Venison Pot Pie Recipe with Homemade Pie Crust
One great way to use up some wild game meat is to cook a venison pot pie. While it sounds complicated, it is actually fairly easy to make. The most difficult part is smelling the food cook for 30 minutes in the oven while hungry! Even the homemade pie crust is easy to whip up!
Ingredients needed for the meat mixture filling:
- Ground venison (petite diced roast or venison stew meat will also work)
- beef broth
- onion
- carrots
- peas
- green beans
- potatoes
- tomato paste
- garlic
- soy sauce
- Worcestershire sauce
- flour
- thyme
- salt and pepper
- red wine (optional)
Ingredients needed for the pie crust:
- Flour
- salt
- butter
- water
Pot Pie Recipe Tips:
I use a food processor to mix the pie crust, because the blades cut through the cold butter and blend it quicker than a stand mixer. The key to making a good crust is to keep the ingredients as cold as possible (which is why the recipe calls for ice water). If I’m making a double batch, I use a stand mixer because I don’t have the space for the volume needed in my food processor. The mixer works well, however the food processor is more efficient.
The secret to a great pie crust is to blind bake (or pre-bake) the crust at 425 degrees fahrenheit for 15 minutes before filling. Most pies are filled with liquids that will make the bottom crust soggy, blind baking the crust will prevent sogginess while creating a deliciously flaky crust. Although it is not absolutely necessary, using pie weights (Amazon affiliate link) will prevent the crust from settling or the crust sides losing a bit of height while blind baking (causing the crust to hold less pie filling). A second pie pan (especially a heavier glass pie pan) placed on top of the prepped crust works well as a pie weight. 1 cup of dry rice, beans, or popcorn kernels on a layer of parchment paper also works well as a pie weight for blind baking. There is no need to blind bake the separate top crust portion of the pie crust.
A pie in a standard size pie pan (9-inch) takes about 40 minutes to bake at 350 degrees fahrenheit, until the internal temperature reaches 165 degrees fahrenheit. (This pie crust recipe also tastes great in other pies like apple pie, pumpkin pie, etc.) The meat in this recipe is already cooked (and still warm from the stove), so just keep an eye on the crust. When the crust is golden brown, the pot pie will be done. Use a pie shield (Amazon affiliate link) to protect the crust from burning.
If wild game meat has a “gamey” flavor, cooking the deer meat or elk meat in beef broth will decrease the gamey taste. Adding a bit more seasoning to the venison may also help. Gamey flavor largely depends on the animal’s food supply. A Rocky Mountain bull elk that is living in an area with limited vegetation (usually because of drought or fire) harvested during rut will have more of a gamey taste than a young doe living in the midwest surrounded by cornfields and lush green pastures.
Venison Pot Pie Ingredient Substitutions:
If you don’t have any deer meat left, feel free to use ground beef, stew meat, chicken (just swap the beef broth for chicken broth), turkey, or even a diced pork roast. This recipe is very versatile!
If you like this recipe, check out our venison shepherd’s pie (hunter’s pie), venison lumpia (Filipino egg rolls) recipe, venison salisbury steak recipe, venison tater tot casserole, easy venison stroganoff recipe, venison chili recipe, the best venison burgers recipe, or homemade biscuits and venison gravy recipe!
Venison Pot Pie
Equipment
Ingredients
Meat Filling
- 2 pounds ground venison or stew meat (ground beef also works)
- ¼ cup minced onion (or onion powder)
- 4 cloves minced garlic (or garlic powder)
- 2 cups mixed veggies (diced carrots, peas, etc)
- 2 cups beef broth
- 3 Tbsp flour
- 2 Tbsp tomato paste
- 1 Tbsp Soy Sauce
- 1 Tbsp Worcestershire Sauce
- ½ cup red wine (optional)
Pie Crust
- 1 ¼ cup flour
- ¼ tsp salt
- 10 Tbsp cold unsalted butter
- 2-4 Tbsp ice water
Instructions
- Defrost meat & preheat oven2 pounds ground venison or stew meat
- While meat is defrosting, prep pie crust
Homemade Pie Crust
- Add flour, salt, and sliced chunks of cold butter to food processor.1 ¼ cup flour, ¼ tsp salt, 10 Tbsp cold unsalted butter
- Pulse food processor until mix forms lima bean size pieces.
- Slowly add ice cold water, 1 Tbsp at a time until dough comes together. Dough should be moist, but not wet.2-4 Tbsp ice water
- Dust clean countertop with flour, and roll pie crust out flat.
- Place crust into pan, and shape, cutting excess off edges for pie crust top.
- Blind bake pie crust (before filling) with pie weights @ 425° F for 15 minutes, then remove parchment paper and pie weights and bake an addition 5 minutes. (For pie weights, you can use parchment paper and 2nd pie pan, or parchment paper with 1 cup of dry rice or beans)
Meat Filling
- While pie crust is blind baking, cook meat, onions, and garlic in dutch oven (or large pot)2 pounds ground venison or stew meat, ¼ cup minced onion, 4 cloves minced garlic
- Once meat is cooked, add optional red wine, and mixed veggies. If adding wine, cook until evaporated.2 cups mixed veggies (diced carrots, peas, etc), ½ cup red wine
- Add flour to meat and veggies, stirring mixture to evenly coat with flour.3 Tbsp flour
- Add beef broth, soy sauce, worcestershire, and tomato paste, and stir.2 cups beef broth, 2 Tbsp tomato paste, 1 Tbsp Soy Sauce, 1 Tbsp Worcestershire Sauce
- Simmer until meat mixture thickens. (About 5 minutes)
- Fill pie crust with meat mixture, and top with pie crust top. Cut at least one slit into top of pie crust.
- Bake at 400° for about 30 minutes, until pie crust top turns golden brown.
- Enjoy!
- If you like this recipe, please comment and rate below. Thank you!
Made this for supper, and it turned out delicious!
I doubled the batch, and put one in the freezer. Turned out great, so hopefully the frozen one will also cook well.
Pot pie was good and the crust was delicious.