These Ground Venison Tacos are subtly smoky, which plays well with deer meat's earthy flavor. Pairing with a super simple Red Wine Vinaigrette Slaw takes these deer meat tacos to the next level of awesome.
Venison (deer meat) is a lean, flavorful meat that makes a fantastic taco filling, especially when you play up its uniqueness with bold chipotle en adobo and well-balanced umami flavors. This Venison Taco recipe is fairly easy to execute using common grocery store ingredients. And it makes a memorable deer meat recipe you'll want to add to your game meat dinner rotation.
For more ways to cook with venison, try my smoky and spicy venison chili and easy venison soup!
Why You Will Love This Recipe
- Great dish for anyone new to eating deer meat. The addition of multiple flavor components enhances the flavor of ground deer meat and combats some of its gaminess.
- Versatile: Skip the tacos and use the ground venison to make air fryer nachos or quesadillas, like these ground turkey quesadillas.
- Creative recipe for venison: If you're tired of cooking venison the same way on repeat, this recipe is sure to introduce you to a whole new experience of flavor.
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Ingredients
This ground venison taco recipe uses a few select ingredients to complement the flavors of deer meat and give it a southwestern edge worthy of tacos. This is how you season venison for tacos. Acidity + umami + smoke = delicious venison tacos.
- Bacon grease: My answer to the troublesome issue of dryness when cooking venison. Plus, fat adds flavor!
- Red wine vinegar: Brings an acidic punch to help rein in gamey-ness. I add it to the ground venison, but also to the slaw since the flavors pair so well with venison.
- Worcestershire sauce: Adds a splash of umami to round out and unify flavors.
- Spices: Ground cumin and paprika enhance the meat and bring some complementary earthy flavors.
- Chipotle en adobo peppers: Leads the way into taco territory with a decidedly smoky slant. Use the extras to make some chipotle chicken salad or a batch of this chipotle mayo.
- Cabbage: Grab a bag of pre-shredded cabbage or slaw mix to save some time.
See the recipe card for the full list with quantities.
What is Venison?
Venison is meat that comes from deer. You likely won't find deer meat in your local grocery store because there are strict food-grade guidelines around how meat must be processed before it can be approved for commercial sale (read a bit about game meat and food safety here).
Most venison is harvested via hunting deer in the wild. It's difficult to ensure that the deer meat your uncle Randy harvested during hunting season meets those strict food guidelines; therefore, you won't find it for sale in stores.
For this recipe, I am referring to venison that has been harvested in the wild (during deer hunting season). Hunting deer is a popular outdoor activity in Minnesota, one that my family and I have participated in for many years. The ground venison for this recipe was provided by a deer my little 'bro harvested.
How to Make Ground Venison Tacos
To get started making ground venison tacos, blend the ingredients for the slaw dressing in a blender. Then, pour it over the shredded cabbage and toss until well-coated. Refrigerate in a lidded container until ready to serve.
- Step 1. Add ½ can of chipotle en adobo peppers to a food processor and process for 20-30 seconds. Set aside.
- Step 2. Heat 2 tablespoons of bacon grease in a large pan over medium heat. Once liquified, add the onion and cook for 3 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Step 3. Add the garlic, and cook for 45 seconds, stirring frequently.
- Step 4. Next, add in the ground venison and cook for around 10 minutes, or until completely browned.
- Step 5. Add the cumin, paprika, processed chipotle en adobo peppers, red wine vinegar, and Worcestershire sauce. Stir until well combined. Cook for an additional 2-3 minutes, then remove from heat.
- Step 6. Serve the ground venison taco meat in tortillas with slaw on top or any garnishes you'd like, and this corn and quinoa salad on the side.
Expert Tips
Venison definitely requires a little more finesse in the flavor department vs. ground beef. To ensure venison tacos turn out delicious every time, follow these cooking tips:
- Cook lean ground venison in a fat, like bacon grease or olive oil; otherwise, you risk serving dry venison. It's one of my favorite ways to use leftover bacon grease!
- Don't be stingy with the seasoning! Venison can be gamey; it's definitely got a mellow earthiness to it, almost like you can taste what plants a deer has been eating. Bold seasonings can really help punch up (or cover up) venison's flavor. This is a personal preference, but I find that older buck meat is the worst offender for gaminess. I hunt for flavor, not trophies.
- Make the slaw a few hours in advance to give the flavors of the slaw time to meld before serving.
Serving Suggestions
You should definitely consider these slammin' sides to go along with deer meat tacos:
- Quick Serving Idea: Skip the slaw and top your tacos with shredded lettuce, pico de gallo or other salsa, shredded cheese, and/or sour cream. Though if you have the time and the inclination, the red wine vinaigrette slaw pairs beautifully. You can even add it as a topping on a taco salad bar.
- Fun Appetizers: Pair with the classic spicy pico de gallo and tortilla chips or some taco balls.
- Side Dishes: Enjoy your ground venison tacos with these easy restaurant style refried beans from a can or these easy seasoned refried beans if you prefer something a bit more homemade. I also like this Tex-Mex pasta salad with tacos.
Ground Venison Tacos Recipe FAQs
Store any leftover venison taco meat in a lidded container in the refrigerator and use it within 3-4 days. Reheat in a skillet on the stove before serving again! This will take around 5-7 minutes, covered, stirring occasionally.
For optimal flavor and freshness, use any leftover slaw within 2 days.
For the uninitiated, eating ground venison meat can be an experience, especially wild venison. Its flavor can be a bit unpredictable, but it has a very distinct earthiness to it; it's also not as juicy as beef and is super lean and firm. In my opinion, deer meat can range from overwhelmingly (read: unpleasantly) gamey to possessing a lovely lean earthiness. Fortunately, my experience has overwhelmingly been with the latter. I've never eaten farm-raised venison, but I've heard it's very similar to wild hunted deer meat (though I'd wager more consistent in flavor since the diet is controlled as well as the age of harvesting).
If you want to introduce venison to the uninitiated or those who haven't had good experiences with previous gustatory introductions to deer meat, try laying this ground venison taco recipe on them. I opted for smoky and umami flavors here to complement the earthiness of ground venison.
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If you tried this Ground Venison Tacos recipe (or any other recipe on Midwexican), please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how it turned out in the 📝 comments below!
Ground Venison Tacos
Ingredients
- 1 ½ tablespoon bacon grease
- 2 pounds ground venison
- 1 medium yellow onion finely diced
- 5-6 cloves garlic minced
- 2 tablespoon red wine vinegar
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1 tablespoon ground cumin
- ½ teaspoon paprika
- ½ 7.5 ounce can chipotle en adobo peppers
Red Wine Vinaigrette Slaw
- ½ small head cabbage shredded
- ½ small shallot diced (you can also use 2-3 tablespoons diced yellow onion)
- 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
- 1 ¼ teaspoons Dijon mustard
- ½ teaspoon honey
- ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil (use a mild-flavored olive oil)
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Add ½ can of chipotle en adobo peppers to a food processor and process for 20-30 seconds. Set aside.
- Heat 2 tablespoons of bacon grease in a large pan over medium heat. Once liquified, add onion and cook for 3 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Add garlic, and cook for 45 seconds, stirring frequently.
- Add ground venison and cook for around 10 minutes, or until completely browned.
- Add cumin, paprika, processed chipotle en adobo peppers, red wine vinegar, and Worcestershire sauce. Stir until well combine. Cook for an additional 2-3 minutes, then remove from heat.
- Serve with Red Wine Vinaigrette Slaw or any garnishes you'd like.
Make the Slaw
- Add diced shallot, red wine vinegar, Dijon mustard, honey, and extra virgin olive oil to a food processor or blender. Process or blend for 20-30 seconds.
- Taste and adjust flavors by adding salt and pepper. Pour over shredded cabbage and toss until well coated. Refrigerate in a lidded container until ready to serve. Note: Make this slaw a few hours in advance to give the flavors of the slaw time to meld before serving.
Notes
- Cook lean ground venison in a fat, like bacon grease or olive oil; otherwise, you risk serving dry venison. It's one of my favorite ways to use leftover bacon grease!
- Don't be stingy with the seasoning! Venison can be gamey, it's definitely got a mellow earthiness to it. Bold seasonings can really help punch up (or cover up) venison's flavor.
- Make the slaw a few hours in advance to give the flavors of the slaw time to meld before serving.
Lindsey says
Made these tonight with the slaw. Very tasty and so easy/fast!! I didn’t have any bacon grease on hand, but still turned out great. Looking forward to trying your venison chili next ??