6 Fantastic Venison Tenderloin Recipes (2024)

Slow Cooker Apple Venison Tenderloin

While slow cooking may take longer before you can eat, the total time actively working on the dish is much shorter. This option is a little savory and sweet, thanks to the onions and apples.

Slice your tenderloin into medallions on a cutting board and sear them in a cast iron skillet or pan with olive oil or butter until the outsides are crispy. Place them into the slow cooker with a little bit of beef broth. Quarter your apples, slice your onions, and toss them in, too. In about six hours, you'll have a delightful fall meal.

Bacon-Wrapped Venison Tenderloin

Wrapping wild game meat in bacon seems to be a common occurrence, but for good reason: The cured pork's saltiness beautifully complements the tenderloin's earthiness.

This rich recipe, which includes a divine garlic cream sauce, was written for axis deer tenderloin, but it will be just as tasty made with meat from a whitetail.

Venison Tenderloin with Blackberry Sauce

Venison is often pegged as being gamey. But this delicious yet simple recipe from Rufus' Food and Spirits Guide enhances the tenderloin's subtle game notes with a sauce made of tangy blackberries, widely regarded as a wonderful pairing fruit for red meats.

Let the meat sit for six hours in the refrigerator soaking in the marinade of dry red wine, Dijon mustard, and black pepper before browning it in a skillet with butter and olive oil over medium-high heat for about 10 minutes. Let the meat rest under tin foil while you make the blackberry sauce, then drizzle and enjoy.

Venison Medallions with Whiskey, Mushroom, and Horseradish Cream Sauce

This recipe from Food for Hunters had us at "venison" and "whiskey," but the hearty, flavorful cream sauce really sets this dish off. One of the greatest benefits of cream-based mushroom sauces is your ability to experiment with various fungi, though we're partial to crimini mushrooms, which give any dish an extra punch of earthy flavor.

Rinse and dry your venison with a paper towel, then season with salt and pepper before getting into the other ingredients. Grill until medium-rare, using a meat thermometer to check the internal temperature. This recipe can also be made with a venison backstrap.

Belgian Venison Medallions

Hank Shaw's take on an age-old recipe calls on the unique flavor of juniper, which is known to pair especially well with wild game, plus a little fresh rosemary, gin, shallot, and pomegranate seeds to balance it out.

While this recipe doesn't mention accompanying sides, we highly recommend roasted fingerling potatoes with a splash of olive oil and a healthy dose of sea salt. Serve with the venison medallions garnished with pomegranate seeds.

Maple-Juniper Venison Loin with Chocolate-Infused Red Wine Jus, and Leek and Potato Mash

Chocolate and meat? We know you think we're crazy, but listen up—this pairing could change your life. This culinary masterpiece from Eat Live Travel Write is sure to please the most elevated of palates as well as any meat-and-potatoes good ol' boys. It relies heavily on the rich, velvety red wine and chocolate jus, but gets further depth from the addition of juniper berries in the venison marinade. Serve over the mashed leaks and potatoes.