Venison Chilli Recipe
Venison Chilli made with Finzean Venison Mince.
With the game season starting, we wanted to highlight one of the easiest ways to try eating game: using venison mince. Lean, flavourful and rich in protein, it’s a healthier substitute for beef or lamb mince, and so works well in a chilli, with smoky chipotle and warming spices. It’s not as rich as a beef chilli, so is well-suited for those looking for a lighter meal.
Once you’ve made your chilli, you can turn it into all sorts of dishes - nachos or quesadillas for example - or just simply serve it with boiled rice and some fresh coriander. It’s a great autumnal meal for this rainy weather, and quite easy to make in a larger batch if you fancy using it throughout the week.
We prefer this technique of roasting the mince in the oven, as it’s a lot easier than trying to brown mince in a large pan, and can be done whilst you’re preparing the vegetables and sauteing them.
We have packets of venison mince and dice available fresh and frozen throughout the season, and this recipe could be adapted to work with diced venison instead - just increase the cooking time until the diced venison is tender enough to gently shred with a fork.
Serves 4
INGREDIENTS
500g venison mince
3 tbsp neutral cooking oil, such as sunflower or rapeseed, plus more for drizzling
2 onions, red or white, diced
2-3 bell peppers, diced
3-4 sticks celery, diced
4 cloves garlic, sliced
2 tbsp tomato puree
1 tbsp each dried oregano & thyme (you can use mixed herbs instead)
1 tbsp chipotle chilli flakes
1 tbsp sweet smoked paprika
1 tbsp ground cumin
1 tbsp ground coriander
1 tbsp ground black pepper
250ml stock - vegetable, beef or chicken would all work.
1 tin chopped tomatoes
2 tins of beans, drained - we like to use red kidney, but you can use black beans or haricot too.
1-3 fresh red chillies or 1-2 tbsp chili powder, to your taste.
1-2 limes, juiced
Salt to taste
A bunch of fresh coriander, chopped
METHOD
Preheat your oven to 180C fan, and spread the minced venison into an even layer on a deep-rimmed baking dish. Drizzle with a small amount of oil, and roast in the oven for 20-25 minutes, until fully cooked throughout and starting to brown nicely. Midway through roasting, use a flat wooden spoon to scrape and turn the mince in the oven dish. It will release some water but don’t worry about this.
Meanwhile, gather your vegetables and heat a large ovenproof saucepan (avoid using cast iron, due to the tomatoes we will be adding later - enamel works perfectly) with the remaining oil. Add the onions, peppers and celery to the pan and saute over a medium-high heat until they start to soften and brown, 10-15 minutes.
At this stage, add the sliced garlic, tomato puree and all the remaining spices to the pan, stirring well to mix them with the vegetables. Reduce the heat and fry gently until the spices are super aromatic, approximately 3-5 minutes. If you see the mix catching on the bottom of the pan, add a splash of stock and scrape well with a spoon to release it.
Once the mix is starting to smell delicious and has fried well, add the stock and chopped tomatoes. Stir well to combine and bring to a simmer.
Take the tray of mince from the oven once it has browned, and use a potato masher to break the mince up in the tray. You can leave larger chunks if you’d prefer! For finer mince, Sanjay’s tip is to rub the cooked (and slightly cooled) mince through a wire cooling rack, which really helps to break it up. Add the mince and all the cooking juices to the simmering sauce, and stir in the drained beans.
Transfer the whole dish back to the oven, reduce the temperature to 150C, and braise gently, uncovered, for 1-1.5 hours until the mince is tender and the sauce has thickened.. You may need to add additional stock or water if it starts to dry slightly and stir it from time to time.
Remove the dish from the oven carefully, and season the dish well with the lime juice, fresh coriander (keeping some back for a garnish), and salt. This recipe is for a mild chilli, so at this point feel free to add additional fresh sliced chillies, or some extra chilli powder, to bump up the heat!
Garnish with the remaining coriander and serve. We find this chili gets even better the next day!
