How to Make Venison Tourtiere (Meat Pie)

If you are looking for more delicious and comforting recipe to use your wild game meat this holiday season, you need to try making Venison Tourtiere! It is a classic French Canadian meat dish full of spices and traditionally enjoyed through Christmas and New Years.

Tourtiere was a Christmas Eve tradition for my family for years. My grandma made it every Christmas Eve, and it is the perfect holiday meal! This isn’t the most traditional version but it’s simple and delicious! It is hearty, warming and everyone loves it. It can be made in advance, then baked fresh and served any time.

If this is a new thing for you, let me break down this Venison Tourtiere recipe for you. It starts with a flaky, buttery pie crust. You then cook up a meat mixture of both pork and venison. Add in your aromatics, spices like cinnamon, nutmeg and thyme. Next, you add in broth and potato to give it a nice thick sauce and fill your pie crust with that delicious meat! Bake it until golden perfection and serve it ad is, with homemade gravy or cranberry sauce.

I love making Tourtiere with venison or any wild game meat, because it is a completely different flavor profile to what most of us are used to. The warm spices like cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves, may seem strange to you, but they compliment wild game so beautifully! If you want to prep this ahead of time, simple make the crust, filly the pie and store it in the freezer until you want to bake it and serve!

Tips for Making Venison Tourtiere

1. Cold Ingredients! In order to get a nice flaky crust and a good this pie, you want to make sure you are letting the ingredients fully chill before baking. Once you make the meat filling, you want that to fully cook before adding it to the pie. Then you want to chill the entire pie before baking it as well.
2. You can make this pie with almost any ground wild game meat you have, but I recommend you do not skip the pork. It adds flavor, keeps the pie juicy and allows the spices to shine because of its mild flavor.
3. Make sure you allow the pie to cool and set for a good 20 minutes before slicing. You can slice into it right away, however this can result in it being extra loose and end up with most of the juices coming out.

Venison Tourtiere (meat Pie) Ingredients

Pie Crust– You can use a store bought pie crust if you prefer, but I always recommend making it at home, It is so much better.

Ground Venison– As mentioned above, this can be almost any ground wild game meat you have on hand. Venison, moose, bear, goat etc.

Ground Pork– Do not skip this. It adds flavor and keeps the pie nice and juicy.

Onion– Yellow onion is best.

Garlic– As always I recommend using fresh garlic for the best flavor.

Celery- This just adds a bit of flavor. You won’t taste it.

Broth– You can use beef broth (that’s what I use), pork broth or any broth that you love.

Potato- One russet potato is added to this pie to help it thicken and hold in some of the moisture.

Spices– Do not be scared by some of these spices. Trust me, they turn out incredible. Nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves, bay leaf and sage are what you need.

Fresh Thyme– I also like to add just a bit of fresh thyme for some earthy flavor.

Egg Wash– This is just a combination of egg yolk and milk to brush over the pie and make it golden.

The Steps

Make the Pie Crust

1. Start by making the pie dough. Stir together the flour, sugar and salt in a medium sized bowl.
2. Then, stir in the grated cold butter just until evenly mixed.
3. After, add in the egg, water and lemon juice and stir until it starts to form a dough.
4. Before everything is incorporated, dump the whole bowl out onto the counter and gently knead it to get all the flour incorporated. If it isn’t coming together very well, add another 1/2-1 tbsp of water. You want to handle the dough as little as possible.
5. Cut the dough in half and form into 2 disks. Wrap them in plastic wrap and place in the fridge to get nice and firm, 1-2 hours.

Make the Meat Filling

1. While the pie crust is chilling, get started on the filling by adding both the venison and pork to a skillet over medium heat with a couple tbsp of oil.
2. Brown the meat until almost fully cooked through, then remove it from the pan.
3. To that same pan, add the onion, celery and garlic. Cook for 4-5 minutes to soften the vegetables.
4. Then, add in the bay leaf, thyme, flour, and all the spices. Stir.
5. Keeping the pan on medium heat, stir in the broth and grated potato. Allow this mixture to cook until most of the liquid is gone and the mixture is nice and thick.
6. Remove from the heat, and place in the refrigerator to chill until COMPLTELEY cool. At least an hour or more.

Fill and Bake

1. Once your pie crust and filling are cool, roll out each disk of pie crust nice and thin on a floured surface.
2. Place one layer of the pie crust into a floured pie plate and crimp the edges how you like.
3. Spread the cooled meat mixture into the pie, then lay the other sheet of pie crust on top, and seal the edges using a bit of water so they stick together.
4. Cut a slit in the middle of the pie crust on top, then cover and let chill for 1 hour OR this is where you can put it in the freezer to then bake whenever you want.
5. When you are ready to bake the pie, preheat your oven to 375F.
6. Mix together the egg yolk and milk, then brush the top of the pie all over. I also like to sprinkle some flaky salt over top but thats optional.
7. Bake the pie for 25 minutes then reduce heat to 300F and bake another 20-30 minutes or until nice and golden.
8. Allow the pie to set/ cool for 20 minutes before slicing, then serve warm with gravy or cranberry sauce. Enjoy!

If you give this recipe a try, leave a comment or recipe review below!

Looking for holiday recipes to try with wild game meat?

https://cmbarndominium.com/burrata-maple-bourbon-venison-crostinis/

https://cmbarndominium.com/easy-flavourful-caramelized-onion-venison-sausage-rolls/#

https://cmbarndominium.com/how-to-make-delicious-venison-wellington/