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OK folks, here it is: The best recipe for a deer’s front shoulder I’ve yet to find: Venison barbacoa.
This is a classic Mexican barbacoa, a mildly spicy, long-braised variant on barbecue works perfectly with the tough, sinewy front legs on a deer, or really any animal. Historically I’ve mostly used front legs for stew and for grinding, but this is even better. The meat cooks very slowly, and all that connective tissue dissolves into the broth and makes everything richer and just a little slick. Keeps your lips shiny.
Barbacoa, if you’ve never had it, is more warming than picante. Yes, there are chipotles in adobo in it, which can be bought in every Latin market I’ve ever been in, but not so many that your head blows off. The cloves are a stronger element, as are the cumin and bay.
If you want to test this recipe before making it, go to your nearest Chipotle restaurant and try their barbacoa: my venison barbacoa is virtually identical.
Serve it in tacos, burritos or over rice. And be sure to have at least a few of the traditional accompaniments, like cilantro, crumbled queso seco cheese, chopped onions, sour cream, fresh or pickled chiles, avocados — basically anything that works well on a taco.
You can buy chipotles in adobo in many supermarkets, and definitely in Latin markets or online. Oh, and read closely: My barbacoa recipe calls for 2 to 4 chiles in adobo, not cans of chiles en adobo! Many have made that mistake to their peril…
Still not convinced? Well, barbacoa may well be in the Top 5 Easiest Recipes on this website. It’s literally a crockpot-it-and-go dish. Minimal chopping, and the only thing you need to do as a cook is to shred the meat.
Want to up your barbacoa game even more? Smoke your venison neck, shanks or shoulder first. Real simple, just salt it well let it sit overnight, then smoke it for a few hours at about 200°F. Then proceed with the recipe. You’re welcome. No, seriously, doing this makes your barbacoa smack-yo-momma-in-the-face good!
Stupid crazy easy. Try it and you will not be sad. If you want a hot-weather variant of this recipe, try my Venison Yucatan.
One more thing: This stuff reheats beautifully, so make a big batch.
Venison Barbacoa
Ingredients
- 2 to 3 pounds venison, from the shoulder or legs
- 2 to 4 chipotles in adobo, canned
- 1 red onion, chopped
- 5 garlic cloves, chopped
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika (optional)
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1 tablespoon kosher salt
- ½ cup lime juice
- ½ cup cider vinegar
- 1 quart beef or venison stock
- 1/4 cup lard or vegetable oil
- Smoked salt (optional)
- Cilantro, shredded cheese, sour cream, avocados and hot sauce for garnish
Instructions
- Put everything in a slow cooker or Dutch oven and cook, covered, until the meat falls off the bone, which will be between 2 hours (for many domestic meats and young deer) and 6 hours if you have a very old animal. If you use a slow cooker, set it to “high.” If you use a regular pot, put it into the oven set to 300°F.
- Pull all the meat from the bones and shred with forks or your fingers. Stir in the lard and as much smoked salt as you want. You want the lard or oil to coat the shreds of meat. Pour over some of the juices from the pot and put the meat in a pan for the table. Serve with tacos, in a burrito or on a bun.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Made this for my wife last night with 3lb beef chuck roast. I was an hour late starting so I cut it into 6 roughly equal pieces and seared them before adding to crockpot. I hoped that would make up for the delayed start and it did cook the meat all the way through. However, the connective tissue was tougher than I wanted. Should I just make sure to give it longer next time?
Douglas: Yes, all will be well in time. Sometimes wild games does that. I once had a batch that was amazing, but took 9 hours!
Hello! Has anyone tried this in an instant pot? I have made it a few times in my crockpot and it’s amazing! But my roasts are still partially frozen so I can’t decide if I want to wait longer, I need it for dinner tonight, or try to do it in the instant pot closer to dinner time :/ thank u for the delicious recipe!
Just cleaning up a lovely elk roadkill, so neck meat, all 9 #, going in the instant pot as barbacoa. 30 minutes, then crockpot for a couple of hours. The smell is divine, the meat makes amazing tacos/burritos, etc.
Can you use stew meat that is already off the bone from the front shoulder? My butcher deboned everything and packed the front shoulder meat labeled stew meat. Or does this recipe only work if you have the meat still on the bone?
Al pastor venison recipe coming up?
Jon: Yes, you can. If I do an al pastor, it will be with wild pork or javelina!
Thank you so much for sharing this wonderful recipe! I made it with venison in my Dutch Oven for about 4 hours… delish!
I love this recipe. Can you use the “knuckle” meat from the hindquarter?
Jon: Absolutely.
I love this recipe for wild boar, and anything of similar size. Makes for easy butchering of the front legs too as they are always saved whole (minus the shanks). I’ve done a few minor tweaks, but there just isn’t much need with this recipe, it’s just damn good. I do like to brown my meat first, and sometimes if I don’t have chipotle in adobo, I just add dried chilies to the mix after removing the seeds.
The remaining broth makes for an incredible soup base too.
Hank, are there translated versions of your cookbooks or recipes? My neighbor is from Germany and loves when I share one of the venison dishes I make with your recipes. Her mother in Germany has access to lots of venison from local hunters and would love a cookbook like your Buck, Buck, Moose in her language with metric conversions.
Adam: No, they are only in English, sorry!
This is my “second” favorite recipe for venison, but don’t let that fool you. It’s my go-to for shoulders which nobody at my club usually want! If we have a good day I can walk away with 6+ shoulders for this recipe. And the kids absolutely go nuts over it!
Any recipe that has 2 steps and is this delicious has my attention!
Someone mentioned the cloves being strong, DO NOT OMIT! I forgot them once and, while good, it wasn’t the “great” that I have come to love!
Well done, sir!
This is an excellent dish. The aroma that fills the house as this slowly cooks is amazing. I’ve served this to several colleagues at work and they all rave about it as well.
I made this recipe with Canada goose legs. Smoked them as recommended and then braised in a slow cooker – basically did it overnight.
In the morning I let it cool, fished out the bones, tendons and other spare parts and it shredded very easily.
I used them as a base for the tamale recipe, but I was really tempted to just stop and make tacos.
Made this for a front yard quarantine dinner with the neighbors and everyone loved it…including several first time venison eaters. Delicious. Actually used the core of the recipe for a squirrel version recently that also came out great.
Oh my gosh what a good idea to do this with squirrel! This is why I read the comments on these recipes. I always get so many good ideas.
It doesn’t get much better than this venison barbacoa. I make it in the crockpot a couple of times a month for an easy winter meal. To up the flavor a bit check out the homemade tortilla recipe. (as a side note, the clove is powerful at first, but hang with it. It settles out and is perfect come eating time.)
Another great recipe for Sunday dinner! I wanted leftovers so doubled the recipe and made it with about 5 lbs worth of rear leg roasts, braised for 4.5 hrs and I could shred it by just mashing with the back of a fork. Incredibly tender and flavorful. Thanks!
Made this barbacoa with an elk roast the other day, froze it and took to our opening grouse camp last week here in Colorado. Recipe is super easy and delicious! I stuck it in the slowcooker for 6 hours on low. Whipped up some tacos our first night at camp, couldn’t have asked for a better camp meal.
I made this originally in mid summer and served it with homemade hoagie rolls, which was amazing. The second time I made it, I served it with homemade flour tortillas. Both time with additional topping at the choice of the individual. Just the right amount of heat for us, using 2 of the chipotle chilies. All the extra toppings help to cool it a little so don’t be afraid of the spice. I topped mine with avocado and sour cream along with some fresh veggies. This is the best venison roast preparation I’ve had.
Thanks for all the great recipes Hank!
This one was pretty good but next time I will reduce or even completely omit the cloves. Just too overpowering of a flavor and lingers on the tongue too long in my opinion.
I’ve made this 3 times now and every time hunters and nonhunters alike INHALE it. I usually make two pots, one beef and one venison and always get comments on the venison being better. Works great with shanks, neck, shoulder, and whole muscle roasts (although I’d normally save the roasts for other things).
DO NOT SKIP THE SMOKE unless you just don’t have a way to do it. Completely worth it.
Hank, when using a master stock, are you adding any seasonings or is the master stock already seasoned enough? Onions only? Smaller quantities of seasoning than recipe calls for? Also what ratio of master stock to water/broth?
If you want an easy recipe to wow a crowd with, this is a great one to use.
I made this for my dad using eiders. He’s the type of guy that when presented with wild game says, “it’s not going to kill me, right?” He scarfed this down! This recipe is also my go-to for crane legs. You just have to pick off the meat around the tendons. I use the leftover broth to cook dried black beans. Thanks Hank!