After being marinated twice and wrapped in thick bacon, tender venison slices are grilled until the bacon is crisp on the outside. a filet mignon made with venison. The best component of a deer has been used in this exquisite way. Hickory-flavored BBQ sauce is my preference.
| Prep Time: | 25 mins |
| Cook Time: | 20 mins |
| Additional Time: | 4 hrs 30 mins |
| Total Time: | 5 hrs 15 mins |
| Servings: | 4 |
| Yield: | 4 servings |
Ingredients
- 2 pounds venison backstrap, cut into 2-inch chunks
- 1 quart apple cider
- 1 ½ pounds thick sliced bacon
- 2 (12 ounce) bottles barbecue sauce, your choice
Instructions
- Place chunks of venison into a shallow baking dish, and pour enough apple cider in to cover them. Cover, and refrigerate for 2 hours. Remove, and pat dry. Discard apple cider, and return venison to the dish. Pour barbeque sauce over the chunks, cover, and refrigerate for 2 to 3 more hours.
- Preheat an outdoor grill for high heat. Charcoal is best, but if you must, use gas. Remove meat from the refrigerator, and let stand for 30 minutes, or until no longer chilled. Wrap each chunk of venison in a slice of bacon, and secure with toothpicks.
- Brush the grill grate with olive oil when hot, and place venison pieces on the grill so they are not touching. The bacon will kick up some flames, so be ready. Grill, turning occasionally, until the bacon becomes slightly burnt, 15 to 20 minutes. The slower, the better. Dig in, and prepare to want more!
Reviews
This is FANTISTIC! Will try it cutting up a venison roast to cook the same way. The only trouble I had was I had to lift the grille top off the coals as the bacon grease would constantly flare up. That saved it from getting too charred on the outside before cooking the inside. A bit of a pain, but well worth it!
Used original Sweet Baby Ray’s BBQ sauce – was AMAZING!! Loved, loved, loved this!
Definitely smoky and lots of flames on the grill at first, should have cooked 10 min so more medium rare. Delicious!
I followed this as written. The apple cider flavor was inside the venison which was a great touch. I had a hard time with the bacon staying on the meat, but that could have been my fault. It’s an awesome recipe that I will keep on hand. I went for 2 hours on each marinade process.
My husband is a hunter-I am not a fan of wild game. Being the awesome wife I am though, every now and then I’ll try to find a recipe for the venison he brings home because that makes him happy. I usually grill a piece of chicken for me too, just in case. Well, he took some backstrap out of the freezer one day and asked me to find a recipe to grill it that sounded good to me. HOLY MOSES!!! I thought this recipe sounded like it had promise so I tried it. I didn’t have time to marinate twice so I just mixed the cider and bbq sauce together and then added more sauce to the meat before wrapping in bacon. It was delicious-I ate more venison that night than all the other nights if my life combined-and I’m 62 so that’s saying a lot! Making it again tonight-going to take the time to marinate twice-looking forward to dinner
Pure heaven! I followed the directions exactly and it was perfect!
I made this exactly as written and it was delicious.
Excellent recipe. Always looking for new ways to fix venision and this one is a winner
I loved this recipe! I had some backstrap that was particularly gamey and this recipe took that completely away. I also put some jalepino inside the venison before I grilled it. Amazing!! ** Also the only negative review for this recipe says they used apple cider vinegar. It is supposed to be apple cider not apple cider vinegar.
My family loved this. I would recommend shooting for medium rare. Med to well done is a little chewy.
Amazing. Perfect recipe
Well the guys said, it’s OUTSTANDING, very easy recipe.
The best and most tender venison I ever ate. Everyone was talking about how good it was many months later.
It was amazing! I did use apple cider vinegar by mistake for the first 40 minutes of marinated but I switched it out and dried the meat really well and put it in apple cider for 3 hours then BBQ sauce for 2. Amazing!!!
This was great! I love venison but if you are trying to prove to your friends and family that venison is not gamey, make this for them! They will become instant fans!
The meat turned out perfect! Had to use apple juice as that’s all I could find. Hubs was too afraid to wrap in bacon- he thought by the time the bacon would be done, the venison would be overdone so he alternated venison/bacon pieces on skewers. Of course the bacon wasn’t done so I put the slices in the oven. They had a little flavor from sitting in the BBQ sauce on the skewer just before going on the grill. This made a big difference in overall taste- the venison with the cooked bacon was outstanding! The venison alone was also outstanding but I preferred it with the bacon. Everyone else didn’t seem to think the bacon was needed. Next time I will talk hubs into trying to wrap with bacon- thinking the bacon on the outside will keep the venison from cooking so fast.
Made no changes and it was fabulous!!! Will def make again!! DO NOT USE APPLE CIDER VINEGAR!! Friend copied recipe after I recommended they try and didn’t read ingredients carefully and used vinegar.
Very good but next time I’ll not use the thick cut bacon. I feel I overcooked the venison trying to get the bacon crispy.
Delicious, the whole family loved it! I marinated in the cider overnight and the bbq sauce for 6 hours. I didn’t buy enough bacon, so I wrapped each one in half a slice.
Cut backstrap in larger medallion style pieces. Marinaded in apple cider overnight in gallon bag. Marinaded in BBQ sauce all day. Just used regular bacon cut in half. Soaked and used skewers instead of toothpicks. Grilled on med-low for 8-10 min, just until bacon was cooked, turning several times. Very good!
Excellent flavor! Will definitely make again.