Healthy Bison Recipes

Picadillo, a Latin American-style hash, is usually made with ground beef. This one uses bison or lean beef and plenty of spices including chili powder, cumin, oregano and cinnamon.

Popular throughout Southeast Asia and Indonesia, satay is strips of skewered, grilled meat eaten with a fragrant dipping sauce. Here we serve seasoned marinated steak with a spicy peanut sauce for dipping. A simple cucumber salad is a cooling counterpoint to the beef satay.

In this healthy buffalo and black bean chili recipe, the buffalo is cooked with sweet red bell peppers and spiced with two types of chili powder, cocoa powder and espresso powder, making this chili mouthwatering and memorable. Ground buffalo, also known as ground bison, is a healthy alternative to ground beef because it's naturally lower in fat and has a rich, delectable flavor. After all the ingredients are added to the pot, we like to slowly simmer our chili for close to an hour to develop the best flavor, but if you're in a hurry, reduce the liquid by half and simmer for 20 to 25 minutes.

Mexican cooks are great at turning tough chunks of meat into delicious and tender stews. This one, which uses tougher cuts of bison, such as chuck or brisket, is flavored with chili powder, cumin and tequila. Serve with warm tortillas.

Plenty of dark leafy greens deliver the moisture needed to balance lean ground pork and beef in this spicy meatloaf recipe. Serve any leftovers with extra ketchup as meatloaf sandwiches.

Rich, lean bison meat takes to the juniper-infused marinade in this easy flank steak recipe. Look for juniper berries in well-stocked supermarkets. If you can't find bison, beef flank steak is an ideal substitute.

Feta and spinach not only add great flavor to these Greek-inspired burgers, but also provide moisture and texture to lean ground bison. The yogurt sauce is a perfect condiment, with much less fat than regular mayonnaise.

Sweet aromatic spices, cilantro, mint and lemon marry well with bison in this delicious pasta sauce.

Lots of Indian spices flavor these stuffed eggplants. They can be a complete meal, but if you are feeling extra energetic, make this dish part of a multicourse Indian feast along with curried vegetables, basmati rice, yogurt salad and some Indian breads. As a side dish, plan on one-quarter of an eggplant per person.

This meat and vegetable soup is full of potatoes, corn and zucchini and has a hint of spice from a poblano pepper. Using ground bison means more protein and fewer calories although you can use ground beef if you prefer.

In Greece, moussaka is made with beef or lamb, layers of sliced eggplant and a creamy béchamel sauce all baked together in the oven. This variation takes plenty of liberties to make it easy, quick and healthful. Serve over whole-wheat pasta or with potatoes.

Adding smoky, umami-packed ground mushrooms to grilled burgers builds flavor and keeps things juicy while bumping up the patty size. This burger is super-tasty made with ground beef too, but we love bison as a sustainable alternative packed with rich flavor. Look for it in the meat section of well-stocked supermarkets.