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Home » Recipes » Main Dish Recipes » Venison Recipes » Venison Meatballs

Venison Meatballs

By meredith on August 7, 2019 · 2 Comments

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venison meatballs in sauce
venison meatballs in sauce

Easy baked venison meatballs that are super moist and full of flavor.   Made with only venison these meatballs hold together well. Your whole family will love these on top of spaghetti!

venison meatballs on plate

Venison Meatballs

Our family loves venison if you haven’t figured that out by now like with our popular Venison Roast Recipe and others.  We also love homemade meatballs. There is something about mama in the kitchen with her apron on, rollin’ up meatballs made from daddy’s hunt, in preparation for a big family dinner of spaghetti and meatballs. Nobody really knows how the meatball originated, but when done well, it’s an all American favorite the stirs up quality conversation and good food around the table.

For years, I couldn’t find a moist, flavorful and ‘hold together well’ meatball recipe made with only venison. Since venison is so lean, cooks often add sausage or beef to increase the fat content. It’s a free country y’all, but why purchase other meats when I have a freezer full of venison? So today I’m going to show you how to use my go t0 homemade meatball recipe with a few alterations to make it just for venison. I can’t wait to share this!

venison meatball ingredients

The recipe I am using as my base comes from the kitchn, an online resource for great recipes. The author requests the use of ground meat such as beef, pork, or veal. Pictured here is one pound of venison from my husband’s hunting adventures.  And that’s all we’re going to use in this recipe.

How to Get Venison Meatballs To Hold Together

To compensate for the low-fat structure of venison, I have a small bowl of olive oil to add to the recipe. I have also substituted panko bread crumbs for the fine breadcrumbs and made a couple other minor changes. The highlight to their recipe is the grated parmesan cheese, which adds flavor to the meat and whole milk, which gives it moisture. I don’t think I will ever make a meatball without both parmesan or milk…ever…again.

venison meatballs ingredients mixed in bowl

How to Make Venison Meatballs

To make the meatball mixture, combine all the ingredients at once and mix them with a large spoon (or your hands!)

venison meatballs rolled in baking pan

Roll the meat mixture into 24 small 1-inch balls and place them into a 24 count un-greased mini muffin tin.

Yes, a muffin tin. The tin will keep the meatball shape while also collecting the juices. It’s perfect! I use my muffin tin for meatballs more than muffins and I’m proud of it!

cooked venison meatballs

Venison will take less time to cook than other meats. Bake your venison meatballs for only 15 minutes at 375˚F or until the internal temperature is 165˚F. Allow the meatballs to cool for a couple minutes and then spoon them out easily onto a paper towel to catch the excess drippings.

venison meatballs on spaghetti

What to Serve with Venison Meatballs

We like to place our hot meatballs onto a bed of pasta with our favorite marinara sauce and fresh basil. It doesn’t get much better than that. Made from scratch venison meatballs that are moist, sooo flavorful and made with daddy’s skill and mama’s love <3

Enjoy!

Venison Meatball Tips

Can I freeze these meatballs?   Yes, if you don’t want to cook your meatballs right away, you can store them in the refrigerator uncooked for 1-2 days or freeze uncooked meatballs up to one month.  Let thaw and then bake as directed.

Can I cook these meatballs in sauce? Yes.  Simmer them until they have an internal temperature of 165˚F. After that, you can keep them simmering on low until dinner or in your slow cooker. Your kitchen will smell amazing!

More Venison Recipes

  • Smoked Venison Backstrap Recipe
  • Venison Tamale Pie
  • Venison Roast Recipe
  • Hunters Casserole with Ground Venison
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Venison Meatballs

★★★★★ 5 from 1 reviews
  • Author: meredith
  • Prep Time: 15 minutes
  • Cook Time: 15 minutes
  • Total Time: 30 minutes
  • Yield: 24 1x
  • Category: Dinner
  • Method: Baking
  • Cuisine: American
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Description

Easy baked venison meatballs that are super moist and full of flavor.   Made with only venison these meatballs hold together well. Your whole family will love these on top of spaghetti!


Ingredients

Scale
  • 1 pound ground venison
  • ½ cup whole milk
  • ½ cup panko breadcrumbs
  • ½ cup grated parmesan cheese
  • ½ cup very finely chopped onion
  • ¼ cup minced parsley
  • 2 T. extra virgin olive oil
  • 1–2 cloves of garlic, finely minced
  • 1 tsp. salt
  • ¼ tsp. pepper
  • 1 large egg

Instructions

  1. Combine all ingredients at once and mix them with a large spoon or your hands.
  2. Roll the meat mixture into 24 small 1-inch balls and place them into a 24 count ungreased mini muffin tin.
  3. Bake your venison meatballs for 15 minutes at 375˚ F.
  4. When fully cooked and have an internal temperature of 165˚ F remove from oven.  Allow the meatballs to cool for a couple minutes before spooning them out onto a paper towel or plating them with sauce or noodles.

Notes

If you’d like to cook the meatballs within the sauce, simmer them until they have an internal temperature of 165 degrees. After that, you can keep them simmering on low until dinner. Your kitchen will smell amazing!

The onions in the recipe may have a slight crunch in the meatball if you bake them right away. If you want to avoid this, simply sauté your chopped onion in oil first before adding to the recipe.


Nutrition

  • Serving Size: 1 meatball
  • Calories: 80
  • Sugar: .6
  • Sodium: 164.3
  • Fat: 2.3
  • Carbohydrates: 4.2
  • Protein: 10.5
  • Cholesterol: 41.1

Keywords: venison meatballs

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meredith

About meredith

Meredith is a pastor’s wife and stay-at-home mom living in NW Ohio and is the author and photographer of many recipes on Cleverly Simple. She loves to adapt recipes to her family’s eclectic tastes and is learning to provide nourishment for any bellies who walk through the door at a moment’s notice.

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. AvatarCathey

    September 10, 2019 at 12:59 pm

    This is the best tasting meatball recipe EVER!!! So moist too. Going to switch our weekly Taco Tuesday to a Meatball Monday 🙂

    I think even the shyest of venison eaters will gobble these up. Thanks.

    ★★★★★

    Reply
    • AvatarMeredith

      September 10, 2019 at 6:44 pm

      Thank you for the compliment, Cathey! So glad you all enjoyed them too 🙂

      Reply

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Lynette Rice head shotHi, I’m Lynette. My desire is to help women who feel uninspired weave time honored recipes into their routines to create a sense of simplicity. Most of my recipes come from the treasured recipe box passed down from my great-grandma, grandmother and mother. And I want to share them with you.  Learn more.

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