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Venison bone broth is a delicious and nutritious way to use up those bones after a successful big game hunt. Packed with nutrients and a great way to flavor your homemade venison soups and more, it’s easy to make and customizable to your tastes.
Nourishment, that’s what we’re after here. The filling, flavorful, satisfaction that is venison bone broth fulfills that goal.
There is no denying the impressive health benefits of bone broth. Chocked full of lots of protein, and essential and non-essential amino acids to rebuild tissues it bone broth aids your health.
Bone broth also has lots of other minerals like magnesium and potassium, as well as zinc and others, to provide you with immune system support it’s one of the most coveted liquids.
Venison broth is very easy to make and essential for delicious soups, venison stew, and one of my personal favorites venison shepherd’s pie. While you can use beef broth or even chicken, the flavor is different than utilizing venison broth.
We try very hard to use the entire animal, nose to tail. That includes eating the organ meat like deer heart and liver, as well as all of the lovely deer bones.
Are deer bones good for broth?
They are! Venison bones make amazingly flavorful broth. While beef broth can be used in any venison recipe, having deer broth adds unparalleled flavor.
So what are the best bones for making broth? You can use any and all of them!
Some folks only save traditional “soup bones” for making broth. But, using all manner of venison bones from leg bones and knuckle bones, venison marrow bones, joints, and even shoulder blades and hooves creates a better, thicker, and more nutrient-dense broth.
Yep. Even deer trotters can be used after they’ve been properly cleaned. In fact, I recommend it.
Ingredients for the Best Venison Bone Broth Recipe
Making broth is a bit of a personal taste, but always has simple ingredients.
Some folks really love adding all manner of vegetables to their bone broths while others prefer to keep it veggie-free. It’s really up to you. I add vegetable scraps to freezer bags throughout the season and use those to add to homemade broth.
If you are going for a more natural bone broth, you don’t have to add vegetables. You can simply keep it plain or flavor it with a few herbs of your choosing it’s good stuff regardless.
The beauty of it is, that broths are customizable. Bone broths can be transformed from a nice, gelatinous base for soups without a lot of flavor to a delicious sipping broth for days when you’re feeling under the weather.
What is the difference between venison stock and venison broth?
Venison stock does not typically contain much flesh. It is boiled bones without a lot, if any, meat on them flavored with a few aromatic vegetables, and left unseasoned for recipe flexibility.
Venison broth, however, uses flesh in addition to bones and is typically flavored with not only aromatic vegetables but also a minimum of salt and pepper and oftentimes herbs and then strained of all solids.
This recipe is for deer bone broth which involves boiling meaty, roasted bones and adding whatever you like to it to flavor. Then, you will strain all of that out, let it cool, and use it, freeze it, or can it.
How to Make Venison Bone Broth
Making your own deer broth is an excellent way to not only use the entire animal but also have it on hand for your own venison recipes.
Step 1: Roast bones
The first step is roasting the bones. A lot of people say this is optional, and while technically it is, you’ll appreciate the added step when it comes to flavor.
To roast, simply coat bones in a bit of olive oil, and salt liberally.
Place them on a baking sheet, or in a roasting pan, and roast at 400°F for one to two hours. Make sure you’ve left a bit of the deer meat on the bones, and if you haven’t try to find some trimmings, that aren’t bloodshot, to add to the roasting party. It makes all the difference.
Step 2: Simmer the bones
After the bones have been roasted, it’s time to simmer.
Place bones and trotters in a large stock pot or your slow cooker. Cover them with cold water, not warm or hot, by a few inches.
Another great addition is two tablespoons of organic apple cider vinegar, as this can help break down the collagen and minerals in the bones to create a more nutrient-dense broth. Place the stockpot on the stove (or turn the crockpot to low) over medium heat until it boils.
Once it boils, the next step is to skim anything that floats to the surface off of the top. Then, reduce to low heat, or wherever you need it to be to create a bare simmer.
You don’t want it at a rolling boil, or even a rolling simmer, just the ever-so-slight movement of the liquid with a bubble or so every few minutes.
You’ll want to let the bones simmer for a long time. At a minimum, let them simmer for 8 hours, up to 24. Do not add anything else to the pot yet.
Step 3: Add in vegetables and herbs
After you get your stock to the point you want it, you’ll want to add your vegetables and fresh herbs to the mix.
Vegetables are completely optional and can be changed up to meet your tastes, but know that they do add a lot of flavors and make a delicious broth. A few of my favorites are onion skins and tops, a couple of carrots or parsnips, a few cloves of garlic, some celery, black peppercorns, a couple of bay leaves, rosemary, and thyme.
Do not add salt yet, you’ll want to wait a while as the saltiness of the broth can be quite surprising, and adding it too early can make it a bit on the potent side.
Once you’ve added your veggies and herbs to the deer broth, allow it to continue to lightly simmer for about an hour and a half, no more, possibly slightly less.
Step 4: Strain the broth
Once everything has cooked for a bit, it’s time to strain it and get all the odd bits back out. You don’t want to leave those in the broth, while they’re great for adding flavor while making it, if you leave them in they’ll wind up adding an off-putting flavor.
You can grab the larger bits and bones with a pair of tongs, the little bits will need to be strained out. I strain mine through a colander fitted with a piece of cheesecloth into a large bowl this gets everything out.
Step 5: Salt and cool the bone broth
You can now add salt to the strained liquid. Simply taste a bit and see how much, if any salt you need to add. You’ll be surprised at how salty it often tastes, especially if you liberally salted the bones before roasting.
You want to cool the broth quickly to prevent any bacterial growth, but throwing a big pot of hot broth in the refrigerator is also no Bueno.
So, what do you do? Pour it into shallow containers. I usually use 9X13 dishes, but I know a lot of folks who put the broth into ice cube trays so they can freeze it later in small quantities that can be added to their winter soups and stews.
Pour the broth into a few shallow containers so the surface area is larger and allow it to work to your advantage to cool the broth to room temperature more quickly. You can then place the broth in the refrigerator and let it finish cooling.
After it has cooled completely, it may have a thin layer of fat on it. Simply skim this off.
Step 6: Can, freeze, or store
Once it’s cooled and the fat is skimmed off, you can put the broth in containers and pressure can it, freeze, or store it in the refrigerator.
You can pressure can broth, but you cannot water bath can it. If you freeze it, just be sure you leave a bit of space between the broth and the lid, the broth will keep in the freezer for about 1 year. If you refrigerate it, it will need to be used within 3 to 4 days.
Recipes to Use Venison Soup Stock:
- The Best Hearty Venison Chili Recipe
- The Best Venison Stew Recipe
- Easy Ground Venison Shepherd’s Pie Recipe
If you try this homemade venison broth recipe, let me know in the comments below! I’d love if you could leave me a recipe rating and feel free to share your recreations with me on Instagram @therusticelk!
Yield: 4 Quarts
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 8 hours
Total Time: 8 hours 15 minutes
This delicious bone broth is made using venison bones to create a fantastic base for venison stews and soups. It is customizable to your flavors and liking and easy to make.
Ingredients
- 4 Pounds Venison Bones and trotters (with some meat remaining)
- Olive Oil
- Salt
- Water
- 2 Tablespoons Apple Cider Vinegar
- 2 Sprigs fresh Rosemary
- 4 Sprigs fresh Thyme
- 3 Bay Leaves
- Onion Skins & Tops
- Two Carrots (or parsnips) roughly chopped
- 2 Ribs Celery roughly chopped
- 1 Tablespoon Black Peppercorns
Instructions
- Coat bones in olive oil and salt liberally. Place on a baking sheet and roast bones at 400°F for one to two hours.
- Place roasted bones in a large stockpot or crockpot and cover with cold water and two tablespoons of apple cider vinegar if desired. Bring mixture to a boil over medium heat and skim anything off of the top.
- Reduce heat to a low and bare simmer, watching to make sure the liquid is only bubbling once in a while. Simmer for a minimum of 8 hours, up to 24.
- After the bones have simmered for 8 to 24 hours, add in vegetables and herbs and simmer for 90 minutes.
- Strain the broth by removing large pieces with tongs and smaller pieces by running the broth through a mesh colander or cheesecloth. Salt the finished broth to taste, if desired.
- Cool the broth rapidly to room temperature by placing it in shallow containers. Once cooled to room temp, place in refrigerator to finish cooling.
- Skim any fat off of the top of the broth and then can, freeze, or refrigerate.
Notes
Venison broth can be pressure canned by reheating broth to boiling, filling jars leaving 1" of headspace, wiping jar rims, center lids, tightening rings, and processing pints for 20 minutes at 11 pounds of pressure adjusting for altitude or quarts for 25 minutes at 11 pounds of pressure adjusting for altitude.
