The BEST Cider Braised Deer Roast Recipe

This Apple Cider Braised Deer Roast Recipe with Roasted Butternut Squash is a great addition to this year's Thanksgiving feast!

The Dutch oven deer roast slowly cooks in apple cider and beef broth with fresh herbs and spices. This adds a fun fall twist to a classic comfort food.

A Venison Pot Roast is an easy and delicious family meal when paired with carrots and potatoes. Our basement is overflowing with squash from our backyard garden. One of my favorite fall foods is butternut squash. It pairs perfectly with the apple cider-braised Dutch oven deer roast, creating a wonderful sweet and savory combination.

Cooking this deer roast can take hours until the meat becomes perfectly tender. You have two options: use a slow cooker or cook it in a Dutch oven in your conventional oven. But a slow cooker is great for busy parents. You can place the deer roast inside and let it cook all day while you're at work. But I believe the traditional oven is a better option for those working from home like me. The roast takes less time to cook in the oven than in a slow cooker. Instead of eight to ten hours, the roast will be ready in four to five hours in the Dutch oven. Another bonus is you can sear the roast on the stovetop first, then transfer it to the oven. That means fewer dishes to clean!

For this recipe, I used a 3-pound sirloin roast (football roast) from the hindquarter of a Montana mule deer. I’ve also made this dish using whitetail and elk when introducing family and friends to wild game during the holidays.

If you want another great Dutch oven deer roast recipe, check out my Easy One Pot Venison Pot Roast.

Deer Served At First Thanksgiving

The original Pilgrims in Plymouth, Massachusetts had the grit and determination, as well as the aid of the Wampanoag, to make it in the New World.

Thanks to two surviving documents of their first Thanksgiving, written by Edward Winslow and Gov. William Bradford, provide details about the first autumn feast. The first Thanksgiving menu is heavily laden with meats including turkey, deer, waterfowl, eels, fish, shellfish, and birds such as swans and passenger pigeons, along with vegetables, nuts and fruit. Sounds like a pretty good spread!

Smithsonian Magazine has an excellent story about the history and meal, and says:

Two primary sources—the only surviving documents that reference the meal—confirm that these staples were part of the harvest celebration shared by the Pilgrims and Wampanoag at Plymouth Colony in 1621. Edward Winslow, an English leader who attended, wrote home to a friend:

“Our harvest being gotten in, our governor sent four men on fowling, that so we might after a special manner rejoice together after we had gathered the fruit of our labors. They four in one day killed as much fowl as, with a little help beside, served the company almost a week. At which time, amongst other recreations, we exercised our arms, many of the Indians coming amongst us, and among the rest their greatest king Massasoit, with some ninety men, whom for three days we entertained and feasted, and they went out and killed five deer, which they brought to the plantation and bestowed on our governor, and upon the captain and others.”

William Bradford, the governor Winslow mentions, also described the autumn of 1621, adding, “And besides waterfowl there was great store of wild turkeys, of which they took many, besides venison, etc. Besides, they had about a peck a meal a week to a person, or now since harvest, Indian corn to that proportion.”

How You Can Serve Deer To Commemorate This First Thanksgiving

I made this Apple Cider Braised Deer Roast in a Dutch oven, but you can also make it in a slow cooker to save room in the oven for your Thanksgiving turkey and stuffing. I hope this deer roast recipe and my other venison recipes will give you inspiration and motivation you need to get excited about sharing some of the wild game with family and friends this Thanksgiving.

How to Make This Deer Roast Recipe

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.

2. Season the deer roast all over with salt and pepper then rub with flour to coat.

3. In a large Dutch Oven, heat olive oil over medium-high heat. Sear the deer roast for about 3 minutes per side until browned.

4. Arrange sliced onions and minced garlic around the deer roast. Add apple cider, beef broth, tomato paste, thyme, rosemary, cloves, and cinnamon to the Dutch Oven and bring mixture to a bubbling simmer on the stovetop over medium-high heat. Once the broth is simmering, cover with the Dutch Oven lid and place in the oven and cook for 3 hours.

5. Whisk together the au jus gravy mix with one cup of water, add the mixture to the Dutch Oven, and cook another 1 ½ hours.

6. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.

7. Place the butternut squash cubes on the baking sheet and toss with the olive oil and seasonings.

8. Remove the roast from the oven and leave the lid on the Dutch Iven while you cook the squash.

9. Turn the heat up on the oven to 425 degrees F.

10. Place the butternut squash in the oven and roast for 30 minutes or until golden brown around the edges.

11. Serve the deer roast with the roasted butternut squash and a side of cooked white rice.

More Deer Roast Recipes

Looking for more great Deer Roast recipes? Check out my Venison Carnitas Tacos or Venison Birria Quesatacos.

Come Deer Hunting in North Dakota

If you are headed our way for North Dakota deer season, check out the North Dakota Game & Fish Department website. And if you want me to come along with you as your camp cook, photographer, or butcher, you can find out more details here.

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