If you are cooking with venison you know the game taste, the dryness, the fear of a horrible tasting meal coming your way.
But if you’re a hunter, or your spouse is, you also know that meat is cost saver. There is one thing I have said before about venison and I will say it again, you need orange juice.
Yep. That is one ingredient you need to have on hand if you are cooking venison. Especially ground venison.
We have a friend who grew up with farm animals and parents raising their own meat. Yet, they hated how venison tasted. Dried out and flavorless.
The thing with deer meat- that’s the venison I’m talking about here, is it can dry out so fast.
The less cooking the better. I tried ground venison for the first time in my Ninja Foodi and it was amazing. If you don’t have a Ninja Foodi no worries, the secret to the best venison tacos are in the steps below.
I was hesitant to put ground venison in the Ninja Foodi because I didn’t want it to dry out. Yet the beauty of pressure cooking is keeping food moist.
It worked wonders. It even gave it a nice texture like ground beef.
Before you attempt to use ground venison go get orange juice. If in a pinch and you only have Sunny D you can use that too. Yep this last time it’s all we had. I prefer Simply Orange, but use whatever you have, brand doesn’t make a huge difference here.
Where did I get this orange juice thing? Go back 8 years ago when I was a new stay at home mom, and broke. We didn’t buy any beef if we had venison. We saved and lived so extreme because we were fearful of not making ends meet.
I grew up as a city kid and never had or saw anyone cook with deer meat. The first time I tried it, I wasn’t that excited. Too gamey I thought. I searched and searched and can’t find it now another blog that said to use orange juice.
I’ve tweaked it and skipped out and always come back to the best way to cook with venison is this.
Anytime you cook with venison if you can marinate it, it will be a game changer! ( haha get it!?) Anyways let’s get to it.
The other side note to my favorite tacos, is Taco Bell Seasoning. I’m sorry but I love it. And I can’t stand any other taco seasoning packet. Unless I make my own. For me with venison I find the Taco Bell Seasoning packet to taste great and it’s not spicy. My kids easily eat three tacos and you know us Moms love that.
Venison Tacos in Pressure Cooker- Ninja Foodi
Again if you don’t have a pressure cooker no big deal. Just cook on your stove top.
INGREDIENTS:
- 2 lbs. Ground Venison. – BTW we love using the Foodsaver to store all our meat. It does make a difference in taste. I find best price at BJs for bags.
- Taco Bell Seasoning Packet- Otherwise make my homemade mix here. Walmart has it here.
- Lettuce/Spinach
- Cheddar Cheese
- Sour Cream- Another thing I love with kids- Daisy Sour Cream Squeeze top!
- Tortilla Shells, soft, or hard or both. Whatever your family likes and whatever is on sale.
- Orange juice 1/2 cup.
DIRECTIONS FOR NINJA FOODI:
KEY:The night before or at least 4 hours before you start cooking, soak your ground venison in orange juice. About a half cup or enough to get the meat to soak it all up. You can’t over do it if that helps. This gives your venison a nice texture and taste. Cuts the game taste.
Add your seasoning packet to the ground venison. Mix well.
Add 1/2 cup of hot water to your pot.
Add your seasoned venison meat to your Foodi.
Set to Pressure- High 6 minutes.
When it’s done quick release.
Get your tortillas ready in the oven or microwave. Add your favorite toppings. Enjoy 🙂
Any questions let me know below.
