Wild game, especially venison, is a staple in my house. Which means, when it comes to fixing dinner, you have to know how to cook all different cuts of venison. Thankfully, I had the best teacher (my dad) and have been slowly acquiring wild game cooking skills. These perfect pan-seared venison steaks are one of my favorite winter-time venison dinners to serve! Steaks were initially daunting for me to cook since I knew there was a fine line between not over-cooking them and getting just the right rareness, but with a few recipe tips, I quickly realized steaks are an easy and quick dinner option!
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Pioneer Recipe
Being a wild game recipe, I would definitely call these pan-seared steaks a pioneer recipe! Venison would have been a pretty common meat for the early pioneers to cook while taking a wagon train west as long as the hunters were successful. Living off the land while they got their homestead established would have involved hunting the wild game and learning to cook the meat.
Since my dad, grandpa, and uncles are all hunters, it only seemed fitting that I follow in their footsteps, which means I am also an avid hunter. I love every aspect of hunting for whitetail on my family’s hunting property, and the fun just begins after you get a deer down! Afterwards you have to field-dress, butcher, and process all the meat.
Processing the meat is actually one of my favorite parts because then I get to learn where each cut of meat comes from on the deer and think about what meals I want to make with each type of meat! We get most of the steak cuts of meat from the front-shoulder of the deer. We also like to pre-cut the slices of steak prior to packing and freezing the meat. However, you can still make these pan-seared steaks even if your steaks are not pre-cut!
Not only is venison a heritage food to cook with, it is also an allergy-friendly food! This wild game meal is…
- gluten-free
- grain-free
- nut free
- dairy-free
- egg free
- corn free
- sugar free
Do Steaks Need to be Marinaded?
Marinating is the process of letting meat rest in a vinaigrette solution for a period of time. Supposedly the marinating process makes the meat more tender, but with wild game I have found that tenderness has more to do with how the meat is processed and cooked. So, do you need to marinade venison steaks?
I have done both. For grilling steaks, I like to marinade them ahead of time since I find it keeps them more moist during the grilling process. For pan-seared steaks, marinating is optional. The pan-searing process is so quick that the steaks don’t usually dry out, so marinating mostly just adds flavor.
For these perfect pan-seared steaks, I do include one of my favorite homemade marinade solutions for wild game. I like to use this marinade recipe for steaks and roasts to add flavor to the meat. However, you can also use any vinaigrette solution or dressing to marinade meat in. Another favorite vinaigrette marinade that I like to use is Bragg organic vinaigrette dressing.
You don’t have to marinade pan-seared venison steaks if you don’t want to or if you happen to forget to get your meat out in time to allow for a good marinade. If you don’t marinade the steaks, I do recommend you add a little seasoning blend to the steaks prior to searing them.
To add a seasoning rub to the steaks before searing them, simply take each slice of steak and rub some seasoning blend onto both sides. Then set each steak aside on a cutting board until you are ready to sear them. I like to add a little bit of each of the following seasonings to a seasoning rub for my steaks:
Steak Rub
- cracked black pepper
- sea salt
- crushed dried rosemary or crushed dried sage
- garlic powder
- onion powder
For more flavorful steaks, feel free to add paprika, cayenne pepper, red chili flakes, or cumin to your steak rub!
Serving & Storing
A lot of my favorite venison recipes involve slapping some meat on the grill and creating a delicious meal based around grilled venison backstrap, grilled elk steaks, or amazing grilled venison burgers. However, grilling is not always the best option during Michigan winters, so I decided to come up with some equally as delicious venison meals that didn’t involve the grill. These pan-seared steaks happen to be one of those recipes!
These perfect pan-seared steaks will go with just about any of your favorite cozy, winter side dishes. When creating a meal and thinking about what sides to serve with my venison dish, I usually like to include one or two vegetables, a bread product, and one additional side (for my dad who doesn’t like vegetables).
Here are some of my favorite sides to serve with pan-seared steaks:
- roasted and mashed winter squash
- homemade baked beans
- grain-free ‘cornbread’
- baked potatoes
- grain-free herbed cheese rolls
In addition to flavoring the steaks with a seasoning rub, I also like to serve additional black pepper, sea salt, and garlic salt for flavoring the meat after it has been cooked. My dad also likes to have his steaks with bar-b-que sauce.
Leftover pan-seared venison steaks can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days. Of course, these steaks are best served fresh, but they can also be made into delicious leftover meals, such as steak and egg breakfast burritos, steak sandwiches, or steak salad!
Recipe Questions
What oil should I fry the steaks in?
Sticking to the pioneer recipe here, I like to use leftover bacon fat to sear my steaks in. I always keep a jar in my fridge that I can add bacon fat to whenever I bake bacon in the oven or in a skillet. You can also use butter or ghee instead of bacon fat.
How do know if my pan is hot enough?
A hot pan is ESSENTIAL for perfectly searing these venison steaks. Your pan is hot enough when you see steam rising from the pan. I usually like to let my pan steam for 2-3 minutes before I begin to sear my steaks, just to ensure that there is plenty of heat to cook the steaks quickly. You also want to keep the heat on medium high while you are searing the steaks so that the pan stays hot for quickly cooking both sides of the steaks.
What is best kind of pan to sear steaks with?
Of course, I would say a cast iron skillet because that’s the only pan I have cooked with! As a modern pioneer, I would definitely say a cast iron skillet is the best kind of pan for cooking steaks, or anything really! However, I am sure you could also do it in other style of pans just fine, as long as the pan can get hot enough for searing the steaks.
What is the best cut of meat to use for pan-seared steaks?
If you process your own meat, clean chunks of meat that can be sliced into 1/4″ thick slices are the best for making into steaks. By clean, I mean there is no silver-skin, gristle, fat, or muscle tendons on the meat. If you don’t process your own meat, you can still buy traditional steak cuts from organic, non-GMO, grass-fed beef or venison or bison to make pan-seared steaks with. You will just have to cut the meat into steak slices prior to marinating or searing the meat.
How should I cut my steaks? How thick should they be?
If you are cutting your own meat for these pan-seared steaks, you will want to cut the meat into slices that are about 1/4″ thick. When dealing with frozen meat, it is easiest to cut the meat into steak slices when the meat is still partially frozen. Use a super sharp knife to cut the meat chunk into steak slices before it is fully un-thawed.
How can I tell how rare my steaks will be?
Your best bet is to use a meat thermometer. However, I have found that since searing the steaks is a fast process, I usually just base it off how much time the steaks sear in the pan and how long they are allowed to rest afterwards. If you follow the searing times in this recipe, you will end up with rare-medium rare steaks. For less rare steaks, you will want to let the steaks cook in the pan for 1-2 minutes longer on each side.
Letting the steaks rest (covered) after you remove them from the pan will also allow them to finish cooking to some extent.
These pan-seared steaks are super easy to make and are the perfect pioneer recipe for building pioneer life skills! I love the juicy tenderness of these steaks and the bold flavor thanks to the seasoning rub or marinade!
Perfect Pan-Seared Steaks
Ingredients
- 1 lb. venison steaks, cut into 1/4" thick slices
- 1/4 cup white vinegar
- 1 T. coconut aminos
- 1 T. liquid smoke
- 1 tsp. sea salt
- 1 tsp. ground black pepper
- 1/4 tsp. onion powder
- 1/4 tsp. garlic powder
- 1 tsp. crushed dried rosemary or sage
Instructions
- Combine the steaks and all of the other ingredients in a glass dish and mix so that the marinade covers all of the steaks.
- Cover and place in the fridge to allow the steaks to marinade for 4 hours.
- Heat a 12" cast iron skillet over medium heat with 1 teaspoon of bacon fat in it. Spread the bacon fat around so that it coats the bottom of the pan.
- Wait until the pan is steaming and allow it to steam for a minute or two. If you want, you can apply a seasoning rub to the steaks while you wait for the pan to heat up.
- Once the pan is hot, start placing the steaks into the pan. Allow each steak to cook for 1-2 minutes, then flip. Allow the steaks to cook for 1-2 more minutes, then immediately remove them from the pan and place them on a plate.
- Cover the plate and allow the steaks to rest for 15 minutes before serving!
- Note: The steaks should be about medium rare. For less rare steaks, allow each steak to cook for 2-3 minutes on each side before removing them from the pan.
Where to Find the Ingredients
- Coconut Secret coconut aminos
- Wright’s liquid smoke
- Bragg organic vinaigrette dressing
- Redmond sea salt
- Heinz white vinegar
- Supplies: 12″ cast iron skillet, stainless steel spatula
These perfect pan-seared steaks are a quick and easy meal to make over the stove-top that can be paired with a variety of homemade side-dishes to create a healthy and delicious, well-rounded pioneer meal! Whether you marinade the steaks or not, they are sure to be juicy, tender, and done perfectly for medium-rare meat lovers! Of course, the recipe is also easy to adapt if you want to try different flavorings (customize the seasoning rub) or prefer a different doneness of steak (extend the searing time). These steaks are just another of my favorite venison recipes!
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by Alexa
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