Our Favorite Venison Recipes

Our Favorite Venison Recipes

Our Favorite Venison Recipes The team members at TRACT share their favorite venison recipes and culinary secrets.

Bagging a deer or elk is both exhilarating and satisfying. Combined with a dash of work, effort, and luck to attribute to overall success, bringing home a trophy is really only one part of the prize. For us, it’s the harvest that feeds our families throughout the fall, winter, and spring. That’s why crafting delicious meals from the meat turns your bounty into a reward that can last for much longer than the hunt itself.

We’ve asked some of our team members to share their favorite venison recipes. Here’s what we’ve come up with.

Jon LaCorte – Co-Founder

These are pretty simple. You might note that old school Italians don’t measure ingredients. So use your best judgement.

Grilled Marinated Tenderloin

Ingredients

• 1 venison tenderloin
• 1 bottle of your favorite teriyaki marinade
• 1 tbsp minced garlic

Slice tenderloin into ½ inch thick medallions. Marinate in teriyaki and garlic overnight. Grill to medium rare.

Italian Tenderloin Cutlets

Ingredients

• 1 venison tenderloin
• 1 cup flour
• 1 cup seasoned bread crumbs
• Vegetable or olive oil
• 2 eggs beaten

Thinly slice tenderloin into cutlets or pound out thicker pieces for larger cutlets. Coat cutlets in flour, and then dredge through egg wash and lastly seasoned breadcrumbs. 

Heat a pan on the stove on medium-high heat until lightly smoking. Once pan is heated, fry breaded cutlets on medium-high heat until golden brown. 

The cutlets can then be used in your favorite parmigiana, marsala, or francese.

Venison Roast (can also use any cubed section of the animal)

Ingredients

• 1 medium to large rump roast
• 4 whole potatoes 
• 4 whole carrots
• 2 onions
• 1 tbsp minced garlic
• 1 can of beef stock

Place roast in slow cooker. Half the potatoes, slice carrots into cubes, rough chop onions, and include all vegetables in the slow cooker with garlic. Add the beef beef stock, and cook for several hours on low until meat falls apart with a fork.

Jon Allen – Co-Founder

In our household, everyone’s favorite venison recipe is Maya’s “Noodles & Meat.” Ingredients are approximations.

Noodles & Meat Recipe

Ingredients

• 1lb. ground venison
• 1lb. Pasta (normally made with the wide egg noodle pasta)
• 3 fresh Garlic Cloves – peeled and chopped
• 1 small Onion – peeled and chopped
• 4 tbs. Olive oil (2 for pasta – 2 for stir-frying onions and garlic)
• Powdered Garlic to taste
• Salt & Pepper to taste
• Fresh or Dried Oregano & Basil
• 1 tbs. Beef Bouillon from jar (not dried cubes)
• About 2 tbs. Sweet Soy Sauce
• About 3 tbs Regular Soy Sauce
• About 3 tbs. Worcestershire Sauce
• 1 Dollop of Mayonnaise and or Greek Yogurt (plain)
• ½ – ¾ cup of Heavy Cream
• 1 cup Grated Fresh (Real) Parmesan Cheese

Make Pasta (al dente is preferred) and set aside. Chop the onion and garlic and shred-grate parmesan cheese.

Stir fry onions and garlic with olive oil until glossy and tender and set aside. Stir fry venison on low to medium heat. When almost completely browned, add bouillon and mix well. Then stir in soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, powdered garlic, and 1 tsp of salt. Turn down heat to low.

Stir in a generous dollop of mayo or Greek yogurt and add heavy cream. Mix in parmesan cheese until consistency is creamy. If watery, slowly stir in flour until liquid thickens.

Turn off heat and finish meat with oregano and basil. Add pasta to the sauce (or sauce to pasta in a large bowl) and toss well. Serve with a side of desired veggies from the garden and don’t forget the homemade bread. Enjoy!  

Josh Wolfe – Content Creator

Backstrap fajitas are a quick, easy, and delicious south-of-the-border favorite venison recipe.

Ingredients

• 1 lb. venison backstrap, sliced into ½-inch steaks
• 1 yellow onion
• 1 green bell pepper
• 1 red bell pepper
• 2 jalapenos
• 1 Mexican beer
• Salt, pepper, chili powder, cayenne pepper
• Olive oil
• Vegetable oil
• Corn tortillas (flour tortillas are fine too)

Rub the meat with olive oil and sprinkle with salt, pepper, chili powder and cayenne. Slice vegetables with the grain. 

Heat a cast iron skillet until it’s smoking hot. Add olive oil and sear meat for about 40 seconds per side. Let rest. Bring the heat back down and add vegetables to pan. 

Slice meat while vegetables cook, making sure they don’t get soggy. Add sliced meat back to pan with the juice of one lime and half of the beer. Drink the rest.

In another skillet, heat vegetable oil. Fold corn tortilla with tongs, and fry each until forming a crispy shell. Then, fill it up! Garnish with pico de gallo and hot sauce for an added kick. Make sure there are plenty of cold beers in a cooler nearby. Enjoy!

Jeff Jensen – Social Media

Bacon Wrapped Venison is one of our family’s favorites. Warning, they are addictive and will lead to late-night cravings.

Ingredients

• 1lb Venison backstrap or tenderloin cut into 24 1” cubes
• 2 large jalapenos cut into 24 ring slices
• 2 ounces of cream cheese cut into 24 cubes
• 12 slices of regular (not thick cut) bacon cut in half
• ½ cup barbeque sauce

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place 1 cream cheese cube inside 1 jalapeno ring, lay venison cube on top of jalapeno slice. Wrap with ½ slice of bacon and secure with toothpick.

Bake for 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and add 1 teaspoon of BBQ sauce on each cube. Return to the oven and back for additional 10 mins or until bacon is crisp. Serve with additional BBQ dipping sauce.

Hopefully, our favorite venison recipes can be of some use to you this fall. But before we can fire up the grill or stove, it’s time to get out in the woods and see what the season of harvest has to offer.