If your freezer looks anything like mine, it is FULL of deer meat. That’s a good problem to have though – venison is much leaner and healthier than beef, and also much cheaper since you are able to “harvest” your own!

The frustration comes when you find yourself cooking the same thing over and over with it, so I thought I’d share a few different ways we like to cook it at our house.

Let’s start with the deer steaks…

This is the usual way to cook deer steaks – FRIED! And while they are delicious cooked like this, it can get monotonous eating them every week. Another delicious way to eat them is cooked in a crock pot with gravy, served over rice or mashed potatoes. But MY favorite way to eat them is grilled…

They are so small, so they only take about 15 minutes to grill, which is perfect for a busy weeknight. And grilling them is also much healthier than frying or covering them in gravy, which is perfect for everyone’s New Year’s diets!

Most people think of wrapping these little steaks up with cream cheese, jalapeno peppers and bacon when they think of grilling them, and while those taste amazing, these are less time-consuming. I’ve discovered a “secret” marinade…

This CREAMY Italian dressing is the perfect marinade for grilling deer steaks. It’s thick so it sticks to the meat, keeping them from getting too dry while cooking, and also keeping the flavors locked in. Just soak the deer steaks in this dressing and then throw them on the grill – so easy! You can soak them a few minutes or all day – they come out just as flavorful either way. Sometimes I will add a little Worcestershire sauce and a few extra spices to the dressing, but it tastes great on its own as well. (Just be sure to get the CREAMY Italian – the regular Italian dressing doesn’t stick to the meat like the creamy kind does.)

And don’t forget the deer sausage while you’re grilling! (The jalapeno cheese flavor sausage is our favorite!)

Another kind of venison that gives me fits is the ground meat – there is only so much deer chili my family can eat. When you get a deer processed, it seems like most of it comes back to you as ground deer meat. Just remember you can use it for other things besides chili.

There is little to no fat in ground venison, so it’s much healthier than ground beef, and also easier to cook with since there’s no fat to drain after browning it. It can be used in anything ground beef is used for – hamburgers, tacos, spaghetti, patty melts, meatloaf, etc. I like to make baked ziti with it when I get bored with the usual ground meat recipes – it’s fast, it’s only got FOUR ingredients, and it’s covered in cheese!

All you need is 1 lb ground deer meat, 1 lb ziti pasta, 1 jar marinara sauce and 1 bag shredded mozzarella cheese. (I’m sure there’s a fancy recipe for this with many more ingredients, but this one tastes amazing so why get complicated?!?)

Brown the meat in a skillet, then stir in the marinara. (I buy the kind that has a few chunky vegetables in it so it looks like I actually spent time making my own sauce!) Then toss in the cooked pasta and half of the cheese, spread in a greased casserole dish and top with the remaining half of the cheese. Bake at 350 until cheese is melted.

Look at all that cheese!

I could write a book on all the ways I use our deer meat, but these two recipes are some of the easiest and fastest. I hope these ideas helped you answer that question we face every hunting season: “What do I do with all this deer meat in my freezer?!?”

Thanks y’all,

– Nikki