Venison Stew

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Wild venison (or elk) slow cooked with carrots and potatoes makes a hearty and tasty venison stew.

We live in an area where hunting is prevalent. We have four hunters in our house and our freezers are stocked full of venison and elk meat. This delicious stew can be made with either venison or elk meat. If you don’t have access to wild game, you could use beef.

The key to this stew is searing or browning the meat and then slow cooking everything together in a heavy dutch oven with a lid in the oven for at 3 hours. The stew slowly cooks developing intense flavors and the meat tenderizes while it cooks.

As a kid, stew was one of my least favorite meals. I was a picky eater. But now, stew is one I savor! Guess what, mom! I like stew!

Key Ingredients

A complete list of ingredients and measurements can be found below. Just scroll to the bottom!

• Venison meat cut into small cubes
• Carrots – whole carrots peeled, don’t use baby carrots that are precut
• Potatoes – Peeled and cubed red potatoes or yukon gold potatoes
• Broth – Beef broth or if you have it, venison broth
• Onion – large yellow onion diced
• Celery – diced

Tips for making stew

• Trim your meat – Whether you meat is already cut or you cut up a roast, cut the meat into 2 inch pieces. Trim off any excess sinew. Game meat is very lean and there isn’t usually any fat, but if you are using beef, trim off any fat.
• Use a heavy cast iron dutch oven. I use one we use on a campfire, but you can use one that is enamel coated too. It should be heavy and have a lid.
• Brown your meat in the dutch oven on the stove top. Brown in small batches and remove browned meat to cook another batch. It usually takes me 3-4 batches to brown it all. Do not discard any of the brown bits on the bottom of the pan – this is flavor!
• Sautee the onions and celery right in the same pan.
• Add wine (or broth) to pan along with sauteed onions and celery. Scrape up any browned bits from the bottom of the pan and allow wine to cook down until almost entirely evaporated.
• Add remaining ingredients and stir together.
• Place lid on dutch oven and place in a preheated 300 degree oven.
• Let cook for 3 hours – don’t peak or remove lid!

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Variations and substitutions

• Use venison, elk or beef
• Omit red wine and use beef broth or beer
• Add fresh rosemary along with thyme
• Add sautéed mushrooms

How to know when the stew is done

As the stew cooks, the broth will become slightly thicker and the flavors will all meld together. The stew is done when the potatoes and carrots are cooked through and are fork tender. Wild game meat will not be fall apart tender like beef will, but if you taste a piece it will be soft and easy to chew. If the meat is tough, cook the stew for another 30 minutes.

If you make this recipe, I’d love to hear about it! Leave a comment below and snap a picture and tag me on Instagram @beyondthechickencoop

Be sure to check out all my main dish recipes!