Easy Grilled Venison Steak Recipe

Growing up in Michigan, venison was pretty much a staple at the dinner table. Cooking venison can be a bit challenging because it’s such a lean cut of meat. Like this grilled rack of venison, venison steaks aren’t something I recommend cooking past medium rare.

Following the directions and recipe in this blog will have you turning out brag worthy venison that’s not only packed with flavor, but also incredibly juicy. I’ll also offer some great tips for cooking venison steaks, which can be applied to other cuts of venison as well.

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Where Can I Get Venison Steaks?

Venison isn’t something you’ll find at the local big box store. If you have an artisan butcher shop you might be able to get some that way, but the local butchers are few and far in between these days.

If you’re not a hunter, or simply don’t want to wait till fall and hope to harvest a deer, you can order venison online. Purveyors like Omaha Steaks and New Zealand Venison for example, can ship venison right to your door.

How Long Does It Take To Grill Venison Steaks?

The problem most people have when grilling venison steaks is over cooking them. I know that was certainly the case when I was a kid. Frankly, it turned me off of venison for a long time.

Cooking venison steaks that are about one inch thick shouldn’t take longer than about three minutes per side; flipping often. Depending on your grill set up of course, this will yield some perfectly grilled steaks.

Tips For Grilling Venison

• Marinate: Remember, venison is very lean. With so little intramuscular fat, they can become dry quickly. Marinating is one way to keep this lean cut of meat juicy, while packing on the flavor.
• Trimming: Unlike beef fat that renders and tastes amazing, wild game fat does not. When you hear about deer meat being “gamey” it’s likely due to the fat left on the meat. It’s gross, so trim it as close as you can.
• Timing: Venison doesn’t cook at the same pace as beef or pork. It cooks much faster, so be mindful of that when grilling venison steaks, and use a reliable digital thermometer.
• Grill Temperature: With such a lean cut of meat, you’ll want to introduce it to as high of a temperature as possible, for as short an amount of time as possible. So crank the heat up on this cook, no low and slow here.
• Meat Temperature: This isn’t beef, it doesn’t have the fat content that beef has. For best results, don’t cook it to any more than 115°F. PLEASE trust me on this. Carry over cooking will do the rest.

How To Grill Venison Steaks

Serves: 6 | Prep Time: 15 mins | Cook Time: 6 mins

Ingredients
4-6 venison steaks
½ cup, blue cheese (optional)
1 tbsp Kosher salt
1 lemon, sliced in half

For The Marinade
1 cup olive oil
½ cup soy sauce
¼ cup red wine vinegar
¼ cup Worcestershire sauce
½ lemon, juiced 
1 small fresno chili, sliced
2 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
2 tbsp parsley, roughly chopped
2 tsp smoked paprika 
1 tsp red pepper flakes

Step 1: Whisk all the marinade ingredients together in a medium sized mixing bowl.

Step 2: Place the venison steaks in a sealable plastic bag, and pour the marinade over top of the steaks. Remove as much air as possible and seal the bag, massaging the marinade to coat all the steaks. Allow the steaks to marinate in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes, but 2-3 hours if possible.

Step 3: Light your grill and set up for direct high heat heat cooking.

Step 4: Remove the steaks from the marinade and pat dry with a paper towel. Get them as dry as possible. Discard any remaining marinade.

Step 5: Place the steaks on the grill over direct heat, grilling for a total of 6 minutes; flipping every 30 seconds. At the same time, place the lemon halves over direct heat, cut side down. Pull the lemons and steaks off of the grill when the internal temperature of the steaks reach 115°F as indicated with a reliable quick read meat thermometer.

Step 6: Remove the steaks from the grill. Top with optional blue cheese, tent with foil and allow them to rest for five minutes. Then slice, season with a pinch of kosher salt, drizzle with a touch of optional charred lemon juice, and serving hot.