Realtree’s Timber 2 Table chef shares cooking tips for fast and delicious wild game meals and 11 easy venison recipes the whole family will love.  

A demanding work schedule and evenings spent shuttling kids to practices and activities can leave little time for week-night cooking. But you don’t have to resort to Hot Pockets and the guilt that comes with feeding your family processed food from a box. If you have some venison in your freezer and a few staple ingredients in your cupboard, then you have all you need for a quick, easy, and tasty dinner that will satisfy everyone at your table.

Realtree’s Timber 2 Table Chef Michael Pendley has a knack for creating delicious wild game recipes that are simple for anyone to make, and they use common ingredients. Pendley says venison is actually the perfect main-course ingredient for anyone who’s short on time. 

“Venison steaks respond best to fast, high heat that sears the surface and leaves the interior rare or medium rare for top dining quality,” he says. “Grilling or frying are great ways of cooking venison. Diced bits of venison also cook quickly in stir-fry or similar recipes.”

Plan with Portions

Pendley says planning and prepping your meals begins long before you start cooking; it can, in fact, begin the day you shoot your deer. “After your deer has been processed, make sure you freeze your venison in meal-friendly amounts,” Pendley says. “You’ll cut your meal prep time down significantly by trimming and packaging venison in ready-to-cook sizes.”

He recommends packaging ground venison in 1- or 2-pound amounts to go straight into recipes. He cuts backstrap and roasts into meal-sized sections before freezing as well. “Cut venison into small cubes for fast cooking,” he says. “Meals like skewers with small chunks of venison, alternated with things like mushrooms, tomatoes, pineapple, peppers, and onions, cook quickly and are easily customizable for individual tastes. Everyone loves meat on a stick.”

And of course, make sure you label everything clearly so you can easily find it in the freezer. There’s nothing worse than sorting through a pile of mystery meat that’s been frozen for who knows how long. 

Make a Menu 

When you do have some spare time on a weekend or rare weeknight, use a little of it to plan and prep meals. “Planning your menu for the week will actually save you a lot of time in the long run because you won’t need to make multiple trips to the store throughout the week,” Pendley says. 

You can even pre-cook your venison, once you know how much of it you’ll need for meals that week. “Making tacos or meat sauce for pasta? Brown your ground venison in advance so that it is ready to go directly into the dish when you start to cook later that week,” Pendley says. “For sandwiches, smoke or grill a roast or section of backstrap so that it is ready to slice and warm on a busy weeknight. Just refrigerate the cooked meat until you are ready to use it.” 

Get Creative

Pendley encourages folks to try something new with their recipes, such as using a sous vide for tender venison roasts. Sous vide loosely translates to “under vacuum,” and that’s exactly how the meat cooks. Sous vide involves vacuum-sealing food in a bag, then cooking it to a very precise temperature in a water bath. The precise temperature and set amount of time means you can expect consistent results and tender, flavorful meat, since it cooks in its own juices. 

“You start by vacuum sealing the seasoned venison,” Pendley says. “The sealed package gets submerged in a water bath that is heated by a small sous vide cooker. You set the temperature for desired finish — say 130 degrees on a venison roast — and the temperature of the meat will never go above the set temperature. Even though prep only takes a few minutes, you can leave the package submerged for insanely long periods of time. We’ve cooked roasts for 24 hours multiple times, to get the tenderizing benefits of long cooking times, but still ended up with a nice medium-rare finish.”

Pendley says to start the sous vide process the night before, and when you get home from work, simply open the package, remove the venison roast, and give it a quick sear on a hot grill or in a skillet to crisp up the surface. Save the cooking liquid from the package and reduce it on the stovetop for the base to a nice gravy that you can serve over your sliced roast. 

Creativity is also the key to delicious, quick, and easy-to-prepare meals. “Don’t be afraid to experiment with venison in your favorite beef recipes,” Pendley says. “We love to recreate our favorite restaurant meals with venison because it substitutes well most of the time.”

If your ground venison is a little lean for things like grilled burgers, try blending some of it with raw bacon, for added fat. “While we always grind several pounds of straight venison with no added fat, when it comes to burgers, it’s hard to beat venison ground with raw bacon in a 75% venison to 25% bacon ratio,” Pendley says. The finished product is perfect for delicious burgers, either on the grill or seared in a skillet. 

Don’t forget, kitchen appliances such as your air fryer and slow cooker can also help you trim the prep time on dinner. “Air fryers are perfect for a quick meal,” Pendley says. “Try seasoning venison steaks, brushing them with melted butter, and then cooking in the air fryer for 5 to 8 minutes, depending on thickness, to a nice medium-rare. Serve with a salad and a side dish, and you have a meal in minutes.” 

And of course, the slow cooker is a household essential for making easy meals, from pulled venison roasts for sandwiches to chili. “Start the recipe before you leave for work in the morning and it will be ready when you come in that evening,” Pendley says. And it’s always a perk coming home to a delicious-smelling house. 

Timber 2 Table's Best Easy Venison Recipes

Pendley couldn’t narrow his list of favorite quick and easy-to-make recipes to just 10 — he included one extra. Some of these recipes take less than 15 minutes to prepare, but they taste like you’ve spent all day working in the kitchen.

Ground Venison and Rice Bake: Essentially effortless to pull together, this savory rice and venison dish is perfect for a main course or hearty side that you can customize to your liking.

Garlic-Butter Backstrap and Mushrooms: Do you have leftover bits of backstrap that are too small for steak? These tasty bits, combined with mushrooms, garlic, and butter, make for a delicious meal, especially when served over rice or noodles. 

Competition-Style Grilled Backstrap: Competition-style marinades and spices add a ton of flavor to this quick-and-easy backstrap recipe, which was inspired by some of the best competitive steak chefs in the world. 

Slow Cooker Venison Stroganoff: This hearty slow-cooker dish will have your house smelling wonderful when you get home. You’ll just need to add the finishing touches and then serve your family up this delicious comfort food they’re sure to enjoy. 

Venison Chislic: This South Dakota favorite can be served as a meat-on-a-stick appetizer or main course. It’s so easy to make that you can even prepare it over a camp stove in a deer blind.

Venison Stir-Fry With Homemade Peanut Hoisin Sauce: This one is a perfect weeknight dinner that can be put together in less than 30 minutes. Use pre-cut, frozen veggies to reduce prep time. 

Venison and Chorizo Street Tacos: A good street taco is hard to beat. This one uses marinated venison and chorizo made with pork from wild pigs. Don’t forget to warm the tortillas! 

Bourbon Buttermilk Fried Deer Tenderloin: Add a twist on the classic venison fried backstrap with this tasty dish that only takes 15 minutes to prepare and can be enjoyed for breakfast, lunch, or dinner.

Venison Burgers with Pimento Cheese and Fried Green Tomato: A dollop of pimento cheese and a few slices of fried green tomato give this juicy venison burger a Southern twist. 

Garlic Butter Backstrap Bites: Butter and garlic make everything better, and that’s especially true for this flavorful venison recipe. This easy dish only takes 15 minutes to prepare, but it tastes like an all-day effort. 

Sous Vide Venison Roast Recipe: This dish takes 24 hours to cook but only 15 minutes to prep. The technique results in tender and juicy venison roasts that are sure to exceed your expectations. 

Are you a field to table foodie? Check out more of our wild game recipes and foraging tips on our Wild Table blog!