and tougher meats) become meltingly tender with the moist, low heat of a slow cooker. Leaner cuts like pork tenderloin tend to dry out. Likewise, dark meat chicken — thighs, drumsticks, etc.

Is venison healthier than beef? ›

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.

What Flavours go well with venison? ›

Cooks often find that the stronger flavor of wild game meat can make the meat difficult to season well. Herbs offer the perfect solution. Bay, juniper berries, rosemary, sage, savory, and sweet marjoram all pair well with venison, as well as many other wild game meats.

What are three methods of cooking venison? ›

Naturally tender cuts like loins and tenderloin take well to high heat grilling, pan searing, or stuffing and trussing and should be served rare to medium rare. Here's my recipe for how to cook Chili Cocoa Crusted Venison Loin. Tougher muscles from the shoulder, shank or neck should be braised or stewed slow and low.

How to cook venison so it is tender? ›

The best way that I've found to make sure a venison roast (bone-in or out) tender is to cook it in the crockpot or slow cooker on low for 8-9 hours, or until it is falling apart. If you cook it on low you won't dry it out. Please note that I don't recommend cooking this on high for 4-6 hours.

How do you make deer more tender? ›

Like any meat , Deer meat to is tenderized by beating it, by marinating it with mild acids like lemon juice, sour curd, buttermilk, vinegar etc for minimum 4 hours . The fibers need to be cut across if you cut along the fibers the meat will be tough and chewy.

What makes venison chewy? ›

In the middle of these muscles are a big wade of fat and gland which also alters the flavor of the meat. This fascia is what makes the meat chewy, taste gamey, and makes the muscle contort out of shape when it cooks.

Why you shouldn't soak deer meat? ›

Putting the meat in water allows bacteria (primarily E. coli) to grow and spread over the entire carcass. It also removes all of the flavor from the meat. Imagine eating a good ribeye after soaking it in water for a week.

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