Best Deer Chili Recipe Ever (2024)

This delicious Venison Chili Recipe is cooked slow and low in a Dutch Oven pot, all the warm spices just melt together to make the most amazing chili you'll ever eat.

Using ground venison really helps keep the calories lower, it's cleaner and topped with your favorite extras - cheese, sour cream, avocado, green onions, etc it really is just a bowl of deliciousness.

Making chili is super easy, as long as you get the ingredients right - literally you just season and brown the venison ground meat, sweat the veggies then add all the rest of the ingredients to the pot - and simmer for about 3-4 hours.

I try not to make my deer chili recipe too hot, as we have kiddos eating too - this gives it just enough of a bite so that you know you're eating chili, but it's not uncomfortable. Those who like it hotter can always add a little hot sauce or chilies!

Note: If you don't have to worry about the heat and prefer it hotter - add Cayenne Pepper, chilies or hot sauce to taste.

🧅 Ingredients

• Red Kidney Beans (chili beans)
• Garlic Powder
• Onion Powder
• Creole Seasoning
• Cooking Oil
• Ground Venison (ground deer meat)
• Sweet Onions
• Green Bell Peppers
• Celery
• Chopped Carrots
• Chopped Cloves Garlic
• Rotel (chopped tomatoes and chilies)
• Tomato Paste
• Diced Tomatoes
• Tomato Sauce
• Bay Leaves
• Cumin, dried
• Chili Powder

See recipe card below for quantities.

🥣 Instructions

• Step 1: Season and brown the venison ground meat over a medium-high heat.
• Step 2: Remove the ground meat and sweat the veggies over a medium heat until translucent.
• Step 3: Add all the remaining ingredients to a large Dutch Oven pot, stir with your wooden spoon to combine.
• Step 4: Cover and let the chili cook over a low heat for 3-4 hours.

Hint: if you are short on time, you could use canned beans. Make sure to rinse them off before adding to the chili or they may add too much sodium.

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🔄 Substitutions and Variations

• Ground Meat - instead of ground venison you could use ground turkey or ground beef with this recipe.
• Black Beans - Some people like to use black beans instead of kidney beans.
• Sweetness - I use carrots to sweeten this dish, but if you prefer you could just use sugar.
• Vegetarian - forget the ground meat altogether and use more variety of beans.
• Spicy - add chili pepper flakes while cooking to imbue heat into the dish, or hot sauce
• Deluxe - add avocado, sour cream, cheddar cheese on top.
• Kid friendly - use less of the chilies etc.

See Also

Traditional Apricot Chicken Recipe For Weeknight MealsEasy French Toast Recipe (Caramelized) from The Food Charlatan.Vodka Gummy Bears Recipe (Quickest Method)34 Recipes That Use Almond Extract

🔌 Equipment

Although I use a Dutch oven to cook this venison chili, you can also take this same recipe and add it to a slow cooker and let it cook all day. This is another one of our favorite crock pot dishes!!

Or, you need it quicker - go ahead and use the Instant Pot. Brown the ground meat and veggies on saute function, then cook for 20 minutes.

🧊 Storage

Once you have allowed the chili to cool completely, add to an airtight container and refrigerate in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. Chili is actually one of those dishes that tastes so much better then next day anyway!

This dish freezes very well. Add to a freezer safe container and freeze for up to 3 months.

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• Instant Pot Venison Stew
• Dutch Oven Turkey Chili

🍽 What To Serve With Venison Chili

Chili is always good to serve with corn chips, French fries, I even know someone who eats it on rice. I tried it... and it's good! We have a great cornbread recipe, that tastes great with this chili recipe. Add some avocado, sour cream and cheese and you have a delicious combination of flavors that will satisfy any comfort food cravings!

💡 Top tip

Expert Tip: This is a total mom-hack! So, instead of sugar to coax the natural sweetness out of the tomatoes, I like to use carrots. My son and husband HATE vegetables so this is my way of getting a little extra into their diet - plus I think it compliments the dish well. Just make sure to chop them up really fine so that they just melt into the dish.

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4.58 from 7 votes

Venison Chili

A favorite meal to make with venison, especially when the weather is getting colder and you crave that homemade, good ol' Southern Style of cooking - and it is much healthier.

Serve on top of Fritos, with cornbread and top with sour cream and Mexican cheese.... mmm mmmm mmmmm, now you speaking my language!

Prep Time10 minutes mins

Cook Time4 hours hrs

Total Time4 hours hrs 10 minutes mins

Servings: 20

Cuisine: Tex-Mex

Author: Melanie Cagle

Video

Ingredients

• 1 lb Red Kidney Beans dried
• 1 Tablespoon Garlic Powder
• 1 Tablespoon Onion Powder
• 2 Tablespoons Creole Seasoning
• 3 Teaspoons Cooking Oil
• 3 lb Ground Venison
• 2 Large Sweet Onions diced
• 1 Large Green Bell Pepper diced
• 2 Sticks Celery diced
• ½ Cup Carrots finely chopped
• 2 Tablespoons Garlic minced
• 1 10oz Can Rotel, Original (tomatoes and chilies)
• 2 Tablespoons Tomato Paste
• 1 14oz Diced Tomatoes
• 5 Cups Tomato Sauce
• 3 Large Bay Leaves
• 2 Tablespoons Cumin
• 2 Tablespoons Chili Powder

Instructions

• Soak beans overnight in water with 1 teaspoon Garlic Powder, 1tsp Onion Powder and 1tsp Tony Chacheres Creole Seasoning

• In 3 teaspoon cooking oil (or olive oil) Brown the ground meat with 2 tablespoon Creole Seasoning, until almost cooked through still slightly pink). Drain the fluid and set aside.

• Chop Onion, Celery and Bell Pepper in Food Processor.

• Take this and add to dutch oven Pot - cook on medium heat.

• Add carrots to food processor and chop on high speed to get them as fine as possible. Add to pot.

• Cook until onions are sweating and translucent.

• Add garlic and cook a further 2 minutes.

• Add Tomato Paste and mix together cooking for a further 2 mins.

• Add Rotel, Diced Tomatoes and Tomato Sauce. Keep cooking on medium.

• Once bubbling add ground venison back to the pot and mix together.

• Add beans according to your preference.

• Add bay leaves, cumin and chili powder, mix together well and turn heat down to idle on low for about 4 hours.

• Remove bay leaves and serve.

Notes

Cooking time can vary depending on heat applied. It can be ready quicky, you would have to watch the pot closely though. Check the beans for done-ness.

This recipe is also PERFECT for the crockpot!

The dutch oven is not a deal breaker. Any large pot will do.

Add salt and black pepper to taste (optional).

For added heat, you could add cayenne, green chilies, jalapeno peppers or hot sauce.

If you don't have kidney beans, you could use pinto beans instead.

Use a the high pressure of an Instant Pot to speed up cooking time. Saute the ground venison and vegetables first then cook 30 minutes on chili/beans mode.

Nutrition

Serving: 1Cup | Calories: 208kcal | Carbohydrates: 15g | Protein: 22g | Fat: 7g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 3g | Cholesterol: 67mg | Sodium: 785mg | Fiber: 4g | Sugar: 5g

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