Pappardelle with Venison Bolognese

My Pappardelle with Venison Bolognese is a wild game twist on the Italian classic Bolognese.

You can make this venison pasta recipe in a little less than 1 hour and 30 minutes. While it's not quick, it is faster than a traditional Bolognese recipe that generally takes 3 hours or more to prepare. I'm always trying to come up with more simple ground venison recipes that all of us can whip up on a busy weeknight. And why ground venison recipes? Because that's what the majority of us have in our freezer - deer burger, elk burger, and moose burger. And if you are like us, this Venison Bolognese recipe is sure to become your new family favorite.

WHAT IS VENISON?

Some of you may not be hunters. You may be asking yourself - what is venison? Is it deer meat?

The term venison comes from the Latin verb venari, meaning “to hunt.” The term "venison" can technically be used to describe all wild game, but these days when you hear people use it, they generally are describing red meat from deer, elk, antelope, caribou, moose and bighorn sheep. It can also be used to describe those nilgai and oryx you see people hunting down in Texas.

BOLOGNESE SAUCE (RAGU ALLA BOLOGNESE)

Authentic Bolognese Sauce (Ragù alla Bolognese) is an Italian pasta sauce made with ground beef, pancetta, tomato sauce, and mirepoix (onion, carrots, and celery). Since I have a freezer full of deer and elk, I substituted ground venison (100% deer burger) for the ground beef to make a Venison Bolognese. Because there are many of my readers who live in small towns with a grocery store that doesn't carry pancetta, I substituted bacon.

Don't limit yourself to making this Pappardelle Bolognese with ground venison. I've also made Duck Bolognese, Canada Goose Bolognese, and even Cottontail Rabbit Bolognese.

As a bachelor I used to make big batches of Bolognese Sauce and freeze it for later. You never know when a meat sauce emergency might come up at 2:00 a.m.! Now that I'm married and a father of an 8-year-old daughter, I've discovered having a good Bolognese recipe on hand is just as important as it was back in my single 20's. I can pick up our daughter from school, reheat the Venison Bolognese sauce while I cook the pasta in just 15 minutes, feed her, and have her out the door to her Thursday night rock climbing class in no time.

You can use Bolognese sauce on fresh pasta, dry pasta, pizza, or lasagna. Just make sure you serve this Pappardelle Bolognese with garlic bread on the side to soak up every last drop of sauce. And it's a cardinal sin if you don't bring grated Parmigiano cheese to the table for everyone to sprinkle on top.

Most Italians will tell you a truly amazing Bolognese Sauce needs a cooking time of 2 to 3 hours. By all means, if you want to make this venison pasta recipe on a lazy Sunday afternoon and let the sauce simmer for a few hours - go for it! But I make most of my venison recipes for those of us who need a quick weeknight meal to feed our hungry and impatient family. That's why I created this Venison Bolognese dish to be done in about half the time.

PAPPARDELLE

Pappardelle are long, flat and broad ribbons of pasta that originate in Tuscany, a region known for rich, intense – and generally meaty sauces. The large wide surface area of the pasta makes pappardelle the perfect accompaniment to more robust sauces like this Venison Bolognese. The Tuscan origins of Pappardelle date back to the 14th century. However, it's popularity has grown immensely, and today pappardelle can be found throughout all regions of Italy. Due to the decadent nature of this wide pasta and the rich sauces that they are usually paired with, pappardelle dishes are often enjoyed in the winter months, making this dish perfect for us to enjoy here in North Dakota.

MORE GROUND VENISON RECIPES

You can find all of my ground venison recipes here for a simple weeknight meal. Or look no further than these family favorites you can pull off in 30 minutes or less:

Easy Venison Spaghetti

Sloppy Joe Mac and Cheese

Best Ever Venison Cheeseburger

Jalapeno Popper Venison Flautas

Sloppy Doe (Venison Sloppy Joes)

COME 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.

CONNECT WITH ME AND JOIN OUR WILD GAME COOKING COMMUNITY

If you make this Pappardelle with Venison Bolognese, I’d love for you to join our community and connect with me so we can all see pics of your creations on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter! When you post a pic of your finished dish on Instagram, be sure and use the hashtag #wildgameandfish and then tag me @wildgameandfish so I can share it on my Instagram stories.

If you have another great Bolognese recipe you'd love to share, I'd love to hear about it. You can email me at: jeffinfargo@gmail.com

Did you enjoy this Pappardelle with Venison Bolognese Recipe? Be sure to leave a 5-star rating RIGHT HERE!

5 from 22 votes

Print Rate

Course: Main Course, pasta

Cuisine: Italian

Keyword: bolognese, bolognese recipe, bolognese sauce, ground venison recipes, pappardelle, pappardelle bolognese, Ragù alla Bolognese, venison, venison bolognese, venison bolognese recipe, venison pasta recipe, what is venison

Prep Time: 10

Cook Time: 1 10

Total Time: 1 20

Servings: servings

Author: Jeff Benda

Ingredients

2 slices of bacon
4 tablespoons butter, divided
½ cup yellow onion, diced (about ½ an onion)
½ cup celery, diced (1 celery stalk)
½ cup carrot, diced (about 12 baby carrots)
8 ounces ground venison
1 teaspoon salt, divided
¼ teaspoon black pepper
½ cup half and half
⅛ teaspoon ground nutmeg
½ cup venison broth or beef broth
1 15-ounce can fire-roasted diced tomatoes
8 ounces pappardelle pasta
Freshly grated parmigiano-reggiano cheese at the table

Instructions

In a Dutch oven, over medium heat, cook the bacon for about 6 minutes. Remove the bacon and set aside. To the Dutch oven, add 2 tablespoons of the butter to the bacon grease. Then add the mirepoix of onion, celery, carrots, and ½ teaspoon of the salt. Cook for about 5 minutes, stirring vegetables until onion becomes translucent.
Add ground venison, another ½ teaspoon of salt and ¼ teaspoon of black pepper. Crumble the meat with a wooden spoon, stir well and cook until the venison has lost its raw, red color, about 3 minutes.
Crumble the reserved bacon and add it back to the Dutch oven with the half and half and let it simmer gently over medium low heat, stirring frequently, until it has bubbled away completely, about 5 minutes. Add nutmeg and stir.
Add the beef broth and let it simmer for about 5 minutes. Then add the diced tomatoes and stir thoroughly to coat all ingredients well. When the tomatoes begin to bubble, turn the heat down so that the sauce cooks at a lazy simmer, with just an intermittent bubble breaking through to the surface. Cook, uncovered, for about 45 minutes, stirring from time to time.
When the sauce has about 15 minutes left until done, bring a pot of water to a full boil. Salt boiling water and add the pappardelle pasta to pot, stirring to separate the noodles. Boil gently for 12 minutes or until cooked to desired doneness. Drain and discard the water.
To the sauce add remaining 2 tablespoons of butter and cooked drained pasta. Toss until pasta is well coated and serve with freshly grated Parmesan on the side.

Pappardelle with Venison Bolognese