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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 the 2nd time today with an elk shank and shoulder roast. A big batch is the way to go. Smoked the meat first for 2 hours at 180, which is a game changer for this recipe, then around 4 hours in the oven at 300 using a cast iron pot. For those using a pot in the oven, eventually the cloves, lime, and vinegar mellow substantially and blend in perfectly. This recipe freezes great as well. Thanks, Hank.
Wow. This recipe is king. Thank you so much for this. I always dreaded the amount of time and effort the front legs and shoulders took to make ground meat. Now I have a recipe that not only removes all that tedious work, but produces a product that tastes awesome to deer lovers as well as those not so keen on venison. All family and friends love this recipe. I did smoke the leg for a couple hours and used lard rather than oil for the last step. I can’t wait to try more of the recipes in the book and applying some of the tips that are provided. Great job! Wish I had this twenty years ago!
I blended the solids and a little of the broth from the dutch oven, thickened it into a sauce and coated the meat in this sauce instead of lard. Essentially made it venison barbacoa guisada. Best tacos I’ve ever made.
This is such a terrific recipe for so many of our Puget Sound divers. It’s been my go to for roughly five years. I serve it over rice.
Thanks for this site, it’s great, and this is a great recipe. I’ve done it with a boned out neck roast as well and find the neck shreds perfectly for this. I have a question though, can you roast a bone-in neck, or should you remove the spinal cord prior to cooking?
Doug: Absolutely you can do a whole neck, but I typically only do this in places where CWD is not an issue.
Thank you. I wasn’t sure if it affected the taste. No CWD issues here in NJ I’m aware of.
My go to recipe for venison roasts. Also, my most shared recipe when someone else is asking what to do with their venison roasts.
I used an entire can of chipotle with a small venison neck roast. I think there were 8 peppers. Fantastic result – best tacos I’ve ever had! It was a little hot but sour cream took the edge off.
I made this with a bone-in venison neck. After 5 hours in the oven, it was tender and delicious. Very similar to cabeza taco meat like I get from local taco trucks. I used four chiles in adobo. It was nowhere near being too spicy to me, but I eat a lot of very spicy food. Next time I will use six to eight chiles, although four would probably suit people who are not into hot food.
One thing that’s very clear to me is that this is a better way to use neck meat than grinding it up.
I want to figure out a recipe to use the leftover broth, which is pretty sour. I am thinking that I could take some of the broth, add some soy sauce, brown sugar, and coconut milk to make a Filipino style adobo with chicken thighs.
Save the broth and make tamales with the barbacoa and broth. Where it takes a bit of time, I freeze and save till I’m ready to knock them out. Another top notch way to utilize this recipe. Hank’s tamale recipe is how I stumbled onto this one.
Very good, but I would never use vegetable oil in this, or any of my cooking, for that matter. Got rid of that stuff from my house years ago. If you do a little research on how the gunk is made, you will be sickened. All of the industrial seed oils (veg oil, corn oil, safflower oil, canola oil, etc) are made using a chemical extraction process, using bleaches, deodorizers, and toxic chemicals like benzene. . Best to use something natural, like beef tallow or lard if you need to add fat (or a good quality olive oil).
I was given a hind quarter roast by a neighbor and searched for a tasty way to prepare it as I am not well versed in game meats. I found this recipe and used all the ingredients, but made a few tweaks. I seasoned the hind quarter (mine was small, under 2 pounds and boneless), with kosher salt, cumin, New Mexico chili powder, pepper, and smoked paprika. I added some duck fat and canola oil to my Dutch oven, heated it to high heat and seared the roast on all sides. I removed from pot and set aside. Then I lowered heat a bit, added red onion and garlic. Once fragrant and softened somewhat, I added the spices. I cut down on measurements some because my roast was smaller and I was using less liquid. I thought a full tsp of ground cloves would be much. I added chili powder and chipotle peppers (I used 2). I let the spices toast some before adding liquid (I had an open chicken stock, so I used that up). I halved all the liquid ingredients. I brought to a good simmer before adding roast and juices back to the pot. Covered and put in oven at 300. It was ready in just over 2 hours. I served this as a soft taco filling with lime crema, avocado, radish slivers, and cilantro. Incredibly delicious. My partner may take up hunting again. We live in the North Country, so why not? Thank you for your inspiration.
We love this recipe when eaten same day as burrito bowl or tacos. We used 2 cans adobo sauce, but found it to be too spicy after it was frozen and thawed a few weeks later. But we are Midwesterners . . . . . .
OOps, just saw the “to your peril” part above. I will count out the chilis next time.
I think he meant to use 2-4 chipotle peppers from one can. NOT 2-4 cans of chipotles.
this is our go to recipe! we always have a lot of venison roast and this has been a favorite for those that didn’t think they even liked venison. We do “burrito bowls” with this with rice and beans and all the toppings. Most say it’s better than chipotle!
Can the chipotles in adobe be substituted for anything else? I am finding these hard to source in the shops in the UK.
Paul: You can skip them, or add moderately hot chiles to taste.
Hey Paul, Culinaris has them online in the UK. Or if you live in/nr Edinburgh or Glasgow, Lupe Pintos always has them.
Has anyone tried this in an Instantpot? It seems like it would work pretty well.
Dennis: It would, but I am not sure of the settings.
I just made this for the first time in my InstantPot. I browned the meat first and then added everything else and cooked on high pressure for 1 hour. I will say it was not as tender as I was expecting. next time, I might try skipping the browning and adding another 15 minutes cook time.
P.S. Did anyone else find the cloves way overpowering? I thought there must have been a typo in the recipe because that was all we could taste. Next time I’ll go for more Chipotles (I used 3) and about 75% less cloves (from 1 tsp to 1/4 tsp).
Cat: The Instant pot is what did it. Pressure cookers will accentuate spices and seasonings, so the clove won’t mellow out.
Hey Cat, I used my Instapot but used the slow cooker & stew setting (high heat) for 6 hours. The meat just falls apart and is so tasty. Cloves are in no way over powering. (I did the same as you with the chipotles and am going to up them as well. )
Brown the venison then cook on high for 70 minutes….delicious!!
Wow! Have made several times, and this is so flavorful! Have done venison and even a store bought pork roast with excellent results! Thanks again!!
Doing a homecooked “catering” job for my daughter’s wedding in NJ in October. They want to do a taco bar. I will be making several crock-pots full of this lusciousness for that party.
A MUST-cook recipe and a very crowd-pleasing way to cook venison neck. Deep flavors, lots of leftovers – it’s a yearly tradition in this house.
It’s also a great way to learn how to use dehydrated peppers. I was inspired and now use guajillos regularly.
I’ve currently got 6lbs of elk neck roast rocking for a double batch of this recipe. Hands down my favorite barbacoa recipe and my favorite use for venison neck roast ever. When I first started hunting, my mentors would tell me to add the neck meat to the grind pile. I turned them on to this recipe and now they save the neck roasts instead of grinding. Smoked salt or smoking the meat prior to starting in the crockpot is a really nice addition.
I pulled up this recipe in the past, grabbed a roast and surprised my husband by having this ready after a hunting trip. He was amazed by the final product! Today we decided to do a neck roast and you aren’t kidding….5 hours and perfection! We will try smoking it on the target first next time. Do you add the spices as a rub before smoking or just smoke it then follow the recipe?
Michelle: I just salt the meat and smoke it, because it will simmer in the broth for hours later.
After buying Buck,Buck,Moose and finding this recipe, we have a favorite. Absolutely a winner every time we have cook it, Thank you Hank! The left overs are great too, the next day I just put some over some chips have “nat yourrrs”….MINE.
This is absolutely delicious!! Can it be pressure canned? I’m pretty new to canning and not quite sure what can – and cannot – be done. Thanks!
Tara: I think it should pressure can well. I’d try it before the finishing stage, so you can take it out of the jar and sear that one side crispy. If it were me, I’d can it as if it were “beef stew,” which has set USDA protocols for safety.
How much of the roast should be submerged in liquid ? In my small crock pot the roast is fully submerged… thinking perhaps it would be better to use the larger one and have it 1/4 to 1/2 submerged?
Brandon: No, you want it totally submerged.