This crockpot paleo venison stew is a delicious, hardy meal that is healthy and nutritious! Venison is a staple in my house, and I love creating new recipes that include venison. I made this stew recipe based off of fond memories I have of a tomato soup recipe my mom would make that contained venison chunks. Crockpot paleo venison stew has a little bit of everything in it, which makes it bursting with flavor and nutrition! I love making this easy stew recipe because it is simple, healthy, and a family favorite on my homestead!

a bowl of paleo venison stew in a wooden tray with crackers and a muffin

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Pioneer Recipe

I would consider this venison stew soup to be a pioneer recipe! Most of the ingredients that go into this stew are ingredients that the early pioneers would have been able to grow, harvest, or forage. Which means we can do the same!

Using homegrown veggies (carrots, onions, parsnips, celery) and home canned tomato juice are two simple ways to make this a modern pioneer recipe. The same goes for growing your own garlic and herbs as well as making homemade nutritious bone broth! If you are fortunate enough to be able to harvest your own wild game, home harvested venison is perfect for this stew!

This crockpot paleo venison stew is very much like a soup. And soup is a favorite dinner meal for my family! I love creating soup recipes because they can basically be a conglomeration of all my favorite ingredients, just like this venison stew! Some more reasons why I love soup is because:

it’s easy to make and can be put in the crockpot
you can make big batches and freeze some for later
it’s a warm meal that is perfect for cold winter or spring days
I get to serve it with a bread product (who doesn’t like homemade bread products!?)

One last thing that I love about soup is that there are so many different types of soups that you can make! In my opinion, anything that contains a lot of broth, is served in a bowl, and eaten with a spoon is considered soup! Thus, soup can take on many different names, including stew and chili.

This paleo venison stew is also allergy-friendly! Check out these allergy-friendly qualities:

gluten-free
grain-free
nut free
dairy-free
corn free
sugar free
egg free

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a bowl of homemade venison stew made with chopped vegetables and white quinoa

Homestead Soups & Sides

My family sometimes gets in a rut with making the same soups over and over again. Some of our favorites include chicken soup, chicken chili, venison chili, and butternut squash soup. However, I like to spice things up and create new soup recipes to try.

I have made a cauliflower and bacon soup that was greeted with much skepticism but ended up becoming a favorite! My mom has made a vegetable soup that was delicious, and Anna has made a chicken pot pie soup that was scrumptious too! Now I can add this crockpot paleo venison stew to the list as well!

I mentioned earlier that I enjoy serving bread products with my soups. I don’t know if everybody does this or if it’s just unique to my family. Soup night in my house usually entails making a bread product to go along with the soup. Sometimes we like to grab an Against the Grain baguette from the freezer to accompany the soup if we don’t have enough time to make a bread product.

One thing about being on a low-inflammation diet and being a modern pioneer is that you have to create all your own bread products using gluten-free and grain-free flours. Thankfully, I can have oats as part of my low inflammation diet as well.

Here are just a few recipes that I commonly make to pair with my soups:

These are perfect, allergy-friendly baked goods to make from scratch in your homestead kitchen!

Do you have a traditional side-dish that you like to serve with soups? I’d love to hear what you like to have with your soup, stew, or chili!

a bowl of gluten-free venison stew served with grain-free crackers and a gluten-free muffin

Pioneer Ingredients

This stew is literally loaded with fantastic ingredients! Pretty much everything you can put in a soup is in this stew (okay, maybe not everything, but close to it). I love the combination of ingredients in this stew because they provide lots of flavor and nutrition!

Here are just a few ingredients I’d like to highlight:

Vegetables- The vegetables that I chose to include in my stew include onion, celery, carrots, and occasionally parsnips. You can really add any veggies you want!
Tomato Juice- I put tomato juice in my stew because I like the slight flavor that it gives the stew. Home-canned tomato juice is the best!
Parsnips- Parsnips are a great anti-inflammatory alternative to potatoes for this stew. You can also use sweet potato instead if you desire.
Seasoning– I kept the seasonings in this stew simple, just some garlic, salt, pepper, and thyme. You can add additional flavors if you have a favorite stew flavor. Homegrown herbs add nice flavor and nutrition!
Quinoa- The quinoa in this stew makes the consistency a little thicker than regular soup. I love the texture and taste that the quinoa provides when mixed with the venison chunks and vegetables.

Quinoa would be the only ingredient that I question if the early pioneer has access to, however, I like to include it my stew for texture and additional protein. You could also use wild rice if you want!

a bowl of healthy stew made with chunked venison and homemade bone broth

Recipe Tips

Just like with other soups, this stew is quite simple to make! Put everything in the crockpot and it will be ready by dinner time. Crockpot meals are so nice! There are a few tips I would like to give you to ensure your stew turns out perfectly.

Use the proper cut of meat for this recipe. The venison cuts that I use in my soup are from the deer shoulder and can be diced up into medium size chunks. When they are cooked, they don’t flake apart too easily yet they aren’t tough. Perfect for stew!
Only sear your meat! Your meat needs to be cooked quickly and not for too long. Letting the meat cook too long in the frying pan will leave you with tough tidbits to put in the stew. Still delicious, just not quite as tender as you may want.
Chop or shred your vegetables. As far as the vegetables go, this recipe is pretty flexible! You can leave them in chunks, you can shred them in a food processor, or you can chop them with a hand chopper. Some members of my family are picky vegetable eaters, so chopping them in the food processor works out well.
Wash your quinoa. Quinoa should be washed before you add it to the stew to get the bitter coating off the seed. I just use a fine mesh strainer to rinse the quinoa before putting it into the crockpot.
Use homemade broth. Homemade broth has the most flavor and nutrition! You can use whatever type of broth you want: venison, beef, chicken, or even vegetable!

For more delicious venison recipes, make sure you check out this grilled venison backstrap recipe or this pulled venison BBQ recipe. Both are amazing recipes that highlight wild game meat perfectly!

a serving of gluten-free venison stew served with a gluten-free chocolate chip muffin and crackers

You are going to love making this crockpot paleo venison stew! It is healthy, simple, and delicious. The perfect pioneer menu option for the modern pioneer homestead! My whole family loves this stew and it is a staple on our homestead menu!

Crockpot Paleo Venison Stew

Recipe by The Pioneer Chicks

Prep Time 20

Cook Time 8

Total Time 8 20

Servings 8 people

Author Alexa Lehr

Ingredients

2 lbs. venison stew meat chunked
2 tsp. bacon fat
1 medium onion chopped
3 medium celery stalks chopped
2 medium carrots chopped
1 qt. homemade broth
2 cups canned organic tomato juice
2 medium parsnips diced
1/4 tsp. sea salt
black pepper to taste
1 bulb garlic
1/2 cup white quinoa washed
1 tsp. dried thyme

Instructions

Preheat a 12" cast iron skillet and melt 1 tsp. of bacon fat in the skillet over medium heat. Once steam is rising from the skillet, add half of the meat chunks and fry them for 3-5 minutes. Put them in a crockpot and repeat with the remaining bacon fat and meat chunks.
Prepare the vegetables how you like them, whether that's chopping them, shredding them, or slicing them. The vegetables include the onion, celery, carrots, and parsnips.
Combine the seared meat, vegetables, broth, tomato juice, and quinoa in a crockpot. Add the salt, pepper, and thyme. Crush the garlic into the stew. Stir to combine everything.
Set the crockpot on low for 8-10 hours or on high for 4-6 hours. Serve with your favorite grain-free or gluten-free bread product!

Where to Find the Ingredients

a bowl of stew that contains chunks of venison, chopped carrot, white quinoa, and tomato juice

Crockpot paleo venison stew is the perfect menu option for modern pioneers! It’s warm, nutritious, easy to make, and satisfying. I love the combination of flavors that the meat, broth, vegetables, and quinoa lend to the stew. You are going to love the simplicity and deliciousness of this stew. And don’t forget to serve it with your favorite gluten-free and grain-free bread product! It makes for a cozy and nutritious homestead dinner that the whole family will enjoy!

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by Alexa