A time-saving, Whole30 approved recipe that will help you use up that venison you have stored in the freezer. This recipe works equally as well with lean beef.
Whole30 Venison Freezer Meatloaf
Ma, I love the meatloaf. Anytime I mention I’ve made meatloaf, J is just like beyond happy. Does anyone else get that response from meatloaf at home? It’s like “awww yeeeea, heck yeeeeaa meatloaf!!!!!!”. And you’re like…why don’t I make meatloaf every week? I feel so accomplished and loved. LOL.
This meatloaf solves a lot of problems. First of all, I tested it with venison. If you’re someone who does not have a significant other, child, sibling, parent, or friend that spends extraordinary amounts of time in a tree to bring home a harvest of venison every fall/winter, you may certainly use lean ground beef or turkey here. Venison is very lean, so a lean meat works well as a substitution.
BUT, so many of you have asked for more venison recipes, because you’re in the same boat as me – freezer packed to the gills with venison. Personally, I love it. I think the flavor of the meat depends on where you live/the deer’s diet, but in PA, we have it good.
I love classic meatloaf, but I really try not to eat ketchup when I can avoid it, and that tried and true brown sugar and ketchup mixture on the top cannot be left out. I’ve made a few swaps, using dates, tomato paste, garlic powder and mustard powder that are SUPER yummy and make this a Whole30 compliant dish.
You’re going to form the meatloaf, wrap it in plastic wrap and freeze it until you’re ready to thaw it overnight and bake the next day. You can make the topping ahead of time (I would only suggest doing this a week or less ahead of time), or wait until you’re ready to eat!
LET’S GET TO IT!
WHAT YOU’LL NEED (increments below in the printout):
Avocado or olive oil
Onion
Garlic
Ground venison – or the leanest ground beef you can find or ground turkey
Egg
Almond meal – not almond flour, almond meal is more coarse, like a breadcrumb
Italian seasoning
Salt
Pepper
Dates
Tomato paste
Garlic powder
Mustard powder
WHAT YOU’LL DO:
Chop up your onion and mince your garlic. Heat a skillet with the oil over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic and saute until they’re lightly browned so about 6-7 minutes. I like cooked onions and garlic in my meatloaf, the flavor is richer and milder.
Add the onions and garlic to a bowl along with the venison, egg, almond meal, Italian seasoning, 3/4 teaspoon of the salt, and pepper. Mix well.
Line a loaf pan with saran wrap, leaving about 8 inches of excess flowing over each side. Press the meat mixture into the loaf pan and wrap it well in the saran wrap.
Place the formed meatloaf wrapped in saran wrap in a plastic bag.
You can place the bagged meatloaf back in the loaf pan and pop it in the freezer. Once it freezes, in about 2-3 hours, remove the loaf pan and let the meatloaf sit in the freezer until you’re ready to make it (up to 3 months).
When you’re ready to make the meatloaf, remove it from the freezer and let it thaw in the fridge; I recommend doing this overnight.
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
Remove the thawed meatloaf from the bag and plastic wrap and place it in a loaf pan lined with parchment. Bake in the oven for 25 minutes.
While the meatloaf cooks place the pitted dates in a saucepan and cover them with water by an inch. Bring the mixture to a boil over medium, and reduce the heat to low and let them simmer for 10 minutes. Do not drain the dates, you need the cooking water for the tomato sauce.
Add the dates to a blender with the date water, tomato paste, garlic powder, mustard powder and remaining salt. Blend until smooth. Keep the date water handy, add more if it looks too thick to you.
Remove the meatloaf from the oven, spread on the tomato sauce and cook for an additional 10-15 minutes, or until the meatloaf is cooked through. Let it rest for about 10 minutes before slicing and serving.
xoxx,
Miss AK
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Ingredients
- 1 Tablespoon avocado or olive oil
- 1 small onion, diced
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 + 1/2 lbs. Ground venison – or the leanest ground beef you can find or ground turkey
- 1 egg, whisked
- 1/4 cup almond meal – not almond flour, almond meal is more coarse, like a breadcrumb
- 1 Tablespoon Italian seasoning
- 1 + 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
- 2 dates, pitted
- 6 oz. tomato paste
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/4 teaspoon mustard powder
Instructions
- Chop up your onion and mince your garlic. Heat a skillet with the oil over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic and saute until they’re lightly browned so about 6-7 minutes. I like cooked onions and garlic in my meatloaf, the flavor is richer and milder.
- Add the onions and garlic to a bowl along with the venison, egg, almond meal, Italian seasoning, 3/4 teaspoon of the salt, and pepper. Mix well.
- Line a loaf pan with saran wrap, leaving about 8 inches of excess flowing over each side. Press the meat mixture into the loaf pan and wrap it well in the saran wrap. Place the formed meatloaf wrapped in saran wrap in a plastic bag. You can place the bagged meatloaf back in the loaf pan and pop it in the freezer. Once it freezes, in about 2-3 hours, remove the loaf pan and let the meatloaf sit in the freezer until you’re ready to make it (up to 3 months).
- When you’re ready to make the meatloaf, remove it from the freezer and let it thaw in the fridge; I recommend doing this overnight.
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
- Remove the thawed meatloaf from the bag and plastic wrap and place it in a loaf pan lined with parchment. Bake in the oven for 25 minutes.
- While the meatloaf cooks place the pitted dates in a saucepan and cover them with water by an inch. Bring the mixture to a boil over medium, and reduce the heat to low and let them simmer for 10 minutes. Do not drain the dates, you need the cooking water for the tomato sauce.
- Add the dates to a blender with the date water, tomato paste, garlic powder, mustard powder and remaining salt. Blend until smooth. Keep the date water handy, add more if it looks too thick to you.
- Remove the meatloaf from the oven, spread on the tomato sauce and cook for an additional 10-15 minutes, or until the meatloaf is cooked through. Let it rest for about 10 minutes before slicing and serving.
nom! killing it with the freezer meals here Allie! i still haven’t had my fair share of venision, i’ve had it a few times. we eat kangaroo back in australia ha so so good, i think it has a similar texture!
The meatloaf looks so juicy my mouth is watering!
The recipe is amazing, thank you for the step by step pictorial as well! Really helpful.
Keep sharing more of these!
All the love!
Made this last night – it was a hit!!! 🙂 🙂 🙂
My venison comes from the processor already frozen and vacuum sealed, so I would be using meat that’s already been frozen once. Is this what you use, and refreeze the raw meat in this meatloaf? I have so much venison burger (and sausage) I need to use but I’ve never used twice-frozen meat of any kind.
Hey Jacki! That’s exactly what I do, we have our meat packaged and then we freeze immediately and I thaw as needed! If you don’t want to re-freeze the meatloaf, you can certainly cook it right away and eat, but I don’t ever have any issues thawing and then assembling this meatloaf and freezing again. Make sure you either thaw the meat out in the fridge or in some cool water, I never have had good luck trying to thaw in the microwave! Let me know how it goes and feel free to shoot me an email at [email protected] if you need more help 🙂