15+ Ways to Use Venison that Everyone Will Love

Are you looking for new ways to use venison that your family will love to eat?

It’s so easy to just go back to the same recipes or the same ways to cook over and over again. Especially with wild game. I’m going to share with you ways to use venison you might not have thought of.

Whether you butcher a deer yourself or take your prized kill to the locker plant, you’ll need to know what kind of cuts you want to use. Not only that, but you’ll need to know what to make and how to cook it and turn it into something delicious.

In this post, I will give you:

15+ Ways to Use Venison – You might already know some of these.
What it takes to take the gamey taste out of the venison.
Tricks and tips for cooking venison.

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Venison Jerky

One of the most common ways to use venison is to make deer jerky. For as long as I could remember, friends and family members have made different flavors of venison jerky to share with others in the community.

The easiest way to make venison jerky is to use a dehydrator. Use ground venison for a softer jerky or cut pieces of steak into very thin strips. Soak in the marinade of your choice for a few hours and then lay it out in the dehydrator. Put it on when you go to bed and it’s ready by morning.

You can also make deer jerky by smoking it! If you have a multi-purpose smoker, you can use it. This TRAEGER-brand smoker is a commonly recommended smoker for deer jerky.

Deer Steaks

The best way to cook venison steak is to cook it slowly. Grilling is a no-fail way to slowly cook deer backstraps or Butterfly Steaks. How to cook venison backstraps? Cut thin, flour and grill or you can fry them. Eat them hot or cold, on sandwiches or in stew.

See the image below for where to find those steaks on your deer.

Ground Venison Ideas

There are lots of ways to use ground venison in recipes that call for beef or ground pork. This is just about the easiest ways to use venison. The following is a very short list of ideas for ground venison:

Deer Burgers
Meat Loaf
Meat Balls – Check out this recipe that you can substitute venison.
Goulash
Spaghetti

Summer Sausage

Use ground deer to make summer sausage. Hire your locker plant to do this for you or you can make it yourself. See the above affiliate link for the meat grinder that is also a sausage maker.

Breakfast Sausages

Use an Italian seasoning to create a breakfast flavored deer sausage that is way leaner than pork. Again, you can hire your locker plant to do this for you or you can experiment with recipes yourself. Here are the two ways to process sausages:

Sausage Patties – Similar to deer burgers.

Sausage Links

Chili

Combine ground venison, tomatoes, and beans into a pot or slow cooker. Enjoy on a cool day.

Deer Tenderloin

The tenderloin is a popular cut of the loin. See the picture above. A popular way to enjoy tenderloin is to bread and fry it. You can also season and bake it to enjoy with mashed potatoes or in a sandwich.

Deer Fingers

Yet another way to enjoy the tenderloin. Deer fingers are little tenderized strips. Cut the tenderloin into strips, bread and fry. Enjoy with mashed taters and gravy.

Roast

Slow cook a roast in the oven with vegetables. My favorite veggies to cook with roasts are potatoes, carrots and onions.

Ribs

Season or BBQ deer ribs and cook them in the oven or a roaster.

Best Ways to Cook Ground Venison?

Many people know about how lean deer meat is. It’s so lean that the ground venison can fall apart when making patties. So, it’s recommended to add some fat to it.

You can add fat in the way of beef, egg, or lard. It acts as a sticking agent that will hold the masterpiece together as it is cooking.