This is the way to get a flavorful, tender and juicy venison roast. Using the slow cooker is the easiest way to make perfect venison roast every time.
Making this slow cooker venison roast is the WAY to cook a venison roast. It’s so easy to do! This is literally a get-up in the morning, set it and forget it kind of recipe.
But, the reward of starting this recipe in the morning pays off 10 fold when you tuck into a juicy, tender piece of deer meat with potatoes, carrots, and plenty of gravy. I couldn’t love this recipe more if I tried.
What’s the best way to cook venison roast cuts?
Cooking venison roast cuts is pretty straightforward. However, in my years of venison cooking, I have kissed a few frogs. When you have a roast, especially if it’s from the shoulder or neck, it has lots of connective tissue. If cooked improperly, the connective tissue remains rubbery and unpleasant.
In comparison, if cooked appropriately, venison roast can be fall-apart tender. The way to achieve this result is by cooking it low and slow. Or, low temperature over a longer period of time. In my experience, the easiest and best way to ensure a perfect result is to use your slow cooker. I also use it in this slow cooker venison stew recipe.
Why does my venison always come out tough?
If you find that your roasts always come out sort of rubbery, dry or hard, it’s likely because you’re not cooking long enough and at a low enough temperature. If you’re using a slow cooker you want to cook your meat on low for 8-9 hours, or until falling-apart tender. Cooking on high won’t yield the same result. If you’re using another recipe, you can use your oven but don’t go above 350F. If your roast has been cooking for 2-3 hours and still isn’t tender, drop the temperature of the oven and cook longer.
So, how do you cook venison roast so it’s tender?
The best way that I’ve found to make sure a venison roast (bone-in or out) tender is to cook it in the crockpot or slow cooker on low for 8-9 hours, or until it is falling apart. If you cook it on low you won’t dry it out.
Please note that I don’t recommend cooking this on high for 4-6 hours. It’s not going to be as juicy and tender. If you’re in a hurry I’d really recommend planning another day to make this when you can set yourself up to have it cook all day or overnight while you rest.
Tips for creating the best ever deer roast
Even if you choose to cook your pot roast in a slow cooker (as I recommend) there are a few steps you can take to make sure your meat is transformed into a fabulous meal. If you follow these steps, which are included below in the recipe printout, you’ll have a wonderfully flavorful and juicy deer roast on your hands.
1. Sear the meat on all sides first
First in order is searing the meat on all sides in a large skillet. Use a fat with a high smoke point like duck fat, avocado oil or clarified butter/ghee to fry in. This adds both flavor and texture.
2. Add plenty of aromatics and seasoning
I love a blend of plenty of onions, garlic, salt, pepper and Italian seasoning. Worchestershire sauce and tomato paste are also added for depth of flavor. Ingredients can be simple but also impactful and majorly flavorful. You won’t need canned soup or seasoning packets here.
3. Acid is important
This is one of my most talked-about tips, but adding acid to a venison dish is very important for balancing out the rich flavor. Here, I like to use balsamic vinegar.
4. Use quality or homemade stock
My venison stock recipe is perfect for use here. If you don’t have homemade, choose a good quality beef stock or bone broth. This adds a rich silky texture to the finished gravy.
5. Layer the carrots and potatoes on top so they don’t get soggy
I like to pile the potatoes and carrots on top of the roast so they steam in the slow cooker and don’t overcook. It works perfectly, even for such a long cook time.
Once made, I do like to make a little gravy by whisking in a cornstarch slurry to the drippings from the bottom of the slow cooker. Reduce that for about 10 minutes and you’ve got a wonderful, easy, cozy, and sort of fancy meal!
Put this venison roast recipe on your meal rotation list – it’s perfecto for a busy weekday OR special enough for a cozy weekend meal, just like this crazy popular venison stew.
For more modern & delicious venison recipes, check out my bestselling cookbook, Venison Every Day!
Print
Slow Cooker Venison Roast Recipe
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 8 hours
- Total Time: 8 hours 15 minutes
- Yield: 6–8 servings 1x
- Category: Main Dish
- Method: Slow Cooker
- Cuisine: French American
Ingredients
- 3–4lb venison roast (shoulder or neck is best, bone-in or out is fine – see notes)*
- 1 and 1/2 tsp. salt, divided
- 1 Tbsp. high heat tolerant cooking fat (duck fat, avocado oil, clarified butter/ghee)
- 1 and 1/2 cups venison stock or beef stock*
- 2 Tbsp. tomato paste
- 1 Tbsp. balsamic vinegar
- 1 and 1/2 tsp. Worchestershire sauce
- 1 tsp. dried thyme
- 1 tsp. dried parsley
- 1 tsp. pepper
- 5 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 large, yellow onion, cut into large pieces
- 1 lb. baby yellow potatoes
- 4–5 carrots, peeled and cut into 2-inch pieces
- 2 Tbsp. tapioca starch, arrowroot powder or cornstarch
Instructions
- Remove your roast from the packaging and dry thoroughly with a paper towel to remove any liquid or old blood. Then, sprinkle 1/2 teaspoon of the salt all over the meat.
- Heat the oil/fat in a large skillet over medium-medium high heat and sear the roast on all sides until brown. If you go to flip the meat and it’s sticking to the pan, it’s not ready to be flipped. When a sear forms, it will release from the skillet.
- Once seared all over, remove the roast from the skillet and place it in the bottom of a slow cooker.
- Pour in the stock or add frozen stock to the bottom of the slow cooker. Then, add the tomato paste, balsamic vinegar, Worchestershire sauce, thyme, parsley, pepper, half of the garlic and 1/2 teaspoon of the salt. Rub that all over the meat the best you can.
- Then, add the onions, carrots and potatoes on top. Sprinkle on the remaining salt and garlic.
- Set the slow cooker to low and cook for 8-9 hours, or until falling-apart tender*
- When you’re ready to serve, remove the meat and shred it on a board. Toss the veggies in the juice and move them to a platter to add with the pulled venison roast. You can halve the potatoes if you like.
- If you want gravy, mix the cornstarch (or tapioca or arrowroot powder) with a bit of the strained pot drippings to make a slurry. Then, add the rest of the drippings and the slurry to a small saucepan and reduce over medium-low heat for 10 minutes.
- Serve & ENJOY!
Notes
- This recipe works well for a variety of roast cuts. A shoulder or neck (my favorite) roast is best if you have it, even better if the bone is still in. This really is the best way to work with shoulder and neck roasts – you need to cook them low and slow to break down the connective tissue to get them tender. If you use a bone-in roast, I like to save the bone to make a batch of venison stock/broth. You can use a hind leg roast cut but know that they can be used for other purposes such as pastrami or corned venison if you’re feeling creative
- Note that you need 1 1/2 cups of cooking liquid for this but you can change up what you use. If you’d like to get creative, try adding in both wine and stock or beer and stock for different flavor profiles.
- You can try cooking this on high for 4-6 hours if you’re in a time pinch but I never get as tender results as I do here. Please note that I strongly recommend planning around a 8-9 hour cook on low heat.
Keywords: roast, venison, slow cooker, crock pot, pot roast
I tried this recipe with a venison neck roast. I followed as posted. It was the worst tasting venison I’ve ever had. The deer was a buck in the rut. That might have been the reason it was so bad. I’ve been eating and cooking venison for a long time. It wasn’t the recipe but the neck.
Oh NO! Can you tell me what you mean by bad? Are you in a warmer climate/how quickly was the deer able to be in a cool area after it was killed? I’d love to help if I can.
You need to remove the glands from the neck meat or that’s all you’re going to taste. Deer have a huge green/gray lima bean gland on each side of then neck. I’ve seen others toss this right into the grinder and then wonder why their venison is awful.
All I shoot are large rutting bucks and I’ve never had a single complaint about any of the meat. Most people rave over it.
Oh thanks for this insight, Jeremy. Ours are always removed, too and the neck is usually one of my favorite roast cuts for slow cooking.
The deer was processed with in an hour of being killed . I live in eastern Va. Hunting day was about 65 degrees. It was iced down the whole time until I cooked it. About 7 days.
Hm, interesting. I’ll ask my hubby about this, perhaps it was the neck being full of rut hormones. Still bummed you didn’t have a great meal!
do you absolutely have to seat the roast in a pan before slow cooking?
Nope! It does great things for flavor depth and some people claim that it keeps a roast more tender, but if you’re short on time, skip that step. I’ve also used a semi-frozen roast before with this method with great results (just a bit more liquid if it’s frozen). But, if you have time to sear, the flavor rewards are 100% worth it.
What size slow cooker are you using? Would a 6 quart be to small?
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Nope! I had a 6qt for years, works great. That is, if you have a gigantic roast and it won’t fit that obviously won’t work, but usually, my 2-3lb roasts fit perfectly in there. I JUST bought a 7qt last week, but the cooker you see in the video is a 6.
Hi, Allie – Should I trim any sinew from the roast before seearing/cooking?
You don’t have to if you can cook for 8+ hours on low!
Can you cook this On high for a shorter time
you can but it may come out dry/less tender
Best Venison meal I ever made! Great recipe.
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Well I’ll be! Thanks for trying, Rich! These comments make my day.
Really yummy and easy! Thanks for the great recipe!
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Miss AK, OMG this recipe was absolutely the best way I’ve ever cooked a venison roast in my life& I’m no spring chicken either. Used a small shoulder roast approximately 3 pounds,followed the recipe as instructed( but I cheated a little bit& cut up a few stalks of celery in there), tender, busting out w/ flavor,& what a gravy. Every drop was mopped up with biscuits. I know I can only give you a 5 star but dang it I’m giving it a 6
Ah thank YOU, Freddie!! Oh biscuits…may have to make some this week 🙂
Best Deer roast I’ve had yet! Great recipe!
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I’m so glad you liked it!!!
I feel like I “kissed a frog” on this one. I followed the directions to the letter. While the venison was not fall apart or fork tender it wasn’t bad. The real problem was the veggies. After a full 8 hours on low in the crockpot they were nowhere near done. I ended up removing them from the crockpot and cooking them with some of the broth in my Dutch oven for an additional half hour. The gravy was flavorful, but very little of that flavor transferred to the meat. If I did this again I would make it in my Dutch oven like I usually make a beef pot roast.
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I’m so bummed this didn’t work for you, Kathy! Hm. I have the opposite problem, with my slow cooker going for 8+ hours I need to make sure the veggies aren’t overdone. If it isn’t tender, it isn’t cooked long enough, either. Is your slow cooker an older model, I wonder? I just had to replace my old one after about 10 years.
It just sounds like you needed to cook for alot longer… potatoes weren’t cooked and your venison wasn’t falling apart…
Can you sear it the night before and put it in the fridge until the morning? I would love to make this as a “cooks while I’m at work” meal, however I only really have enough time in the morning to toss in all of the ingredients in the morning.
You can 100% do that!
So my roast came out great flavors and tender but it was still dry. I slow cooked it for about 9 hours. Any advice? Should I have filled it so the juices were completely covering the meat?
No you don’t want to cover the meat totally with juice. Some cuts do have less fat and less connective tissue than others so they can be a little dry still. I would recommend shredding it and then pouring the gravy on if you feel like the meat is still a little dry for you.
This was the first time I’ve ever liked a venison roast! It was perfect! Thank you for sharing your recipe!
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Can I make this with a beef roast????
This was amazing! I cooked mine in an instant pot for 60 min + 10 nr, then added the potatoes and carrots for 10 minutes qr. This was my first venison roast, and it did not dissapoint.
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Never cooked with venison gotta try it now. This looks amazing. Thanks for sharing;)
This recipe is super easy & yummy. Thanks for sharing;) Looking forward to more delicious recipes!
I’m so glad you liked it! Thanks for trying!
I forgot to put my roast in the crock pot this morning and really have a hankering (pregnancy craving) for it for dinner. Any chance I could do an instant pot version instead??
Could you make this roast in the Instantpot? If so, how long would you recommend?
My first time cooking a venison roast. I was always too nervous! Then I found this recipe, and it is AMAZING! I used a bone-in shoulder roast from a doe…SO incredibly tender. There is nothing on the bone – the meat all fell off. Super tender & juicy. The flavors are perfection. Thank you for sharing!
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Definitely a keeper recipe! Up here in Canada we have very large bodied deer. In my 40 something years of hunting this is the best…thank you and will be doing more!
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This recipe is amazing! The meat was so tender and juicy! The clarified butter seriously added flavor to the dish. I have a large hunting family and they were blown away that this was really venison. My mother in law has cancer and not wanted to eat lately, she ate a full helping and kept a plate for the next day! 🙌🙏. My husband who hates roast period ate so much and bragged on it the next day at work. Thank you so much 😊. I will be making this roast for the rest of my life, I am adopting it as one of my signature dishes.
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This recipe is so easy and incredibly delicious. This is the first year I’ve cooked venison. My kids weren’t fans initially but rarely are there leftovers after I make this meal. I also made it with the shank accidentally and it was fall apart tender.
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currently in process of trying to make this. Been in 4 hours. On low, ended up cutting the large section i had in half hoping itll help the cooking process in the next 4 more hours. 🤞🏻🤞🏻
Simple ingredients serve up a fork tender roast. Thanks for your recipe. I didn’t even brown the roast but it still was delicious even without the tasty fond and browning.
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Yay! I am so glad this recipe is a hit 🙂
I have been hunting deer for 30years and i used to eat deer meat almot by forc……it was not great……that is until i went to a local butcher an he showed me what was the SECRET.First of all all meat cut are deboned….all fat is removed and all “silverskin” is removed that is the conective tissu that bonds musculs together.Since then i can’t wait to aet deer meat.Roasts…steakes…..stews….and my favorit qwick lunch…..tacos….yummyyy!
I am definitely a fan of Allie! This was the very first recipe I ever used with venison (aside from ground), and it was honestly one of the best meals I’ve ever had! It’s intimidating cooking with a protein you aren’t used to, but Allie makes it so easy! I’ve tried three of her recipes and they were all soooo good! I’m prepping this dish for tomorrow, and know it will be killer! Thanks so much for sharing your knowledge.
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