This Venison Shank Recipe is a great way to use this tough cut of meat. No more tossing the shanks, no more trim and grind. Just cut, wrap the entire shank, and freeze it. Pull it out later, put it in the crockpot for this tender, melt-in-your-mouth recipe!
How to make this venison shank recipe
Prepare the deer shanks
I don't slice the shanks into traditional osso bucco size pieces. I just remove the leg at the joint, then cut off the extra bone below the meat. If you don't have a bone saw, you don't need to cut bone at all. Just separate at both joints and cook the entire shank.
Make sure your crockpot is large enough, or alternately you may braise them in the oven. If you braise them, use this recipe as written, except place in a covered baking dish and cover tightly. Bake at 300 for 3 hours. If you need help figuring out this cut, check out this chart on venison cuts.
Sear the shanks
First, heat a heavy skillet over high heat and add some oil. Fry the meat until each side is a dark golden brown. You can skip this step, but the browning adds a lot of flavor! So I always brown it first.
Slice the onions
Slice two small white onions and place in bottom of crockpot. Any onions will work, don't worry if you have only red or yellow! Just throw em in there. No one will know the difference. Chop and add 4 garlic cloves. Add more if you like!
Prepare the cooking liquid
Mix the broth, seasonings, and gravy mix in a bowl. Place browned shanks in the crockpot, on top of the onions and garlic. Pour the cooking liquid over the top.
Cook the venison shanks
Turn the crockpot to LOW and cook for 8 hours. Pull the bone out and shred the meat with two forks. Serve hot over mashed potatoes or cooked pasta.
Venison Shank recipe
Ingredients
- 2 lbs venison shanks
- 2 onions sliced
- 4 cloves garlic chopped
- 1 package brown gravy mix
- 2 Tablespoons soy sauce
- 2 Tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
- 1 teaspoon tabasco optional
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- ½ teaspoon salt optional
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 4 cups beef broth
- 2 Tablespoons olive oil
Instructions
- Heat the oil in a frying pan over high heat. Place shanks in oil and fry on all sides till well browned.
- Slice onions and place in crockpot. Add chopped garlic. Place browned meat on top the onions.
- Mix the broth, gravy mix, and seasonings together and pour it over the meat.
- Cook on LOW heat for 8 hours. Serve over mashed potatoes or noodles.
First time cooking deer shanks and used this recipe and it was phenomenal! Thank you for sharing this gem of a recipe!
I followed the recipe as written. I baked the shank in a dutch oven in the oven for 8 hours. It was delicious!! The meat was so tender . This recipe is a keeper.
I'm happy to hear it! Thank you for the review!
added a little red wine was very good
Just tried this recipe tonight - it was AWESOME! We were really skeptical about the flavor and the tenderness, but we were more than pleasantly surprised at how wonderful it was. The spices were just right - thank you, thank you, thank you!
I’m so happy to hear that! We really enjoy this recipe, too.
Another fantastic Ranch Mom recipe. Flavour was amazing and so nice to be able to cook it from scratch. Always happy to find a venison recipe that works this well.