Venison Enchiladas

This venison enchilada recipe is simple and quick to pull together. It feeds a crowd and can be split into two pans for a smaller serving – cover the other pan with foil and freeze for later. Although not a traditional enchilada recipe, it still provides a tasty dinner option that rarely leaves any leftovers.

My Mom’s Enchilada Recipe

I once read an article that mentioned most recipes that were handed down to us as family recipes were actually pulled from the back of a box, can, or package. This enchilada recipe is definitely one of those that my mom found on the back of a Mission Tortilla package, but we fell in love with it when she cooked it and we continue to cook it for our family today.

Of course, I’ve changed the enchilada recipe to use ground wild game of venison, elk, or antelope, and tweaked the seasonings to match our tastes, but the recipe is still pretty close to ‘mom’s’ recipe.

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Last year I was eating dinner at mom’s house and told her that I was so glad she taught me to cook growing up because I found a love and appreciation for food that is therapeutic and a true value in my life.

She said, “You know, I had to teach myself to cook. Growing up in an orphanage, I wasn’t really given the opportunity to learn to cook, and by the time I got out of the orphanage I was forced to teach myself. I learned to cook from the back of boxes, canned foods, and easy stuff like Hamburger Helper. It wasn’t until you were a teen that I started to learn about cooking with fresh veggies instead of canned veggies.”

I was floored; I had never thought of things that way. I never put two-and-two together, that we were eating those types of foods because my mom was teaching herself from the packages – remember, there was no Internet then to assist with a recipe search. She went on to explain that her new mother-in-law started to help teach her different recipes and gave her some recipe books to start her cookbook collection.

I truly had a new appreciation for how far she has come as a home cook and the things she taught me that encourages me to keep cooking and learning about food today – even if those lessons did come from the back of a box.

We love these simple venison enchiladas that mom discovered and hope you do too.

I couldn’t find the enchilada recipe on the Mission Tortilla website, and have no idea how old the recipe is, but to give credit where credit is due, visit Mission Tortilla for some great recipes.