Venison Italian Sausage Recipe

This Venison Italian Sausage Recipe only takes a few minutes to make so it couldn’t be easier! Delicious, fresh new use for your deer.

Italian sausage is a fresh sausage, meaning it is not smoked. It’s great for a variety of Italian style dishes. Read more for suggestions of how to use it.

This recipe will work for lots of locally sourced game, including; wild ground turkey, elk, antelope, bison and more.

Ingredients you need

• ground venison- be sure to thoroughly trim the meat of all fat, silver skin and cartilage.
• ground pork- you can use pork shoulder, pork butt or even ground bacon
• kosher salt
• fennel seed
• coarse ground black pepper
• sugar
• crushed hot red pepper flakes
• caraway seeds
• coriander
• ice water

Optional spices and variations

• garlic powder or minced cloves garlic
• onion powder
• paprika
• oregano
• red wine vinegar
• asiago cheese
• parmesan cheese
• brown sugar

How to make it

Cut venison into long strips that will fit into your meat grinder hopper. Grind venison with 1/4-5/16 inch cutting blade hole.

Cut pork into long strips that will fit you meat grinder hopper. We like to use a smaller 3/16 inch cutting blade hole for pork. This will allow the pork to cook at same rate as the venison so the venison won’t get overdone.

Once meat is ground, return it to the refrigerator.

1. Measure spices.
2. Add all spices and ice water to covered bowl or container. Place lid on bowl. Shake vigorously to dissolve salt and mix spices well.
3. Mix ground pork and venison gently.
4. Add spice mixture to ground meats and mix gently, but well with clean hands. Don’t overwork or the texture of the sausage will suffer.
5. Return meat to the fridge overnight up to two days.
6. Stuff the sausage into hog casings with a sausage stuffer or freeze the meat bulk.

Important tips for your success

• Freeze grinder attachments before starting so that they are cold.
• Meat must kept very cold! Always keep the meat in the fridge in between steps.
• Grind pork with a smaller diameter cutting blade hole than the venison. This will ensure even cooking.
• Use a ratio of 30% pork to 70% venison for best flavor.
• Use a pork shoulder or a pork butt instead of pork fat. It will be healthier and will provide better flavor.
• The amount of crushed red pepper flakes will determine how mild or hot the sausage is. Use about 3 tablespoon for hot Italian venison sausage. Reduce the pepper flakes to 1 to 2 tablespoons for mild Italian venison sausage.
• You can either make Italian sausage links with a sausage stuffer attachment for your meat grinder or just keep the meat bulk, unstuffed for patties.
• If you don’t have fresh venison you can make this recipe with just pork butt or pork shoulder.

How to store it

Sausage can be stored in the refrigerator for about 3 days. For longer store vacuum pack, if possible and store in the freezer.

If vacuum packed, meat will have the best flavor if consumed within 3-4 months.

If you don’t have a vacuum packer, store in freezer bags, removing as much excess air as you can, for 1-2 months.

Recipes to make with venison Italian sausage

• White lasagna
• Pasta sauce
• Make sausage hoagies or subs
• Sausage with peppers and onions is a traditional US favorite
• Grill your sausage in the summer for that BBQ flavor
• Pan fry or use a heavy bottom skillet with a splash of olive oil to brown sausage before enjoying
• Make Instant Pot spaghetti sauce for a quick weeknight dinner
• Sausage meatballs are a great variation of traditional ground beef meatballs and so flavorful

You will love this homemade venison Italian sausage recipe. It is just what you need to round out your deer cooking cookbook.

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I hope you enjoyed the recipe today!

Enjoy. And have fun cooking!