Best Ever Bear Roast | Fall-Apart Tender & Easy Recipe for Bear Meat (2024)

This is the best bear roast you will ever make. The meat braises in a delicious and healthy cooking liquid that makes it fall-apart tender…and simple to do.

Best Ever Bear Roast | Fall-Apart Tender & Easy Recipe for Bear Meat (1)

The first time I ever had bear roast I was really skeptical. I mean, can you even eat bear? I thought it would be fatty and weird…boy, I couldn’t have been more wrong. If you’re skeptical of wild game, but love beef, bear is probably the most palatable type of meat for you to try!

I’ve mentioned before that I didn’t grow up eating wild game. When I met my husband, Jared, I suddenly found myself with pounds and pounds of venison on hand each year and I had no idea how to work with it. Fast forward 5 years and I now work with venison, elk and bear meat more than beef and pork and I’m publishing my first cookbook – all about cooking with venison (click here to get on my waitlist to get the book!).

Anyway, if you have a freezer full of bear meat like we do…I’m sure you’re wondering what to do with all of that meat. This bear roast recipe is the PERFECT cozy staple to add to your meal rotation. It feeds a crowd, makes great leftovers, and surprisingly – everyone loves it. My dad even served some at his office and it was gone in seconds!

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How do you cook bear meat?

There are a lot of rumors that go around about cooking with bear. Some people think you can’t cook with it because it isn’t food safe, some people think it tastes fishy and others think it’s tough. Here’s the scoop:

Bear is perfectly safe to cook with, it just needs to be handled with care in the field, frozen quickly and cooked to 165F.

The best way to put it – work with bear meat like you work with poultry. Bears do consume other animals and grub, so it is possible for them to carry parasites. So, you want to make sure you have a nice, clean shot on the animal and that it’s quickly moved from processing to vacuum sealed freezer bags and frozen as soon as possible.

When you cook it, it needs to internally reach 165F (like chicken and pork) to ensure food safety. But really, it’s just like woking with a chicken breast, so there’s nothing out of the ordinary to worry about.

Bear meat isn’t tough, but it isn’t good for steaks

Cooking bear so that it’s well-done brings me to another point. A lot of people think bear meat is tough because they’ve had well-done bear seaks. If you ask me, no steak is good well done. It’s tough, rubbery and dry.

Bear meat is best for roasts and braised dishes (like spicy pulled taco meat – YUM!) or making into ground meat. Game like venison and elk are safe to eat rare (or even raw for carpaccio or tartare if really fresh) so it’s common for people to assume the same about bear. But, because bear meat needs to be well done it’s best to get a lot of ground meat and roasts.

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Is it hard to get bear roast tender?

No! Because bear is a fattier meat, it just takes a longer cooking time to melt fat and sinew to result in a fall-apart tender roast. I think the slow cooker actually does the best job, so that’s what I’m using below.

You can, of course, use your oven to roast bear. You can follow the recipe below but roast the bear in a covered dish at 300F for about 4 hours.

You’ll know the meat is done when it shreds apart with a fork. If it isn’t there yet, be patient and let it cook more! I promise you’ll be blown away by this easy recipe and you’ll be making it all of the time!

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Have lots of bear meat on hand? Make sure you try out my Bear Chili. I think it’s my favorite of all time!

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Best Ever Bear Roast | Fall-Apart Tender & Easy Recipe for Bear Meat (5)

Best Ever Bear Roast | Fall-Apart Tender Recipe

This is the best bear roast you will ever make. The meat braises in a delicious and healthy cooking liquid that makes it fall-apart tender…and simple to do.

  • Author: Miss AK
  • Prep Time: 10 minutes
  • Cook Time: 5 hours
  • Total Time: 5 hours 10 minutes
  • Yield: 8 servings 1x
  • Category: Dinner
  • Method: Slow Cooker
  • Cuisine: American

Print Recipe

5 Stars4 Stars3 Stars2 Stars1 Star4.4 from 7 reviews

Scale

Ingredients

  • 1 Tbsp. olive oil
  • 1 (3-4 lb.) bear roast
  • 1 and 1/2 tsp. salt, divided
  • 1 tsp. pepper, divided
  • 4 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1 cup beef stock
  • 1 cups dry red wine (or sub for more stock)
  • 3 Tbsp. balsamic vinegar
  • 3 Tbsp. tomato paste
  • 45 fresh thyme sprigs

Instructions

  1. Add the olive oil to a large pan and heat over medium high heat. Meanwhile, pat the roast down with a paper towel to absord excess moisture. Sprinkle it with 1/2 teaspoon of the salt and 1/2 teaspoon of the pepper.
  2. When the pan is hot, sear the roast on all sides, creating a nice crust. This will take 5-10 minutes.
  3. Once the roast is seared, lay it in the bottom of a slow cooker.
  4. Mix together the garlic cloves, beef stock, red wine, balsamic, tomato paste, and the remaining salt and pepper.
  5. Pour the liquid over roast and lay the thyme sprigs over the top.
  6. Cover the slow cooker with a lid, and let it cook for 4-6 hours on high or 8-9 hours on low. The roast should be falling apart with a fork, that’s how you know it’s done.
  7. Serve with the liquid you cooked the roast in (you can reduce it down on the stove if you like). Enjoy!

Nutrition

  • Serving Size: 1 serving
  • Calories: 279
  • Sugar: 2 g
  • Sodium: 1315 mg
  • Fat: 7 g
  • Saturated Fat: 6 g
  • Unsaturated Fat: 1 g
  • Trans Fat: 0 g
  • Carbohydrates: 4 g
  • Fiber: 0 g
  • Protein: 43 g
  • Cholesterol: 105 mg

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Best Ever Bear Roast | Fall-Apart Tender & Easy Recipe for Bear Meat (2024)

FAQs

How do you make bear meat taste good? ›

For example, fatty stringy beef brisket is slow-cooked, barbequed, pickled, brined, and/or boiled like corned beef. This is exactly how you should handle fall bear meat. If you have bear meat that tastes like fish, stir fry the tender cuts in oyster sauce or in a Thai dish that uses fish sauce.

What's the best way to cook a bear? ›

Cooking bear meat: Like pork, the proper cooking time and temperature for bear meat is 375 degrees F for 20-25 minutes per pound. Internal cooking temperature should reach 160 degrees for 3 minutes or more before consumption.

How do you make bear meat less gamey? ›

The distinct game flavor of either birds or animals will be milder after soaking the meat overnight in the refrigerator in either a salt or vinegar solution.

Is bear meat tough or tender? ›

Bear meat isn't tough, but it isn't good for steaks

Cooking bear so that it's well-done brings me to another point. A lot of people think bear meat is tough because they've had well-done bear seaks. If you ask me, no steak is good well done. It's tough, rubbery and dry.

How to avoid trichinosis in bear meat? ›

Simply put, it's all bad stuff. Luckily, however, all this scary stuff is very easy to avoid. Killing trichinosis in the meat is as simple as cooking to the right temperature. 160 is more than ample temperature to kill all forms of trichinosis that may be living in the muscle tissue.

Is bear meat better than beef? ›

Bear meat contains fewer calories per 100 grams of meat than even lean beef does. Bear meat is a great source of protein and many other essential nutrients. Hunting provides a recreational activity that boosts mental and physical health.

What does cooked bear meat taste like? ›

In fact, bear resembles a stronger, lean tasting beef more than anything to me. The texture is a bit more dense than beef, but overall, it's pretty similar. One of the reasons behind my findings might be because I don't keep the fat on the bear at all.

Can bear meat be eaten rare? ›

The CDC stated up to one-quarter of black bears in Canada and Alaska could be infected. They advise cooking meat to an internal temperature of 165 degrees or higher is needed to kill the parasites behind trichinellosis.

What kind of meat are they cooking in the bear? ›

She says the recipe is very forgiving. She used beef chuck in her demo, but she's also used top round or top sirloin roast.

What seasoning takes away gamey taste? ›

Choose an acidic marinade.

The buttermilk soak can serve as a marinade, but if you prefer to do a more traditional marinade, choose one that contains an acidic ingredient like vinegar, fruit juice, or wine. These acidic bases will counteract the gamey taste of the meat.

What spices are good in game meat? ›

However, everyone should have a basic set that includes thyme, rosemary, oregano, cumin, and crushed red pepper. If you already have these spices and want to try something new, Spanish smoked paprika is an absolute winner. Like salt, acids can have a strong effect on meat.

How do you make wild meat soft? ›

Cube it, brown it and place into a slow cooker with some vegetables and enough broth to cover whatever's in the pot. Let it simmer for as long as it takes to turn the meat into something that will break apart with little pressure. If it's meat that's cooked with slow, moist heat it will eventually be tender.

How do you cook bear meat? ›

Proper cooking techniques can ensure that your bear meat is safe to eat. Like pork, the proper cooking time for bear meat is 375 degrees F for 20-25 minutes per pound. Internal cooking temperature should reach 160 degrees for 3 minutes or more before consumption.

Should bear meat be aged? ›

There is no benefit to aging bear meat longer than 24 hours. It is very important to thoroughly cook bear meat until gray in color but do not cook in a microwave. Trichinosis is a common disease found in some bears, and this parasite can cause serious problems in humans.

Does bear meat have parasites? ›

Many wildlife experts tell bear hunters to consider all bear meat infected, and the CDC recommends cooking the meat thoroughly to an internal temperature of at least 165 degrees Fahrenheit to kill the parasites. Smoking, salting, drying and microwaving do not always kill them, experts say.

Should you age bear meat? ›

There is no benefit to aging bear meat longer than 24 hours. It is very important to thoroughly cook bear meat until gray in color but do not cook in a microwave. Trichinosis is a common disease found in some bears, and this parasite can cause serious problems in humans.

Does bear fat have Trichinosis? ›

Today, around 90% of the cases of Trichinosis are contracted from eating black bear meat. In Bear Hunting Magazine we encourage eating bear meat, utilizing the fat and all the usable parts of a bear. Trichinosis is easily prevented by simply cooking it properly.

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