If you're looking for venison tenderloin recipes, then you probably already know how good deer meat is. But in case you're not familiar with cooking venison, this wild game meat is lean, high protein, and a good source of iron, vitamin B6, niacin, and riboflavin. It's also darn tasty, especially during deer season.
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Is a Venison Backstrap and Tenderloin the Same?
While they are easily used interchangeably in recipes, the cut of meat is different! The tenderloin is taken from underneath the loin while the backstrap is the back loin. Both cuts are very tender.
How To Make Sweet and Savory Bacon Wrapped Venison Tenderloin
This particular venison recipe goes sweet and savory with a marinade made of brown sugar, soy sauce, garlic, black pepper, and mustard. You coat the venison in the marinade paste and then tightly wrap the venison loin or transfer it to a sealable plastic bag. Even picky eaters will love it!
Marinate the venison for at least one hour in the refrigerator, but overnight is best. When you're ready to cook it, remove the meat from the marinade and wrap the bacon around the venison, securing the bacon strips with toothpicks if needed.
Drizzle the marinade over the bacon-wrapped venison tenderloin and then pop it in the oven. Make sure your baking pan has a rack in it, or something slotted so that you can baste the meat while it cooks and the drippings will fall to the bottom of the pan. You can also put the pan under a high heat broiler for just long enough to let the bacon get nice and crispy.
Cook until the internal temperature reaches 145F with a meat thermometer. Let rest on the cutting board for 10 minutes before serving. Cooking time depends on the thickness of meat and how rare you like your meat!
Sweet and Savory Bacon Wrapped Venison Tenderloin
Ingredients
- 2 lb venison tenderloin
- 3 cups brown sugar
- 2 cups soy sauce (Feel free to use low sodium)
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 tsp black pepper
- 1 tsp ground mustard (Or 1 tbs prepared mustard)
- 1/2 lb bacon (Or up to 1 lb)
Instructions
- Combine the brown sugar, soy sauce, garlic, pepper, and mustard. Coat the venison in the marinade and tightly wrap or transfer to a sealable plastic bag. Refrigerate to marinade at least 1 hour, but overnight is best.
- Preheat oven to 350 F and prepare a baking pan. Something slotted to let the drippings fall works best. That way you can baste it while it cooks.
- Remove the venison from the marinade (but don't discard) and wrap in the bacon. Drizzle the marinade over the wrapped tenderloin.
- Place in the center of the oven and bake for about 30-40 minutes, for a medium roast.
- Optional but tasty: Remove the tenderloin from the oven and turn on the broiler. Once warm, return it to the oven for just long enough to crisp up the bacon and get a nice crust.
- Let rest about 2 minutes before cutting, then enjoy!
