Venison Chili

Venison Chili Recipe

If you are looking for a delicious ground venison recipe, try this quick and easy Venison Chili Recipe. It take almost no time, and can be partnered with homemade honey cornbread muffins (which can be ready around the same time, if started when defrosting the ground deer meat). I love a big pot of chili for supper on those cold winter evenings, and it can simmer while out shoveling snow and will be ready to warm you up and fill your belly afterward (this is a thick and hearty chili recipe).

Crockpot Deer Chili

I prefer the taste of deer chili cooked in a slow cooker, but I brown the ground venison first. Some people swear by letting the ground meat cook in the crockpot with the chili. I tried this method once, however I did not like the taste of it cooked that way. After trying different methods of slow cooker venison chili (and instant pot), I have decided to stick with my original recipe (which my family thinks is the best venison chili recipe EVER!) The main exception I would make to this recipe would be to cook the chili with dry beans instead of canned beans. Then you would need to soak your dry kidney beans for at least 5 hours (or overnight) before cooking them.

Quick & Easy Deer Chili Recipe

This deer chili recipe can be made in as little as 20 minutes, if made with canned beans and veggies in a stovetop pot. You could even prep the seasoning, and defrost the meat on the counter all day to speed things up for a speedy weeknight meal.

Old Fashioned Deer Chili Recipe

My recipe of wild game chili is very a basic, old fashioned recipe. So feel free to add more flavor like green onions, bell peppers, green chiles, or even jalapeno pepper if you wish. I was traumatized as a child by having to eat green bell pepper and onions in EVERY meal. So now as an adult, I will only sparingly use them.

Spice Up Wild Game

I make my own blend of spices, which would taste similar to McCormick’s Chili Seasoning copycat recipe. There aren’t many spices, and I am actually trying to grow my own herbs for my own fresh seasoning. (More to come on that.) But for now, I use dried spices including chili powder, cumin, garlic powder, onion, salt, and black pepper. Make sure to completely brown the venison before adding seasoning, to prevent the meat from being raw. The seasoning can disguise how thoroughly the ground meat is cooked. (I also keep fresh cilantro and shredded cheddar cheese handy to top my chili.) This chili seasoning also works well for home canning chili beans (I like kidney beans for chili.)

Healthy Ground Venison Chili Recipe

Deer chili can be a very healthy and nutritious meal. Deer meat has more iron, omega 3, and other nutrients than conventional red meats. (Elk meat also has more nutrition than beef, and this recipe will also work for elk chili.) You can read more about the benefits of wild game meat in this article. If you have an avid hunter in the family, you might be able to fill your freezer with enough venison meat for the cost of processing. We pay about $1.25 per pound of processed deer meat (which is less than half the price of the cheapest ground beef, plus we get fresh cuts including roasts, steaks, stew meat, and tenderloins.) We usually have 3 deer processed per year, which is usually the perfect amount of venison meat for our family of 4. We end up with a lot of venison burger, which I use in MANY of my recipes.

Best Venison Chili Recipe For Leftover Lunches

Another tip I can offer is to 1.5x or double the recipe, so that there are leftovers for lunch the next day. We recently discovered this electric lunchbox (Amazon affiliate links), which has allowed my construction working family to take leftovers to lunch on the construction jobsite. It has a 12 volt car adapter plugin, as well as a regular 110 outlet plugin, which gives multiple power options for him to warm up his lunch. (This is an inexpensive lunch game-changer for those who have lived on cold lunches for years.)

How to Make Deer Chili

This recipe serves up 4 bowls of chili, each a generous 2.25 cups. This recipe also churns out a dazzling dozen of cornbread muffins. That’s right, we’re not skimping on the hearty goodness – we aim to fill you up quicker than a buffet line on cheat day! If you’re feeling a tad less hungry or more famished than usual, no worries! Simply hit that 0.5x box for a smaller adventure or go all-in with the 1.5x, 2x, or 3x boxes for a feast that multiplies faster than excuses for missing that ginormous buck.