I usually fry my venison steaks in a skillet on high heat, but I was just wanting an easy way to make venison steaks. I searched online, but all the recipes called to sear the meat before baking, which I’m sure is great for keeping the juices in. But it was not want I was wanting to do. I just wanted simplicity. I will bake pork chops in the oven without searing them, and they turn out fine. So, I thought, okay I am not going to listen to whatever recipe I find on the internet. I’m going to take a leap of faith and develop my own recipe to actually create something delicious. I created baked venison steaks in a garlic thyme butter sauce with cinnamon brown sugared sweet potatoes.
This recipe blew my taste buds out of the ball park. The steaks are seasoned with the traditional salt and pepper, but the butter flavored with thyme and garlic adds so much more to the overall taste. I paired the venison steaks with a brown sugar sweet potato with a touch of cinnamon. It compliments the venison steak amazingly. Believe me when I say that this is one of the best meals to prepare with venison steaks.
Ingredients
2 lb. Venison Steak, split into 1 lb. sections
Olive Oil Spray
Himalayan Pink Salt
Pepper
3 Tbsp. Butter, unsalted, melted
1 tsp. Thyme, dried
1 tsp. Garlic Powder
3 lb. Sweet Potatoes
¼ c. Butter, browned
½ c. Brown Sugar
1 tsp. Cinnamon
Directions for Venison Steaks & Sweet Potatoes
Thaw venison steaks. We store ours in vacuumed sealed bags. To thaw, I remove from the freezer, place in a large bowl, and fill it up with a lukewarm water. Whenever the water cools down, I replace it with warmer water once again. Sometimes this takes three turns of replacing the water.
Wash, peel, and cube sweet potatoes. Cubes should be about 1.5”. Fill up a pot with cold water, enough to cover the sweet potatoes. Transfer to a burner on high heat. Keep a lid on the pot to increase the water temperature quicker. By the time the pot has reached a rapid boil, the sweet potatoes are about done. Maybe a few minutes more. A fork should be able to pierce them, but the potatoes should keep their shape.
Preheat the oven to 375°F.
While the potatoes are on the stove, begin assembling the baking dish with the venison steaks. Spray a 9” x 13” glass pan with olive oil spray. In a single layer, place as much venison steak as possible. It can be touching each other. Add salt and pepper to the steaks. Melt butter in microwave. Add the thyme and the garlic powder to the melted butter. Stir before drizzling over the venison steaks.
Bake the venison steaks for 20 minutes for well done portions. It can be done for less, just make sure the internal temperature reaches 145°F to be food safe.
When the potatoes are done boiling, which may be while assembling the venison steaks, strain the sweet potatoes. Cover with a lid until ready to add.
Brown the butter in a large skillet. Add brown sugar and cinnamon, stirring quickly. Let this cook together before adding the sweet potatoes into the skillet. Stir the sweet potatoes occasionally. Cover with a lid on a low to medium-low heat for 10 minutes. Turn off and keep covered until ready to serve with the venison steaks.
Once the first batch of venison steaks are baked, transfer to a serving dish. Keep the extra melted butter in the dish and add the second half of the venison steaks. Repeat step 5 and transfer to a serving dish.
