Pan Fried Deer Heart

This easy pan fried deer heart is prepared by searing the venison heart in butter with fresh thyme and garlic. This recipe is quick and easy to prepare, using only simple ingredients, and a great way to get healthy organ meat in your diet!

What is it?

The deer heart muscle is the often overlooked trophy of a successful whitetail deer hunt. If you aren't saving the heart from your harvest, you are missing out on one of the most flavorful and nutritious parts of the deer. The two most popular way to enjoy it is by making pickled venison heart (a personal favorite treat of mine), or pan frying it like a steak with butter, herbs, and seasonings, such as in this great recipe.

Ingredients and Substitutions

• Raw deer heart - This venison heart recipe can be used with any wild game or beef heart.
• Butter - Although you could use vegetable oil for this simple recipe, I highly recommend using butter because it adds a lot more flavor.
• Garlic cloves
• Fresh thyme - Rosemary would be a good substitution.
• Yellow onion - Red onion can be used for a stronger flavor, otherwise, shallots are also a great substitution.

How to clean deer heart

Before you can cook your deer heart, the raw heart needs to be properly cleaned. There are three important steps to this.

• First, trim off the hard fat cap from the top of the heart. This is easy to do with the heart placed on a cutting board. Any visible fat or connective tissue needs to be cut away from outside of the heart with a very sharp knife until only purple meat is remaining.
• Second, rinse the heart under cold water while squeezing the heart to pump it. This is to purge any remaining blood from the interior of the heart. Continue to rinse and pump until the water runs clear. I also recommend running your fingers inside the heart valves to check for any blood clots needing to be removed.
• The final step is to cut up the deer's heart. There isn't a right or wrong way to do this. As shown in my photo below, you can either slice horizontally through the heart to make heart steaks or make your cuts vertically through each valve to lay the heart open, then slice into thin strips.

How to cook venison heart

This easy pan-fried deer heart recipe is quickly prepared in a large skillet. To begin, season the cut deer heart with salt and black pepper. Next, melt butter in the skillet set over medium-high heat. Add the chopped onions, fresh heart, thyme, and garlic cloves.

Cook the heart for 2-4 minutes per side to give it a quick sear, or until it reaches your desired level of doneness then remove from the skillet and serve with sauteed onions.

More Venison Recipes

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