Question: Which nutrients are found in venison?
Answer: Like most red meat, venison (deer meat) is a source of protein, zinc, iron and selenium. Venison is lower in fat and calories than beef; in fact, venison has about one-third the fat.
Venison can be used in a variety of recipes that would usually call for beef. The flavor is similar to beef, but with a touch of wildness to it. Not everyone likes that wild flavor of venison, but that taste can be tamed down by cooking the venison in a non-fat beef broth.
Ground venison sometimes has a small amount of beef fat or ground bacon mixed in to help bind the meat and help hold its shape. However, that adds unhealthy fats and calories, so make sure your ground venison is 100% venison.
For one 3-ounce serving of venison, you would have approximately:
- 130 calories
- 26 grams protein
- 2 grams of fat
- 67 milligrams cholesterol
- 0.9 grams saturated fat
- 3.5 milligrams iron
- 26 milligrams magnesium
- 338 milligrams potassium
- 3 milligrams zinc
- 11 micrograms selenium
- 0.24 milligrams thiamin
- 0.4 milligrams riboflavin
- 9 milligrams niacin
- 0.6 milligrams vitamin B6
- 1.6 micrograms vitamin B12
- 1.2 micrograms vitamin K
Healthy Venison Recipes
Source: USDA Food Nutrient Data Laboratory. "USDA National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference. Release 20. Updated September 27, 2007.
