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!

Best Ever Bear Roast | Fall-Apart Tender & Easy Recipe for Bear Meat (2)

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.

Best Ever Bear Roast | Fall-Apart Tender & Easy Recipe for Bear Meat (3)

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!

Best Ever Bear Roast | Fall-Apart Tender & Easy Recipe for Bear Meat (4)

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

Print

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

Best Ever Bear Roast | Fall-Apart Tender & Easy Recipe for Bear Meat (6)

Never Miss a Recipe

Sign up for my newsletter and never miss a
new recipe at MAK!

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

FAQs

How do you make a bear taste good? ›

Sous vide the steak for three to five hours at 140–144 degrees Fahrenheit (the longer you cook it, the more tender it will be). Take it out, season it, and reverse-sear. In my humble opinion, that's the best way to enjoy the rich, robust, and unique flavors bear meat has to offer.

What cut of beef do they use in the bear? ›

Courtney Storer uses beef chuck in the video demonstration above, but she's also used top round or top sirloin roast. She suggests that you choose the cut of meat that best fits your budget.

Do you have to cook bear meat well done? ›

No matter the season or where the bear was harvested, bear meat needs to be cooked thoroughly to 165-degree internal temperature. This is due to the diseases it could carry.

Is bear meat tough? ›

The texture was good, and the backstrap cuts were a bit more tender than the forequarter cuts. The flavor was mild; it tasted more or less identical to venison—which is to say a lot like beef, only with less fat and a blander flavor. There was nothing greasy or tough about it.

How do you get the gamey taste out of bear meat? ›

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. 2. Vinegar solution - 1 cup per quart of cold water. Use enough solution to cover the game completely.

How do you prevent trichinosis in bear meat? ›

How can I prevent trichinellosis? Properly handling and cooking meat will prevent trichinellosis. Whole cuts and ground meat from wild game animals should be cooked to an internal temperature of 160°F. A meat thermometer should be used because color is not a good indicator of doneness for game meat.

What should bear meat be cooked to? ›

The internal temperature of the thickest part of the meat needs to reach 165°F for at least 3 minutes. Heating the meat to an internal temperature of 170°F is an easy way to ensure that it's thoroughly cooked.

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.

Is bear meat better in spring or fall? ›

Spring bears are lean; fall bears are heavier…and with less carrion and more berries, the meat is probably better. As for quality of coat, that's a grab-bag. Most bears come out of the den with excellent fur, but as the spring warms they apparently get itchy.

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.

How long 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.

How do you jar bear meat? ›

Pack hot meat loosely into hot jars leaving 1-inch headspace. Fill jars with boiling broth, meat drippings, water, or tomato juice (especially for wild game) to 1 inch from top of jar. Remove bubbles, wipe jar rims, adjust lids and process in pressure canner.

Do bears have parasites? ›

Intestinal parasites, including hook worms, roundworms, and tapeworms, were most commonly detected in Alaska brown bears. Scientists also found evidence for exposure to mites affecting the skin.

How much meat do you get from bear? ›

The amount of meat you can get from a bear depends on the size of the bear, the time of year, and how it is butchered. In general, you can expect to get about 40-50% of the bear's dressed weight as meat. So, a 200-pound bear would yield about 80-100 pounds of meat.

What is a gamey taste? ›

Gamey tasting food almost always refers to the strong flavor detected in meat from an animal that was hunted—meat from a wild animal as opposed to farm-raised animal like chicken, pork, or beef. Gamey flavors are stronger and more intense than the subdued flavors of farm-raised animals.

Why do you cook bear meat well? ›

Bear meat can be healthy when correctly prepared, but if you don't cook it thoroughly, you run the risk of contracting a parasite.

Do bears like baking soda? ›

Because baking soda has no odor of its own, she wrote in the comments section of The Old Farmer's Almanac, “it does not attract bears.” By contrast, the ingredients that make our toothpaste minty-fresh also smell delicious to Ursus americanus.

Do bears like salt licks? ›

Salt licks, deer blocks and grain attract wild animals with the potential for concentrated animal scent that can draw in bears and mountain lions. Use native plant landscaping whenever possible. Be aware that a watered lawn with lush grass, clover, and dandelions is an attractive feeding site for bears.

Do bears like sugar water? ›

But when bears come across hummingbird feeders, the omnivories will knock them down and snack on the sugar water. Once a bear finds your free food, it will return time and time again, says Geoff LeBaron, coordinator of Audubon's Christmas Bird Count.

Top Articles
Latest Posts
Article information

Author: Foster Heidenreich CPA

Last Updated:

Views: 6174

Rating: 4.6 / 5 (56 voted)

Reviews: 95% of readers found this page helpful

Author information

Name: Foster Heidenreich CPA

Birthday: 1995-01-14

Address: 55021 Usha Garden, North Larisa, DE 19209

Phone: +6812240846623

Job: Corporate Healthcare Strategist

Hobby: Singing, Listening to music, Rafting, LARPing, Gardening, Quilting, Rappelling

Introduction: My name is Foster Heidenreich CPA, I am a delightful, quaint, glorious, quaint, faithful, enchanting, fine person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.