For the majority of deer hunters, the back straps and the tenderloins are the coveted cuts of meat, and rightly so. But how about a well-made venison summer sausage?! Venison sausage is arguably one of the favorite snacks that you can get out of your hard-earned game. Unfortunately, it can get very expensive. Making your own homemade venison summer sausage is the solution to that problem.
About every processor or meat slaughterhouse will make it for you, in a variety of flavors. They all claim to have their own “secret seasoning recipes” and can add a wide choice of flavorings to it. Most places offer peppercorns, jalapeno, garlic, and even cheese. There’s surely something for everyone.
Here’s the catch; you’re going to pay “dearly” for it. No pun intended! You can easily make your own homemade venison sausage, in the comfort of your own home, and save money.
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Cost Of Having Venison Summer Sausage Made For You
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Depending on where you live and what extras you want to be added to your sausage, you can expect to pay anywhere from $3 – $4 per pound, minimum! That’s over and above the normal processing fees. A lot of places require a minimum order of 10 or 20 pounds. That could conservatively cost you anywhere between $30 to $80!
Be sure to know pricing and quantities before placing your order! Most places will add some pork to the mix, approximately 1/3 typically. Make sure that is included in the minimum order weight and not added on! Now you’ve gone from 10 or 20 pounds to about 13 or 26 pounds at a new cost of $39 to over $100! It may be well worth the cost, but nobody likes a surprise like that.
How To Make Homemade Venison Summer Sausage
Now for the good news! You can make your own venison sausage right at home for a fraction of the cost. The sausage kits are readily available online and in many stores. These kits come in a variety of flavors and contain all the seasonings, casings and the instructions to make your sausage. There are seasoning kits available for water foul and other game animals too. As well as a huge variety of different sausage types.
Simply follow the instructions and you’ll be enjoying high-quality venison summer sausage in no time. You can add any of the ingredients or flavorings mentioned about, or anything else that sounds good to you. You’re only limited by your imagination.
The kit I normally use is made by Hi Country and costs around $25. There are many others to choose from, so it’s mainly a matter of preference and what’s available in your area. This Eastman Outdoor kit will make up to 15 pounds of sausage. My typical meat ratio is about 2 pounds of venison to 1 pound of pork. With the cost of the kit and the pork, that works out to be roughly $1.30 per pound, instead of $3 or $4 a pound you’ll pay to have someone make it for you! You’re paying less than $20 for 15 pounds of delicious venison sausage, instead of up to $60!
As mentioned, I usually add some pork to my venison burger for a little extra flavor. You can purchase ground pork or do what I like to do. I try to find the most inexpensive, pork roast that I can find and grind it myself.
I typically make smaller batches, so I look for a 4 or 5-pound “bone-in” roast, which will yield close to 3 pounds of pork. I mix that with 6 pounds of venison for a total of 9 pounds. That works out to be a very manageable amount. About three of the 3″ casings. But you can make any size batch that works best for you.
Don’t be afraid to experiment with the ratio of the meat mixture. You can add more or less pork and even add a little beef. That’s how you make it your own. Remember, this is the stuff that you pay a premium for if someone else makes it for you, so don’t be afraid to splurge a little.
Equipment Needed
As you can see, this section is relatively short. What else may surprise you is that you may already have items in your kitchen that can make the job much easier. My wife has a KitchenAid stand mixer that she uses for all kinds of recipes. One of the many attachments that are made for the KitchenAid is a meat grinder. The newer ones even come with a sausage stuffer tube for about $40. Click here to check out some of our other KitchenAid stand mixer recipes, including a sweet Italian sausage recipe.
KitchenAid Grinder 
KitchenAid Grinder In Action
At the time I purchased my meat grind the tube was not available, so I used another appliance my wife already had; her Popeil pasta maker. Yup, a Popeil and it’s still going strong. It came with a sausage stuffer tube and works great. Now you can purchase the KitchenAid stuffers separately. There are also many manual sausage stuffers for purchase from Amazon or you can stuff the casings by hand. No matter how you stuff your casings, it’s all going to taste great!
Helpful Sausage Making Tips
Mixing Tips
One of the most important parts of making venison sausage is to make sure it is well mixed. You want to have the pork thoroughly mixed with the venison and the seasonings evenly mixed throughout all the meat. I like to mix the meat and seasonings together and let them sit for at least an hour. Then I’ll give them another quick mixing before I begin stuffing into the casings.
I also like to let the seasoned meat sit overnight in the refrigerator to let the meat and seasonings “marry”. As mentioned above, I usually stuff my sausage the night before, but you don’t have to do this. You can let the meat sit overnight in a bowl, stuff it in the morning, and then cook it. Whatever works best for you.
Note: Be sure to take the meat out of the refrigerator and let sit for an hour or two. You want it at room temperature before beginning to cook it. When cooking at low temperatures this will help the meat cook a little quicker and more evenly.
Sausage Stuffing Tips
Something I like to do is keep a package of the smaller 1.5” x 12” casings handy. These casings take about 1 pound of meat to fill and can make great gifts or are a good way to experiment with ingredients.
For example, if I end up with a total of 9 pounds of seasoned sausage meat, occasionally I’ll only stuff two of the larger 2-1/2” x 20” casings, which hold about 3 pounds of meat each. Then I’ll stuff the three smaller casings with the seasoned meat and different additional flavorings. This is a great way to experiment and try new flavors.
If you’re experimenting with ingredients, be sure to measure accurately measure how much you add to each pound of meat, so you can scale the batch up if it turns out good. You’ll also want to mark each tube, so you can tell them apart. Different colored tie wraps work well for that. It’s easy to lose track of them when loading them in the smoker or when you cool them in the water bath. Yup, water bath. It’s all in the instructions!
Cooking Homemade Venison Sausage
Once you’ve got your meat stuffed into the casings, it’s time to cook your sausage. Most of the instructions I’ve seen have called for low temperatures that may have a couple of stages. Just follow the temperatures and times in the instructions and it’s easy to do.
Most folks just use the kitchen oven, which works great for controlling the temperature. If you have a bigger barbecue grill you could use that too. It may not be as easy to monitor and control the temperature, but it’s all about what you have available and your personal preferences. You would probably want to use the “indirect heat” cooking method (fire at one end of the grill, meat at the other end). If you desire, you can add wood chips to the fire end to add some smoke flavor.
My favorite method is to use my smoker. Smokers typically cook at lower temperatures, which is ideal for venison sausage. Even with the casing, I still think it adds a little smoke flavor to the sausage. Either way, I like cooking it with the low and slow method and the smoker is perfect for that. I’ve had great success with the smoker.
Note: If you are cooking small casings along with the larger casings, be sure to monitor the internal temperature of the small ones first. When they reach the desired temperature, remove them, and continue cooking the larger casings. A remote meat thermometer is a great tool for monitoring the internal temperature of your sausage. These thermometers can be used in ovens and grills too. They really are a must-have item for every kitchen.
And don’t forget to cool them in a cold water bath once you remove them from the smoker or the oven. A cooler works great for this. According to the website Meatgistics, “always use a cold water bath or shower to help set the casing to the meat, prevent wrinkling for a better appearance, and practice good meat safety by lowering the temp quickly to limit bacteria and microbial growth”. Remember, attention to detail makes for a better final product.
Conclusion
Venison sausage is a great snack and it’s awesome in sandwiches too! All your friends will want to know your “secret recipe”. The best part is you can save a lot of money. It’s easy to do and I’m confident you’re going to love it! So buy your seasoning kit today and give it a try. Good luck and let us know how your venison sausage turns out.
If you enjoy the process of making this venison sausage recipe, you should try our sweet Italian sausage recipe. It’s delicious and full of flavor. If we create any more sausage recipes we’ll be sure to share them with you. In the meantime, if you feel the urge to be creative there are many sausage making books available. The “Homemade Sausage” recipe book is full of recipes and is a useful resource for sausage makers. It comes in a kindle version as well.
If you have any comments or questions, you can leave them in the comments section below or you can email us at [email protected]. FYI, we do not collect or share email addresses. We will only use them to reply to your comments or provide answers to your questions. We are also required to let you know that some of our links are “affiliate links”. This means if you click on a link and make a purchase, we could make a small commission, at no extra cost to you. This helps offset the cost of maintaining our website. So, if you like what you’ve seen, please be sure to give us a “Like” and “Share” on Facebook and Instagram too. Thank you for reading and good luck with all your home projects!