Easy Pan Fried Deer Heart Recipe

This Easy Pan Fried Deer Heart Recipe is for all you lovers of flavorful, tender, and juicy venison! This recipe makes delicious use of the often-underutilized organ meat from your deer, elk, moose, or antelope harvest.

I always strive to use as much of the animals I can from a successful hunt. Fresh organ meat like liver and kidneys are always on the menu while I patiently dry age the hindquarters for about two weeks before we begin to start eating some of those mouthwatering tender venison steaks.

If you’ve never tried a deer heart, you’re missing out. This deer heart recipe rivals any venison steak dish in taste and doesn’t need any time in a marinade. Just some good kosher salt and some coarsely ground black pepper and a simple pan-fry and it’s absolutely delicious. 

Why This Deer Heart Recipe Works for Weeknight Meals

- Quick cooking the deer heart allows it to stay tender and juicy. Serving it with a simple family friendly accompaniment like sauteed spinach and mashed potatoes and gravyhelps to balance out the meatiness of the heart.

- Simple seasonings like kosher salt and black pepper allow the full flavor of this deer heart recipe to shine.

- Deer heart and other venison hearts are low in fat and high in vitamins and minerals, making it a healthier option than the beef roast or steaks you buy at your local grocery store.

What Does Deer Heart Taste Like

Deer hearts and other venison hearts have a robust meaty flavor and firm texture comparable to that of a lean steak like you'd get from a venison top round or venison backstrap.

You don't have to worry about any weirds smells or textures. I can tell you from personal experience that a deer heart is significantly easier to feed to my wife (a Minnesota farm girl) and our 9-year-old daughter. It's definitely more mild than other organ meats like a deer liver or deer kidney.

How to Clean A Deer Heart

Start by trimming the heart. Begin by using a sharp knife to slice off the arteries sticking out of the top of the heart. Then you want to move on to removing any large pieces of visible fat from the heart. Most venison hearts are pretty lean, and you generally only find some fat near the top. Some other recipes will recommend you trim all of the fat off and discard it. But it's completely edible, although too much will give you that unappetizing tallow taste in your mouth. I like to leave a little fat on. Searing it over high heat like we're doing here, and eating it right away, will prevent that chalky taste at the roof of your mouth.

Now look down at the top of the deer heart. You need to remove all of the blood that might still remain within the four chambers of the heart you are looking down into. If you skip this step, the blood will give the meat an iron-like taste that isn't very pleasant. To remove the blood, simply put your fingers inside each of the heart valves under cold running water, gently squeeze, and wait until the water runs clear. This will only take about 2 minutes.

Use the holes in the heart as a guide to slice the heart into a few thick and flat pieces of meat. Now you'll see a bunch of tiny spider-like tendons. Remove and discard these. If you find any more globs of blood at this point, give the meat another quick rinse underneath cold running water so you are left with nice clean cutlets that are visually appealing and something you and your family will want to eat.

How to Cook Deer Heart

• After you clean and trim the heart, pat dry with a paper towel and place the pieces on a cutting board and tenderize them using a Jaccard meat tenderizer. I always use this same process with all of the venison steaks I prepare for myself and for customers who hire me to butcher their deer.
• Now using a sharp knife, score both sides of each deer heart cutlet by making shallow slashes about an inch apart. This will help the meat absorb the flavors of the salt and pepper. It will also encourage the Maillard reaction so you get a nice brown crust, as well as preventing the thin cut of meat from curling and distorting in shape during cooking over extreme high heat.
• Preheat your oven to 450 degrees F and place a large cast iron skillet in the oven for about 5 minutes until it's smoking hot. Turn on a stovetop burner to medium-high heat.
• Generously season the venison heart cutlets with kosher salt and black pepper.

• Using an oven mitt, carefully remove the hot cast iron skillet from the oven and place it on the hot stovetop burner. Add the canola oil to the skillet, carefully swirl it around to coat the pan, and then add the deer heart cutlets. If you are using a bigger heart from an elk or moose you'll need to cook the meat in batches - don't overcrowd the pan.
• Let the venison heart cutlets sizzle for about 2 minutes, then use tongs to flip it over and cook about 2 more minutes. This is a quick cook because we are trying to get a perfect medium rare so the meat is tender and juicy!

• Press down gently to ensure even contact between the meat and the pan. When the meat has developed a dark brown crust on both sides, add the butter to the skillet, swirl it around to coat the meat, and immediately remove the skillet from the heat. After the meat soaks in the butter for 1 minute, transfer it to a cutting board and tent lightly with foil. Let rest 5 minutes. The meat will continue cooking after being removed from heat.

• When ready to serve, thinly slice with a sharp knife, cutting away from your body and with the top edge of the knife leaning toward your body. Make sure to slice across the grain of the meat.
• Serve immediately with your favorite sides such as sauteed spinach, mashed potatoes and gravy, sauteed mushrooms, or asparagus.

How Many Servings In A Deer Heart

With a typical deer heart from a white-tailed deer or a mule deer, one heart will feed two people. An antelope heart is small and usually is only enough to feed myself. Lucky me! An elk heart or a moose heart will feed somewhere between four to six people.

Wild Game For Weeknight Dinners

After a long day of work, it's not always easy to face your kitchen and whip up dinner. But I hope this Easy Pan Fried Deer Heart Recipe and my other venison recipes will give you inspiration and motivation you need to get excited about cooking every night.

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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