How to Prepare a Good Deer Roast in a Crock Pot

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Crock-Pot preparation works well for deer roasts because the low heat and slow cooking process result in a tender, melt-in-your-mouth roast. Typically, red meat is recommended to eat in moderation, but venison is naturally lean, making it a healthy alternative to beef. Deer meat tends to have a gamey flavor that is off-putting to some. Crock-Pot cooking allows you to infuse your choice of a wide variety of spices, vegetables and other ingredients to reduce the gamey flavor. Instead of slaving over a stove, simply fill the Crock-Pot and turn it on, and it does the cooking for you.

Step 1
Place the thawed deer roast on a cutting board. Trim any excess fat from the roast with a boning knife. While it’s recommended to leave some fat on beef for flavor, much of the undesirable gamey flavor in deer meat is in the fat.

Step 2
Place the roast in a plastic storage bag and pour a marinade over the meat. While a marinade is optional, it helps to tenderize deer meat and reduce the gamey flavor. Try a simple marinade with roughly equal parts water and buttermilk or tomato juice, using the acid in the liquids to help draw out the gamey flavor. Bottled marinades sold in supermarkets can also be used. Marinate the roast for at least 1 hour or overnight. Discard the used marinade.

Step 3
Season the roast with your choice of dry spices and seasonings, such as salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder or a dry rub seasoning blend. Onion soup mix is also commonly used to flavor venison roasts. Sprinkle half of a packet of onion soup mix over the roast and rub it into all sides. Retain the other half of the packet of onion soup mix to add to the Crock-Pot later.

Step 4
Wash and cut your choice of vegetables to add to the Crock-Pot, using common pot roast vegetables such as quartered onions, celery, carrots and potato chunks. Vegetables are not required to make a good deer roast, but these aromatic vegetables flavor the meat and can be eaten to make a complete meal.