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Last Updated on February 23, 2024 by Jess
Ready for some savory venison and wild rice bake? I am so excited to share! Being a northern Wisconsin family, it may come as no surprise that a primary protein source at our house is venison. We harvest 2-4 deer a year between the gun and bow season and butcher them ourselves. Using our Kitchen Aid mixer, we grind upwards of 60 pounds of venison a year, which we use instead of ground beef or turkey 90% of the time.
I’m always looking for new ways to use it, and this was a fun recipe to develop from scratch a few years ago. This venison and wild rice bake has a feel of tater tot hotdish (I’m close to the Minnesota border, don’t ya know?) with a true from scratch taste. You won’t find any “cream of whatever” soups in the ingredients; only true delicious wholesome foods here. I hope it becomes a go to comfort food for you like it has for us.
Oh! And no ground venison? No problem! Substitute your favorite ground protein: beef, turkey, you name it.
The ingredients For Venison and Wild Rice bake
- 1 pound ground venison, seasoned with salt and pepper
- 6 cups low sodium chicken stock, divided
- 1 cup long grain rice
- 1 cup wild rice
- 2 cups carrots, diced
- 1 ¼ cup onion (1 large), diced
- 1 ¼ cup celery (6 stalks), diced
- 2 cups broccoli, diced
- 1 cup mushrooms, sliced
- Olive oil
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 teaspoon pepper
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons sage
- 2 teaspoons thyme
- 1 cup milk
- 3 tablespoons butter
- 3 tablespoons flour
Your Steps
In a medium saucepan, bring 5 cups chicken stock to a boil. Add sage, 1/2 teaspoon pepper, 1/2 teaspoon garlic and wild rice. Cover, lower to a simmer, and cook for 10 minutes. Add long grain rice and cook for an additional 25-30 minutes, stirring periodically to check that you still have water. You want your rice to just be tender. Test it at 40 minutes. If it gets over cooked, it will be mush once you bake it.
Meanwhile, dice and chop the onion, celery, carrots, broccoli, and mushrooms. Heat a large kettle (I love my cast iron Dutch oven) with ½ to 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Add the vegetables (except the mushrooms) remaining garlic, salt, pepper, sage, and thyme, cooking on a medium heat for ten minutes. Add mushrooms and cook for an additional five minutes. Remove the vegetables from the kettle and place them in a large bowl. In the same pan (The less dishes, the better, right?), cook the ground venison (or hamburger or turkey) until no longer pink. Stir into the bowl of vegetables along with cooked rice.
Now for the Creamy part
In the same kettle, melt the butter under medium heat. Stir in flour and continue to stir until you have a beautiful golden brown color. To this, add milk, 1/4 of a cup at a time, whisking until well combined and thickened. Repeat with the remaining chicken stock. Pepper to taste. Stir in to the vegetables, rice, and browned venison. Taste once more, adding salt and pepper as needed.
Spread the mixture into a greased casserole dish and bake uncovered for 20 minutes at 425 degrees, until just crispy on the top and hot all the way through. Often, I will prep mine in the morning or the day before and refrigerate until we are ready to eat. If baked after being refrigerated, bake covered for 15 minutes and then gave it an additional 15-20 minutes without a cover. It will be perfectly crispy on the top and creamy in the middle. A wonderful comfort food.
Tools of the Trade
What are some tools I can’t live without? First, my Pyrex baking dishes are a go to for all things baked. And I love a lot of baked dishes. I also really dig my flexible cutting boards and my goodness, as silly as this sounds, this is my favorite whisk. I have had it for years and it’s truly the only one I use.
Savory Venison Wild Rice Bake
Ingredients
- 1 pound ground venison seasoned with salt and pepper
- 6 cups low sodium chicken stock divided
- 1 cup long grain rice
- 1 cup wild rice
- 2 cups carrots diced
- 1 ¼ cup onion 1 large, diced
- 1 ¼ cup celery 6 stalks, diced
- 2 cups broccoli diced
- 1 cup mushrooms sliced
- Olive oil
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 1 teaspoon pepper
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons sage
- 2 teaspoons thyme
- 1 cup milk
- 3 tablespoons butter
- 3 tablespoons flour
Instructions
- In a medium saucepan, bring 5 cups chicken stock to a boil. Add sage, 1/2 teaspoon pepper, 1/2 teaspoon garlic and wild rice. Cover, lower to a simmer, and cook for 10 minutes.
- Add long grain rice and cook for an additional 30-35 minutes, stirring periodically to check that you still have water. You want your rice to just be tender. Test it at 40 minutes.
- Meanwhile, dice and chop the onion, celery, carrots, broccoli, and mushrooms. Heat a large kettle with ½ to 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Add the vegetables (except the mushrooms) remaining garlic, salt, pepper, sage, and thyme, cooking on a medium heat for ten minutes.
- Add mushrooms and cook for an additional five minutes. Remove the vegetables from the kettle and place them in a large bowl.
- In the same pan, add an additional 1/2 tablespoon olive oil and cook the ground venison (or hamburger or turkey) until no longer pink. Stir into the bowl of vegetables along with cooked rice.
- In the same kettle, melt the butter under medium-low heat. Stir in flour and continue to stir until you have a beautiful golden brown color. To this, add milk, 1/4 of a cup at a time, whisking until well combined and thickened. Repeat with the remaining chicken stock. Pepper to taste.
- Stir in to the vegetables, rice, and browned venison. Taste once more, adding salt and pepper as needed.
- Spread the mixture into a greased casserole dish and bake uncovered for 20 minutes at 425 degrees, until just crispy on the top and hot all the way through.
Notes
Can I share some other favorites of mine?
Check out the recipes below for other meal inspiration!
This is so freaking delicious!! The whole family loves it and asks for it constantly in the colder months. Going to make tonight so we can eat it tomorrow, cannot wait!
This was the best thing to wake up to this morning! I am so happy you like it!
Phenomenal recipe! Baked it a few months back and my family could not get enough! It’s now my staple “Thank You” meal for neighbors! Brilliant!
Oh my goodness! What a compliment! Thank you so much! I love that you love it that much and share the wealth!
This just became a hunting family’s winter meal 🥰 Very comforting, nutritious and filling without feeling heavy!! We’ll be well fed this week. Thank you for the recipe
Oh my gosh, my heart is full! I am so happy you all loved it! Thank you for giving it a try!
I love this recipe! I’ve made it before with venison hamburger and made it tonight with venison sausage. Both are delicious! I didn’t have milk when I made it tonight, so I used two cups of chicken stock instead. Also, I use the microwavable pouches of wild rice as a bit of a time saver. So yummy! So easy!
What a great way to make the recipe go a bit quicker! I am so happy you liked it as much as we do!
Is this recipe freezable?
I have never tried Becky! But I would think it would work out because rice freezes okay. That’s such a great question. Maybe I will have to try this weekend!
I didn’t want to do the extra step and make the roux and baker it but I did. I used 2 extra tsp of better than bullion with about 1 cup nondairy milk and 1 cup water. Made it more flavorful and creamy.
Cooked it today.. very tasty. This recipe will help with our 12 deer limit here in Michigan thanks.
Oh I am so happy to hear that! I hope you use it often!
This is my first time cooking with venison, and I’m so happy that I found this recipe! It was easy to follow and make. My husband and I absolutely love it! Thank you for sharing!!
Michele, I am so happy to hear you liked it! It’s a favorite around here! Thanks for sharing!
As a Nebraska Czech, every dish has either cream of mushroom or chicken….. I appreciate those that resist the cans!
Oh this makes me so so happy!
This looks so good! What a great fall dish for the family!
Thank you!!!
This recipe has become a family staple. Super nice to prep ahead of time or make an extra to freeze for another day. Have a couple in the freezer already for an easy postpartum meal.
Oh gosh, this makes me heart so so happy! Thank you for sharing!
Needed to finish up last year’s venison and found this site. This is my 3rd venison recipe from Jess and the third one we absolutely love! I’m enjoying the website as well. Thanks for all the tips to make our lives more sustainable.
Oh Dawn! My heart is so so full! Thank you so much for this amazing compliment and for being here! I appreciate you!
~Jess
I made your dish with venison neck meat that I cooked in the pressure cooker. It was like shredded and I chopped it a little. It is so delicious. Taking it to a deer stuffing, hockey watching party today. Thanks.
Oh Neil! I am so so happy to hear it! Thank you for sharing!
This was so delicious. Definitely going into our rotation.
Oh what a wonderful thing to read! I am so happy you enjoyed it!!
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Excellent! I made it with some pre-chopped vegetables I had in my frig that needed to be used up. Carrots, broccoli, Brussels sprouts and kale. Still added the celery and onion as directed. Delicious, fiber packed dinner!
Oh that sounds so good! I am so happy you liked it!
I made this for a crowd of hungry hunters as they were Butchering tonight so I upped the venison to 2 lbs for a little more protein & it was delicious. It was a hit & will forever been a staple meal for us. Thank you!
This warms my heart so so so much! I am happy you all loved it !