This easy deer heart recipe marinates strips of deer heart in a flavorful Asian sauce before grilling them to perfection over an open flame. Tender, juicy, sweet, salty, and oh-so-delicious, this venison heart recipe is the perfect appetizer or main course!
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Featured Comment:
We made this tonight with a fresh deer heart. It was amazing! Highly recommend!!!
Recipe Highlights
Simple: Cooking venison heart is really just like any other cut of meat when you get down to it. Once you clean it and break it down, you are left with 3-4 strips of meat that you can treat just like any other steak. Just keep in mind that it's a lean meat. So, it's important to not overcook it.
Flavorful: This simple soy sauce-based marinade penetrates the heart meat with delicious flavor over the course of a few hours. Once the marinated meat hits the grill, the sugars caramelize and create a beautiful crust on the outside of the meat while keeping the inside juicy and tender.
Unique: You're going to love this creative method for enjoying this popular venison organ meat. You'll never want to leave your hearts in the gut pile again! If you're still a little skeptical of eating heart, you can try making it into venison dog treats instead.
Ingredients
- Deer Heart: This recipe for deer heart works with any large or wild game heart (deer, elk heart, moose, antelope, beef heart, etc.) or several small game/game bird hearts. It also works great with strips of any type of steak you want! If you're looking for another way to use heart, try this elk heart recipe for unique tacos!
- Garlic and Ginger: This recipe uses fresh garlic cloves and ginger root, but you can speed up the preparation by using jarred minced garlic and jarred minced ginger.
- Soy Sauce: This forms the base of the marinade, penetrating the meat with a salty, savory flavor and breaking down any tough fibers.
- Sesame Oil: Adds a bold, nutty taste to the marinade, enhancing the Asian-inspired flavor.
See recipe card for quantities.
Equipment
Pellet Grill: This recipe uses a pellet grill, but you can use whatever grill you have available.
Wooden Skewers: This recipe uses small wooden skewers, but you can use larger ones or reusable metal skewers too.
Recommended
Filet/Boning Knife
Gives you the precision you need to properly break down a deer heart.
How To Prepare Deer Heart for Cooking
If you've never cooked deer heart, breaking it down into usable meat can be intimidating! But like any other steak, it is just another muscle.
Hearts can be broken down into 3 or 4 large pieces pieces in just a few simple steps. Follow along below to learn how to clean and cut your deer heart.
- Step 1: Thaw the heart upside down in a bowl or liquid measuring cup to help the liquid drain out from the inside of the heart. If your deer heart is fresh, you can still do this step by leaving it in the fridge upside down for a day or so.
- Step 2: Using a filet/boning knife or very sharp knife, remove the white fat cap from the outside of the heart.
- Step 3: Cut the bundle of blood vessels off the top of the heart.
- Step 4: Find the line that runs diagonally down the left side of the heart, and cut along that line to remove the left ventricle.
- Step 5: Keep cutting until the left ventricle is removed.
- Step 6: Slice the heart, cutting the ventricle open until it lays flat like a steak.
- Step 7: Cut open the remaining piece of heart and cut it into 2 separate steak cuts. Remove the heartstrings and other tough connective tissue.
- Step 8: You should be left with 3 steak-like cuts.
Pro Tip
If there is any coagulated blood left on the inside that you can't remove, rinse the meat with cold water to clean it out. Typically, I wouldn't suggest rinsing meat. But with hearts, it can sometimes be necessary to remove all of the blood and reduce the iron taste of the meat.
How To Make Grilled Venison Heart Skewers
The marinade for these skewers is a simple Asian marinade that comes together with just a handful of ingredients. It can be adjusted slightly and used for lots of other recipes like Asian grilled elk steak, venison bulgogi lettuce wraps, and pronghorn bibimbap.
Follow the simple steps below to make this easy deer heart recipe:
- Step 1: Whisk all the marinade ingredients in a sealable container or bowl.
- Step 2: Cut the deer heart steaks into ½ inch slices. If the meat is sliced thin it can overcook quickly. So, ½ inch is best.
- Step 3: Add the slices of meat to the marinade, and stir to coat. Cover, and refrigerate for 3-12 hours.
- Step 4: Place the meat on skewers in an accordion style, spreading it out so that you can see the skewers between the meat.
- Step 5: Preheat the grill to 350°F, and place the heart skewers on the grill.
- Step 6: Grill for 2-3 minutes per side or until the outsides are lightly charred and the inside is still moist and tender.
Pro Tip
Don't overcook the meat. Like any venison steak, deer heart is lean and will lose its natural moisture when it is overcooked.
Serving Suggestions
These tasty deer heart skewers can be an entree, appetizer, or snack. They're great as part of an Asian appetizer spread with options like:
- Venison Sashimi
- Grouse Satay
- Soy-Marinated Shiitake Mushrooms
- Steamed Rice
- Edamame
Venison Heart FAQs
Many recipes will tell you to brine deer hearts to remove the blood. But, this isn't necessary if you properly clean and break down the heart. You can also marinate the meat, like in this grilled venison heart recipe, which can be a better way to remove off flavors from leftover blood clots.
Yes, but if you don't clean it before you freeze it, you'll want to eat it within a few months of freezing it. The blood left inside the heart can give the meat an off-flavor and it's best to eat it sooner rather than later.
Deer heart is really just another muscle/steak. It can have more of an iron-like taste because of its function in the body. However, it takes on the flavor of sauces and marinades well and is one of the best cuts from a deer.
Yes, if grilling isn't an option, heat a grill pan or cast iron skillet over medium-high heat, and cook the deer on both sides just until lightly charred.
A deer heart is considered done cooking when it is medium rare, reaching an internal temperature between 130°F and 135°F. Cooking it any longer increases the likelihood that your venison heart recipe will become dry!
Did you try this recipe?
Let us know what you thought by leaving a comment below and sharing it on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest!
Thank you!
Annie
📖 Recipe
Grilled Deer Heart (Venison Heart)
Ingredients
- 1 venison heart
- 6 tablespoon soy sauce
- 2 tablespoon sesame oil
- 2 tablespoon rice vinegar
- 3 tablespoon brown sugar
- ½ cup green onions, finely chopped
- 1 tablespoon garlic, minced
- 1 tablespoon fresh ginger, minced
- ½ tablespoon sesame seeds
- green onions, sliced (for serving)
Instructions
- Thaw heart upside down in glass bowl or measuring cup. This will help liquid drain out of the heart.
- Trim all outer fat from the heart using a filet/boning knife. Cut vessels from the top of the heart.
- With the bottom of the heart (pointed end) facing towards you, run your knife along the vessel that runs diagonally across the front of the heart. Continue cutting until you remove the entire piece of muscle. This is the left ventricle.
- Once the left ventricle is removed, run your knife under the piece of muscle that was under the ventricle. Continue cutting until the entire heart is opened into one flat piece.
- Trim strings from inside the heart and remove anything else that's not muscle.
- Cut meat into ½" strips.
- In a glass storage container or medium bowl, combine soy sauce, sesame oil, rice vinegar, brown sugar, ½ cup green onions, garlic, ginger, and sesame seeds. Place meat in marinade and stir to coat the meat.
- Cover and refrigerate for 3-12 hours.
- Soak wooden skewers in warm water for 30 minutes or use metal skewers.
- Place meat on skewers in an accordion style and spread the meat out so that you can see the skewers between the meat.
- Preheat grill to 350°F. Grill for 2-3 minutes per side or until outsides are lightly charred and the inside is still moist and tender.
- While steak is cooking, pour remaining marinade into a small saucepan. Bring to a simmer and simmer until reduced and thickened slightly. (optional)
- Top with sliced green onions and serve with reduced marinade, if desired. Enjoy!
Notes
- This recipe works with any big game heart (deer, elk, moose, antelope, beef, etc.) or several small game/game bird hearts. It also works great with strips of any type of steak you want!
- This recipe uses fresh garlic cloves and ginger root, but you can speed up the preparation by using jarred minced garlic and jarred minced ginger.
- If there is any coagulated blood left on the inside of the heart that you can't remove, rinse the meat with cold water to clean it out. Typically, I wouldn't suggest rinsing meat. But with hearts, it can sometimes be necessary to remove all of the blood and reduce the iron taste of the meat.
- Don't overcook the meat. Like any venison steak, deer heart is lean and will lose its natural moisture when it is overcooked.
Anonymous says
We made this tonight with a fresh deer heart. It was amazing! Highly recommend!!! (We didn't have green onion so just used 1/4 yellow onion, finely chopped, in the marinade. I can only imagine the green onion would elevate it even further.)
Annie Weisz says
Thank you so much for sharing! I love seeing how people make these dishes their own. I'm so glad you loved it! Happy cooking!