What gives breakfast sausage its distinct flavor?

Paprika : It gives sausages a nice color and a bit of smoky flavor. Sage: This herb adds a cozy taste to sausages. Thyme: It's a little earthy and works well in sausages.

What is the ratio of pork to venison for sausage?

We like to use a 50/50 ratio of ground pork to ground venison. So, for every pound of venison you'll use a pound of pork.

What fat to use in venison sausage?

If you find yourself wanting to make sausage without domestic animal fat, whether that's because you can't find it or want a healthier option, consider using olive oil instead. To help you get started, try our fresh venison sausage with olive oil recipe, which will publish on our site in a few days.

How do you make deer sausage not dry?

When making sausages from scratch, how do you prevent the meat inside from becoming dry after cooking? The answer is fat. If the meat you are using for sausage is very lean, like venison, you add fat . We often grind some slab bacon with the venison, for example.

Venison Breakfast Sausage Recipe (2024)

Home » Venison Breakfast Sausage Recipe

April 20, 2021

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This Venison Breakfast Sausage recipe is a delicious, savory addition to your morning. Ground venison is gently mixed with spices and a secret ingredient to make it juicy!

How to make venison breakfast sausage

First, I start with one pound of ground venison. I grind my venison ‘straight’, or without added fat. So my ground venison is pretty lean, which can make it dry.

Sausage is typically juicy, and since venison is so lean, I add a secret ingredient to make it juicy… My secret ingredient is bacon fat! You can use butter, coconut oil, or even olive oil if you prefer. I just like the flavor of bacon fat the best.

I take melted bacon fat, add the spices and stir well. Then I break the ground venison apart gently, and place half of it into a bowl.

Next, pour half of the spice mixture over the meat. Add the rest of the venison on top, and pour the remaining spices over the meat.

Using your fingers, gently mix the spices into the meat, being careful not to mix too much. Over-mixing will make the sausage tough.

After mixing, form into 8 breakfast patties and fry immediately, or cover with plastic and chill in refrigerator overnight.

Fry the venison sausage

Over medium heat, melt a bit of butter or bacon fat in a 12″ frying pan. Add breakfast sausage patties to skillet and fry for 2-3 minutes per side, or until internal temperature measures 160 Fahrenheit.

How to use venison sausage

You can use this bulk venison sausage to make sausagegravy for biscuits, or you can fry it into patties. You can also fry and crumble to use on pizza, in sausage tortellini soup, or many other recipes. Anywhere you use bulk pork sausage – you can substitute homemade venison sausage. Here is an article with “Cooking venison tips”.

Can I freeze venison sausage?

Yes! Absolutely. Just wrap in freezer paper or place into a plastic freezer bag and place in freezer. You can also form into patties before freezing, if desired.

Venison Breakfast Sausage

Venison Breakfast Sausage is savory, tasty, and simple to make.

4.46 from 155 votes

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Prep Time 10 minutes mins

Cook Time 6 minutes mins

Total Time 16 minutes mins

Course Breakfast

Cuisine American

Servings 4

Calories 189 kcal

Ingredients

1 lb ground venison
2 Tableaspoons bacon fat melted
¾ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
⅛ teaspoon cayenne
½ teaspoon black pepper

Instructions

Stir the seasonings into the bacon fat.
Break apart the venison in a bowl, and pour the seasoning mixture over the meat. Using your fingers, gently mix together.
Form into patties and fry for 2-3 minutes per side over medium heat.

Notes

You can substitute melted butter or olive oil for the bacon fat, if desired.

To make Bacon fat: fry a pound of bacon and remove the bacon to a plate. Use the remaining fat in pan.

You may freeze the sausage raw or cooked. Just use a freezer-safe wrapping or container.

You may add more cayenne for spicy sausage, or add brown sugar for sweeter flavor.

You may omit the Italian seasoning and add sage for a different flavor.

Nutrition

Serving: 2pattiesCalories: 189kcalCarbohydrates: 1gProtein: 25gFat: 9gSaturated Fat: 4gCholesterol: 91mgSodium: 523mgPotassium: 399mgFiber: 1gSugar: 1gVitamin A: 36IUVitamin C: 1mgCalcium: 24mgIron: 4mg

Keyword breakfast meat, deer meat, venison

Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

Reader Interactions

Comments

Chelsey says
November 5, 2022 at 8:17 am
I am not too familiar with cooking with venison so I have been just googling recipes. A lot of them say that it is very “gamey” and to use something acidic to get rid of that. You recipe didn’t call for anything acidic to help that. So do these end up having that “gamey” taste? I have picky in-laws that I cook for so I just want to make sure not to mess this up. lol
Reply
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- Kay Schrock says
  November 5, 2022 at 9:38 am
  I believe that sex/age of animal, field-dressing, and processing are the most important things to consider when it comes to gamey flavors. If you are serving meat from a doe or young animal, it will taste a lot better than a big old trophy buck!
  Having said that, I don’t add anything specific to cover wild game taste. I am pretty picky about wild game, and I don’t think this recipe will be noticeable. If you are concerned, you could mix in a bit of pork sausage to give it a juicier texture. There are enough spices in this recipe that it should cover any gamey flavor.
  I have fed wild game to many friends who ‘hate’ wild game, and they either don’t notice the difference, or they agree that it tastes good. Good luck with the in-laws!
  Reply
- Tony P. says
  December 7, 2022 at 1:59 pm
  
  Since I started processing/butchering our bucks and does, we have not had gamey venison. We have a girl with with a sensitive palette and she enjoys venison steaks, chili, burgers…it just isn’t gamey.
  A tip is mix 50 – 50 venison-beef for the chili, burgers, meatloaf.
  Reply
- AdamR says
  September 13, 2023 at 12:45 pm
  “Gamey” is mostly a term for people who don’t care for the taste of venison. Age and sex of the animal have very little to do with it. The biggest factor in better tasting meat is field care. Get the animal gutted and the meat cooling as quickly as possible. This will make the flavor of the meat milder, which is what most prefer and reduces what some call the gamey taste.
  Reply
Ron Erickson says
December 1, 2022 at 2:16 am
I have been looking high and low for a bulk sausage recipe that does not use sage. I have had a very successful year hunting and need ways to use all of the meat. Is it possible to used ground pork butte in place of the bacon grease if I want to make a large batch such as say 15 pounds so I can freeze it for later use? If so, what ratio of venison vs pork butt? Thank you!
Reply
- Kay Schrock says
  December 1, 2022 at 10:54 am
  Yes, replacing the bacon grease with pork butt would make very good sausage! I think the ratio is just personal preference… I am planning to make a bulk recipe using 25% pork, ground with the venison. It’s been a few years since I did this, so I want to make another batch with my next animal, and write down all my measurements.
  Reply
Tony P. says
December 7, 2022 at 2:05 pm

Thanks for the recipe and I’ll try it this week-end.
BTW, twitter now allows tips from one user to another (no-fee on twitter’s part). Consider enabling it.
Reply
- Kay Schrock says
  December 7, 2022 at 5:17 pm
  I haven’t heard of the Twitter tips.
  Reply
Cody Harrison says
December 19, 2022 at 7:49 am

It was delicious I had to add more seasoning just for my taste. Will definitely use it again.
Reply
JVaughan says
January 10, 2023 at 11:12 am

I had not eaten deer in a long time and my memory of it was that I didn’t like it. However, we got a lot of deer from our daughter and so I tried your recipe and it was delicious! Everyone loved it! Thanks!
Reply
- Kay Schrock says
  January 10, 2023 at 12:52 pm
  I’m so happy to hear that! We really like the sausage, too.
  Reply
William L. says
February 19, 2023 at 9:05 am
Made it this morning. Super moist and flavorful. I added soffritto seasoning from Trader Joes instead of Italian and went with grated butter. I finished them with a small dash of real maple syrup while they rested. A great hearty start to my day.
Reply
- Kay Schrock says
  February 19, 2023 at 10:08 am
  Those adjustments sound delicious!
  Reply
Gary Hofer says
March 4, 2023 at 3:33 pm
Hi I’m wondering if I can use bacon grease in my sausage to get the bacon flavor, what I mean is mix bacon grease in ground moose or deer, make my sausage and then freeze it?
Reply
- Kay Schrock says
  March 7, 2023 at 4:23 pm
  That would work just fine!
  Reply
Carla Bordine says
October 26, 2023 at 11:08 am

My man doesn’t like the taste of sage, so finding recipes without it has been a challenge. I am in the process of cooking the first batch right now, and it smells heavenly!
Reply