This is the best bear roast you will ever make. The meat braises in a delicious and healthy cooking liquid that makes it fall-apart tender…and simple to do.

The first time I ever had bear roast I was really skeptical. I mean, can you even eat bear? I thought it would be fatty and weird…boy, I couldn’t have been more wrong. If you’re skeptical of wild game, but love beef, bear is probably the most palatable type of meat for you to try!
I’ve mentioned before that I didn’t grow up eating wild game. When I met my husband, Jared, I suddenly found myself with pounds and pounds of venison on hand each year and I had no idea how to work with it. Fast forward 5 years and I now work with venison, elk and bear meat more than beef and pork and I’m publishing my first cookbook – all about cooking with venison (click here to get on my waitlist to get the book!).
Anyway, if you have a freezer full of bear meat like we do…I’m sure you’re wondering what to do with all of that meat. This bear roast recipe is the PERFECT cozy staple to add to your meal rotation. It feeds a crowd, makes great leftovers, and surprisingly – everyone loves it. My dad even served some at his office and it was gone in seconds!

How do you cook bear meat?
There are a lot of rumors that go around about cooking with bear. Some people think you can’t cook with it because it isn’t food safe, some people think it tastes fishy and others think it’s tough. Here’s the scoop:
Bear is perfectly safe to cook with, it just needs to be handled with care in the field, frozen quickly and cooked to 165F.
The best way to put it – work with bear meat like you work with poultry. Bears do consume other animals and grub, so it is possible for them to carry parasites. So, you want to make sure you have a nice, clean shot on the animal and that it’s quickly moved from processing to vacuum sealed freezer bags and frozen as soon as possible.
When you cook it, it needs to internally reach 165F (like chicken and pork) to ensure food safety. But really, it’s just like woking with a chicken breast, so there’s nothing out of the ordinary to worry about.
Bear meat isn’t tough, but it isn’t good for steaks
Cooking bear so that it’s well-done brings me to another point. A lot of people think bear meat is tough because they’ve had well-done bear seaks. If you ask me, no steak is good well done. It’s tough, rubbery and dry.
Bear meat is best for roasts and braised dishes (like spicy pulled taco meat – YUM!) or making into ground meat. Game like venison and elk are safe to eat rare (or even raw for carpaccio or tartare if really fresh) so it’s common for people to assume the same about bear. But, because bear meat needs to be well done it’s best to get a lot of ground meat and roasts.

Is it hard to get bear roast tender?
No! Because bear is a fattier meat, it just takes a longer cooking time to melt fat and sinew to result in a fall-apart tender roast. I think the slow cooker actually does the best job, so that’s what I’m using below.
You can, of course, use your oven to roast bear. You can follow the recipe below but roast the bear in a covered dish at 300F for about 4 hours.
You’ll know the meat is done when it shreds apart with a fork. If it isn’t there yet, be patient and let it cook more! I promise you’ll be blown away by this easy recipe and you’ll be making it all of the time!

Have lots of bear meat on hand? Make sure you try out my Bear Chili. I think it’s my favorite of all time!
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Best Ever Bear Roast | Fall-Apart Tender Recipe
This is the best bear roast you will ever make. The meat braises in a delicious and healthy cooking liquid that makes it fall-apart tender…and simple to do.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 5 hours
- Total Time: 5 hours 10 minutes
- Yield: 8 servings 1x
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Slow Cooker
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
- 1 Tbsp. olive oil
- 1 (3-4 lb.) bear roast
- 1 and 1/2 tsp. salt, divided
- 1 tsp. pepper, divided
- 4 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 cup beef stock
- 1 cups dry red wine (or sub for more stock)
- 3 Tbsp. balsamic vinegar
- 3 Tbsp. tomato paste
- 4–5 fresh thyme sprigs
Instructions
- Add the olive oil to a large pan and heat over medium high heat. Meanwhile, pat the roast down with a paper towel to absord excess moisture. Sprinkle it with 1/2 teaspoon of the salt and 1/2 teaspoon of the pepper.
- When the pan is hot, sear the roast on all sides, creating a nice crust. This will take 5-10 minutes.
- Once the roast is seared, lay it in the bottom of a slow cooker.
- Mix together the garlic cloves, beef stock, red wine, balsamic, tomato paste, and the remaining salt and pepper.
- Pour the liquid over roast and lay the thyme sprigs over the top.
- Cover the slow cooker with a lid, and let it cook for 4-6 hours on high or 8-9 hours on low. The roast should be falling apart with a fork, that’s how you know it’s done.
- Serve with the liquid you cooked the roast in (you can reduce it down on the stove if you like). Enjoy!
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 serving
- Calories: 279
- Sugar: 2 g
- Sodium: 1315 mg
- Fat: 7 g
- Saturated Fat: 6 g
- Unsaturated Fat: 1 g
- Trans Fat: 0 g
- Carbohydrates: 4 g
- Fiber: 0 g
- Protein: 43 g
- Cholesterol: 105 mg
Keywords: roast, slow cooker, bear roast, bear meat, black bear, wild game
I really love these, Thanks for the recipe.
It looks so delicious.
Glad you enjoyed it!
How much ingredients for a 1.5 pound roast?
Did you ever figure this out
I would follow the instructions and ingredients exactly. Worst that happens is you have a bit more pan juice after cooking.
OMG!!!!! We followed your receipe on some bear meat my nephew and his friend shot in Blue Ridge, GA.. It was excellent!!!! Better than beef!!!!! I never would have thought YOGI would taste so good!!!!👍🏻
Haha! So glad you enjoyed!
Would it be good to put carrots and potatoes mixed in the crockpot also ???
You could definitely try that!
I have to disagree with your comment about bear steaks. I take the backstraps and cut them into steaks (that’s the only part of a bear that I cut steaks from), and they were juicy, and tender, even well done.
As for the roasts, I totally agree. Roasts done in the slow cooker are fantastic!
★★★★
Hi Bob – I can’t reccomend that due to food safety issues, but I’m sure it was delicious.
How much ingredients for a 1.5 pound roast?
I am going to make this today but I have a question. My husband can’t have tomatoes- so what would you suggest as a replacement? Or just leave that part out? Thank you for your help!!
I would leave that out! I can’t speak to the flavor or final product, however, because this recipe does largely rely on the tomato flavor!
This was ok, but wine flavor was too overpowering. I’ll try it again without the wine, and adjust my rating if it is better.
★★★
Lovely sauce but after 6hrs on low, cut into cubes, but still tough. Finished it off with 20mins in the pressure cooker! Perfect.
★★★★
I would definitely go for 8 hours on low next time! But I’m so glad this worked for you. What a great idea for a shortcut!
I made tihe bearroastit waswasso good everyone love it thank you for sharing ,it was myfrist time eating black bear,
Hi,
I have a bear roast someone at my husband’s job gave to him. So, I’ve heard you have to soak game animals on some sort of milk to get the gamey flavor out. Does this step need to be done at all? It’s in the fridge defrosting so I will be using this recipe.
Thanks
★★★★★
I’ve never had the chance to cook bear meat but I assume I would cook it like I do my chuck roast. Ranch seasoning. AuJus seasoning. Stick of butter and pepperoncini peppers. No water. Crock pot on low for 8 hrs.
Just wondering if I should cut off the fat on the outside of the bear?
Going to try this recipe now!
Thanks
Nikki
Turned out perfect the first time. I didn’t know that bear could taste so good! I used dill instead of thyme on top and added 2 tbsp coconut sugar.
★★★★★
Amazing! I am so glad you found this recipe and it turned out great for you, Belinda!
First time cooking Bear and it was fantastic. I tried it with a mule deer roast also and everyone loved it. I also added a dash of liquid smoke the second time around and it worked really well with the recipe.
★★★★★
ahh this is great to hear, Ed! I am so glad you found this recipe and it turned out great for you!