Venison Meatloaf

I probably sound like a total shill for Wild Fork, but I’m just a fan.

As someone who’s borderline carnivore (in dietary needs, not ideologically!), I love being able to get everything I need... without hemorrhaging from the wallet.

I ALSO love how convenient it is to get game meat, right in the city - or delivered right to me!

I’ve been having WAY too much fun with their offerings, indulging in everything from Elk Bouguignon, Lingonberry Elk Jerky, and every manner of Venison Jerky I can think up...

... To some of the most fabulous burgers I've ever made. (Venison Burgers with Bacon, Smoky Cheese, and Whiskey Onions, Elk Burgers with Bacon & Sauteed Mushrooms, and Bison Burgers with Bacon & Caramelized Onions!)

Today’s recipe, though?

Probably the best meatloaf I’ve ever had. I’ve designed a LOT of fantastic meat loaf recipes over the years, and - until now - I’d be hard pressed to come up with a favourite.

This venison meatloaf, though? Might just be IT.

It’s loaded with tasty vegetables and herbs, all chosen to compliment the deer meat, without overwhelming it.

The quick cranberry “ketchup” glaze is a nod to more traditional meatloaf glazes... but not QUITE. Why treat premium meat like any other ground beef meatloaf, when you can really do justice to the flavour?

I’ve always loved berries with game meat - Lingonberry wine is my secret to making the most epic moose stew ever.

So, I added a few ingredients to cranberry sauce, to put it more in the neighbourhood of ketchup, while tasting like a more upscale glaze.

The flavour and texture of this venison meatloaf recipe is *chef’s kiss*. I’m going to have a hard time topping this one!

A Note on Nutritional Values

Nutritional values are calculated using 2 slices of average retail-purchased white bread.

If you - like I - use carbonaut bread to make it keto friendly,  that removes 4 grams net carbs per serving.

The cranberry sauce is the bulk of the carbs in this recipe - 18 per serving - and this can be significantly reduced by using a sugar free cranberry sauce.  (I make my own).

Ingredients

This recipe has a fairly long list of ingredients, but they’re all pretty simple ingredients - you won’t have any trouble finding everything you need in pretty much any grocery store.

As always, I’ve got some ingredient notes for you:

Ground Venison

I chose the vegetables, herbs, and glaze for this recipe to work especially well with game meat.

I buy lean ground venison from Wild Fork, and I love the convenience. If you’re a hunter, feel free to use deer you’ve harvested - just aim for a fine grind on the deer meat.

If ground deer isn’t your thing - or you just have better access to other options - this recipe would make a fantastic elk meatloaf or moose meatloaf, as well.

You could also use this to make a beef meatloaf, just try to use the leanest possible ground beef you can. The moisture components of this recipe were designed around deer meat, which is super lean!

Fresh Produce

I like a lot of fresh vegetables in my meatloaf, for a few reasons - flavour, moisture, appearance.

In this deer meatloaf recipe, I went with basic vegetables that work really well with the flavour of deer meat. I love combining the earthiness of mushrooms, with the slight gamey flavour of the venison.

The onion and carrot bring a little sweetness, and I like how their bright flavour - along with the celery - balances everything out. Finally, a bit of fresh garlic rounds it out.

Anyway, two things to keep in mind:

1. You can swap out any of the veggies for more of the ones you like, but try to keep finished volume in mind.

For example: if you don’t like mushrooms, feel free to use a bit more celery... but keep in mind that celery doesn’t cook down in volume quite as much as mushrooms do.

2. When you’re cooking your vegetables, get them as dry as possible. They’ll still let off water into the meatloaf, but the dryer you get them, the less your venison meatloaf will be SWIMMING in liquid!

Bread

I use bread slices - which I process down to fresh bread crumbs - rather than dried bread crumbs. You could probably use dried bread crumbs - I’d imagine that about 1 cup of dry bread crumbs would be good... maybe 1 ¼ cups.

Anyway, use your favourite gluten free bread to keep it a gluten-free venison meatloaf.

I actually use Carbonaut Gluten Free White Bread, which is absolutely the best gluten free bread I’ve ever had.

Even with that, though, this isn’t exactly a low carb recipe - that cranberry glaze brings a fair amount of carbs!

All that said, if you don’t need your venison meatloaf to be gluten free, you can use whatever bread you like!

Cranberry Sauce

Canned cranberry sauce or homemade cranberry sauce will work fine with this recipe. Personally I would recommend using a jelly-style cranberry sauce, rather than a chunky one.

I was going for a regular glaze, inspired by ketchup - and ketchup doesn’t have big chunks of tomato in it!

Milk

I generally end up using unsweetened almond milk, but you can use whatever milk you like. Just be sure it’s not sweetened, and is unflavoured!

Vanilla flavoured milk would be pretty gross in a meatloaf, IMHO!

Powdered Rosemary

I just run regular dried rosemary through a spice grinder to powder it, THEN measure the powder.

This gets the lovely rosemary flavour throughout, without the woody feel of the rosemary needles.

Everything Else

Rounding out this recipe, you will need:

Apple Cider Vinegar
Dijon Mustard
Large Eggs
Olive Oil
Dried Parsley
Ground Black Pepper
Rubbed Sage
Onion Powder
Garlic Powder
Celery Seed
Dried Thyme
Allspice
Ground Cloves
Salt

... I just don’t have anything to add, as far as these last few ingredients go.

How to Make Venison Meatloaf

The full recipe is in the printable recipe card at the end of this post, here is the visual walk through:

Venison Meatloaf

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Spray a loaf pan nonstick cooking spray, and/or line with parchment paper, set aside.

Rip the bread into small pieces, then run it through a food processor until even crumbs form.

Measure out 1 ½ cups, place in a small bowl, along with the parsley, pepper, sage, rosemary, salt, and thyme. Mix to combine, then stir in the milk.

Set aside while you prepare the vegetable mixture.

In a large nonstick skillet, combine the mushrooms, onion, carrot, celery, and garlic in the olive oil.

Cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, until the carrots and celery are soft, mushroom moist, onions are translucent, and the pan is pretty dry.

Note: I chop the veggies in my food processor until they’re very finely chopped. You don’t want it to necessarily be a PASTE, but definitely tiny pieces!

Remove from heat, allow to cool.

In a large mixing bowl, combine ground venison, breadcrumb mixture, eggs, and mustard. (I’ll usually whisk the mustard in with the eggs, before adding it to the ground venison).

Add the cooled vegetables, mix well to combine.

Don’t worry about over handling it, just make sure to mix it really well - you want everything well incorporated and uniform.

Pack your meatloaf mixture into the prepared pan, pressing firmly and evenly. I like to mound it in the center a bit, just for aesthetics.

Bake for 45 minutes.

In a small pot, heat the cranberry sauce to melt it slightly. Add the remaining ingredients, whisk to combine.

Once the 45 minutes are up, remove the venison meatloaf from the oven, and carefully pour off any excess liquid. Spread cranberry glaze over the top of the meatloaf, and return to the oven.

Bake for another 30 minutes or so, until the center of the meatloaf registers 160F with a meat thermometer.

Pour off any accumulated liquid and allow the meatloaf to rest for 5 minutes before slicing.

Serve hot!

Leftovers

Once cooled to room temperature, leftover venison meatloaf can be wrapped in plastic wrap or transferred to an airtight container and stored in the fridge for up to 3 days.

Reheat before serving.

More Meatloaf - and Meatballs - Recipes

Meatballs and meatloaf can be really great comfort food. Here are a few fun variations I’ve come up with (They’re all Gluten-Free, too!):

Bacon Wrapped Meatloaf (Halloween Meatloaf!)
Breakfast Meatloaf
Buffalo Chicken Meatballs
Chicken Cordon Bleu Meatloaf
Chicken Meatballs in Mushroom Sauce
Irish Stew Meatballs
Jalapeno Popper Meatloaf
Keto Swedish Meatballs
Keto Turkey Meatballs with Cranberry Glaze
Muffaletta Stuffed Meatloaf
Reuben Stuffed Meatloaf
Scotch Egg Meatloaf Recipe
Spaghetti and Meatballs - Keto Version
Stromboli Meatloaf
Thanksgiving Turkey Meatloaf
Turkey Meatballs with Cranberry Glaze