Adding beans to your venison sloppy joes helps stretch the meat just a bit further, and picky kids can't pick them out.
We love venison - it's in the blog name! But thankfully we are generally able to bag a few deer each year and butcher them ourselves. Ground meat is super economical because after we make our large cuts we just start a bowl of the scraps to grind up.
If you've got a bunch of ground venison in the freezer, I put all my best recipes in one spot: Best Ground Venison Recipes! You can easily find something your family will love. Roasted Little Potatoes and a Fresh Garden Salad are the perfect sides to round out this meal, no matter how many people you are serving.
Key Ingredients
Ground meat - I am using venison, but any red meat will do here whether it is wild game or beef.
Beans - I like navy because they are pretty plain in regards to taste, and they aren't too big. Cannellini is also a great choice.
Vegetables - Keep it simple with onion and bell pepper. I used our dehydrated peppers from storage!
Sauce - We combine ketchup and Worcestershire sauce for the perfect tanginess. Yup I keep ketchup on hand for this. Sometimes the shortcuts are worth it!
Beer - I think this adds just the right flavour, but you can use water or beef broth instead.
Buns - I encourage you to make Sourdough Hamburger Buns for the perfect sandwich!
How to Make Wild Game Sloppy Joes
***See recipe card below for precise measurements and instructions.***
Step 1: Brown onions in a large dutch oven.
Step 2: Add ground venison and brown it up good.
Step 3: Add remaining ingredients and stir to combine.
Step 4: Simmer for 20 minutes or until ready to eat.
FAQs
The beer and the Worcestershire can both contain gluten, so be aware of that depending on who you are serving. If I freeze it I always use my standard recipe so that I remember it is NOT safe for gluten allergies. You can swap in broth for the beer and tamari or coconut aminos for the Worcestershire if need be. You can also serve over baked potatoes instead of buns.
It's abundant here, but we sometimes also have bear, elk, or moose here. You can absolutely use ground beef if your family isn't ready for wild game. This is also the perfect recipe to sort of sneak in wild game to start your family off easy. I would still let people know there's wild game, but you can use half venison and half beef so the taste isn't too strong. Using familiar recipes like sloppy joes lets people try wild game in a way they won't object to.
Beans are a great way to stretch your meat. They bulk things up, add protein, and take on the flavour from the sauce. You can use baked beans instead of plain canned beans, but you'll likely want to reduce the ketchup a bit depending on how saucy your beans are. You can experiment with what your family likes, such as white, navy, or cannellini to "blend in" better or go wild with kidney beans for more of a chili taste.
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Venison Sloppy Joes
Ingredients
- 1 white onion diced
- 2 ½ lbs ground venison or beef, elk, moose, etc.
- 1 bell pepper chopped
- 4 cloves garlic peeled and minced
- 1 ¼ cups ketchup
- 1 cup beer or beef broth or water
- ¼ cup Worcestershire sauce use tamari or coconut aminos for gluten-free
- 1 can navy beans drained and rinsed
- 12 hamburger buns
Instructions
- Brown onion, add meat, cook til browned.
- Stir in remaining ingredients, bring to a simmer just under a boil.
- Reduce heat to low, put a lid on, and simmer for 20 minutes. Taste for salt and add if needed.
- Serve on bun of your choice.
Notes
- Quite often we will brown the buns on a cast iron pan with butter before putting our sloppy joe mix on, helps the bun from getting soggy.
- Swap in a can of baked beans for navy, but you'll want to reduce the ketchup to 1 cup, depending on how saucy your can is.
- Try cannellini or white beans as well.
- I used our freeze dried bell peppers! You can also easily freeze diced onion and peppers for use in recipes like this.
- Remember to keep gluten-free you'll want to substitute the beer and Worcestershire sauce.
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