Venison Vegetable Soup
This venison vegetable soup is hearty, flavorful, and packed with tender deer meat and vegetables. It’s slow-cooker friendly and works with any of the tougher cuts, making it a go-to recipe for hunting season or a cozy winter meal.
Ask your processor, or butcher, to save you some of the back leg bones, cut into lengths small enough to fit in your crockpot or Dutch oven. If you are processing your own deer, use a hacksaw to cut the bones, if needed.
I have mentioned previously that I love to use underutilized or neglected ingredients to make delicious meals. It is really satisfying to turn a few bones that would otherwise end up as coyote food (or worse, a landfill) into a delicious, nutritious, and low-cost meal for my family.
What You Need
For the Stock
- Meaty Venison Bones: If you have a butcher process the meat, ask them to save some of the meaty leg bones and make stock to can or freeze.
- Onion: Adds a sweetness to the stock.
- Garlic: Garlic adds the savory umami flavor.
- Fresh Herbs: Any fresh herbs you have available will work to flavor the stock.
For the Soup
- Meaty Venison Stock: Use the stock you just made to make the soup.
- Carrots: Carrots add a natural sweetness to the soup.
- Celery: Celery adds a grassy note to brighten it up.
- Onion: Onion provides a sweet, savory hint.
- Starch: Choose potatoes, rice, noodles, or, like this soup, barley.
How to Make Venison Soup
Place meaty bones into a crockpot.
Add quartered onion, a clove or two of garlic and some fresh herbs, if you have any. I used thyme.
Almost cover the bones with water. Cook 8-10 hours on low.
Allow the stock to cool. Strain the stock and then remove the meat from the bones.
You now have about six quarts of stock that can be frozen or pressure-canned. Reserve five cups of stock for the soup.
Chop carrots and celery to your desired size. Use the celery tops, too. They have a lot of flavor.
Dice the onion.
Add the vegetables to the meaty stock. Cook on low for about four hours until the vegetables are tender.
Add about 1 cup of barley to the soup and cook for an additional hour. Add any other vegetables you would like to the soup. (Like frozen peas, corn or mixed vegetables). As stated above, substitute the barley with potatoes, noodles, or even rice, if you choose.
Variations
There are countless variations to this soup and stock recipe. Here are just a few.
For the Stock
Add different herbs and spices to the stock to change the flavor profile.
- Try cumin, coriander, and Mexican oregano for Mexican-flavored stock.
- Go a more traditional route by adding parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme.
- Try more garlic, oregano and basil for an Italian twist.
- Use different proteins like beef, elk, moose or antelope.
For the Soup
Substitute different vegetables and starches to change the flavor profile.
- Substitute noodles for the barley to make a venison noodle soup.
- Use rice for a venison rice soup.
- Add potatoes for a hearty venison vegetable soup.
- You could even make mini dumplings for a venison dumpling soup.
Which Cuts of Venison to Use
We use meaty leg bones, but shoulder, neck, and shank cuts work well because they’re tougher and become tender during long simmering. If you’re not sure of where these cuts are, see our article Venison Cuts and How to Use Them.
Slow Cooker vs Dutch Oven
Both your slow cooker and Dutch oven will do a great job with this stock and soup. Be sure to cook low and slow in your Dutch oven for the best flavor.
As you can see, most of the time required for this recipe is the crockpot’s or the Dutch oven’s duty, not yours, which means you can get other things done. Or just relax, perhaps.
How to Store Venison Soup
Package leftovers in airtight storage containers or storage bags, and refrigerate for 3 to 4 days.
For longer storage, freeze for up to six months in airtight freezer containers or vacuum-pack. Cook starches fresh when reheating for the best texture. The starches tend to get soggy, but the soup remains perfectly edible if you freeze it with the starch.
Other Delicious Soups
More Venison Recipes
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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I hope you enjoyed the recipe today.
Enjoy. And have fun cooking!
Venison Soup
Ingredients
- 5 cups venison stock, from meaty bones, or 1 lb venison roast, cubed
- 2 carrots, cut in quarters and then sliced
- 2 stalks celery, sliced
- 1 small onion, diced
- salt and pepper, to taste
- 2 tsp thyme, fresh
- 1 cup barley
Instructions
- Make venison stock by placing bones in slow cooker, with a quartered onion, a few cloves garlic a few sprigs of thyme, add salt and pepper to taste. Cook on low for 8 hours.
- Measure out 5 cups stock, add the the rest of ingredients, except barley. Cook for at least 4 hours on low.
- When vegetables are tender, add barley. Continue to cook for one hour.
- Serve hot with bread.
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Nutrition
Originally published 12/23/18. Updated September 6, 2025.
- Recipe Name: Venison Vegetable Soup
- Type: Soup
- Main Ingredients: Venison stock and meat, onion, garlic, carrots, celery, fresh herbs (thyme), starch of choice (potatoes, rice, noodles, barley)
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 8 to 10 hours on low for stock; about 4 hours for vegetables; +1 hour if adding barley
- Total Time: 13 hours 20 minutes
- Yield: 10 servings
- Special Equipment: Crockpot or slow cooker; Dutch oven (optional); colander
- Great For: Hunting season, cold nights, using tougher cuts, make-ahead and freezer meals
