How Long To Cook A Venison Steak

When people think of hunting the Rocky Mountains, they're usually not thinking of hunting deer, squirrel, and rabbit. It's the trophy elks, mountain goats, and mountain lions that they pride themselves on – getting the biggest and best, simply for bragging rights.

But for us, it's about filling our freezers full of meat for the winter, which is why we're not beyond hunting those animals that most hunters would ignore.

My taste for random wild game came because I grew up eating things like squirrel and raccoon. My husband simply had a taste for anything he could hunt and put in the freezer.

Between the two us, we feel that the meat we bring to the table from our hunting trips is the best way to keep our family away from the chemical-laden meat sold in grocery stores.

With that said, when we get a deer, squirrel, rabbit, duck, or grouse the meat portions are quite small. Yes, a deer gives us a lot more meat than a squirrel ever would, but the steak cuts that you get are tiny.

Really tiny.

This makes it way too easy to overcook them, and if you've ever seen a happy hunter sit down to a good venison steak meal, only to see the disappointment across his face when he sees that said steak is damn near well-done, well, you'd know why I had to come up with a better way to cook those thin steaks.

Thin Venison Steak

Thin Venison Steaks

Venison steaks are so delicious, but only when they're cooked right. The problem is they're so darn thin, it's way to easy to overcook them. That is, until you found this recipe!

Prep Time 30 mins

Cook Time 1 min

Total Time 31 mins

Course Main Dish

Cuisine Comfort Food

Bowl

10.25" Cast Iron Skillet

Venison Steaks
Balsamic Vinegar
Olive Oil
Rosemary

Place the thinly cut steaks in a bowl. Mix equal parts balsamic vinegar and olive oil in the bowl, just until the steaks are covered.
Mix in crushed rosemary.
Cover bowl with plastic, and let sit in room temperature for 30 minutes to an hour. The point isn't to necessarily bring it up to room temperature; in fact, doing so can make it cook way too fast. With that said, if your house is hot, stash the bowl in a cool place.
When it's time to grill or pan fry the steaks, drain them of the vinegar and oil mix.
Sprinkle steaks with cracked pepper, but no salt; salt will dry out the thin steaks.
Now, you have a choice of using a grill or pan frying the steaks. Either way, you need to know the heat settings so that you can control it at around medium-high heat. My grill cooks extremely hot on the right side, which would leave these steaks burned, even for the short period of time that they are cooked.
If you're going to grill the steaks, spray them with a light coating of oil spray. If you're going to pan sear them, just dribble a little olive oil (or butter) in the pan.
Place the steaks on the grill or in the pan and press down on them, firmly, with a spatula. You only need to press down for a couple seconds per steak.
After 30 seconds, flip the steaks over, press down on them with the spatula, and cook for another 30 seconds.
Take them off the grill or out of the pan, foil tent them on a cutting board, and wait 5 minutes before cutting into them. The meat should still be perfectly pink all the way through – a tasty medium-rare.

I live at an elevation of 8,800 feet and the steaks I cook are usually ¼" thick, so the timing above works perfectly for a nice, thin, medium-rare steak. In fact, I've tested it to 45 seconds and a minute on each side and they turned out too dry and overcooked. Also, I only use cast iron or cast enamel, which I feel, gives the steaks a lot of added flavor and a beautiful sear.

Is anyone else craving steak now? I am.

Let us know how it was!