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Smoked Venison Tenderloin

February 11, 2020

This Smoked Venison Tenderloin is marinated in a fresh, citrus marinade before spending time in the smoker. It’s tender, flavorful, smokey and juicy and totally easy to do.

We all know that tenderloin is like thaaa best cut of venison. It’s totally cherished in our household, and you don’t get much of it, so this year I decided I wanted to smoke some of ours this year for something really special. My husband J was blessed enough to harvest an Ohio buck this year, so the recipes have been coming at your guys like crazy! For more of my favorites, go buy my cookbook!

Yes, you heard that right, I wrote a cookbook, and it’s actually called Venison Every Day because I dedicated the entire book to making easy, simple ingredients for home cooks (like me) to make every day, all year round.

If you’re sick of the same old recipes, the unhealthy and dated stuff you find on Pinterest, or you feel like you don’t like venison…you need this book. It’s everything I wish I had 5 years ago!

The marinade here is what makes this so good, it’s a lot like my All-Purpose Marinade. It’s really citrus-forward, which is great for venison because it’s such a rich, gamey meat. I like to let this marinate for at least 4 hours, or overnight. The longer you leave it, obviously, the more flavorful it will be.

Adding plenty of acid to my venison marinades is one of the best tips I can give! Seriously, it will change the way you cook. If you want more cooking tips, grab my free guide for my top 5.

What kind of smoker can you use

I use a wood pellet smoker by Traeger Grills and I LOVE it! They were kind enough to send me a grill this fall and we’ve been having so much fun playing around with it. I recently made this Smoked Venison Brisket with a spicy rub and it’s also amazing to make on the Traeger.

Love smoked venison? Check out my Venison Brisket with Spicy Coffee Rub!

Smoked Venison Tenderloin

★★★★★

5 from 8 reviews

Author: Miss AK
Prep Time: 5 minutes + 4 hours- overnight
Cook Time: 2 hours
Total Time: 40 minute
Yield: 4 1x

Print Recipe

Description

This Smoked Venison Tenderloin is marinated in a fresh, citrus marinade before spending time in the smoker. It’s tender, flavorful, smokey and juicy and totally easy to do. I make this in my Traeger Wood Pellet Smoker, but you could do this in any smoker.

Scale

Ingredients

1 lb. venison tenderloin or backstrap
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/4 cup olive oil
5 garlic cloves
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. ground black pepper, plus more for serving

Instructions

Put the venison tenderloin, whole, into a zip-style bag or large bowl.
Add the olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, salt and pepper into a blender or small food processor. Process until it’s all incorporated and the garlic is broken to small pieces.
Pour the marinade over the venison and massage it in. Refrigerate and marinate for at least 4 hours, or up to overnight.
When you’re ready to cook, remove the venison from the marinade, and rinse it off. Pat dry and let it come to room temperature for 30 minutes before cooking while you preheat the smoker.
Set and preheat your smoker to about 225 F degrees.
Smoke the tenderloin for 1+1/2-2 hours, depending on the thickness of your meat. The internal temperature should be at 130 F for rare, and 140 F for medium rare. Don’t cook it to medium, you want it nice and juicy!
Let it rest for 10 minutes before slicing and topping with extra cracked black pepper.

Nutrition

Serving Size: 4 oz.
Calories: 300
Sugar: 2 g
Sodium: 646 mg
Fat: 17 g
Saturated Fat: 3 g
Unsaturated Fat: 11 g
Trans Fat: 0 g
Carbohydrates: 3 g
Fiber: 0 g
Protein: 33 g
Cholesterol: 75 mg

This recipe was originally published in 2018 and updated in 2020.

How to Make the Best Pie Dough

January 3, 2020

A step by step tutorial on How to Make the Best Pie Dough with photos, troubleshooting and more.

Here’s a video so you can see how I do it!

For me, living a little means diving into a piece of flaky, buttery and sweet pie. Probably with a ~~fair~~ obscene amount of homemade whipped cream piled on top.

You just can’t have good pie without good crust. Miss AK rule. I’ll be sharing numerous pie recipes in the future, and this will always be the standard vessel that I’ll link back to. I think it deserves its own post because making perfect pie dough is very simple, but there is some science to it that needs to be explained.

This pie crust is sweeter and thicker than some, but still incredibly flaky. If you haven’t heard yet, the secret to flaky pie dough is freezing cold fat and liquid. You’ll also want to heed my advice when I tell you to place the raw dough in the fridge before you roll it out, and once again after it has been pressed into the pie dish. The changes in temperature are what cause the crust to have that delicate texture.

What you’ll do:

To start, place your refrigerated butter in the freezer for about 15 min. Pour water into a glass or bowl filled with ice. In the meantime, measure out your flour, sugar, and salt. Give these a quick mix to distribute.

When I have a food processor on hand (I have this one – Cuisinart DFP-14BCNY 14-Cup Food Processor, Brushed Stainless Steel), I like to use that to make my dough.

If not, a good, old-fashioned pastry cutter or fork will work fine. Cut your freezing butter into small cubes. Begin to work the butter into the dough, or pulse your food processor until the mixture looks like pea-sized crumbs. Start adding your water tablespoon by tablespoon, until the dough pulls together into a ball.

This should not be sticky, but it should hold together well without crumbling. Divide the dough in half, form into a ball, and flatten with your hand to make a disc. Wrap this tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate for a least 20 mins. This can be refrigerated for 24 hours, or at this stage, you can place the wrapped dough into freezer bags and freeze them for a rainy day. This recipe makes two crusts, so if you aren’t making a covered pie, you can freeze one disc and use the other right away.

When you want to bake, pull your dough out of the refrigerator and let it come to room temp. Flour a work surface, your dough, and a rolling pin lightly.

Roll your dough out to about 1/4 inch thick. You should place your pie plate in the center of the rolled dough to make sure you have at least 2-3 inches of extra dough around the plate to form your rolled edge.

Fold the dough in half once and once more (like you are making a pizza slice). Place the tip of your dough into the center of the pie plate. Unfold. Trim the overhanging edges so they are even, and tuck them under.

Pinch your dough between your thumb and pointer finger, pressing with your opposite pointer finger to make a crimped edge. Or, you can always press your dough with a fork! Place the pie back in the fridge for at least 20-30 mins before adding your filling and baking.

Remove the crust from the fridge, pour in the desired filling and bake following the instructions listed in the recipe you’re using. If you need a baked shell, pierce the dough with a fork so that air is not trapped between the plate and dough; trapped air causes your crust to bubble and shrink. You’ll also need to weigh it down in the center to prevent the bubbling. When I’m baking a shell, I always weigh it down with pie weights. You can find these: here. If you don’t want to invest, line your pie with parchment paper and weigh it by pouring beans or rice onto the parchment.

For a first-time pie baker, I know this can seem daunting. After your first few pies, you’ll see they are actually pretty easy to assemble, and I promise you’ll fall in love with them as much as I have.

As always, I love to help you troubleshoot-please feel free to send me a message in the Contact Me section above!

Check out all of the pie recipes on Miss AK HERE!