Simple Ground Venison, Potatoes, and Cheese Casserole

I love cooking, but some nights..it just needs to be easy. This simple ground venison, potatoes, and cheese casserole is quick, hearty, and cozy.  

When I got home today, I opened the fridge, and saw that I needed to use the ground deer burger that I had thawed out over the weekend.

I didn’t have stuff for spaghetti, we had already had tacos this week, so it was back to the drawing board. 

Did I mention that I had about 5 minutes to make a decision, because I had to be somewhere in about 30 minutes from that time.  So, I googled, “What can I make with ground beef, potatoes, and cheese?”. 

This ground venison casserole recipe comes together with things you probably already have in your kitchen. It’s creamy, cheesy, hearty, and yes—meat and potatoes in the best way.

I love using ground venison, but you can totally swap in ground beef. Either way, this is comfort food. And it’s the kind you can serve with a side of green beans or mashed potatoes if you’re feeding a crowd with big appetites.

Let’s get to it.

Why did I ask the question, “What can I make with ground beef, potatoes, and cheese?” 

Have you ever been in this situation before? It happens to me at least twice a week. 

I usually plan for four meals, but the rest of the time we are ALL going to get a surprise for dinner.

You start to get to where you can take a few ingredients and create something.

It may not be a ten, but dinner is served. A friend of mine taught me years ago that you can simply look at what you have in your fridge, pantry, or freezer, and google, “What can I make with….”.  You fill in the blanks.  

Why is this an important question? 

This post is about this particular dinner, but it is more about encouraging you to create something and improvise when you need to.

When you live in the country like we do, you don’t go to the store when you need a few ingredients. 

You get your groceries once a week and then you shop in your own pantry or freezer and figure out what you can make.

I have recipe books and a long history of cooking, but being able to google, “What can I make with…..?”, has saved me lots of time and brain power

What other types of questions can I ask?

A few weeks ago I asked, “What can I make with ground beef, Doritos, and cheese?”. I might ask, “What soup can I make with diced tomatoes, cheese, and chicken?”. The list goes on and on.  

Why did you ask about ground beef when you are cooking with ground deer?

I substitute all things ground beef with deer burger. I am blessed to have a family of hunters who process their harvest.

We have a freezer full of deer burger, deer tenderloins, and deer roast. We also have deer salami, deer sticks, and deer bologna that we send off to be processed for us.

It is a lean and healthy meat that we love and get to enjoy. I am trying to share more and more of my venison recipes with you all, but it’s not always easy to find them. 

What if I am new to cooking?

Don’t compare your beginning to someone else’s 10, 20, or 30 plus years. We all began somewhere. 

I remember looking at a glass deviled egg dish that I received as a wedding gift and not having a clue what it was. Thank you to my cousin Sarah for leaning over and whispering what it was to me. 

Cooking and baking consist of a lot of trial and error and it is OK to try new things, fail, succeed, try again, and change things.

I learned this early on primarily because of living in the country. Like I mentioned earlier, you use what you have.   

What happened when you googled, “What can I make with ground burger, potatoes, and cheese?”

Well, similar recipes for a casserole came up. I picked one and went with it. Roadblock, I didn’t have cream of mushroom soup. That’s ok, I just googled, “How do I make my own cream of mushroom soup?”.  

I hit a second roadblock. I didn’t have heavy cream or mushrooms. I’ll preach it again. Figure it out and don’t be afraid. 

I just used more butter, more flour, regular milk, and no mushrooms. 

Knowing that the goal was to cover the potatoes with liquid and I knew that cream of mushroom soup was thick, so this makeshift cream of something soup, that happened to be very similar to gravy, would have to work.  And work it did! 

What ingredients did I need for this recipe?

I needed an onion, milk, butter, flour, ground deer (beef), potatoes, cheese, and salt and pepper. 

The recipe called for cream of mushroom soup, but I used flour, butter, and milk to make a thick like gravy substance to use instead. 

I had cheddar cheese, but I knew if I needed more than one bag, I would just use the rest of the cheese blend that I had. Again, just go with it.

Ingredients 
• 1 pound ground venison or ground beef
• ½ a yellow onion, red onion, or sweet onion, diced
• 3 medium russet potatoes, sliced or diced
• 1 ¼ cups milk
• 1 can (10.5 oz) cream of mushroom soup – or homemade version below
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 package cheddar cheese
• Optional: a pinch of garlic powder or red pepper flakes for a little kick

For homemade cream of mushroom soup:
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 5 tablespoons flour
• 1 cup milk or cream
• Salt and pepper to taste 

What steps did I take to make this potato, ground beef, and cheese recipe?

• First, go ahead and preheat your oven to 350°F.
• Next, grab a large skillet. Brown your wild game meat mixture over medium heat. Toss in your diced onion—whatever kind you like—while the meat cooks. It softens up right in there, and the flavor gets cozy with the meat.
• While that’s going, you can slice or dice your potatoes. No need to be fancy. Just make sure they’re not too thick so they cook all the way through.
• If you’re making the homemade soup, melt 3 tablespoons of butter over medium heat. Once it’s melted, stir in 5 tablespoons of flour. Let it cook for a minute to lose that raw flour taste. Then slowly add in 1 cup of milk or cream. Stir it until it thickens. Add salt, pepper, and even a little garlic powder if you’d like.
• Spray a casserole dish (9×9 works great) with nonstick spray.
• Layer in your cooked meat mixture with the chopped onion, the soup (homemade or canned cream of mushroom soup), 1 cup of milk, your potatoes, salt, and black pepper. Stir everything around gently so the potatoes are coated and sitting in the creamy sauce. This is how you get those delicious layers of flavor mixing. 
• Cover it all with foil and bake in your preheated oven for 60 minutes.
• Once it’s done, take it out, remove the foil, sprinkle on your shredded cheddar cheese, and pop it back in the oven for another 2–5 minutes. Just long enough for that cheese to melt and get gooey. Keep an eye on it while cooking it for the additional minutes. 

What did your family think of this meal?

I of course gave it a ten out of ten because I had a hot and cheap delicious meal all in the comfort of my own home. 

To be honest, it wasn’t a family favorite, but I didn’t have any complainers. 

Now, the one that I made with Doritos, ground deer, and cheese was a hit, and we only had a tiny bit of leftovers for that meal. I actually need to make that one again. 

Would you make it again?

I know it is an option, but it will not be making my weekly or monthly rotation. However, we still had a homemade, semi-healthy meal with meat and potatoes. 

Serving Ideas

This dish stands on its own, but it’s delicious next to a scoop of green beans, some hash browns, or some extra mashed potatoes. If you’ve got leftovers (big if), they heat up great the next day.

Time to Be a Doer and Make This Ground Venison, Potatoes, and Cheese Casserole 

This ground venison recipe is one of those dependable meals I can go back to when the fridge is looking a little empty and the day’s been long. You can switch it up, toss in veggies, or sprinkle in red pepper flakes if your people like spice.

And whether you’re using store-bought soup or making your own from scratch, you’re still getting a hearty, homemade dinner on the table in just over an hour.

Let me know if you try it. Maybe even go back for a second helping. 

Favorite Venison Recipes

• Venison Steak – A great option when you are short on cooking time.
• Sloppy Joes – Serve this with some potato chips and enjoy. 
• Venison Meatloaf – This is a great recipe any time of the year. It is a comforting meal that the whole family will love. 
• Loaded Venison Nachos – All you need is one baking pan for this to become one of your family favorites. 

-anna sue