Venison Marsala
Venison Marsala is a deep and flavorful recipe that provides a unique way to use your venison steak. (But it would work just as well with beef!)
A Take On The Classic Chicken Marsala
A Take On The Classic Chicken MarsalaYou've undoubtedly heard of the Italian-American classic Chicken Marsala: chicken cooked in a Marsala wine reduction with sauteed mushrooms.
That dish is a variation on a classic Italian scaloppine, a dish where thin cuts of meat (most often veal, pork, or chicken) are dredged in flour, sauteed, and served with a wine reduction sauce. Scaloppine is really more of a method than a set dish, and there are many variations throughout Italy.
Marsla wine is often paired with steak or veal in addition to chicken, so we thought, why not venison?
The meaty depth of the venison with the bold flavor of the Marsala wine reduction promised to be a match made in heaven!
How does our Venison Marsala taste?
Move over chicken Marsala, there's a new Marsala meat in town!
In all seriousness, the deeper flavors of venison pair incredibly well with the Marsala and mushroom sauce. Mushrooms, red wine, dark meat. What more could you ask for in a comforting, hearty dish?
If you're used to cooking with venison, you know that it can be tricky to get it tender without a long cooking time. In this recipe, pounding the steaks thin takes any toughness out of them, leaving you with simply flavorful meat!
A Simple Marsala
A Simple MarsalaEven though Marsala wine comes with the stigma of culinary grandeur, this dish is actually quite simple to prepare.
A quick pan sear and a ten minute simmer yield a main dish that is moist and full of flavor. Paired with some rice (or mashed potatoes) and some steamed veggies, it makes for a meal that tastes like you've slaved for hours.
Don't have venison? Make Beef Marsala!
If this dish sounds tasty, and now you're wishing you had access to some venison meat, don't worry. Mushrooms and Marsala wine are just as tasty with some beef steak. So, grab a sirloin steak and make beef marsala instead!
Venison Marsala
Ingredients
- 4 (5oz) venison steaks (or beef sirloin steaks)
- ⅓ c unbleached all-purpose flour
- 1 ½ tablespoon olive oil, divided
- 3 c sliced mushrooms
- 1 c Marsala wine
- 1 c beef stock (low sodium)
- Salt and pepper (to taste)
Instructions
- Pound the steaks to ¼ inch thickness, using a meat mallet. (If you are using flat iron beef steaks, there should be no need to pound them, since they should be flat enough already.)
- Place the flour onto a large plate and dredge both sides of the pounded steaks in flour
- Heat 1 tablespoon of the olive oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add the meat and cook until golden, 1-2 min per side. Remove steaks from frying pan and place on a paper towel lined plate.
- Add 1-2 teaspoon of olive oil if the skillet looks dry. Add the mushrooms and saute for 2-3 min, until lightly golden. Remove the mushrooms from the pan.
- De-glaze your pan by adding the Marsala wine and stock, scraping up any stuck bits. Reduce the heat to medium and simmer for 5-6 minutes until the mixture has reduced slightly.
- Return the meat and mushrooms to the pan and simmer for 2-4 minutes to heat through.
- Season with salt and pepper to taste.
- Serve over mashed potatoes or white rice with a side of green veggies.
Notes
Love venison? Try some of our other venison recipes!
This is one of the recipes from the early days of Curious Cuisiniere. We've updated our pictures since we first made it, but we've left the original image here as a fun throwback and shout out to how far we've come. Enjoy!
Sarah founded Curious in 2010 as a way to save her recipe creations and share culinary experiences. Her love for cultural cuisines was instilled early by her French Canadian Grandmother. Her experience in the kitchen and in recipe development comes from over 10 years working in professional kitchens. She has traveled extensively and enjoys bringing the flavors of her travels back to create easy-to-make recipes.
This recipe is delicious and easy! I used venison sirloin steaks and chicken broth because it is what I had opened. I served it with mashed potatoes and green beans. I will make this again and again. Thank you for sharing this!
So glad you enjoyed it Diana!
My dad was at first disappointed...he thought I'd wasted beef by adding all the extra ingredients (he prefers beef with just salt and pepper). When he found out was venison he was impressed.
This was my first venison dish that didn't involve ground meat, and I was pleased with how it turned out. Thank you!
How funny! We're glad he liked it in the end! Venison can be a bit tricky to cook, so we're glad you found and enjoyed our recipe! (Be sure to check out our other venison recipes too. We think you'll continue to be pleased!)
Excellent dish! I made this for dinner tonight. I have made chicken Marsala many times, but never thought to use venison. This recipe was a hit with the family. The venison was moist and the taste was outstanding. The only thing I did differently was brine the steaks in a water, salt, and beef stock for about 2 hours. I added the salt and pepper to the flour prior to dredging the steaks then followed the recipe exactly. Very good recipe. I will be making this again as requested by the family. Thank you for this wonderful recipe!!
So glad you and your family enjoyed it!
I'm making this tonight but haven't tried it without the flour. One question - why chicken stock and not beef? the friend who introduced this to us uses chicken stock as well.
Chicken is the traditional meat to use when doing a Marsala style, so we chose to use chicken stock in a nod to the traditional dish, as well as for the lighter flavor that chicken stock would give. You could use beef stock here if you wanted. It would change the flavor a bit, giving the dish a more heavy and beefy flavor, but it definitely would work.
Thanks - I may give it a try. I think this would be good using a crock pot, too, since venison can be a bit tough sometimes. I've done venison via crock pot for stroganoff and it works well.
I bet this would be good in a crock pot. Venison works so well slow cooked.
Oh, my mouth is just watering all over! Looks wonderful:)
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this sounds amazing! Much better without the dredging I am sure 🙂
Thanks Tandy. We thought so!
Looks and sounds wonderful!
Thanks. It's a great dish!
Mm... I've never had venison before. What's it like?
Venison is a lot like beef, but the meat is leaner. I don't notice much difference from beef in taste or texture, with the exception of ground venison, which has a finer texture. But, I've noticed that if you don't constantly prod it while it's cooking, the ground meat stays in larger chunks, which makes it a bit closer in texture to the ground beef. It is nice though, because you can cook it up and not have to worry about draining off any fat.
Got it. Thanks!
Looks very appetizing!
Thanks!
Looks excellent. I cooked a venison and plum stew over the weekend. One of the best dishes I have cooked in a long time. I will post it in a few weeks.
Best,
Conor
Thanks Conor! Venison and plum stew sounds great! I'm looking forward to seeing your recipe.