Barbecue Venison Meatballs

We keep a lot of venison on hand. Primarily ground venison. The family loves it and it’s pretty quick to pull out and defrost. If a recipe calls for ground beef, I usually just swap it out for venison. It has more nutritional value than commercial beef, it’s leaner and is much MUCH cheaper.

I am not a make-ahead meal kind of gal but I love to spend an afternoon every now and again making a huge batch of venison meatballs. They’re great to pull out when I just don’t feel like spending more than a couple minutes throwing together a meal. You can add them to a pasta sauce or toss them into some gravy and put on top of a heaping pile of creamy mashed potatoes.

Or you could throw them into your favourite barbecue sauce and serve them on the top of a nice toasted!

Meatballs are pretty simple to make and almost anything you add into them will taste great. I like to keep mine very simple.

To make my venison meatballs, you will need about 3lbs of venison, half a cup of shredded cheddar cheese, one finely chopped white onion, two cloves of minced garlic, dijon mustard, worcestershire sauce a bit of parsley and some salt and pepper.

To keep the process simple, I add all of my ingredients into a stand mixer with the paddle attatchment and let them mix on low to medium speed for a few minutes or until all the ingredients are fully combined.

Once that is done, line a baking tray with a silicon baking mat and begin to roll out your meatballs. I keep mine around 1″ thick.

Bake your meatballs for roughly 20 to 25 minutes. While they are baking, prepare your barbecue sauce in your dutch oven. You’ll need about 2 cups but you can add more if you need to. Heat your sauce up on a low temperature.

Once your meatballs have finished cooking, add them to the barbecue sauce and bring to a simmer. You can seve immediately or lower the temperature and cover until you are ready to eat!

If you’d like to freeze the meatballs and save them for a later time, freeze immediately after cooking. When you are ready to use them, remove from freezer and add into your sauce. You’ll want to heat them up for a little while longer until the meatballs are no longer cold inside.

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Barbecue Venison Meatballs

Perfect for lazy, slow cooking afternoons or the days when you're in need of something quick and easy!

Course Appetizer, Main Course, Side Dish

Cuisine American

Keyword barbecue meatballs, meatballs, venison meatballs

Prep Time 20 minutes minutes

Cook Time 35 minutes minutes

Total Time 55 minutes minutes

Servings 2 trays of meatballs

Equipment

• Stand Mixer (optional)
• Baking Sheet
• Dutch Oven or Pot

Ingredients

For The Meatballs

• 3 lbs venison or ground beef
• 1 white onion finely chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic minced
• 1 tbsp worcestershire sauce
• 1 tbsp dijon mustard
• 1 tbsp parsley dried
• Salt and Pepper

For The Sauce

• 2-3 cups your favourite BBQ sauce

Instructions

• Preheat your oven to 350°F.
• Add all of your ingredients for the meatballs into a stand mixer. Using a paddle attachment, mix on low to medium speed until all ingredients are fully incorperated.
• One a lined baking sheet, begin to roll out your meatballs to 1" thick. This sould yield roughly two medium sized baking trays of lined meatballs.
• Bake your meatballs for 20 to 25 minutes or until no longer pink in center.
• While your meatballs are baking, pour 2 cups of your preferred barbecue sauce into a dutch oven and begin to heat up on a low temperature.
• When your meatballs are finished cooking, add them into your dutch oven and bring to a simmer.
• You can serve immediately or lower the temperature and cover until you are ready to dig in!

If the gamey flavour of venison is not to your taste, you can substitute with lean ground beef. Happy eating!