Crispy chicken fried venison cutlets, “escalope,” are a delicious comfort food classic. This dish is traditionally made with lean meats such as veal, so using wild game meat like venison in its place is a good choice.
These golden brown crispy cutlets are the perfect vehicle for a delicious gravy. In this case, it happens to be homemade mushroom gravy. However, a bright and robust tomato “gravy” with fresh herbs would work well here, too.
Don’t like mushrooms? Try my roasted venison gravy recipe using a homemade venison broth. Or for something on the creamy side, give me sage cream sauce a shot.
And if you’re wondering what the difference is between chicken fried venison cutlets and venison cubed steak, it pretty much boils down to the tenderization process. Cube steaks need to be pierced across the entire surface of the meat in order to make them tender.
They can sometimes be pounded with a meat mallet beforehand to aid in tenderizing them. For cutlets, they are either butterflied or pounded thin with a meat mallet before breading, or a combination of the two (butterflying and pounding).
Sometimes it seems like everyone is looking for a new way to prepare a venison steak for the dinner table, but this tried and true cutlet method for frying loins\backstraps is hard to beat.
Tenderizing the Venison Cutlets:
The secret to tenderness is to increase the surface area by butterflying and pounding the venison cutlets to 1/8′ to 1/4′ thickness. Place the meat on a cutting board, cover it with plastic wrap or a large freezer bag, and pound it with the bottom of a skillet or meat mallet.
Working Ahead:
The mushroom sauce can be made 2 days ahead. You can thin it out with a little cream if it’s too thick once reheated.
Using a different Cut of Venison:
Fried venison backstrap may just be one of the best comfort food dishes but, if you don’t have any venison loins, you can use a round steak from the hind legs. The top round or bottom round would work out perfectly here. Just make sure that you butterfly them and pound thin.
Looking for other venison recipes? These are a few of my favorites:
Lastly, if you make this chicken fried Venison Cutlets recipe, be sure to leave a review and comment or tag me on Instagram! I thoroughly enjoy hearing feedback and checking out the photos of recipes that you’ve made.
Chicken Fried Venison Cutlets with Mushroom Gravy
Ingredients
For the Venison Cutlets
- 4 four ounce venison backstrap portions (butterflied and pounded to 1/4" thin slices)
- 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup dried bread crumbs
- 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
- 2 eggs, beaten
- 1/4 cup milk
For the Mushroom Sauce
- 1/2 ounce dried porcini mushrooms (dried morel mushrooms or dried shiitakes work)
- 1/2 unsalted venison stock or (chicken stock, veal stock)
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1/2 cup red onion, finely chopped
- 3 garlic cloves, peeled finely & finely chopped
- 1/2 cup dry white wine
- 1 1/2 cups cremini mushrooms, sliced
- 3/4 cup heavy cream
- 1/2 teaspoon fresh thyme
- kosher salt and black pepper to taste
- chopped parsley for garnishing
Instructions
Hydrate the dried mushrooms.
- Place the dried porcini mushrooms into a heat-proof vessel. Bring a 1/2 cup of water to a boil. Pour the boiling water over the mushrooms. Cover the container with a lid or plastic wrap and set aside for 15 minutes.
Set up a breading dredging station for the venison.
- On your countertop, place 3 containers large enough to fit the venison. Place the flour in the first container, the beaten eggs & milk in the second container, and in the third container, the breadcrumbs and parmesan cheese.
Bread the Venison Cutlets.
- Season the deer meat with salt and black pepper on both sides. Dredge each piece of meat in the flour, and shake off the excess. Dip the meat into the egg wash and then into the breadcrumb/cheese mixture. Set aside at room temperature while you make the mushroom sauce.
Make the sauce
- Melt the butter in a small pot over medium heat. Add the onions and cook until soft. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute while stirring. Add the wine and turn the heat up to medium-high. Cook the wine until it has reduced in volume by half. Strain the water in which the porcini mushrooms were soaking directly into the pot.
- Chop the porcini mushrooms roughly and add them to the pot. Add the sliced cremini mushrooms, thyme, and heavy cream to the pot. Bring to a slow simmer and cook until the sauce has reduced down to a consistency in which it coats the back of a spoon. Season the sauce with salt and pepper. Turn on low and keep warm.
Cook the Cutlets
- In a large cast iron skillet or other large heavy-bottomed frying pan, heat the olive oil on medium-high heat until it just starts to smoke. Cook on each side for about 2-3 minutes or until golden brown. Season immediately with salt and pepper after removing from the pan.
NOTES
- Sauce Option: If you’re not a fan of mushrooms, give my venison gravy recipe a try using homemade venison broth.
- Pound the cutlets thin. Butterfly and pound the venison to about 1/8 to 1/4 inch thick so it stays tender and cooks fast. Backstrap works well, but top round or bottom round also work if you pound them thin first.
- Set up the dredge right. Use flour first, then the egg and milk mixture, then the breadcrumb-Parmesan mix so the coating sticks and fries evenly. Season the venison with salt and pepper before breading.
- Make the sauce first. Breaded cutlets cook in just 2 to 3 minutes per side, so have the mushroom gravy finished and held warm before the meat hits the pan.
- Reduce the sauce properly. Simmer the mushroom gravy until it coats the back of a spoon. If you make it ahead and it tightens up in the fridge, thin it with a little cream when reheating.
- Fry in hot oil. Heat the oil over medium-high until it just starts to smoke, then fry the cutlets until golden brown, about 2 to 3 minutes per side. Do not crowd the pan, or the crust will soften instead of crisping.
- Season after frying. Sprinkle the cutlets with salt and pepper as soon as they come out of the pan, while the crust is still hot.
- Work ahead if needed. The mushroom sauce can be made 2 days ahead.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation. Nutrition is per serving.
1 thought on “Chicken Fried Venison Cutlets with Mushroom Gravy”
So crispy! My wife is making this again next weekend!