Bacon Wrapped Venison Tenderloin is the perfect wild game meal for summer grilling season. This recipe is perfect for two or four people. These deer tenderloins are stuffed with cheese and peppers, wrapped in bacon, and smothered in BBQ sauce, then grilled to perfection. Serve a crisp cucumber salad on the side for a low carb meal.
This grilled deer tenderloin recipe is not fancy, but it is succulent and mouth-watering! It takes less than an hour from raw to plated. If you add a side of hearty scalloped potatoes, some soft dinner rolls, and a salad, this will feed up to four people. But deer tenderloins are typically rather small, and I can easily eat one by myself! They are just so delicious; they tend to disappear rather quickly.
Quick Look: Bacon-Wrapped Venison Tenderloin
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- ⏲️ Cook Time: 15 minutes
- ⌛ Total Time: 45 minutes
- 🍽️ Servings: 4
- 🔥 Calories: 868 kcal
- 🥩 Perfect for grilling season.
- ✅ Difficulty: Medium.
- 🍳 Serving Suggestions: Serve with baked potatoes, salad, and some homemade bread.
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Key Ingredients & Substitutions
- Deer Tenderloin. This is sometimes called the "inner loin". It is not backstrap - however, you may substitute a piece of backstrap in this recipe, and it will work. You will need to lengthen the cooking time if using backstrap.
- Bacon. I prefer using thin-sliced bacon for better results. Thick-sliced works too, but won't crisp up as well.
- Cheddar Cheese. I have used shredded or sliced cheese, either way works and sliced cheese is easier to stuff into the deer meat. You can substitute a milder, softer cheese like mozzarella or Monterey Jack, if desired. Sharp cheddar gives the best flavor.
- BBQ Sauce. Use your favorite brand! We love Baby Rays Original.
How to make Bacon Wrapped Venison Tenderloin
- Step 1: Slice down the center of the tenderloin, being careful not to cut all the way through. Leave an inch uncut on each end to help hold things in.
- Step 2: Arrange half of the bacon on a pan in a slightly overlapping pattern. Place the sliced tenderloin on top of the bacon, and add cheeses. Sprinkle with Greek seasoning.
- Step 3: Add sliced pepperoncinis.
- Step 4: Pull the edges of the tenderloin together around the stuffing items. This might be a bit difficult, but keep working at it till it's mostly enclosed. The meat should stretch somewhat.
- Step 5: Wrap the bacon around the stuffed tenderloin, holding the meat together with one hand while wrapping the bacon with your other hand. Tie securely with chef's twine. If you don't have twine, you can use skewers or long toothpicks.
- Step 6: Grill over med-high heat for 10-15 minutes, until internal temps reach 125. Turn the meat frequently. Brush on BBQ sauce during the last 3-5 minutes of grilling.
- NOTE: I preheated the grill to 400, and kept the grill lid closed for the first several minutes. I didn't time it precisely, because there are various factors that will affect the grill temperature and time. I highly recommend using a meat thermometer to check your meat. This will cut down on improperly cooked meat, and give you a better chance at success every time.
FAQs
When internal temperature reaches 125 for rare, 140 for medium-well.
This bacon-wrapped grilled version is mouthwatering and tender! Grilling means no mess in the kitchen.
Heat the grill to 400, place meat on grill and close lid for 5 minutes. Turn and grill 5 minutes more, then keep lid open while you finish grilling to temp.
Recommended Sides with Venison Tenderloins
If you tried this Bacon-wrapped Venison Tenderloin or any other recipe on my website, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how it went in the comments below. Pull up a chair and tell me how it turned out!
Bacon Wrapped Venison Tenderloin
Ingredients
- 2 whole venison tenderloins
- 1 lb bacon
- 1 cup pepperoncini sliced
- 4 oz cheddar sliced
- 4 oz cream cheese sliced
- 1 teaspoon greek seasoning Cavenders brand
Instructions
- Place tenderloin on cutting board and carefully split it open length-wise, leaving ½ inch at each end uncut. Be careful to not cut completely through - you are just making a pocket to stuff with cheese.
- Place bacon slices on the cutting board, overlapping each slice just a bit. Place tenderloin on top of the bacon, cut side up.
- Place cheese slices and pepperoncini on the open tenderloin. Sprinkle generously with Greek seasoning.
- Begin at the bottom, and with one hand pinch the tenderloin together, keeping the cheeses inside, and with your other hand wrap each bacon slice around the meat. Secure each slice of bacon with a toothpick or party skewer.
- Heat grill to 350° and place wrapped deer meat on the grill. Close grill for several minutes. Turn the meat over and grill another several minutes. Then open the grill, turn heat up to 400°, and continue turning meat frequently to crisp up the bacon and finish cooking the tenderloin. Brush with BBQ sauce the last few minutes if desired.
- Venison needs to be cooked to a minimum internal temperature of 125°. I grilled mine to a medium-rare 130, and it was perfect for us.
Absolutely incredible. Used blue cheese Gorgonzola as our cheese of choice, and just used bottom round roasts of venison. We also ran out of propane, so we ended up baking them in a glass dish at 375 in the oven for 30 minutes, and it still turned out superb. Thanks so much for this recipe idea! Already copied it into my cookbook 🙂
Blue cheese sounds amazing! Great swap!