These Bacon Wrapped Venison Appetizers are spicy bites of a cream cheese-filled jalapeno slice topped with venison tenderloin, wrapped in bacon, and brushed with a sugar-free barbecue sauce.
Bring a game meat recipe to your appetizer table for any game day gatherings, holiday party, or just because occasion. Friends and family will love these tender bites bursting with flavor. I like to serve these bacon wrapped venison appetizers along next Venison Meatballs with Alfredo Sauce to give our guests a couple of game meat choices.
A new way to enjoy venison as an appetizer
I love coming up with new and flavorful ways to enjoy the venison we have in our freezer. Wrapping venison in bacon seems like a great way to keep the tenderloin from drying out and seeping flavor into it at the same time.
I kept thinking about these Bacon Wrapped Water Chestnuts and decided I would take the idea of dipping the appetizer in a sauce and implement it here with these bacon wrapped venison appetizers.
Tips for making Bacon Wrapped Venison Appetizers
- Use a tender piece of venison, such as the backstrap or tenderloin. A tough piece of game meat will be too difficult to chew where the tenderloin will practically melt in your mouth.
- Place the cream cheese inside of the jalapeno ring, I tried placing it on top and inside, and it was far easier to wrap with the cheese inside of the ring.
- Use regular cut bacon. Precooked or thick-cut bacon is not recommended for this recipe.
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What you need to make Bacon Wrapped Venison Appetizers
Whole jalapeno peppers. I recommend finding larger peppers rather than small ones.
Regular cut bacon. The bacon will completely envelop the venison. Using anything other than regular cut bacon may cause your recipe to not work. Precooked will burn because of the length of time needed to cook the other ingredients and thick-cut will take too long to crisp.
Sturdy Toothpicks. I highly recommend these toothpicks for appetizers. You need one that is thicker and more sturdy and will hold up to the heat.
Sugar-Free Barbecue Sauce: Keeping it keto, I used this barbecue sauce to make these appetizers. You can easily make your own sugar free barbecue sauce. One of my go-to recipes is the sauce on this post for Grilled Dry Rub Baby Back Ribs.
Make this recipe your way
- I made this appetizer low carb and keto-friendly by sticking to a sugar-free barbecue sauce. Feel free to use any type of sauce you wish, regular or sugar-free, depending on your dietary needs.
- Swap out the cream cheese and use your favorite cheese. Cubes of Cheddar, Pepper Jack, or Colby cheese would work wonderfully.
- The jalapeno doesn't lend a lot of heat, however, if you don't want to use jalapeno, cut green pepper into square pieces and just lay the cheese on top of the pepper and proceed with wrapping.
Other venison appetizer recipes you may like
Venison works in many recipes, just the same as any other red meat, such as beef. So, if you have a favorite appetizer that utilizes beef, you can easily convert it to venison. Some venison appetizers recipes I have made and highly recommend are listed below.
Bourbon and Butter only get better when you add venison and maple for this Bourbon Butter Venison Steak Tips recipe.
Venison Street Tacos are an awesome appetizer to set out for guests to assemble on their own.
If you haven't' tried Venison Pot Stickers, then now is the time to do it! These are one of our very favorite ways to enjoy potstickers.
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Bacon Wrapped Venison Appetizers
Ingredients
- 1 lb venison tenderloin cut into 24 bite-sized pieces
- 2 large jalapenos seeded and cut into ring slices (a total of 24 slices)
- 2 ounces cream cheese cut into 24 cube-sized pieces
- 12 slices regular cut bacon cut in half
- ½ cup sugar-free barbecue sauce
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Place the 1 cream cheese pieces inside of 1 jalapeno ring. Lay a piece of venison tenderloin on top of the jalapeno slice.
- Wrap the venison with ½ slice of bacon and secure with a toothpick. Repeat until you have 24 bacon wrapped venison appetizers.
- Bake for 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and place 1 teaspoon of barbecue sauce on top of each appetizer.
- Return to the oven and bake another 10 minutes, or until bacon is crisp.
- Serve with additional barbecue sauce if desired.
If prepped ahead of time how long can you store?
If you wanted to prep these ahead of time, you could do so a day ahead. I highly recommend making these the same day they will be consumed so the bacon is not soggy.
This has been such a hit in our extended family for so many years. All of us have made it wirh different sauces or bastes. Mine is the favorite! Drizzle with a balsamic glaze. 😋
Hi Donna, thank you for sharing! Shelby