Camping Recipes? Think Venison!

Need camping recipes?... When we think about the rugged outdoors, tents, and sleeping bags, we also think of food and wish we had easy meal ideas. Why not think venison? Venison is good in all sorts of camping meals and we’ll take a look at some of them here. We also invite our readers to share any great venison recipes they might have. You can submit your recipes to us below.

First off, one of the best reasons to use venison in camping recipes instead of beef is that it is much lower in fat and cholesterol—many people don’t know that, but when you actually look at a venison steak, you’ll be able to tell right away from the small amount of fat compared to any beef steak or roast.

Next, remember to bring along your camping grill or coals for a fire, or if you a real expert, make a nice wood fire. You will need a coal or wood fire to hang recipes that call for Dutch ovens.

Storing your dry ingredients in resealable plastic bags is a good way to keep them from spilling and don’t forget to bring along cooking utensils, measuring spoons and cups and other items you may need for cooking.

Finally, don’t forget to bring your vegetables like potatoes, green and red peppers, tomatoes, onions, and carrots for hearty venison stews and goulash. Some of our recipes call for canned stewed or crushed tomatoes that you can find in the grocery store in 28-ounce cans.

Good Ole Fry-Them-Up Venison Steaks

Our first camping recipe using venison is very simple. Bring some thin cut venison steaks with you, some oil, seasoned flour (use what you like for seasonings like salt, pepper, garlic and onion powder), and some beer—any beer will do!

This is a good first night of camping recipe since everyone is tired after setting up camp. To make this, heat some oil in a skillet over your campfire or camping stove, dredge your steaks in some flour and fry on both sides for a few minutes, then pour in your beer and let them simmer until tender. Serve with stick break and veggies.

Everyone will go to sleep with a full belly and eager to start the next day of fun. Variations of this recipe are to use butter instead of oil or add onions to the pan during the frying and simmering part for a great taste.

Roasting Venison Recipes – Use Your Dutch Oven

This is a great recipe you can put in a Dutch oven and let it roast all day. You will need a venison roast, one cup of cola (any kind will do), a packet of dry Italian seasoning mix, and one small can of cream of mushroom or cream of celery soup. Pour a little oil (about ¼ cup) in the bottom of your Dutch oven and heat it up on a coal or wood fire.

You can also do this on your camping grill, but a fire is better. Place all your ingredients in the Dutch oven, cover it and let it simmer on a low fire all day—this will melt in your mouth at dinner time and you can even add your own touches of spices or veggies to entice your taste buds.

Another good “roast” for venison is not so much of a roast, but you do roast the venison and then use for sandwiches. You will need your Dutch oven again for this recipe. Before you leave home, marinate a good-size roast overnight using a can of beer, one cup of good old Jack Daniels, although any whiskey will do, seasoning salt, a touch of basil, and one bay leaf.

Take this along with you in a good sealed container or resealable plastic storage bag and keep in one of your coolers. At the campsite, start your coal or wood fire and hang your Dutch oven over the fire, again, we suggest about ¼ cup of oil in the bottom of the pan to avoid sticking. Place your venison and its marinated contents into the oven along with a can of crushed tomatoes, one onion, three or four potatoes (cut in chunks), and some hearty-cut carrots.

Let this cook for three hours and you will be able to pull apart the venison roast for a good venison-sloppy Joe kind of recipe. Eat on your favorite bread or hard rolls.

We also recommend two great venison goulashes that use the Dutch oven and are great camping recipes. The first one calls for three pounds of venison cut up in chunks, one teaspoon of Tabasco sauce, three tablespoons chili powder, one teaspoon of Cayenne pepper, two (28 ounce) cans of stewed tomatoes, ten or fifteen garlic cloves, three chopped onions, four chopped of both green and red peppers, one 40 ounce can of kidney beans, and one 40 ounce can or jar of any other type bean like white or chipolte beans, and last, a good amount of mushrooms.

First, brown your meat, peppers, and onions in the bottom of the Dutch oven. Add the rest of the ingredients, except the beans, and cook for a good hour.

To finish up, add your beans, and cook for about twenty minutes more, tasting the meat for tenderness. This is a great goulash stew that everyone will love.

If you’re not so much the spicy type, another venison goulash we like is this recipe. You will need two tablespoons of oil, one teaspoon of soy sauce, two tablespoons paprika, one-half to one cup of water, three or four onions cut in small chunks, one or two green peppers, cut in slices, and a one or one and one-half pound venison shank that you will cut into chunks.

First, brown your venison evenly in your hanging Dutch oven in the oil. Next, add the onions, paprika, and soy sauce and cook until onions are soft.

Finally, add your green peppers and water and cover your Dutch oven and let cook for two hours until meat is tender. This is a great goulash to serve with noodles or rice and stick bread made on the fire.

Venison in the Frying Pan

A good cast iron skillet or heavy aluminum skillet are good cooking tools to bring along so you can create delicious venison camping recipes.

A reliable and good frying recipe is to bring along some marinated chunks of venison—for marinating all you need is an entire jar of grainy mustard and five tablespoons of brown sugar. Keep in your cooler in a resealable plastic storage bag. To cook, use about two tablespoons of oil and fry the marinated venison chunks until cooked through. Mix in a tablespoon of soy sauce and one of Worchester sauce, add a few peppers and onions, and cook until meat is tender. This is a great stew-in-a-bowl and is good served with rolls.

Try to think of all sorts of ways to cook up your venison in your skillets using different spices, cuts of venison meat, add bacon strips for hearty sandwiches, and other yummy ingredients you may have used in family camping recipes.

Finally…

When you leave your camping site, don’t forget to dowse your fire and don’t leave until you are satisfied your fire it totally out and safe.

Another quick note, don’t leave plastic bags of any type, resealable or regular plastic bags out in the wilderness. Not only are these bad for the environment, but animals, even deer, will try to chew these and they will sometimes get caught in their throats and choke them.

Have fun with these camping recipes and we invite you to share some of yours!

Submit YOUR favorite camping recipes - click here.

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