There is something about a cozy bowl of wild game stroganoff, with its savoury broth ladled over carbs, that just hits the spot. When one eats the whole beast, you're left with many packages of stew meat and we love this recipe as a way to enjoy the fork-tender braised meat.
I absolutely love a great bit bowl of any sort of stew in the winter, or maybe chili or soup! I'm sure you're just like me in that regard. What's better than a bowl of egg noodles or mashed potatoes topped with meat??
Why You Need This Recipe
- This makes a great freezer meal that your future self will thank you for!
- Utilize fresh mushrooms or dried, making it a great option to use what ya got.
- This works with any red meat. Whether you are a suburban "beef stew at the store" person or you've got elk, moose, bison, venison, or whatever is in the freezer from the butcher.
Key Ingredients
Meat - Can't make a hearty, stick to your ribs type of meal without some sort of protein. I promise that any red meat your family likes will work in this recipe!
Mushrooms - Do you forage and dry your mushrooms? That's great! Pick some up from the market? They work, too. Any sort of mushrooms that you like. Use several varieties to add interest.
Garlic and onions - this flavour profile is the base of most recipes, and will smell amazing as you brown them.
Broth - Doesn't matter if you can your homemade stock or use from the store. Beef is great but really the other flavours are so strong you can use any type you have on hand.
Sour cream - This is what helps turn stew into stroganoff. The tang adds just the right something!
How to Make Venison Stroganoff
I took photos in my Crockpot for reference, but the recipe card also includes the cooking times for Instant Pot and using a Dutch oven. Personally , I think that dutch oven or crock pot are the best, the way they carmelize things.
Step 1: Put a heavy bottomed pot or pan over medium heat.
Step 2: If the meat is really wet, pat dry with a paper towel. Season with salt and pepper.
Step 3: Add oil or butter to your pan and Brown the meat in batches, putting browned meat into your slow cooker to wait for you.
Step 4: When all the meat is browned, sauté the onions until they're a little browned.
Step 5: Add in garlic, give a stir and then add in your broth and wine, stir, scraping the bottom, to get all those good browned bits! Dump it into your slow cooker.
Step 6: Add in your mushrooms, tomato paste, Worcestershire, mustard, salt and pepper. Put the lid on.
Step 7: Cook all day! When it's dinner time, turn off the slow cooker and stir in the sour cream. Serve over noodles or potatoes.
Tips and Tricks
Use fresh mushrooms you bought at the store or mushrooms you dried from foraging.
No matter what meat you're using, the broth you use is pretty flexible. I will use chicken broth with venison and I've never had anyone complain! If you really don't have any broth, just use water, I wont tell your secret.
Make sure your meat is fully thawed so it browns better and doesn't release more liquid. Making a meal plan and getting meat out ahead makes your days a lot easier.
Out of sour cream? Yogurt works in a pinch.
FAQs
It adds SO much flavour, I definitely would do it. In the Instant Pot or Dutch oven, you won't be dirtying any extra pots as they both can brown. You'll still need a plate to hold the browned meat while you work in batches. But seriously, one complaint people have with slow cookers is things can be "blah" and browning the meat and onions adds so much!
I know, some people don't even keep wine in the house due to circumstances so you can definitely use more broth. I do think it adds a great depth to the dish, so use it if you can. You can purchase mini bottles to use for cooking - but always use drinking wine, and never ever a "cooking wine." There's no comparison.
The traditional meal seems to be served over egg noodles. We mostly stick to gluten-free brown rice noodles and I haven't found that shape in the store. Since we grow potatoes and love them, I typically serve venison stroganoff over mashed potatoes.
More Cozy Wild Game Recipes to Enjoy
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If you like this recipe, I’d love if you reviewed it so others can find it easier. Sharing this recipe on Facebook or Pinterest is another way you can help us out at no cost to you. Thanks, xo Kate
Venison Stroganoff Recipe
Ingredients
- 3 lbs stew meat venison, moose, elk, bison, beef or pork
- Olive oil or butter
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 3-4 cups diced onion
- 4-6 cloves garlic roughly chopped
- 3 cups diced fresh mushrooms or ½ cup dried mushrooms, crumbled
- 1 cup beef broth
- 1 cup white wine
- ½ cup tomato paste
- 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
- 2 tablespoons yellow mustard
- 1 teaspoon salt
- Pepper to taste
- ⅔ cup sour cream
Instructions
Instant Pot:
- Turn onto onto saute, and melt some butter or olive oil just to cover the bottom of the pot.
- If the meat is really wet, pat dry with a paper towel. Season with salt and pepper.
- Brown the meat in batches, putting meat in a bowl or plate to wait while you brown next batches.
- When all the meat is browned, saute the onions until theyre a little browned.
- Add in garlic, give a stir and then add in your broth and wine, stir, scraping the bottom, to get all those good browned bits!
- Add back in your meat, as well as mushrooms, tomato paste, worchestshire, mustard, salt and pepper.
- Put the lid on, set the valve to sealing, Cook on high pressure for 30 minutes.
- When cooking time is done, let it sit for 20-30 minutes for pressure to naturally release.
- Release pressure with the valve. Take lid off.
- If you're going to eat it all right now, add in all the sour cream. If you plan to freeze some, take out half for freezing, add half the sour cream to the instant pot and stir it around.
- Taste for salt and pepper, serve on top of mashed potatoes or buttered egg noodles.
- Keeps 3-4 days in fridge, or freeze without sour cream and when ready to eat, thaw, simmer and add in sour cream before serving.
Slow Cooker:
- Put a heavy bottomed pot or pan over medium heat.
- If the meat is really wet, pat dry with a paper towel. Season with salt and pepper.
- Add oil or butter to your pan and Brown the meat in batches, putting browned meat into your slow cooker to wait for you.
- When all the meat is browned, saute the onions until theyre a little browned.
- Add in garlic, give a stir and then add in your broth and wine, stir, scraping the bottom, to get all those good browned bits! Dump it into your slow cooker.
- Add in your mushrooms, tomato paste, worchestshire, mustard, salt and pepper. Put the lid on.
- Turn on low for 8 hours, or high for 4 hours.
- If you're going to eat it all right now, add in all the sour cream. If you plan to freeze some, take out half for freezing, add half the sour cream to the instant pot and stir it around.
- Taste for salt and pepper, serve on top of mashed potatoes or buttered egg noodles.
- Keeps 3-4 days in fridge, or freeze without sour cream and when ready to eat, thaw, simmer and add in sour cream before serving.
Dutch Oven/Covered pot in the Oven:
- Preheat your oven to 350F
- Put your stove to oven safe dutch oven or heavy bottom pot on medium heat.
- If the meat is really wet, pat dry with a paper towel. Season with salt and pepper.
- Add oil or butter to your pan and Brown the meat in batches, putting browned meat onto a plate or bowl to wait for you.
- When all the meat is browned, saute the onions until they're a little browned.
- Add in garlic, give a stir and then add in your broth and wine, stir, scraping the bottom, to get all those good browned bits!
- Add back in your meat, as well as mushrooms, tomato paste, worchestshire, mustard, salt and pepper.
- Put the lid on and tuck into the oven for 1 hour.
- After an hour, take it out, stir it around, and gauge if it needs more. Depending on your meat, it may need another 30 minutes. You want it to easily pull apart with a fork. Depending on your pot, it may trap or let out a lot of moisture, so add a bit of water in if you think it doesnt look very saucy.
- If you're going to eat it all right now, add in all the sour cream. If you plan to freeze some, take out half for freezing, add half the sour cream to the instant pot and stir it around.
- Taste for salt and pepper, serve on top of mashed potatoes or buttered egg noodles.
- Keeps 3-4 days in fridge, or freeze without sour cream and when ready to eat, thaw, simmer and add in sour cream before serving.
Notes
- I know browning is an extra step and more dirty dishes, but it adds SO much flavour I definitely do not recommend skipping it.
- Use yogurt in place of sour cream.
Amber
Yummy
Susanna
Made this with venison and am so excited to add it to our regular meal circulation, delicious! We didn’t have sour cream, so used Greek yogurt instead and worked out great.
mogrma
Waiting for our deer meat to be ready for pickup!
Kate
Yes, loved this so much. Thanks for sharing!
Laurie
I made this without wine and it was still amazing. Cant wait to try it with wine next time.
Holly
This is great with venison!
Erin jahnke
We are potatoe lovers as well. This is so so good!
Wendy
I don't have any venison right now, but I might have some tough beef roasts I could use. In the past when we've butchered deer, rather than having to get out the grinder for 1 deer I just portioned out all the tougher cuts and used them for cooking low and slow. We like it better than ground.
Pamela
hmm looks yummy! What would you substitue the sour cream with to make it dairy free?
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I would you a dairy free yogurt like coconut or cashew.
Monty
A solid 4.5 stars. Loved this recipe though I chickened out and didn't add the 1/2 c. dried mushrooms (I had purchased porcinis), because I was getting ready to start it on high pressure and worried there wasn't enough fluid. I thought I was vindicated when the Instant Pot's "FOOD BURN" message came on briefly after starting the pressure cook. I freaked (had people waiting on dinner) and released pressure, removed lid and found there was plenty of fluid. The dinner (made with venison) turned out great; people loved it. I was a little disappointed in that it didn't thicken up as much as hoped with 1 c. sour cream, but I'll take the blame as I suspect that (in addition to enhanced flavor) the dried mushrooms are to thicken. It's a winner and I'll make again. Intense, delicious flavor. Served on mashed potatoes and people went nuts. I did forget fresh parsley, and that would have been a really nice finishing touch.
Rachael McBee
I made this yesterday and served it to school friends here playing. The kids LOVED it and asked for seconds! The meat I used was thinly sliced venison backstrap and diced venison heart. The friends are dairy-free, so I left off the sour cream in their portions and served it over mashed potatoes. Let's keep the heart portion of the recipe a secret, or they may never trust my cooking again! LOL. 🙂
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Sounds like you made a delicious meal!!!
Debbie
Delicious! I l cut the recipe in half and used Dijon mustard instead of regular mustard. I had been looking for a venison recipe that was not a stew type and this was perfect. I made this in a crockpot. If you are looking for a new crockpot, I recommend the type with an insert that can be used directly on the stove to brown meat and other ingredients.