Venison Recipes – Venison Quesadillas – The Lady and The Hunter

This is one of my biggest crowd pleasers that I am so excited to share as my first recipe! It’s kind funny how this came to be, but I had so many people love it and decided to add it to my “recipe book” … aka: my head. I am horrible about writing recipes down. I am one that takes a certain recipe from online and tweaks it with certain things to fit what I want and I can never remember what I did the next time I make it! So after cooking it again, I think I got it.

So, when your fiancé invited 20+ people over to watch a basketball game with no food in the house you have to get creative. I had already looked in the fridge and freezer and decided that we had nothing to cook. The third time I was really hoping to find SOMETHING, ANYTHING to cook. That’s when I saw we had plenty of tortillas and cheese. I also just happened to have some green pepper and onion (to be used for another recipe.) We also always have ground deer meat in the freezer. So I was like “deer quesadillas it is!” I had no idea how much people would actually enjoy them.

So here’s the recipe:

1 lb of ground deer meat (or your choice of protein)

1 chopped green pepper

1 small onion chopped (or half of a larger onion)

Oil (I like olive oil but any works)

1/4 tsp chili powder

1/2 tsp onion powder

1/4 tsp cumin

1/4 tsp paprika

1/4 tsp cayenne

1-2 tbsp Dale’s steak sauce (worcestershire will work also)

tortillas, any size works

shredded cheese, I like a Mexican blend.

salt & pepper to taste

So first step is to defrost your deer meet if needed. Now is a good time to defrost while you get the onion and pepper are getting started.

2. While that is going, I gather the rest of my ingredients. By the way, if you happen to have a taco or fajita seasoning packet on hand – you can substitute that for all five spices.

3. This is a crucial step to getting flavor and a lot of people will rush it thinking they can turn the heat on high. But what you’ll get is burnt, bitter onion. What you want to do is throw your onion and pepper in a pan with about a quarter or two size amount of oil. Turn the heat on LOW and let your onions caramelize slowly. A little salt and a lid will speed it up a bit. Should take about 7-10 minutes for diced onion and pepper. Stir occasionally to keep from sticking and burning.

4. Next, throw in your defrosted meat and break it down. Turn on medium and cook until meat is fully cooked. Throw in all the spices and mix well. Taste before adding salt and pepper, the Dale’s actually contains lots of salt so you shouldn’t need much if any.

5. Once that’s done, you can start building your quesadillas! Lay out your tortilla, and fill with a thin layer of mixture. Too much can make them fall apart.

6. Add your cheese, feel free to go liberal, this will hold it all together.

7. Put on the top tortilla and microwave for 30 seconds or so to melt cheese. You can also throw back in the pan with a quarter-sized drop of oil to get a crispy, golden outside if you want!