This savory Venison Meatloaf recipe is delectably tender, perfectly seasoned, and lacquered in a rich and tangy sauce! This recipe will quickly become a favorite use of deer meat!
If my parents were to write a venison cookbook, it would contain two recipes: The first simply being a phone number for the butcher who will turn all of the trimmings into sausages, and the second recipe featuring heavily peppered cubed steaks in a cast iron skillet with onions... which for the first twenty years of my life I thought was the only way humans could eat deer meat.
Now don't get me wrong, both of those ways are exceptionally tasty ways to enjoy venison, but venison is as versatile as beef and even more flavorful. You are missing out if you don't explore the wide variety of dishes that are perfect for capturing venison's rich flavor. Prepare a Roasted Venison Loin with the backstraps, or a hearty venison chili with ground trimmings. The possibilities are really endless!
Venison Meatloaf
I must say, Venison Meatloaf is one of my favorite ways to enjoy deer meat. As with any classic meatloaf, you must use ground meat containing fat. Typical meatloaf recipes use 80/20 beef so it isn't excessively dry, and venison meatloaf is no different. Since venison is so lean, most butchers will blend pork or beef fat into your ground venison anyhow when they process your deer, which is a good thing.
When getting your deer processed I recommend requesting an 80/20 fat blend specifically as it is the most versatile. Some people enjoy the health benefits of leaner blends, but leaner fat blends make dry meatloaf and venison burgers. Personally, I prefer to just process my own meat, then you know exactly what it in it. Just pick up a good meat grinder and you will be saving money in no time!
How to Make Venison Meatloaf
Honestly, you can use most beef meatloaf recipes with ground venison, and they will taste great. However, the best venison meatloaf recipes are the ones specifically tailored to the rich flavor of venison. Personally, I find the herbal flavor of sage to be a great compliment to venison while a bit of sweetness and tang from tomato paste and brown mustard brightens the flavor.
The right flavors don't mean anything though if the meatloaf is tough as a brick. The secret to creating the most tender meatloaves is to not overwork the meat. I gently crumble the meat into small pieces, sprinkle with breadcrumbs and mix the remaining ingredients separately. The major benefit of making your venison meatloaf this way is all of the ingredients are already thoroughly combined before they are mixed with the meat. This requires you to mix the meat less.
How Long to Cook a 2 Pound Meatloaf
Most of my meatloaf recipes, like my insanely popular Brown Sugar Meatloaf, call for 1 ½ pounds of meat. However, I made this recipe a 2-pound meatloaf because most people freeze their venison in 1 or 2 pound packages. It didn't make much sense to make you waste a half pound of your hard-earned meat.
Cook a 2 pound meatloaf at 350 degrees for 75 minutes, or until the internal temperature reads 160 degrees. The cooking time will be shorter if you don't use a loaf pan and you flatten it in a 9x13 baking pan instead.
What to Serve with Meatloaf
When making any meatloaf, there isn't a more classic side dish than mash potatoes. I don't think any meatloaf dinner is complete without them. Mashed potatoes can be prepared on the stove top while the meatloaf bakes in the oven. Choose any of the following vegetables to round out the meal:
Venison Meatloaf
Ingredients
Meatloaf
- 2 lbs ground Venison (blended with fat)
- 1 cup Breadcrumbs
- 1 cup Beef broth
- 2 Eggs (beaten)
- ⅔ cup grated Onion
- ¼ cup finely chopped Parsley
- 2 tablespoons Tomato paste
- 1 tablespoon Brown Mustard
- 1 ½ tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1 ½ teaspoon Table salt
- ½ teaspoon Paprika
- ½ teaspoon Garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon Black pepper
- ¼ rounded teaspoon ground sage
Meatloaf Glaze
- ½ cup Ketchup
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire Sauce
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Gently crumble venison into small pieces and place into a large bowl. Sprinkle breadcrumbs on top.
- In separate bowl combine remaining meatloaf ingredients and stir to combine. *
- Pour seasoning and liquid mixture into bowl with venison. Gently mix to combine with fingers, being careful not to overwork the meat.
- Combine all ingredients for the glaze and paint a couple tablespoons onto the bottom of a loaf pan. Place the meatloaf into the loaf pan and pour remaining glaze over the top of the meatloaf.
- Place meatloaf in the oven for 75 minutes, or until the internal temperature reaches 160 degrees.
- Let meatloaf rest for 5 minutes and serve.
Notes
Nutritional Information
Don't forget to check out the rest of my mouthwatering venison recipes too!
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Debbie
Can I use dried oats instead of bread crumbs?
Fox Valley Foodie
Yes, that is a great substitute!
Georgetta Busler
Third time making this meatloaf and family goes crazy for it. I usually don't care for a glaze but this one really adds some nice flavor to an already very tasty dish.
Mick
Can I use fresh sage?
Fox Valley Foodie
Yes, fresh sage would be great!
Ronelle
My meatloaf came out...mushy? Is that normal?
Fox Valley Foodie
No, that isn't normal. Do you mean it is falling apart? My first thought is maybe the loaf wasn't pressed firmly enough together.
Janie
Amazing. Thank you.
Sara
Can I use onion soup mix instead? But what would I take out that that onion soup mix would substitute? Just the onion or the beef broth or some of the seasoning as well?
Fox Valley Foodie
Yes, if you want to use onion soup mix I would recommend using my brown sugar meatloaf recipe. You can use venison rather than ground beef.
Amarti
Made this 1 pound venison. Cut the recipe in half. Very moist. Meatloaf glaze is a little sweet. I'm going to use tomatoe sause or paste next time with no brown sugar.
Bob Diggs
My meatloaf has always had bell peppers in it. Do you think it would be OK in this
Fox Valley Foodie
Absolutely! That would be a great addition.
Michele
Made this tonight for dinner and everyone loved it! Great flavor and moistness!
Debbie Bergeron
Wow love this. Made half and half homemade jimmy dean breakfast sausage and venison. (Only thing I omitted was the sage since I was doing breakfast sausage with it). Incredible flavor. So glad I came across this recipe
Mark
What kind of breadcrumbs? Dried? Fresh?
Fox Valley Foodie
You want dried breadcrumbs.
Kim
This was Soo good !! . I followed the recipe and am so glad I did !! Thanks
Taryn
What is the serving size per the calorie calculation above
jim cornette
Great meatloaf recipe. I left out the mustard because I hate mustard. The venison I used did not have fat added. I put 4 pieces of bacon in a mini food processor and grinded (ground-?) it up and added that to it.
Mandi
Sooo, my family loves my traditional meatloaf and I was scared to try something different .. but my husband hunts and we have a lot of venison burger so I wanted to try meatloaf with venison instead of ground beef. They absolutely loved it! I’m so thankful they are not disappointed, it’s delicious! Thanks so much, I made this exactly as written!