Best Venison Chili Recipe

This easy, hearty venison chili is packed with bold flavors and perfect for a cozy night in. This chili can be ready in under an hour, or let it simmer for several hours to give the flavors time to meld; either way, this chili is one recipe for the books.

Believe it or not, fall is here, which for me means comfort foods like my hearty moose stew and venison stew recipe.

While I make a lot of different chili recipes, I began making this one soon after I met my husband, and I must say, it remains a favorite staple every winter.

I’ll change it up a little from time to time, but I always go back to the original recipe eventually. It’s really just a perfect, flavorful chili made with ground venison.

Of course, you can use ground beef as well, or if you have ground moose, be sure to check out my ground moose chili recipe. Fair warning: it’s spicy!

Serve this with some freshly milled cornbread, and you are in for a treat!

Why you will love this recipe

• Stovetop Convenience: This chili is made completely on the stovetop, so you have room for your cast iron cornbread in the oven!
• Perfect for Winter: A hearty, soul-warming dish that’s ideal for chilly evenings.
• One Dish: Cleanup has never been easier with a meal like this!

Recipe Ingredients

• Ground Venison: You can use ground venison like I do or a combination of ground venison and ground pork fat.
• Onion: I like yellow onions best for this chili, but I have had readers say they use white onions and even shallots.
• Garlic: Minced fresh garlic is best.
• Salt and pepper
• Green pepper: Deseeded and diced.
• Diced tomatoes: I use canned diced tomatoes, drained.
• Diced green chiles: You can use any heat level you prefer; I get medium heat from the Old El Paso brand.
• Kidney beans: I pour in the beans and juices together.
• Beef Broth: You can use beef or chicken broth. I actually make my own oxtail bone broth, which is delicious!
• Chili powder
• Cocoa powder
• Cumin
• Smoked paprika
• Cayenne pepper

How to Make Venison Chili

This one comes together in a single pot right on the stovetop, which is really why I have kept making it all these years; there is no browning in one pan and moving it to another, and no babysitting it either.

Expert Tips

• Simmer it as long as you can: The more time you can give the flavors to meld, the better it will all taste, and while thirty minutes will absolutely get dinner on the table, two hours is when it really turns into something and overnight? My oh my, it just keeps getting better!
• Let the venison sit and brown: Venison is so lean that there is not much fat in the pan doing the work for you, so I let it sit undisturbed for a few minutes and get some real color on it before I start stirring things around.
• Taste it before it goes in the bowls: Chili powder varies so much from brand to brand, and I almost always end up going back in for a little more salt at the end.
• Serve with saltines, Fritos, or my freshly milled crackers!

Variations

• Use whatever beans you have: Kidney beans I always have on hand, but pinto or black beans work in the very same amount, and honestly nobody at the table is going to know the difference. Well, they might, but its still going to be delish!
• Turn up the heat: If you want this hotter, a chopped chipotle in adobo stirred in with the rest of the seasonings will do it, as well as add some delicious flavor. Fair warning: start with one and taste before you add another.
• Keep it mild: Leave the cayenne out and reach for mild green chiles instead of medium, and you still get all of that deep, smoky flavor without anybody reaching for the milk.
• Change up the meat: Of course, you can substitute pound for pound with elk, moose, beef, or ground pork, and if you happen to have ground moose in the freezer, go make my ground moose chili instead!

What to Serve With Venison Chili

Cornbread, always. I get my cast iron cornbread into the oven while the chili simmers away on the stovetop, and that right there is the whole dinner.

Buttered dutch oven bread, loaded baked potatoes, and a pot of noodles for chili mac are all wonderful with it too, so you really cannot go wrong.

Set out toppings and let everybody build their own bowl: sour cream, shredded cheddar, sliced jalapenos, diced onion, and a few wedges of lime. I love this part, and I mean, half the fun of chili night is the toppings.

How to Store Leftovers

Store your leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days. Do note: those hot peppers keep permeating the whole pot the entire time it sits, so by day three it can taste a good bit hotter than it did the night you made it.

Chili also freezes beautifully, so I let it cool all the way down, portion it into freezer containers, and it will keep for about 3 months.

To reheat: warm it low and slow on the stovetop with a splash of broth if it has thickened up on you, and I must say, my husband always says its better the next day!

Ground venison recipes

Do you struggle to know what to make with all the venison in your freezer? For me, the ground venison recipes, like my venison casserole, are the easy part; I mean, you can just about make anything with ground venison as you can with ground beef.

Along with this chili, popular ground venison favorites include venison meatloaf, venison burgers, and venison stroganoff.

Recipe FAQs:

Related Recipes

• Sirloin tip roast
• Simple backstrap recipe
• Venison tenderloin medallions
• Savory oxtail pho

If you tried this Venison Chili Recipe or any other recipe on my website, please leave a star rating and let me know how it went in the comments below. Thanks for visiting!