Best Wild Game Recipes
These wild game recipes are mainstays of my menus at home. As a hunting family, we harvest much of our own protein. This blog began as a way to share recipes and techniques I’d developed to prepare delicious wild game.
With hunting season underway, it’s time to clean out the freezer and make room for fresh, organic game meats. It also seems like the perfect time to round up some of my favorite ways to cook wild game.
I can’t think of anything that’s healthier or more filling than wild game meat. Most organic, free-range meat is high in omega-3 fatty acids and antioxidants and lower than others in saturated fats. It’s full of vitamin B12 and B6, A, D, E, K, and C, as well as zinc and selenium. I also love the fact that wild game hasn’t been tainted with antibiotics, hormones, and pesticides.
Below are some of my classic venison recipes, including burgers and chili made with ground venison. But this roundup goes beyond the usual to include some more creative options. There’s even a deer meat shakshuka recipe.
Along with venison, I’ve included delicious recipes with simple steps for dove, squirrel, rabbit, wild turkey, and wild boar. Some of these dishes are elegant enough to please your most discerning dinner guests.
For how to cook wild game, be sure to check out Ten Tips to Know When Preparing Venison.
Hope you’ll try some of these recipes! Let me know in the comments how they turn out.
Favorite Wild Game Recipes
This is one of my favorite dove recipes. With savory bacon and sweet figs, these dove poppers are tender and delicious. I include tips for how to keep dove meat from getting tough.
Squirrel is one of the tastiest and healthiest free-range meats you can eat. For this squirrel pot pie recipe, I recommend using a homemade pie crust.
This recipe for black pepper burgers uses equal parts lamb, beef chuck, and venison. Of course, you could make the burgers with all beef, but the three meats together give them amazing flavor.
Prepared correctly, wild duck is tender and oh so tasty. In this duck recipe, pancetta is the secret ingredient to enhance flavor and keep the meatballs moist.
As wild game meats go, rabbit is a chef's favorite. Its fine texture and flavor (no gamey taste!) make it a delicacy in my book. Rabbit is also low in fat and high in protein.
This award-winning venison chili recipe is the perfect make-ahead dinner. It actually tastes better after the flavors blend overnight in the fridge.
This meaty, rich wild boar ragù with a wine-tomato sauce shows that you never have to sacrifice flavor when cooking up wild game. Wild can be gourmet!
This venison recipe uses equal parts ground venison and ground pork to make a moist, delicious breakfast sausage. I like to serve it up with homemade buttermilk biscuits.
With its combination of fresh herbs, lean wild-game protein, and foraged wild greens, this turkey salad delivers on both taste and nutrition.
I have a lot of venison to cook up, and as a chef I love to get creative with it. This sizzling skillet recipe adds a wild game twist to classic shakshuka.
This elegant venison dish features a rich, creamy cabernet mushroom sauce. It is sure to please family and dinner guests alike.
This low-temperature cooking method will make even the toughest cuts of venison tender and flavorful.
