Want some seriously good bar-b-que? Then you have to try this heritage pulled BBQ venison! I didn’t believe homemade bar-b-que could taste better than store-bought bar-b-que until I tried this pulled BBQ venison recipe! When I created this recipe, I knew I wanted to make a delicious BBQ meal that was both simple and healthy. Heritage pulled BBQ venison was the perfect solution and it is a family favorite on my homestead! It is super easy to make right in the crockpot and is the perfect homestead menu item for a quick dinner, on-the-go meal, or travel-friendly dinner. Bursting with flavor and super delicious, this BBQ venison will be a hit with modern pioneers of all ages!
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Heritage Pioneer Recipe
Now this heritage pulled BBQ venison recipe is definitely a pioneer recipe! Before the pioneers settled down and started homesteading, they lived off venison. While they may not have made BBQ venison, I’m sure they found native herbs and spices to use to spruce up their meat.
To make this BBQ venison recipe even more pioneer friendly, the whole thing is made from scratch! No store-bought BBQ sauce and only all-natural ingredients!
On my homestead, venison is a staple meat. My dad grew up in a hunting family and he has passed down the tradition to me as well. Every fall we gear up for whitetail season and enjoy prepping for the hunting season together. While mother nature always plays a role in how successful we are, we always try to put away at least two deer in our freezer.
Fresh venison in the freezer means venison meals at least a couple times each week! And this heritage pulled BBQ venison has become a new family favorite! Not only is it delicious and simple, but it’s also an allergy-friendly recipe that the whole family enjoys. Heritage pulled BBQ venison is….
- gluten-free
- grain-free
- dairy-free
- corn free
- nut free
- naturally sweetened
- low sugar
- soy free
- fish free
What Venison is Best?
For those of you who aren’t familiar with venison, you may be wondering how you can make this recipe. Venison cuts are similar to beef cuts, however, you can’t get nearly as many cuts from a whitetail deer compared to a beef cow.
My dad and I do all the processing and cutting up of our meat ourselves. The main types of meat we usually cut are backstrap, tenderloin, steaks, roast, stew, soup or canning, and ground burger. In this recipe, I found that large chunks of roast or stew work best.
The roast and stew cuts usually come from the hindquarters of a deer. When cooked in the crockpot, they can be flaked apart to create a pulled meat. Other cuts, like the backstrap, steaks, and tenderloin don’t flake apart when cooked in the crockpot.
Alternatively, if you don’t like venison (which I can’t fathom) or if you don’t have venison readily available, you can use some substitutes until you acquire some venison to try this recipe with! Chicken breasts or thighs work well as a white meat substitute and beef roast would work well as a red meat substitute.
Serving BBQ Venison
Not only is pulled BBQ venison fun and easy to make, but I also love coming up with different homemade sides to serve with it! My family’s traditional method is to serve it on a bread product. Being grain-free and gluten-free hasn’t hampered that at all either! Here are some yummy bread products that I like serving with my pulled BBQ venison:
If I’m in a hurry, I may pull a store-bought bread product out of the freezer. Some of my favorites include Against the Grain baguette, Canyon Bakehouse mountain white bread, or Little Northern Bakehouse hamburger buns.
My mom has me well trained too, so I always have to serve a vegetable with my pulled BBQ venison. A leafy green salad made from homegrown produce always goes over well, as does homemade coleslaw or home-canned pickles. On very special occasions I get to serve organic, non-GMO grilled corn on the cob with my pulled BBQ venison. That’s always a special treat!
Heritage pulled BBQ venison is delicious served both warm and cold. If you ask my mom, she prefers if warm, but Anna and I prefer ours cold. Either way it is delicious! Also, since this recipe makes a large batch, we always have leftovers that we can stick in the freezer for another time.
Heritage pulled BBQ venison is an easy recipe that we like to take on camping trips, bring on day trips, or even snack on as a healthy mid-afternoon snack! It’s delicious sandwiched between two slices of bread or scooped up with plantain chips!
Recipe Tips
This heritage pulled BBQ venison is actually very easy to make! It may look like it has a lot of ingredients, but the process of putting it together is very simple. I actually have fun making this pulled venison! Here are a few tips I thought of that might help you when you make this recipe for the first time.
BBQ Tips
- If you are using frozen venison, make sure it is mostly unthawed. It’s okay if it’s still a little icy, but just make sure it’s not frozen solid!
- Yes, you really can just pile all the ingredients on top of the meat and leave it! The flavors simmer with the meat and they all get mixed together when you pull the meat apart.
- I have found that thinner, smaller pieces of meat cook up better and shred easier. However, I don’t recommend dicing up the meat too much because then it becomes drier and doesn’t shred as nicely.
- Feel free to experiment with the amount of spices in this bar-b-que recipe. Some people like their bar-b-que spicier than other. I would rate this recipe as moderate spicy.
- Most of the ingredients in this recipe have some flexibility as far as amounts go, but one ingredient that must be measured out is the liquid smoke. Don’t skimp on that!
- Venison can be a hard meat to shred. Let it cook for the full 4 hours, then patiently start pulling the meat apart. Sometimes I do two rounds of shredding.
- This pulled BBQ venison is nice and juicy, but if you let it cook too long it will start to dry out and stick to the crockpot. If you need to, turn your crockpot on low or keep warm if you need to keep the BBQ venison in the crockpot for longer than 6 hours.
It can’t get much simpler than this heritage pulled BBQ venison! It only takes about 15 minutes to prep, a few minutes to shred, and then you have a delicious and nutritious homestead meal all ready! My family loves this BBQ venison and I love how healthy it is for us!
Heritage Pulled BBQ Venison
Ingredients
- 2 lbs. venison roast
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 3/4 cup white vinegar
- 1/3 cup pure honey
- 1/4 cup tomato paste
- 2 T. coconut aminos
- 2 T. liquid smoke
- 1 bulb garlic, crushed
- 1 tsp. chili powder
- 1 tsp. sea salt
- 3/4 tsp. paprika
- 1 tsp. organic mustard
- 1/2 tsp. ground cayenne pepper
- 1/4 tsp. ground black pepper
Instructions
- Place all of the ingredients in a large crockpot. I usually put the vinegar and meat in first. Then I add the honey, tomato paste, and chopped onion on top of the meat. The rest of the ingredients I just pile on top too.
- Set the crockpot on high for 4 hours. After 4 hours, use two forks to shred the venison, this may take a few minutes to get all the meat fibers separated. You can also shred the meat in two different increments, doing a rough pull-apart shred first and then going back later to finish shredding the larger chunks.
- Stir together the shredded meat and all the ingredients. Let the shredded meat cook for another 30 minutes, then serve!
Where to Find the Ingredients
- Muir Glen organic tomato paste
- Coconut Secret coconut aminos
- Wright’s liquid smoke
- Simply Organic chili powder
- Simply Organic paprika
- Primal Kitchen organic mustard
- Simply Organic cayenne pepper
- Redmond real salt
- Supplies: 7 qt. crockpot
Heritage pulled BBQ venison is a pioneer recipe that is allergy friendly, simple to make, and contains nutritious, wholesome ingredients! Enjoy mixing up a batch of this BBQ and enjoy savoring the bold, moist BBQ venison flavor! Serve it on a slice of homemade bread or with a home-grown salad, bring it to backyard bar-b-ques or family gatherings, have it warm for dinner or eat it cold for snack, this BBQ venison fits into a variety of homestead lifestyles!
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by Alexa
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