Sticky Venison Meatballs
With my pursuit of a wild game life, it’s been tough to create appetizers. Most of our favorites in the Heartland use meats like shrimp, ham, or bacon, but the lack of seafood and feral hogs in South Dakota make those hard to come by.
Instead, what’s become a staple of my weekends spent watching football on the couch, I opt for making meatballs. Now this recipe is super versatile, and is a twist on the meatballs that we’ve become accustomed to that sit in a crock pot all day. With this dish, that’s still an option, you’ll just need to add a little more breadcrumbs to firm up the meatballs for a barbeque sauce bath.
What’s slightly different about this recipe from others is also the focus on meat. Some meatballs include things like rice, grains, or onions, but these appetizers are all about venison.
Serve on their own with nothing more than a toothpick, or put them in dinner rolls for a mini meatball sub unlike any other. However you consume them, they’ll definitely beat any meat and cheese platter available.
Ingredients
2 pounds of ground elk 3 eggs ¼ cup bread crumbs 3 tbs honey mustard 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce ½ cup ketchup
1 cup barbeque sauce ¼ cup ketchup 1 cup brown sugar
Directions
Combine the ground elk, eggs, bread crumbs, honey mustard, Worcestershire sauce, and ketchup in a large bowl and mix.
Form the mixture into meatballs, creating about 15 total for a sprayed cookie sheet.
Place the meatballs in an oven at 400 degrees for 15 minutes.
Combine barbeque sauce, ketchup, and brown sugar to create the sauce. Double this if you want the meatballs to have more flavor.
After the 15 minutes of baking, pull the meatballs out and drizzle the sauce on top. Place them back in the oven for another 5 minutes.
