This traditional venison stroganoff features cubes of tender venison paired with mushrooms and onions in a creamy sauce spiked with red wine. Served over egg noodles it’s the perfect wild game comfort dish.

The ultimate comfort food, I absolutely love making venison stroganoff. I love the simplicity of it and that it can be made in one cast iron skillet in a short period of time.

This recipe doesn’t require a lot of prep work or ingredients, making it great for those nights when you want something filling, but don’t have the time or ingredients to go crazy in the kitchen.

The delicious flavor and savory sauce make it worth the little bit of time it takes to throw this together. If you don’t have any venison stew meat, that’s ok. You can cube up a steak or roast pretty quickly. Serve this over a wide egg noodle or rice and you have yourself a very filling, simple, and delicious meal in an hour or less.

What is stroganoff?

Traditionally cooked with beef, this particular recipe uses cubed venison. The first version of beef stroganoff to make it into a cookbook was in the 1871 version of A Gift to Young Housewives by  Elena Ivanovna Molokhovets.

While this dish is often attributed to being developed in France, it is a traditional Russian dish and was made with cubed beef coated in flour, and topped with a prepared mustard and broth sauce.

This dish was, however, purportedly developed by French chefs that worked for the Stroganov family in Russia. It has changed a lot over the years and recipes vary greatly depending on their origin but they do typically have a few things in common.

To make stroganoff you typically cube (or thinly slice) a tender cut of red meat, often sauté it with onions and some garlic, add mushrooms and have some sort of creamy base. While some people use ground meat, to me the flavor and consistency is off and this recipe doesn’t use any ground meat.

Venison Stroganoff Recipe Ingredients

Cubed venison combines with simple pantry staples for an inexpensive, classic comfort food dish.

Cubed venison – while you can use backstrap for this recipe, I recommend you slice venison steak or venison roast for this classic meal.

Onion and Garlic – onion and garlic both pair so well with venison without overpowering it.

Fresh Mushrooms – stems discarded, caps thickly sliced.

Seasonings – all purpose flour, salt, black pepper, thyme, and parsley.

Beef Broth – you can sub vegetable broth or chicken broth, but to get that beefy flavor, I suggest beef or venison broth.

Sour cream – this really brings the dish together well.

Red Wine – While you can cook without it, I highly recommend you don’t omit it. A dry wine works best. If you omit it, you can substitute beef broth and a couple glugs of Worcestershire sauce.

Egg noodles. While you can serve this on top of rice or potatoes, it’s delicious served over a bed of egg noodles. Make it traditional and make buttered noodles.

How to Make Venison Stroganoff

This easy venison stroganoff not only has simple ingredients but is very easy to make.

Sauté mushrooms. In a large skillet or dutch oven, melt two tablespoons of butter. Add the mushrooms and cook over high heat until softened. Then, season with salt and pepper and cook an additional minute. Transfer the mushrooms to a large bowl.

Dredge cubed venison. Combine flour, salt, and pepper in a shallow dish. Dredge deer meat through the flour mixture.

Brown meat. In the same large frying pan, melt a couple more tablespoons of butter and brown the meat on each side, for about 5 minutes. Do not allow the meat to touch and work in batches if necessary. Remove the meat to the bowl with the mushrooms.

Deglaze pan. Use the red wine to deglaze the pan, using a wooden spoon to scrape the browned bits off the bottom of the pan. Pour the wine over the meat and mushrooms.

Sauté onion and garlic. Heat another tablespoon of butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Sauté onions and garlic until garlic is fragrant and onion is translucent.

Combine ingredients. Pour the meat, wine, and mushrooms back into skillet with the onions and garlic. Add the beef stock and allow the mixture to thicken over low heat.

Add remaining ingredients. Once the stroganoff is thickened and the meat is tender, stir in parsley, thyme, and sour cream.

Serve hot over top buttered noodles, rice, or mashed potatoes.

What to Serve With Venison Stroganoff

This is a rich and heavy meal that was traditionally served in Russia with potato straws. Most people today top egg noodles or rice with their stroganoff.

This recipe pairs really well with something light, crispy and a little on the acidic side. A tossed salad with raspberry vinaigrette is a great choice. Some pickled green beans, or some sort of slaw.

Or, if you’re from the midwest, you may just serve it with smoked corn on the cob and call it a day.

How to Freeze Deer Stroganoff

Leftover venison stroganoff can be frozen and re-heated. You’ll simply cook the stroganoff in the oven until cooked through, allow it to cool, and then store it in an airtight container until ready to use.

You will want to cook the noodles fresh when cooking this. Allow it to thaw in the refrigerator overnight, then warm it in the oven while you cook the noodles.

This will also keep in the refrigerator (sans noodles) for about 3 days, tightly covered. Just cook the egg noodles and warm the dish in the oven.

Other Comfort Food Wild Game Recipes to Try:

• Venison Shepherd’s Pie
• Venison Bolognese
• The Best Venison Stew Recipe

If you try this creamy venison stroganoff I’d love to hear your thoughts and questions in the comments below! Also, feel free to leave me a recipe review on the recipe card below and if you make this yummy dish, tag me on Instagram @therusticelk!