Making this meal is extremely simple! This was an instant hit because I have to feed two picky eaters. The combination of the pork chops and bouillon gives the rice a rich flavor. Enjoy!
| Prep Time: | 25 mins |
| Cook Time: | 35 mins |
| Total Time: | 1 hr |
| Servings: | 4 |
| Yield: | 4 servings |
Ingredients
- 2 cups buttery mashed potatoes
- 1 pound lean ground venison (or other big game)
- 1 tablespoon canola oil
- 1 red onion, chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 stalks celery, diced
- ½ cup diced red bell pepper
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon pepper
- 2 eggs, beaten
- 1 cup cottage cheese
- 2 tomatoes, sliced
- 1 cup shredded Colby Jack or Cheddar cheese
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
- Spread mashed potatoes evenly in a 2-quart casserole dish; set aside. Brown the venison in a large skillet over medium-high heat until crumbly and no longer pink, set aside.
- Heat the canola oil in the skillet, then stir in the red onion, garlic, celery, and red bell pepper. Cook until the onion has softened, about 3 minutes. Stir in cooked venison, and season with Worcestershire, salt, and pepper. Spoon mixture onto potatoes in the casserole dish.
- Stir together eggs and cottage cheese in a small bowl; spread evenly over meat mixture. Top with tomato slices, and sprinkle with cheese.
- Bake, uncovered, in preheated oven until set, about 20 minutes.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 547 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 28 g |
| Cholesterol | 241 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 4 g |
| Protein | 47 g |
| Saturated Fat | 13 g |
| Sodium | 1206 mg |
| Sugars | 6 g |
| Fat | 27 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
Very awesome and easy to make, tastes outstanding.
This is a really good base recipe. After researching reviews I chose to alter the recipe and the layering. Some Reviewers complained of the recipe being bland and soupy/runny. Game meat needs seasoning and it’s important to use the correct seasoning for the game meat of choice. I used venison. Venison pairs well with Paprika and Allspice (Nutmeg, Cinnamon & Cloves) which I used. I also sprinkled liquid smoke on the meat. Sprinkled not doused. I added a couple chopped poblanos and red peppers with a sweet onion during sautéing and I added 3 strips of finally chopped bacon. I only used ricotta and cut the amount in half. To avoid a runny dish I changed the layering. Meat naturally releases juice so I put the meat on the bottom, then the ricotta mixture, then mashed potatoes and topped it with the cheese. You get a nice twice baked potato affect. Also I made sure to keep the mash potatoes more on the dry side. It was stickier but after cooking the casserole it soaked some of the juices from the bottom leaving a perfect consistency. The end result was a wonderful flavorful and dryer casserole. Don’t be shy to change the recipe a bit. Make it your own. It’s a great recipe.
almost all of loved it but 1 son only reason i did not get five stars was because of him. Have made it a few times now.
Easy and very flavorful! My family loved it!
It turned out really good, I just added some more seasoning to the ground venison so it wouldn’t taste too gamey….few dashes of rosemary, garlic powder, onion powder and lots of salt and pepper, while I was cooking the meat. Was very tasty!
Like reviewer Kelly, I swapped out the cottage cheese for sour cream – it does make it more runny, at least on the first day. We had it again for lunch over the next two days, and it was no longer runny. I also used ground mild sausage venison, which was nice. Overall the recipe is very easy and we loved it! I will definitely make this casserole again. Thank you!
This casserole was delicious! My husband is an avid hunter and we have a freezer full of venison most of the time. If you live with a hunter or you hunt, yourself, you know what it’s like to get stuck in a rut with venison. This recipe was excellent to change things up a bit! My husband loved it!
I liked it, but felt that it really wasn’t that spectacular. not 5 stars worth that’s for sure. I’d make it again, without the sour cream substitute that i read in a lot of the reviews.
I got some venison from a friend and had no idea what to do with it. I had most of the ingredients for the Hunter’s Venison Casserole so made that tonight with a few changes: 1) No cottage Cheese. I subbed 1 extra egg and 1/2 cup organic thick yogurt (MINE DID NOT TURN OUT RUNNY!!) 2) No bell pepper. Extra carrots. 3) Added hot pepper flakes & cayanne 4) Left the skin on my smashed redskins and used probably 2.5 c 5) No shredded cheese – used 1/2 c grated Parmesan 6) Bake time – baked an extra 10 min (30 total) as I baked it in a Le Cruset. Delicious, easy. Will make again!
This is really good. My husband and I are new to venison and are a little wary of eating it but this was a delicious recipe. Followed exactly except added a bit of cayenne. Thanks for sharing
This was fantastic! I made it with real potatoes and threw in my dutch oven. Family approved!
I’m sorry to say that this was very mediocre. I found it to be quite bland and was not thrilled by the combination of flavors. I was hoping to be pleasantly surprised like the other reviewers, but I wasn’t. If you would like to make this, I would highly suggest adding spices (maybe thyme, rosemary, or dill as Jessi suggested…or else cumin, coriander, cayenne) to the venison. Also, I think the cottage cheese would be better if added after baking. Although I think it would be much better with the suggestions I made above, I doubt that I will try to make this dish again.
This recipe is a nice simple dinner, however I don’t like the idea of using cottage cheese ( too runny ), so I used ricotta with the egg mixed in with it. I did add garlic salt to the venison as it was browning(my preference), and when I put it in the casserole dish, I added some rosemary, thyme and a little bit of dill seed. With these changes, I would give it five stars. This recipe is very versatile, and is an excellent base in which to start from. Thanks
Taste is absolutely wonderful. It is rather soupy, but I’m not sure how you would avoid that with all of the veggies. Nobody seemed to mind in my family, and my husband definitely wants me to make this again. It’s a winner!
The flavor was good, however it did get runny on the bottom when it was done cooking.
This meal was delicious. It was a little runny but the runniness kind of added to the meal. It would be great substituting ground beef too, otherwise I wouldnt change anything from the original recipe!
Superb! We added carrots and used a green pepper instead of the red pepper specified. We also changed the canola oil for olive oil. What a wonderful dish! Healthy too, lots of good veggies.
This was great! My family LOVED it!
This was excellent. Both my teens and my husband enjoyed it. It was a little runny..but nonetheless very tasty.
This was awesome! My husband is very picky with how his deer meat is cooked but he loved this. I used sour cream instead of cottage cheese made it a little more runny but it was still excellent. I also added some seasonings to the meat such as liquid smoke…gave it a more smoked flavor! Overall a phenomenal meal and fairly quick to make
A friend just gave us 10 lbs of ground venison, so I decided to start the cooking mission with this recipe. Two thumbs up 🙂 we thought it was fabulous! I thought the cottage cheese wouldn’t really “go” with venison, but was great additional layer of yum. Will definitely make again.