Braised Venison Shanks
Venison Shanks are an underutilized cut of the deer. When slow braised, these shanks are tender, flavorful and juicy. Also known as osso bucco, in Italy.
The deer shanks were never a part of the animal that we saved, until recently. Once we tried them, we were hooked, so we save a lot of them now. Especially the shanks from the rear leg, as they are extra meaty.
If you have ever butchered your own deer, the shanks are not really an appetizing looking cut of meat. They look like they are just a ton of muscles and connective tissue, which, of course, is because they are. Let me tell you people, looks can be deceiving, because when treated properly, the shanks are ridiculously tender and have so much flavor!
What is a venison shank?
A Venison shank refers to the piece of meat that is below the shoulder, or the knee, according to Wikipedia.
What you need
- deer shanks – you can use the front or the back shanks but the back legs have more meat. You can also use elk, moose or even lamb shanks or veal shanks with this recipe.
- onion – use yellow or white onion
- carrots
- celery
- garlic cloves
- butter – butter gives them a nice flavor
- olive oil
- tomatoes – chopped fresh, frozen or canned tomatoes will work fine.
- bay leaf
- thyme – fresh or dried thyme will work. If using dry thyme, halve the amount listed in the recipe below.
- red wine- use a dry red wine or a cooking wine.
- bone broth – if you have venison use that. If you don’t we suggest going with vegetable stock. Beef stock tends to overpower the mild flavor of the deer meat.
- salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
How to cook them
Step one
Place shanks on rack placed over tray, to catch drips. Refrigerate for a minimum of 24 hours, up to several days, to dry age.
Step Two
Once meat is dry aged, cut off a thin layer of the hard crust that has formed.
Step Three
Place butter and olive oil in oven proof Dutch oven. Brown shanks on all sides. Remove to plate.
Step Four
Add chopped onion, carrot and celery to the same pan.
Step Five
Chop tomatoes and thyme.
Step Six
Lightly brown vegetables, stirring to scrape off bits from bottom of pan.
Step Seven
Add red wine to pan with vegetables.
Step Eight
Add bone broth to pan. We use canned or frozen venison stock.
Step Nine
Finish with tomatoes and herbs. Stir to combine. Add browned shanks to pan. Cover. Braise in 300° oven for 3 to 4 hours, until venison is very tender.
Step Ten
Once venison is tender, remove to a plate.
Step Eleven
Thicken the braising liquid with a cornstarch slurry (a few tablespoons cornstarch whisked with water). Allow the sauce to cook for 4-5 minutes until it is nice and thick and gravy consistency.
Serve shanks with red wine sauce.
What to Serve with Braised Venison Shanks
Other delicious venison recipes
- Venison Meatballs
- Venison Neck Roast
- How to Cook Venison in the Slow Cooker
- Venison Soup
- Venison Burger
- Chicken Fried Venison
Want to learn more about How to Cook Venison? Don’t miss our awesome, Ultimate Guide! Complete with 65 FREE Recipes from some of the top venison recipe developers in the world!
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Braised Venison Shanks / How to Cook Deer Shanks
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoons Butter
- 1 tablespoons Olive Oil
- 4 venison shanks Back legs will serve 2, front legs serve 1
- 3/4 cup Onion chopped
- 3/4 cup carrot chopped
- 3/4 cup Celery chopped
- 2 garlic cloves
- 1 cup red wine Cabernet sauvignon, merlot, burgundy, etc.
- 3 cups venison stock can use veal, beef or vegetable stock, use low sodium
- 3 tomatoes chopped
- 1 tablespoons fresh thyme, minced preferably, fresh
- 3 bay leaf
- 2 teaspoons coarse kosher salt or sea salt
- 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 3 tablespoons cornstarch
Instructions
- Place thawed venison shanks on rack, placed over a rimmed baking sheet, to catch drips. Refrigerate for at least 24 hours. I left mine about 48 hours.4 venison shanks
- Remove from refrigerator 1 hour before continuing with recipe to allow meat to come up to room temperature.
- Start oven at 300°F.
- Melt butter and olive oil together in Dutch oven.1 tablespoons Butter, 1 tablespoons Olive Oil
- Brown shanks on all sides. Remove to plate.
- Add onions, carrot and celery to pan, if needed add more oil or butter. Saute vegetables, scrapping up the browned bits from the bottom of the pan.3/4 cup Onion, 3/4 cup carrot, 3/4 cup Celery
- Once golden brown, add minced garlic and continue sautéing for about 3 minutes. Then add red wine and continue to scrape bottom of pan.2 garlic cloves, 1 cup red wine
- Add stock, tomatoes, thyme, bay leaf, salt and pepper. Bring to boil.3 cups venison stock, 3 tomatoes, 1 tablespoons fresh thyme, minced, 3 bay leaf, 2 teaspoons coarse kosher salt or sea salt, 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- Add venison back to Dutch oven. Cover. Braise for 3 to 4 hours until shanks are very tender. Twist meat with fork. If it separates easily, the meat is done.
- Remove from oven and remove shanks to a plate.
- Add 2-3 tablespoons cornstarch to a small bowl. Mix in enough water to incorporate all of cornstarch. (Quantities are not crucial.) Cook over low heat until sauce is thickened, dark and glossy. Add shanks back to sauce.3 tablespoons cornstarch
- Serve with mashed potatoes and your choice of vegetable.
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Notes
Nutrition
Originally published 10/8/18. Updated 12/26/22.
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Made this last night. Invited family over. AMAZING! I used the two smaller shanks.
My only addition is that we doubled to tripled the amount of vegetables in the mix and we barely had any left over. We made it in a 7QT dutch oven.
Great dish. thanks.
We’re so glad that you like the recipe, Stan! And thank you for commenting and rating the recipe. That helps us out a lot!
Have not made your recipe yet but had to chime in. My husband butchers the deer we harvest and always takes the shank meat off the bone. The shank meat is the best part of the deer, in my opinion. We are huge fans of Moroccan cuisine and I always use the shanks in a tagine. Slow cooked with warm spices and served with couscous – so good. I am salivating just thinking about it….. Next year, I will get him to leave the meat on the bone (which I am sure he’ll be totally fine with….less work for him!) and try out your recipe. I have made a few of yours already since joining your site and am really happy to have found you!
Thank you so much Beverly! You are going to love the braised shanks. It’s an absolute pain to remove the meat from the bone! Thanks again. Let us know how you like it!
Absolutely delicious! I’ve made this several times. We don’t waste any part of the animal we harvest. Yummy recipe. Dog gets the marrow from the bones.
We adore the shanks! They’re so delicious. Thanks for letting us know how you like them!
This tasted amazing, and was easy to put together, thank you!
You are so welcome Alexis. We’re so glad you liked it!
I have used this recipe with deer and black bear with great results. I’ve made it for a few friends, everyone raves about it. One of the wife’s asked her husband if he could get a bear this fall. The meat has no Gamey flavor and is so tender you cut with a fork. And the gravy it makes is great on mashed potatoes .
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We agree Dan. It’s one of our favorite cuts. I’m glad to hear that it worked great with bear too. Thanks for letting me know!
Definitely a keeper recipe. I’ve tossed the whitetail deer shanks for years. Kept the rear shanks this year and stumbled on your recipe. My wife and I were simply amazed how good it was. We paired it with jasmine rice. One shank was too much food for one person, but oh baby how delish. Thank you.
We were the same. We always just threw them into the grind pile. It is one of the most tender cuts on the deer. Isn’t it Robert. So glad you liked it!
This came out great. I had some smaller shanks and extra pieces to use up and wanted to try something new . I already had a light spice rub on it but itfit with your spice mix! DEFINITELY follow the author suggestion about the low sodium stock etc. I never have low sodium anything on hand and it’s usually fine for my taste, but this did come out a little extra salty. Fixable ! Really delicious recipe! Can’t stop eating it.
Thanks Koryn. I’m glad you liked it. You could have cut back on additional salt if you added any.