This venison meatloaf is a flavorful, moist, and slightly spicy variation on the classic dish. Depending on your preference, use more or less spice. As is, I like it!
| Prep Time: | 15 mins |
| Cook Time: | 50 mins |
| Total Time: | 1 hr 5 mins |
| Servings: | 4 |
Ingredients
- 1 pound ground venison
- 8 saltine crackers, crumbled
- 1 large egg, beaten
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar, divided
- ½ teaspoon spicy brown mustard
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon dried minced onion flakes
- ¼ teaspoon dried cilantro
- ¼ teaspoon ground thyme
- 1 dash cinnamon
- 1 dash paprika
- 3 tablespoons ketchup
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
- Mix together venison, crackers, egg, and 1 tablespoon brown sugar in a bowl. Season with mustard, garlic powder, onion flakes, cilantro, thyme, cinnamon, and paprika; mix well. Pat mixture into a 9×9-inch pan, or a loaf pan.
- Bake in the preheated oven to an internal temperature of 160 degrees F (70 degrees C), about 40 minutes.
- Stir together ketchup with remaining 1 tablespoon brown sugar. Spread on top of the meatloaf and place back in the oven for 10 minutes more.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 220 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 15 g |
| Cholesterol | 143 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 0 g |
| Protein | 29 g |
| Saturated Fat | 2 g |
| Sodium | 275 mg |
| Sugars | 9 g |
| Fat | 5 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
I added mayonnaise to add fat to the venison. I added bread crumbs instead of crackers. I sautéed onions and tri-color peppers. I used smoked paprika. I used barbecue sauce. I guess I ended up doing my own thing. Oops.
Made a few changes/additions to this one. I added some ground pork sausage and ground beef (1/4 each), regular mustard(was out of spicy brown), used Ritz Everything Crackers, and a few dashes of steak sauce and Worcestershire sauce for more flavor. Mixed some brown sugar and hot sauce to taste in the store bought bbq sauce. Came out pretty good.
I made this recipe last night to take skiing today for lunch. Everyone enjoyed it. My wife thought that it was a little too dry. Not sure what you can do because venison is less fatty than beef. I’ll experiment the next time I make it.
Um, woah! Haha I cannot say enough about this dish. Wow. Blew my husband and I away. You must like sweet meats to enjoy but the flavor is undeniably delicious!
My wife even said 5 stars. My first meatloaf and I nailed it. Delicious!!!
I didn’t use any of the brown sugar and did add crushed red pepper and it was perfection! I don’t care for brown sugar at all so omitting it was great for me. I didn’t bake it with any sauce on top but used Spicy ketchup on it and it was so good. I am going to bake it with the Spicy ketchup on it this next time and see how that it. Great and very simple recipe!!
This is a very flavorful venison meatloaf. Highly recommended.
Substituted steel oats for crackers and added chopped peppers, sweet, mild, and jalepeno. Used Pressure Cooker. Needed a little salt (no crackers).
Actually, I’ve made it 3 times now.It is delicious and I haven’t changed anything…
My husband said it was the best ever and I agree 100%!So easy, only substitution I made was grating an onion since I never use onion flakes.
I was pleased with how it turned out, although I think it could’ve been even better with more spices. Next time I have something to go off of though.
I liked it, needs more meat though. Added 1 lb of ground pork, used Panko bread crumbs and used fine cut onion and garlic. Used nutmeg (I was out of cinnamon) and just used a local bbq sauce to top while it cooked. Venison is very lean so I used the pork to add some fat and moisture. Great guide you provided!
A good basic recipe for venison meatloaf. I made it per the recipe, the only issue was it to sweet for my liking. I’ll make it again but tweak it some for my taste buds.
it was very delicious
I put diced Tomatoes in it and fresh slices of tomato on top. I also mixed tomato paste and chili pepper paste together with a dash of ketchup for the topping. I also did not have any crackers. So i Crumbled up some Bagel crisps instead. Worked out great!
Really good meatloaf. I did however use fresh garlic and onions. My husband loved it.
OK, I didn’t follow the recipe very closely, but that’s the way I cook. Home baked bread, cubed, instead of crackers, fresh garlic instead of flakes, and a gourmet bbq sauce mixed in instead of the other spices and ketchup. Turned out excellent as I’m sure it would have if I followed the directions as written. Thanks for the inspiration.
This is possibly one of the best tasting meatloaf ever! It’s a little chewy but delicious! I left out the cinnamon and half the sugar. I added salt, pepper, Worcestershire sauce, horseradish, extra minced onion, and extra mustard. Delicious!
had some venison hindquarter that I ran through my grinder a couple times to make the ground venison. Because I had some leftover uncooked bacon (four thick slices) I added it for grins. Otherwise followed the recipe to the letter. Turned out great. Will definitely make it again and will keep adding the bacon.
I don’t think this recipe is to sweet! I think the cinnamon is giving a meat that’s already inclined towards sweet a flavor a lot aren’t used to in a savory dish. My modifications: Two one pound 1/2 venison 1/2 grass fed 85/15 ground beef I did not double the sugar (I did double the rest) Used a microplane to add 1/4 of a fresh yellow onion (i think I’ll use more next time) Used a garlic crusher to add two hefty fresh garlic cloves I didn’t have cilantro I used dried parsley And the topping was more of a bbq sauce with garlic, onion, liquid aminos (not coconut aminos!), Worcestershire, Dijon, and a touch of balsamic in addition to sugar and ketchup. The dish was really good! The cinnamon flavor reminded me of an Indian inspired recipe and I think it went really well with the venison. I added beef to not overwhelm picky toddler palates but next time I think I’ll make it full venison for the hubby and I!
I made this for company and it got rave reviews.