Venison with Blackberry Sauce
This Venison with Blackberry Sauce is elegant enough for company but simple enough for a weeknight dinner. The rich berry sauce brings out the best in the lean meat, pairing beautifully with roasted or pureed vegetables.
Protecting Your Venison From Freezer Burn
Vacuum sealing is a better option than freezer bags or freezer paper because it removes all of the air from the bag. If you’re storing venison for future use, proper vacuum sealing makes a huge difference. Here’s a quick refresher:
- Cut your vacuum seal roll to fit the meat portion.
- Seal one end, then place your venison inside.
- Use your vacuum system to remove all the air and seal the bag.
- Label with the contents and date using a permanent marker.
Thanks to vacuum sealing, venison stays in excellent condition even after months in the freezer, with no freezer burn in sight.
The vacuum sealer is also great for speeding up the marinating process. This venison only needs to marinate for about 10 minutes, instead of the hours it would usually take. I can take an entire loin for a crowd or just a few slices for the family, as the bags can be cut to whatever length I need to accommodate my portions.
What you Need
- Shallots: Add a mild onion flavor to the meat.
- Garlic: Adds that signature umami.
- Dry red wine: Use a decent, drinkable red wine. It doesn’t need to be expensive; just something you would drink.
- Venison or vegetable stock: I make both stocks to store in my pantry or freezer. Venison will be impossible to find at a grocery store, but vegetable stock is readily available.
- Whole black peppercorns: These will add that spicy pepper bite.
- Juniper berries: Juniper berries pair beautifully with venison.
- Kosher salt: Salt will boost the flavors of the other ingredients.
- Blackberry jam: Adds a sweet note to the meat, and blackberries pair very well with venison.
- Demi-glace: This is a rich, deeply concentrated sauce made by slowly reducing brown stock (usually veal or beef) with aromatics and wine until it becomes thick, glossy, and intensely flavorful. It “finishes” this sauce. Find it at higher-end grocers, usually in the meat department or online.
- Fresh thyme, sage, and rosemary: The herbs add an earthy, aromatic depth to the sauce.
How to Make the Marinade
Rough chop shallot.
Saute shallots in a small saucepan until soft.
Chop garlic.
Add garlic to the onions to a saucepan.
When onions and garlic are soft and fragrant, add red wine and stock.
Add whole peppercorns, juniper berries, and kosher salt.
Bring your burner to high heat.
Get a few sprigs of fresh thyme, sage and rosemary.
Add to the marinade along with blackberry jam and demi-glace.
Cook for 15 minutes, or so, until reduced by about 1/2. Strain out solids and discard. Let it cool before adding it to the meat.
How to Marinate the Venison
Add meat to a marinating bag. Add cooled marinade.
Seal the zipper seal and place the end of the retractable handheld sealer over the valve on the bag.
Press the sealer firmly in the marked spot and press the accessory button to vacuum the air out of the bag. Marinate for about 10 minutes. And proceed with the recipe.
If you don’t have a vacuum sealer with a marinating attachment, let the venison marinate for at least two hours, up to two days.
Finishing the Marinated Venison with Blackberry Sauce
Remove meat from the marinating bag. Pat it very dry with a paper towel.
Generously salt (I use coarse Himalayan Pink Salt) and coarse black pepper on all sides of the meat.
Sear all sides over medium-high heat in a cast-iron pan or on the grill, using a bit of high-temperature oil. Once seared on all sides. Check internal temperature.
We take the venison out at between 125-130°F. Then, tent the meat with foil and let it rest for at least 10 minutes.
If you are using a very large backstrap, the meat can be finished in the oven at 350°F. Keep a close eye on the temperature. Venison does not fare well when overcooked.
Reheat the reserved marinade in a small saucepan. Bring it to a boil and then reduce the heat. Let it simmer gently for about 10 minutes. This reduction becomes your sauce. If you’d like a thicker sauce, finish it with a cornstarch slurry (two tablespoons of cornstarch mixed with water and added to the sauce.) After adding the cornstarch, stir it until it thickens.
We used venison from last year for this Venison with Blackberry Sauce. It remains perfect, with no freezer burn, thanks to our vacuum sealer. Try that with freezer paper.
This Venison with Blackberry Sauce is tender, juicy and delicious. The blackberries really add another dimension to the flavor profile.
Serving Suggestions
This dish pairs beautifully with sweet potato puree, parsnip mash, or roasted root vegetables. We served ours with broccoli for a pop of green and fresh blackberries as garnish.
Venison is significantly healthier for you than beef. It has half of the calories and a small fraction of the fat, as reported in Outdoor Life.
What to do With Leftovers
Refrigerate leftovers promptly. Place leftovers in storage containers or bags and consume within 3 days.
Although you can freeze the leftovers for a couple of months, it’s best to use it fresh. The meat will overcook if you try to reheat it. If you want to use it cold, then go ahead and freeze it to go on salads and sandwiches.
More Venison Recipes
- Venison Shepherd’s Pie
- Venison Burger
- Deer Heart
- Venison Summer Sausage
- Venison Meatballs
- Venison Stroganoff
Helpful Tools
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Venison with Blackberry Sauce
Ingredients
- 2.5 lb Venison loin roast
- generously salt and pepper the loin
- 2 tsp cooking oil
- fresh blackberries for garnish
For Marinade
- 1 large shallot, chopped, about 1/2 cup
- 2 tsp Chopped Garlic
- 1 cup red wine, dry
- 1 cup stock, venison or vegetable, preferably. Beef stock is too overpowering
- 1 tsp Salt
- 1 tsp whole black pepper
- 1 tsp juniper berries
- 3 Tbsp Blackberry jam
- 2 Tbsp demi-glace
Instructions
- Rough chop shallot and garlic. Saute shallots in a small saucepan until soft. Add garlic to onions in the saucepan and saute until they are fragrant and have begun to soften.
- When onions and garlic are soft and fragrant, add red wine and stock. Add whole peppercorns, juniper berry and kosher salt, a few sprigs of fresh thyme, sage and rosemary, blackberry jam and demi-glace.
- Cook for 15 minutes, or so, until reduced by about 1/2. Strain out solids and discard. Cool before adding it to the meat.
- Once the marinade is cool, marinate for 10 minutes in a vacuum bag, or marinate for 2 hours, if not using the vacuum.
- Remove loin from marinade and dry very well with paper towel.
- Place the marinade in a small saucepan and heat to boiling. Turn down to a soft boil for about 10 minutes.
- Add oil to cast iron skillet and sear all 4 sides of loin. Meat should be 125-130°F. Then remove meat to a platter and tent with foil. Allow to sit for at least 10 minutes, to let juices redistribute! Do not overcook venison! It will get dry and tough very quickly!
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Notes
Nutrition
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Originally published September 24, 2018. Updated June 19, 2025.
- Recipe Name: Venison with Blackberry Sauce
- Type: Main Course, entree
- Main Ingredients: Venison loin, blackberry jam, red wine, shallots, garlic, demi-glace, fresh herbs
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Marinade Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Servings: 8
- Cuisine: American
- Cooking Method: Searing and reduction
- Special Notes: Quick marinade using vacuum sealer; sauce can be made ahead and reheated
I’ve been trying some of your recipes and they are awesome. I am becoming a venison lover! I would like to know, however, I would like to know how do “package sever deer in one evening”. I have a good knife, a meat grinder, a food saver (different brand), saw some good videos and it does seem to take a while to take out all the sinew, silver lining etc. Do you just leave it?
Also, do you process it right away? I saw another post where they recommend “air drying” the cuts you are going to use for stewl, roast, etc and the others used for braising, grinding, etc. To freeze right away. WHat is you opinion on this? Thank you.
Hi Pilar. Thanks for your comment. I’m so glad you’re liking our recipes.
When I say package. I literally mean package. The deer are already butchered and cut into large muscle groups. We usually let them wet age in the refrigerator for a couple days in between butchering and packaging.
So on packaging night, we have a production line where a couple people are cleaning and removing sinew and silver skins and the others are filling packages and labeling, while one person is running the vacuum packer. It depends on how many of my sons are home but the whole family gets involved in one capacity or another.
If you’d like to read this article, it will walk you through our processing routine. https://www.binkysculinarycarnival.com/how-to-cook-venison-the-ultimate-guide/
If you have any other questions, please let me know.