This Venison sausage recipe is easy and delicious! Make your own! Here is a step by step tutorial that will make you a pro!
It has less fat and calories than pork, so you can eat it guilt free! It’s great in casseroles, stuffing or dressing mixes, breakfast sandwiches, any place you would use pork breakfast sausage!
Not only can making your own sausage save you lots of money in game processing, it is fun and easy.
It seems many us forget when we go to the grocers and buy meat that we are buying an animal that someone else has harvested and processed. This ends up costing us so much more than when we do it ourselves.
Making sausage with venison is a great way to stretch a buck (pun intended 🙂 ).
Venison is Healthier than Beef and Pork
Notice the word healthier. This sausage is not necessarily health food. Just healthier because of the use of venison.
It is so much healthier than pork or beef breakfast sausage, because Venison Sausage is lower in fat! According to Outdoor Life, venison contains roughly half of the calories and 1/6th of the saturated fat. A much healthier choice.
Venison even has 10% less fat than chicken breast, according to this article from Superfoodly.
The original recipe concept came from Great Sausage and Meat Curing, by Rytek Kutas. As you can see on the cover Chef Craig Claiborne calls it the “most definitive manual on sausage making in the English language.
That is pretty high praise. This recipe is an authentic, traditional sausage recipes that lends itself beautifully to venison.
Do I have to add fat?
The simple answer is yes. Venison fat is not really suited for cooking quickly. Because venison is so low in fat, it needs the extra fat to add flavor and to ensure the meat doesn’t not become dry and fall apart.
For my venison burgers, I like to use beef steak trimmings. They give the burgers the best flavor and texture. For the sausage however, I like to use ground pork. It has a more mild flavor so that the venison and spices are the stars.
Buy a pork shoulder or pork butt and grind your own, both meat and fat, when you grind the venison. Look for a marbled cut, so that it has a greater fat content. Ask your favorite butcher. It will save you lots of money!
You want to use about 30% pork for the sausage. This will give you the best flavor and texture. You can go as low as 20%, but you may be disappointed with the outcome.
What you need
- ground venison
- ground pork
- kosher salt
- white pepper
- ground sage
- ground thyme
- ice water
Optional ingredients
- ground hot pepper
- ground nutmeg
- ground ginger
Seasoning for Deer Sausage
The seasoning for venison breakfast is a mild, but flavorful blend of sage, thyme and salt! That is it! No huge secret! No fillers, msg, or corn syrup. Just meat and seasoning.
Once you get the basic recipe for sausage down, feel free to make other sausage types. Italian, beer and cheese, chorizo, Polish, the flavor combinations are endless really.
We love asiago and roasted peppers and spinach. It’s bomb. Red wine, parsley and cheese is another keeper.
How to Make Deer Breakfast Sausage
- Grind meat
- Place meat in large container
- Chill meat to 32-35°F.
- Mix spices together well, in a container with a lid.
- Add ice water to spices. Mix well.
- Add spices to the meat. Mix well with hands or a mixer.
- Immediately return to refrigerator and chill overnight.
- Case sausage or bulk wrap in freezer paper, or vacuum pack. Best if used within one month.
A lot of times I don’t bother casing the sausage, particularly with the chorizo and breakast sausage because often I take it out of the casing when I cook it. It seems like a wasted step.
I usually refrigerate it overnight and then mix again in the morning to give the spices a chance to mingle. Wrap in freezer paper or vacuum pack and freeze immediately thereafter.
Homemade sausage is so much healthier than store bought because you control the ingredients! You only use spices and you can control the sodium level too. There are no ingredients that you can’t even pronounce, let alone know what they are.
Venison Sausage can be frozen!
Yes, but… the only other caution I have is don’t make too much! Sausage has a tendency to get freezer burn more quickly than other forms of meat.
Frozen breakfast sausage is best if used within 1 month and the Italian, Chorizo and Polish are best if used with 3-4 months. Vacuum packing will lengthen the freezer life slightly but not indefinitely!
The thing I do, is make several small batches, whenever I like during the year. I label the freezer bag with “for ground” when we process the deer. Then I will take out a few pounds and grind it and make it into sausage.
Above pictured is an easy pan fried Venison Sausage Breakfast Sandwich with egg and cheese.
Pro tips for success
- Chill grinder parts well before grinding meat.
- Always return meat to refrigerator immediately, between steps.
- Always use very clean hands, or food grade gloves when working with the meat.
- If using utensils to mix, make sure they are extra clean.
- Freeze immediately after wrapping.
- Keeping sausage cold is the key to food safety.
- Best to use frozen sausage within one month, for best flavor.
How to cook it
The key with a lot of venison preparations is to not overcook the meat. Since you are adding pork fat, you should cook the sausage to at least 160°F.
Just do not exceed that temperature. It has a tendency to dry out, depending on the fat content of your mixture.
Some other popular Venison recipes
Want to learn more about How to Cook Venison? Don’t miss our awesome, Ultimate Guide! Complete with 65 FREE Recipes from some of the top venison recipe developers in the world!
Tools I use
Contains affiliate links, for full disclosure, see FTC Disclosure, here.
- Rytek Kutas Great Sausage Recipes and Meat Curing: The Bible of Sausage Making
- Large metal bowl
- Food Grade Gloves
- Foodsaver, for longer storage
- Freezer Paper
I hope you enjoyed the recipe today for Venison Sausages! Have a question? Let me know in the comment box, below! Don’t forget to sign up for our newsletter, so that you don’t miss any new recipes! Sign up form is below the recipe!
Enjoy! And have fun cooking!
Xoxo,
Venison Breakfast Sausage
Ingredients
- 6 2/3 lbs ground venison
- 2 1/3 lbs ground pork ( I use whatever cut is on sale)
- 4 Tbsp kosher salt
- 1 Tbsp ground white pepper
- 2 Tbsp sage, dried
- 1 1/2 tsp dried thyme
- 1 pint Ice water
- hog casings if you choose to case them
- 1 1/2 tsp hot ground pepper optional
- 1 1/2 tsp nutmeg optional
- 1 1/2 tsp ginger optional
Instructions
- Grind meat through 3/8″ grinder plate.
- Place meat in a container large enough to mix in, preferably with a lid.
- Chill meat thoroughly. (Recommended temperature is 32-35°F)
- Mix spices in a container with a lid and shake to combine.
- Add ice water to spices.
- Add spices to meat. Mix thoroughly using hands or a mixer.
- Return again to refrigerator and refrigerate overnight.
- Case sausage or wrap bulk sausage in freezer paper or vacuum pack.
- Best if used within 1 month.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
This post may contain affiliate links, which means I get a small commission if you click the link and purchase something. See FTC Disclosure, here.
Originally Published 11/27/2015
Gary
I hoped to have an answer to my prior question related to the picture of the spices. There is a Paprika or Chili colored spice in the photo that is not listed in the ingredients. Can you please clarify this for me? Thank you.
Beth Neels
Hi Gary, I don’t have a previous question from you. Perhaps my spam filter deleted it. Sorry. Anyway, the red spice in the photo is hot ground pepper. We decided we prefer the sausage without it. I have edited the recipe and included the spices that we eliminated as optional. If you would like a bit of heat, feel free to add it. Thanks for checking out the recipe! Again, sorry if I missed your question earlier!
Yasmina scalia
Thanks for your yummy recipe! My husband just got our first deer yesterday so we will be making this tomorrow! I always thought you can’t refreeze food, but you mentioned that you will freeze your venison and then later make the sausages and then keep them for a month. After you make your sausages do refreeze them for a month or keep them in the fridge for a month? Thanks in advance for your advice!
Beth Neels
Any that we do not eat in a few days, I refreeze, so I only make small quantities at a time. You need to use them up within a month, or the flavor suffers. Thanks for checking out the recipe Yasmina! Congrats on your first deer! They are fun and delicious to cook!
Jenn
What is the red spice we see in your photo?
Binky
The photo with the red spice is paprika. It is for venison chorizo, which used to be on this post, as well. I am in the process of redoing the shots. Did you not like the sausage, Jenn? I see you gave it only 3 stars.
Jacqui
I don’t think I have ever stumbled upon Rytek Kutas books before… But looking at your recipe now I realize that perhaps I should do something about that because the images look stunning!
Binky
Thank you Jacqui! It is one of my favorite books! It has a wealth of information!
Amanda
Great step by step photos! Very helpful.
Binky
Thank you Amanda! I appreciate your comment!
Nikole
I have never tried making my own sausages, but it doesn’t seem as intimidating as I thought! Thank you!
Binky
No, it’s really quite easy! Thanks for the comment, Nikole!
Patty
I love venison and making my own sausages too! You’re so right about knowing what’s in them, it seems even more important these days, right? I’m always looking for new venison recipes so thanks for sharing this one, can’t wait to try it, YUM!!
Binky
Thank you so much, my dear friend! I hope you enjoy it! Have a great weekend!
Sonia
You have made it looks so easy! I have never made them at home.. will surely give it a try 🙂 Thanks
Binky
it really is very easy! Thank you for your comment, Sonia!
Michelle
You make sausage-making seems so easy! I’ll have to give it a try.
Binky
Thank you Michelle! It is really very easy! Give it a try!
Eden | Sweet Tea and Thyme
These photos are awesome! Love that you used venison, I can’t wait to move up north so my hubby and son can bring some venison home!
Binky
Thank you so much Eden! I really appreciate that! Where are you moving to?
Cindy Gordon
Sharing this with my uncle! He has made a goal to be cooking more now that he’s on his own and this is right up his alley! Thanks!
Binky
I hope that he enjoys it! It is so easy and delicious to make your own sausage! Thanks Cindy!
Eddy Willinsky
“Hey, thanks for the article post. Awesome.”
Binky
Thanks for the comment, Eddy! Have a great week!
Ann
Thank you for the participation, Binky! Your links work now btw. 🙂
Binky
Thank you, Ann! I appreciate the invitation! It’s strange it was down for a bit 2 days and now has been working fine all week!
bite
My spouse and I stumbled over here from a different web page and thought I may as well check things
out. I like what I see so i am juust following you.
Look forward to going over yoour web page yet again.
Binky
Thank you so much! Your comment is greatly appreciated!