Easy Deer Runza

This easy deer Runza recipe was one I came up with a few years ago. My grandparents lived in Nebraska and no matter where we lived growing up, we would always take trips back to see them.

While we were there we would always stop and enjoy Runzas. It was my favorite travel stop.

Now that my grandparents have passed, we no longer have a reason to travel to Nebraska, but I still crave a good Runza every now and then. So, I wanted to try and make my own.

This is the recipe I came up with. It’s super easy and my family loves them!
It’s basically just a yeast roll stuffed with a meat and cabbage filling.

Deer: our favorite

We eat mostly deer meat throughout the year so instead of beef I use ground deer. Some people don’t like the taste of deer and say it taste “gamey”, but our deer has always had great flavor and never had a gamey taste. I think it has to do with how we process it. Zarick learned how to butcher from his grandpa and does all our deer processing. When we get another deer, I’ll post how we go about processing it so you can enjoy the benefits of wild game too!

My Easy Process

I heat the milk and water together over a low heat while I combine all my dry ingredients and the butter.

You could use a stand mixer, but I find it easier to just mix it by hand with this amazing dough whisk.

Then you add the warm milk, water and egg.

*Don’t forget the egg like I did. It’s way harder to get it to blend!

Then I just add the rest of the flour and mix until it is slightly blended, and I knead it in the bowl until all the flour is incorporated.

Turn out and knead some more.

When you start it will feel clumpy and will brake easily.

After and few minutes of folding and pressing it gets softer, smoother and springy.

Then I coat the bowl with oil and roll the dough in it to cover all sides.

Cover and let it rise until it’s double in size.

While the dough is rising, I cook the filling, so it has time to cool down a bit before you need to stuff the rolls.

Dice the onions and shred the cabbage.

Brown the meat and onions with a good amount of butter or olive oil. Deer is really lean, so you need to add some sort of fat.

Then add the cabbage and let it steam off so the filling to not watery.

Then it’s time to roll out the rolls.
I like to cut them like this to make 24 equalish portions. You can do 12 larger rolls, but we like the small ones because they are easier for our little ones to hold.

Stuff with a spoon full of the cooled filling and pinch the edges shut. I struggle with not filling them too full. 🙂

I let them rest for about 20 mins then bake for 15mins (20 or so if you do the 12 bigger ones) at 375.

When they are done and still hot, right out of the oven, I put salted butter on the top. So good! I hope you enjoy this easy deer Runza recipe as much as we do!