This easy Slow Cooker Venison Shoulder is perfect for rice bowls, noodle bowls, egg rolls, or spring roll fillings.
Want more slow-cooked venison recipes? Check out my main Crockpot Venison Recipes page.
The braising liquid also doubles as a serving sauce, which is made with soy sauce, sugar, ginger, chilies, scallions, and other delicious ingredients.
You can top off your bowl concoctions with toasted peanuts, cilantro, green onions or bean sprouts for extra texture and flavor. You can also get a little outside of the box and make Chinese-style pulled venison shoulder sandwiches.
Cooks Tips:
- Achieving the Red Color: Some recipes call for the use of red food coloring, but I opt for the natural route. I like to use annatto powder or gochujang chili paste.
- Cooking Vessels: You’ll need around a 8 quart slow cooker or larger for this recipe. If you don’t have a crockpot, you can braise this in the oven in a deep roasting pan.
- Other Cuts of Venison: If you don’t have a deer shoulder, venison necks, bone-in and de-boned shanks work as well. And if you only have boneless shoulder meat, that will work also.
- How to Store Leftovers? You can store leftovers in the refrigerator with a tight fitting lid for around 4 to 5 days. This is one of those dishes that gets better the next day.
- Can you freeze leftovers? You can totally freeze the leftovers. If stored properly, this will keep well frozen for a couple of months.
I love this dish made with boar shoulder due or domestic pork belly due to their glorious fat content, but the venison shoulder holds its own with this recipe. In fact, hong shao rou may be one of my favorite pork preparations ever, but this venison version is a tastefully pleasant addition to the wild game cooking repertoire.
I did make this dish a bit my own by adding a few different ingredients that don’t seem to be authentic in the classic preparations, but their addition yields delicious results. So the final product is a sweet, spicy, garlicky umami-packed sauce that goes wonderfully on a pulled venison sandwich, dressing your bowls or dipping your spring rolls into.
As I mentioned in the cooking tips section above, there are a couple of different ways to achieve a robust red flavor in this dish. I try and avoid food coloring at all costs. But one way that I forgot to mention is the use of gochujang, which is a Korean fermented red chili paste. I know that using this paste will remove this recipe from the classic preparation, but I think it’s worth it to add the red color without ingesting food coloring.
Looking for other venison shoulder recipes? These are my favorites:
Lastly, if you make this simple Slow Cooker Venison Shoulder, be sure to leave a comment or tag me on Instagram! I thoroughly enjoy hearing feedback and checking out the photos of recipes that you’ve made.
Slow Cooker Venison Shoulder
Ingredients
- one bone-in venison shoulder (neck or shanks)
- 2 to 3 tablespoons cooking oil or bacon fat
- 2 cups onion, roughly chopped
- 1 head of garlic, peeled and chopped
- 2 two-inch pieces of fresh ginger, sliced
- 2 three-inch long cinnamon sticks
- 3 pieces star anise
- 2 tablespoons oyster sauce
- 1 3/4 cups Shaoxing rice wine or dry sherry
- 1/2 cup natural soy sauce (dark variety if you can find it)
- 3-5 dried whole hot chilies (Chinese, Thai or Mexican variety)
- 1/3 cup light brown sugar
- 1 cup light or sodium-free chicken stock (or venison stock)
- 2 teaspoons annatto powder for red color (optional)
- 1 bunch scallions (cut in half)
Instructions
Optional Step for Maximum Flavor (or skip to set 2):
- Heat a pot over medium-high heat and add the cooking oil. Add the onions and saute for around 3 minutes. Add the ginger, garlic, cinnamon, star anise, and dried whole chilies. Cook for another 2 to 3 minutes while stirring often. Pour in the stock (or water), soy sauce, wine, oyster sauce, brown sugar, and annatto if using. Bring to a simmer and cook for 1 minute and turn off the heat.
- Place the venison shoulder in the slow cooker. Pour the ingredients from the pot over the venison shoulder. If you skipped step 1, simply pour all of the remaining ingredients over the venison. You want the liquid to cover between 1/2 to 3/4 of the meat. Add more stock if needed.
- Cover the crockpot with the lid and cook on the low setting between 7 to 9 hours. If you have the option to flip the meat over during the cook, it will aid in keeping the meat moist. Keep in mind that venison will cook differently from animal to animal. You may need to adjust the cooking time as you see fit to render tender results. Once tender, shred and eat at once, or skip to step 4.
Optional Step:
- Let the meat rest in the cooking liquid until it comes to room temperature or overnight in the refrigerator. Strain out the cooking liquid and pour it into a pot. Bring to a slow simmer and cook until the liquid has reduced to the consistency of a glaze. It should be able to coat a spoon. Shred the venison shoulder and add the sauce as you like.
NOTES
- Use a large slow cooker. An 8-quart slow cooker or larger works best for a bone-in shoulder. Venison neck, bone-in or boneless shanks, and boneless shoulder meat also work with this method.
- Cover only partway. Add enough liquid to cover about one-half to three-quarters of the meat, not all the way over the top. This keeps it braised instead of watered down.
- Cook until fork-tender. Plan on about 7 to 9 hours on low, but go by texture more than the clock because venison can vary from animal to animal.
- Flip once if possible. Turning the shoulder during the cook helps keep the exposed side moist and braising evenly.
- Build the flavor first. If you have time, sauté the onion first, then the ginger, garlic, cinnamon, star anise, and dried chiles before adding the liquids. That optional step gives the braising liquid a deeper flavor.
- Reduce the sauce after cooking. Let the meat cool in the braising liquid, then strain the liquid and simmer it until it coats a spoon if you want a stronger glaze-like finish.
- Rest overnight if wanted. This is one of those dishes that gets better the next day, and the post specifically notes that letting it rest overnight in the liquid works well.
- Store leftovers tightly covered. Refrigerate leftovers for about 4 to 5 days or freeze them for a couple of months if stored properly.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation. Nutrition is per serving.
