19 Ground Venison Recipes | What to Make with Your Deer Meat (2024)

FAQs

What is the best to mix with ground venison? ›

Depending on what you're planning to cook, you may want to add fat to your ground venison. This added fat can be bacon, pork shoulder, pork belly, beef tallow, etc. It's purely personal preference. I always add about 15-20 percent fat if I'm making hamburger or kebabs, which makes the meat juicier and more flavorful.

Chili powder and cumin are some of the greatest seasonings for deer meat. I love making my own taco seasoning blend with chili powder and cumin instead of buying the pre-made packages because it tastes so bold and fresh, I get to control the flavor levels and it is so much more natural!

Cook to a minimum of 160 degrees F. When you grind meat, you spread any bacteria present throughout the entire batch.

Given that deer are leaner than cows, venison is generally healthier to eat than beef. An average cut of venison, in fact, has around half the calories and a sixth the saturated fats of a similarly sized cut of beef. It also has more proteins, vitamins and minerals than beef.

Venison silver skin, fat, ligaments, and other undesirable parts of a deer that aren't muscle don't taste very good. Deer fat is generally bitter, unlike beef fat. This is probably the number one reason why folks think venison, particularly ground venison, tastes gamey.

The CDC also urges hunters to cook their venison more thoroughly. They recommend cooking steaks and other whole cuts to at least 145 degrees at the center and letting it rest three minutes before carving and eating to ensure the heat kills all parasites. Ground venison should be cooked to at least 160 degrees.

Cook Ground Venison, Elk, and Other Game Without Fat

The fat not only makes a burger juicy, it also helps it stay in patty form. Next time you have some 100 percent ground venison you want to throw on the grill, trying adding an egg and some breadcrumbs to serve as a binder.

You can also marinate game to give it a savory flavor or to tenderize it. Always marinate it in the refrigerator (1 to 2 days for birds; 3 to 5 days for game animals). Boil used marinade before basting meat as it cooks or using as a sauce on the cooked meat. Discard any uncooked leftover marinade.

How to make ground venison less gamey? ›

Normally, ground venison is mixed with beef fat to supplement the normally less fat deer, so if you've gotten straight ground venison, I would add ground beef fat at 10-15% of the total. That tempers the wild flavors and adds the accustomed mouth feel and flavor.

The tough fibers and connective tissue break down into collagen, which then dissolves into gelatin. Over time, these fibers expel moisture, leaving the meat dry. Once the meat is dry, upon continued cooking, the fibers will relax and begin to absorb the fat and gelatin, creating tender, flavorful meat.

Many hunters suggest soaking your game meat in vinegar. However, vinegar's acidity can often dry the meat, making it especially tough. Instead, try soaking the meat in milk or even buttermilk, which will produce better results with most wild animals, especially when dealing with backstraps.

Fat is the emulsifying agent that allows the mixture to stick together and retain juiciness. Sure, you can use eggs to make it stick, but you won't get the same mouthfeel since eggs don't melt when cooked. My rule of thumb is to add 10-20% fat when making venison burgers.

Egg. Due to the small amount of fat, venison burgers don't hold together as nicely as ground beef. Adding one eggs works as a great venison burger binder so the burgers don't fall apart.

But if you want to grill venison burgers, you're going to need to add some fat. Beef fat is the preferred source when making deer burgers. It adds some great flavor (especially if you add some trimmed ribeye fat), but it also helps bind the meat together better and helps it hold in the patty shape.

Give this ground venison recipe your own twist! Add jalapeños, adjust the seasonings, double or reduce the amount of meat. Make it veggie-ful. While browning the meat, add chopped bell peppers, black olives, or even cubed sweet potatoes.

Step into any restaurant featuring a la chasse-themed menu, and you can expect to find classic pairings such as venison with cranberries, apples, celeriac, butternut squash, brussels sprouts or Belgium endive.

Eggs and bread crumbs generally do very well to bind lean ground meats. (I actually use wheat germ instead of bread crumbs.) From that point, it is really a matter of preference as to how you want it prepared. If you're making burgers, it's generally a good idea to mix in a bit of pork for the fat.