I knew I had a winner on my hands with this ground venison casserole when my 10-year-old daughter asked if she could have it in her lunch the next day. Venison Cobbler is kind like a Venison Shepherd’s Pie or a venison pot pie except it has a cornbread topping instead of potatoes or pie crust. And it’s really delicious.
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Venison Cobbler Filling
I got the idea for this recipe from a ground venison cook book that my husband got me for Christmas. I loved the idea of the topping, but the filling in the original recipe had tomatoes in it and I knew my kids would never go for it. So I thought about just using the Venison Shepherd Pie filling. But then I thought, what if I make the gravy creamier by adding milk.
Yessssss! Venison Cobbler is born. It’s got a number of steps, so I am not going to call this an easy weeknight meal. But I have made the filling on Sunday, covered it with foil and put it in the fridge. On the day we are going to eat it, I mix up the cornbread and throw it in the oven.
So it starts with a mushroom and onion gravy, In a cast iron skillet (we like this 12 inch one from Lodge), brown the ground venison in a little added fat, like olive oil. When the meat is about half done, add chopped onions and chopped mushrooms. When the meat is fully cooked and the onions and mushrooms have cooked down (5-7 minutes), add butter to melt. Then, slowly add flour, a tablespoon or so at a time. With each addition of flour, let it fully absorb.
Your meat mixture should have a sort of paste-like consistency from the added flour. Slowly add the beef broth, letting each addition of broth be fully absorbed into the flour until it is smooth. Add the milk, Worcester sauce, salt, pepper and veggies. Simmer to let the gravy thicken.
The beauty of making your filling in a cast iron skillet is that you actually can finish it in the skillet if you are making it the same day you will eat it. If you are not eating it the same day, I recommend transferring the filling to a 9 x 13 baking dish or two 8 x 8 baking dishes. (Two 8 x 8 = one for now, one for later. Cover well and freeze without the topping for up to three months.)
Venison Cobbler Topping
Preheat the oven to 375º F. The next step is mix is to mix the cornbread topping. Growing up, my mother always made cornbread from scratch; however, my husband prefers the Jiffy Corn Muffin Mix, so while I do almost EVERYTHING else in my life from scratch (Helloooo, Close to Home Living), this one I concede on. Do what makes your family happy.
If you are using a box of corn muffin mix, you will need two to cover. (If you are doing 8 x 8 pans you will need one each.) Mix the cornbread according to the directions and then spread over your filling.
Cover with aluminum foil. I like to spray the foil with non-stick cooking spray so that it doesn’t stick (as much). Bake for half an hour covered. Then bake for another 10-15 minutes until the cornbread is golden brown and the filling is bubbling.
The full pan makes about 8 servings, so we used the leftovers in lunches during the week.
What’s for Dinner?
I don’t know about you. But in these dog-days of March it still seems like soup and casserole season, so why not make a Venison Cobbler. If you are into weekend meal prep, go ahead and make up the filling. I have made it on Sunday and then baked it on Tuesday. I get home a little later on Tuesday, so it is great to know that I can just come home and thrown it in the oven. In fact, that is totally my plan for this afternoon!
If you are looking for more great venison recipes, we have lots! Just check out our Venison Recipe Index Page. They are all there!
Venison Cobbler
Equipment
- cast iron skillet
- knife
- measuring tools
- wooden spoon
- 13 x 9 baking dish or two 8 x 8 baking dishes
- aluminum foil
Ingredients
filling
- 1 pound ground venison
- 1 medium onion chopped
- 8 ounces mushrooms diced, about 2 cups
- ½ cup butter
- ½ cup flour
- 2 cups beef broth
- ½ cup milk
- 1 tablespoon Worcester Sauce
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- 1 16 ounce package of frozen mixed vegetables
topping
- 2 8.5 ounce boxes of corn muffin mix
- 2 eggs
- ⅔ cup milk
Instructions
Filling
- Preheat the oven to 375°F.
- In a heated cast iron skillet, brown the ground venison over medium heat. You may wish to add a little oil to the pan depending on how lean the meat is.
- When the meat is about half cooked through, add onion and mushrooms to the meat and continue to cook, stirring periodically to ensure that everything is cooking evenly.
- Add butter to the meat mixture. Stir until melted.
- Slowly add the flour, stirring so that it is absorbed as it is added.
- Once the flour is fully absorbed into the meat mixture, slowly add the broth, about a half cup at a time. Stir until it the mixture is smooth.
- Add the milk. Reduce the heat and simmer until the gravy begins to thicken.
- Add the veggies.
- Transfer the mixture to one 9 x 13 baking dish or divide evenly into two 8 x 8 baking dishes.
Topping
- Prepare the corn muffin mix according to the direction on the box. Spread evenly over the top of the venison-veggie mixture.
- Cover with foil (you may wish to spray it with non-stick spray so it doesn't stick).
- Bake half an hour with the foil on. Remove foil. Back 10-15 minutes longer until the gravy is bubbling and the cornbread topping is golden brown.
