Venison Marinades 

Learning to cook venison to make delicious, healthy meals for my family is a skill I have been trying to perfect over the last few years. It can be a tricky meat to prepare, and often gets a bad reputation of tasting too “gamey” or being too tough. After researching about cooking wild game (including deer, moose, and elk) and experimenting in my own kitchen, I have come up with a basic marinade that always proves delicious. It is also easy to customize according to the flavor profile you want for your meal. 

Marinating venison is an important step whenever I am using it in a recipe. It not only enhances the flavor of the meat, it helps tenderize it and makes it easier to cut and chew. You can skip marinating venison, but I highly recommend it!

Basic Venison Marinade 

A great venison marinade has two main components: a fat and an acidic compound to help tenderize the meat and pull any of the wild taste out. I prefer to use organic extra-virgin olive oil or organic avocado oil for the fat. For the acidic part, I switch it up often depending on my mood and what I am cooking: red wine vinegar is my usual go to. You can also use balsamic vinegar, apple cider vinegar, white wine vinegar, or any other acidic cooking ingredient. Drizzle enough oil to coat the meat in, then add 3-4 tablespoons of vinegar.  

Once you have those two base ingredients, you can add in your flavors. My go-to ingredients are Worcestershire sauce, garlic powder (or garlic cloves), onion powder (or onion chunks), salt, pepper, and thyme. Other ingredients I often mix and match are organic soy sauce, Lawry’s seasoning salt, oregano, rosemary, turmeric, and a locally made seasoning blend. Measurements are going to depend on your own flavor preferences; I will list my usual measurements in the recipe to work off of. I always go heavy on the garlic! 

For best results, thaw the venison before marinading, but you can place frozen venison in the marinade while thawing overnight as well. Practice food safety while thawing the meat: do not let it come into contact with other foods; thaw in the refrigerator (or put into refrigerator immediately after thawing); always wash your hands with warm water and soap after handling raw meat.

Cooking with Marinated Venison 

For the best, most delicious results, marinate the venison overnight in the fridge. I like to use a Tupperware marinating container passed down from my mom for this – it tenderizes the meat as you shake it. Even if you are unable to marinate overnight, even a couple of hours will greatly improve the flavor and tenderness of the venison. 

Depending on the recipe, you can either drain the excess marinade out before cooking the meat or you can use it to cook the meat in for additional flavoring. I almost always choose to cook the meat in the marinade as it adds more moisture and flavoring. (I generally leave it out when making a stew or roast as I season the gravy.)  

Venison Marinade Variations 

Venison marinades are very easily customized to your tastes and recipes. I use the same base ingredients for each cut of meat, then use different seasonings and herbs to get the desired flavor profile for whatever I am making. If the recipe is something breaded, I don’t use as many dry ingredients in the marinade, instead I mix them into the breading mix.  

These are the typical ingredients I choose from: