Delicious, tender and juice venison steak made easily in your instant pot! So little work and the most amazing results!
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The Best Way to Cook Venison Steak
The Instant Pot has officially become part of our family with this venison steak recipe. Yes, there is a cultural trend associated with it, but unlike most trends, I cannot foresee this one going away! The Instant Pot makes so much sense. I’ve always known that pressure cookers create the most tender meat, but to have one that plugs into the wall where the user can walk away is quite genius. When I finally got my hands on a 6 qt Instant Pot, venison steak was first on the menu. My husband harvested a deer during the 2017 season and it provided us with 60 pounds of meat for our freezer.
What I love about preparing venison steak in the Instant Pot is that you can go from rock solid frozen to fall off the bone tender in about two hours. Amazing. For years I spent slow roasting or slow cooking venison at medium temperatures. Although I enjoyed the aroma wafting through the house, it took hours, sometimes all day to get really tender meat …and that didn’t include the time it took to defrost the meat in my refrigerator! With four young children and an endless parade of meals, pressure cooking is now my favorite way to prepare venison.
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How to Cook Venison Steak
Step 1 – Add Frozen Venison Steak to Instant Pot
Before you start, make sure your cut of meat will actually fit into the Instant Pot. Since we are starting with frozen, you won’t be able to cut the meat into chunks. Shown here is a 2.78 lb package of bone-in venison steak. You can always ask your butcher ahead of time to cut the steaks into pieces that will fit into an Instant Pot.
**After hearing from many of you, I suggest reserving this recipe for bone-in venison steaks only. The time may vary for other cuts of meat such as boneless cuts, roasts or tenderloins with little intramuscular fat**
Step 2 – Add the Venison Steak Seasoning
Remove the butcher paper and any plastic wrapping from the meat. Set the meat inside the inner pot (make sure the lid closes!) and sprinkle some good onion soup mix on top. I like to make my own onion soup mix with dried onion and a handful of spices I have on hand like garlic powder, celery salt and turmeric. For each pound of meat, use one Tablespoon of seasoning. Since my steak is nearly three pounds, I am using 3 Tablespoons.
Step 3 – Add Quality Beef Broth
Next, pour one 14.5 oz. can of quality beef broth into the inner pot and lock the lid. That’s it! This recipe is so simple that it’s almost silly! There is no need to cut onions or sear the meat first.
Step 4 – Pressure Cook the Steak in the Instant Pot
Press the “Manual” button using high pressure and set the time for 90 minutes. When there is 20 minutes remaining, I cut up some carrots and potatoes and roast them in the oven while the venison finishes up. A lot of recipes call for you to pressure cook your side vegetables after removing the meat, but I found that my meat would get cool before the vegetables were done. By utilizing my oven, everything is done at the same time.
Step 5 – Let The Instant Pot Pressure Release Naturally
When the 90 minutes are up, allow the instant pot to come to natural pressure release. This means that you don’t touch the lid until the little float valve drops (about 20 minutes). Unlock and open the lid and be prepared to have the socks knocked off your feet! To show you how tender the meat is, I removed it from the pot and heard the bones drop onto the plate because it was so tender. I could also hear the sound of our hungry kids waiting at the table. This is one of their favorite meals 🙂
You can make some gravy with the broth or just keep things as-is. The roasted vegetables and slices of baby Swiss pair well with venison, but we also gobble it up alongside crusty bread and salad. A satisfying wholesome meal ready to welcome Easter weekend. Enjoy!
Venison Steak Cooking Tips
This recipe is for bone-in venison steaks only. The time will significantly decrease for other cuts of meat such as boneless cuts, roasts or tenderloins with little intramuscular fat. If you are planing to make boneless you can follow the suggestions from Marla in this comment below.
Yes, this recipe is for frozen so you will need to reduce the cooking time if your venison is thawed. If making boneless AND thawed this comment has suggestions on timing.
For each additional pound of meat, you may need to add additional cooking time after natural release. One reader added 12 extra minutes and a second natural release for 5+ pounds of venison steak in an 8-quart pot.
Yes, we are working toward both tender and moist venison with just the right amount of liquid. If you don’t add enough broth, your meat can be dry. If you add too much, the meat can become tough. If you don’t have any broth on hand, you can substitute water or juice
You should always use natural release when cooking meat, beans or rice because the quick release method evaporates moisture too quickly. We want our meat to keep in as much moisture as possible.
Instant Pot Venison Steak Recipe
Ingredients
- 2-5 pounds of frozen bone-in venison steaks
- 2-5 Tablespoons of onion soup mix 1 Tablespoon per pound
- 4.5 oz. can of beef broth
Instructions
- Remove butcher paper or plastic wrapping from frozen venison and place inside the pot.
- Sprinkle over one Tablespoon of onion soup mix per pound of meat.
- Pour one 14.5 oz. can of quality beef broth into the inner pot and lock the lid.
- Press the “Manual” button using high pressure and set the time for 90 minutes.
- When the 90 minutes are up, allow the instant pot to come to natural pressure release.
- When the float valve drops, open the lid and remove the meat.
- Serve alongside roasted vegetables or your favorite sides.
Comments & Reviews
Linda Godfrey says
Would this work for venison cube steak?
Meredith says
Hi Linda!
I have never tried this recipe with cube steak. I’m not sure a pressure cooker is plus he beat since cube steaks have no bones and cook relatively fast. If you try it, let us know how it goes!
Amber says
This was so good! I used frozen boneless steak and did manual for 70 minutes and it was really really good. We took the broth n made a gravy and then added the shredded meat back in and then poured over rice. Great use for our deer steaks and a keeper for sure:)
Meredith says
Thank you for the comment Amber! Appreciate knowing how it worked for frozen boneless cuts. Glad you enjoyed it. Happy hunting! 🦌
Ryan L Brown says
I used the Frozen boneless as well at 70 minutes, worked perfectly. Fall apart awesome!
Meredith says
Super! Thanks for letting us know, Ryan! 🙂
Becky says
The venison steak turned out great. I used the leftovers to make stroganoff. Fantastic! The family loved it. Thank you
Meredith says
Thank you for the comment, Becky! So glad you enjoyed the recipe 🙂
Rebecca says
This recipe looks amazing, but it personally didn’t work for me! I recommend following it to a tee! I used the recommendations below for thawed and boneless, and it was a mess. It tastes great but looks terrible. It’s not falling apart at all…looks like dried out beef even though it isn’t!
Next time, I’ll be using FROZEN & MORE at a time. For this one, I maybe had 1.5-2 lbs.
Meredith says
Hi Rebecca!
Sorry it didn’t work out for you using boneless and thawed. I personally haven’t tried it other ways like that… some are having success.. and others aren’t 😉 Let us know how it goes next time with frozen, bone-in.
Thanks for your feedback!
Nancy Mundale says
Excellent. Best ever! Did boneless and cooked 60 minutes.
Meredith says
Yay! Thanks for the feedback, Nancy!
connie says
I have two small pieces of venison tenderlon already thawed, What would be my cooking time?
Meredith says
Hi Connie!
If you are cooking tenderloin, I wouldn’t recommend using a pressure cooker. Tenderloin is a special cut of meat that doesn’t take long to cook. This recipe is for venison steak, which is a bone in meat with fat. We prefer cooking tenderloins with either the grill or stovetop. Hope that helps! 🙂
Lesia Siter says
Just got one, can’t wait to start using mine!
Samantha says
FYI anyone asking about BONELESS and THAWED venison steaks…manual cook for 35 min with a 15 min natural release. I cut mine into 1-1.5 inch chunks. Came out super tender. Literally falls apart as you spoon it.
meredith says
Thanks Samantha!
That is super helpful 🙂
Chris Allen says
My instant pot does not have manual setting. What should I use?
Meredith says
Hi Chris!
I would have to know what type of Instant Pot you have to know what setting you should use… All you need is an option for you to select high pressure and set a time.
Marla says
I had boneless frozen venison steaks and did 60 min high pressure and 20 minute rest. I cut up an onion in long strips and used Liotin onion soup. I did not have beef broth, so used chicken broth with 2 cubes of beef boulion and it turned out great. We garnished with sour cream. Easy and good and I am not one that usually likes venison 🙂
Meredith says
Hi Marla!
I appreciate you letting myself and other readers know about your success with boneless! Sounds like you need about 1/3 of the time for steaks without bones. Great information. Thank you!!
Rich says
I unfortunately already thawed out the boneless steaks. Was wondering if you ever heard how to cook thawed boneless thanks
Meredith says
Hi Rich!
I’ve never cooked a boneless steak in the instant pot… only frozen steaks with bones. But….you could try cooking it for only 45 minutes? Check the tenderness and see if it needs more. I’m sorry I’m not more help. The recipe was originally made for bone-in steaks.
Kaleigh says
Marla says
January 20, 2019 at 7:58 pm
“I had boneless frozen venison steaks and did 60 min high pressure and 20 minute rest. I cut up an onion in long strips and used Liotin onion soup. I did not have beef broth, so used chicken broth with 2 cubes of beef boulion and it turned out great. We garnished with sour cream. Easy and good and I am not one that usually likes venison 🙂”.