Slow cooker venison stew made with tender cuts of venison steak, fresh vegetables and herbs in a rich and flavorful red wine broth. This easy venison recipe is the perfect comfort food for dinner.
October 1 kicks off unofficial stew season in our household (we’re ignoring the fact that this month has had record high temperatures! :)) We’ve already shared some yummy beef stew recipes like our slow cooker beef stew and slow cooker vegetable beef soup, but with a hunter hubby like mine, the meat comes from the hunt. Our bowls are filled with a stew made with tender cuts of venison steak, fresh vegetables and herbs in a rich and flavorful red wine broth. It is soooo delicious! And the added bonus is this recipe is made in the slow cooker just like this venison stroganoff recipe.
Stew has been around since ancient times, so I believe it when most recipes call for the slow and steady method. You can prepare the soup in the morning, let it “stew” all day and then gather everyone at dinner time for a delicious and hearty meal. Home cookin’ doesn’t get much more authentic than that, my friends.
Are you ready to make some slow cooked venison stew?
Grab a big spoon and come on into my kitchen!
Venison Stew Ingredients
Making stew is all about the prep. Here I’m showing you everything (minus the butter and water) that goes into our slow cooker.
- Venison Steak
- Sautéd veggies [fresh onions, mushrooms, garlic]
- Non-sautéd veggies [fresh carrots, celery, golden potatoes]
- For the rich broth, you’ll need tomato paste, quality beef stock, red wine, water, fresh rosemary and fresh parsley.
What I love about this recipe is that nothing is frozen and there is no condensed soup!
How to Make Slow Cooker Venison Stew
Start with about two pounds of thawed venison steak. You could really use any cut of the deer, but I like steak the best because it has a bit of fat on it and it’s easy to chunk up into cubes. Two pounds of bone-in steak will give you about 1 1/2 pounds of meat. Chop the venison into one inch bite sized pieces and stir it into a bowl with the flour, salt, and cracked black pepper.
In a large stockpot or cast-iron pan, melt salted butter using medium-high heat and brown the cuts of steak on both sides until they are seared, and you have bits of browned meat on the bottom of the pan (about 2-3 minutes each side).
Place the browned meat into your slow cooker and melt the remaining butter into the pan on the stove top. Add your chopped sauté veggies and cook them for a few minutes while stirring occasionally. Then add them to your slow cooker as well.
With the heat still on, pour one cup of dry red wine into the stock pot (I prefer Cabernet Sauvignon) and whisk quickly to gather up any browned bits. Allow the wine to reduce for a few minutes on medium heat.
Add the non-sautéd veggies to the slow cooker along with the herbs, tomato paste, stock, water, remaining salt and reduced red wine.
Give it all a stir and set the slow cooker for 8 hours on LOW heat. Your house will smell wonderful in about 3 hours…
…and by dinner time, you will get this. Tender cuts of venison meat in a delicious, homemade stew made from nature’s bounty. It may not be cold yet here in NW Ohio, but it honestly doesn’t matter. Unofficial stew season is here and it was worth the wait.
Enjoy!
More Venison Recipes
- Venison Meatballs
- Smoked Venison Backstrap Recipe
- Venison Tamale Pie
- Hunters Casserole with Ground Venison
- Venison Marinade

Slow Cooker Venison Stew
Ingredients
- 2 lb. venison bone-in steak
- 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 1/4 teaspoon salt divided
- 1/2 teaspoon cracked black pepper
- 4 Tablespoons butter divided
- 1 cup mushrooms chopped
- 1 cup white and green onion chopped
- 4 garlic cloves minced
- 1 cup dry red wine
- 2 cups golden potatoes chopped
- 1 cup carrot chopped
- 1 cup celery chopped
- 6 oz. tomato paste
- 2 cups beef stock
- 1 cup water
- 1 sprig fresh rosemary
- 1/4 cup fresh parsley chopped
Instructions
- Chop the venison into chunks and stir them into a bowl with the flour, 1 tsp. of salt, and cracked black pepper.
- In a stockpot or cast-iron pan, melt 3 T. of butter using medium-high heat and brown the cuts of steak on both sides until they are seared, and you have bits of browned meat on the bottom of the pan (2 minutes each side).
- Place the browned meat into your slow cooker and melt the remaining 1 T. of butter into the pan. Sauté the onions, mushrooms and garlic for a few minutes while stirring occasionally. Then add them to your slow cooker as well.
- With the heat still on, pour one cup of dry red wine into the pan and whisk quickly to gather up any browned bits. Allow the wine to reduce for a few minutes on medium heat.
- Add the carrots, potatoes and celery to the slow cooker along with the herbs, tomato paste, stock, water, remaining ¼ tsp. salt, and reduced red wine.
- Give it all a stir and set the slow cooker for 8 hours on LOW heat.
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