Venison summer sausage is a delicious and savory treat that is perfect for any occasion. Whether you’re looking for a healthy snack or a flavorful appetizer, this sausage is sure to satisfy your cravings.

When my husband got a deer a few weeks ago I knew that I wanted to make some venison summer sausage with some of the meat.

Summer sausage is one of my favorite treats and sausage making is a skill I’ve been wanting to work on. It just isn’t near as prevalent as it once was and I like to learn some of the old skills our ancestors used to preserve their meat.

Supplies Needed to Make Your Summer Sausage

You don’t need a ton to make this sausage recipe, but you do need a few things to make life easier.

• Large Bowl
• Meat Grinder with Sausage Attachment (or a separate sausage stuffer)
• Mixer (optional, but makes it easier)
• Smoker or Smoke House
• Hickory Chips

Venison Summer Sausage Ingredients

Surprisingly easy to make, venison summer sausage just requires a few simple ingredients and a smoker. I don’t personally recommend making summer sausage in an oven as it will not have the same flavor or consistency, even if you add liquid smoke.

Ground Venison – the main ingredient in this delicious sausage.

Ground Pork Trimmings – because venison is so lean, it is essential you add some fattier meat/trimmings to the grind in order for it to not wind up turning into an inedible log of meat.

Morton Tender Quick – This allows you to cure meat right at home, give it flavor as well as give it that distinctive pink flavor we familiarize ourselves with when it comes to summer sausage.

Seasonings – sea salt, black pepper, mustard seed, garlic powder, thyme, basil, and sugar.

Casings – Use fibrous casing with a diameter of 2 1/2″ to 3″.

Feel free to add some high-temp cheddar cheese and jalapeño peppers to the mix if you’re feeling brave!

How to Make Venison Summer Sausage

The complete venison summer sausage recipe can be found in the recipe card below with ingredient measurements and complete instructions!

Soak casings. This recipe will make approximately 3 sausages, so soak 4 casings just in case. Simply place them in water for 30 minutes while you prep the rest of the recipe.

Grind meat mixture. If the venison or pork aren’t already ground, grind them separately. Then, place them together and grind them again using the coarse plate.

Combine seasonings. In a large bowl combine cold water, seasonings and cure in a bowl. Then, using a stand mixer or a spoon, mix the ground meat into the seasoning mixture.

Stuff. Using a grinder with a sausage stuffing attachment or a sausage maker, stuff 3″ diameter casings with seasoned meat mixture.

Rest. Place stuffed casings, undisturbed in a refrigerator for at least 24 hours and up to 48.

Smoke. Once the sausages have rested in the fridge for a couple days, preheat your smoker or pellet grill to 175°F. Hang the sausages and smoke for around 4 hours or until the sausages reach an internal temperature of 160°F.

Cool and enjoy. Allow the sausages to cool naturally to room temperature before storing in a refrigerator or freezer.

Do I need to add pork fat to venison to make summer sausage?

Do you have to? No. However, since venison is so lean, it will typically make for very dry sausage that is not bound together very well.

The jury is still out on how much pork you should add to your venison when making sausage. Some people believe you should keep a 50/50 ratio. However, this will give it quite a bit of pork flavor. I didn’t find this necessary.

I found a ratio of about 75/25 game to pork works pretty well. Did I use an exact science? No. But, using pork trimmings, butt, or shoulder provides a good amount of fat to bind the sausage together while still maintaining the venison flavor I was after.

How to Safely Make Summer Sausage from Venison

• Keep your meat cold at all times. You can chill your ground venison while you grind up the pork trimmings. Put both in the fridge for a few minutes to keep them cold before grinding them together. Another option is to use partially frozen meat when grinding so it takes a while to warm up. Regardless, keep it cold.
• Make sure you mix all of the ingredients, including the cure, in water so that the cure can dissolve and everything is easier to evenly distribute throughout the sausage.
• Use the best, high-quality ingredients when making fresh sausage. I recommend pastured pork and organic spices and seasonings.
• Soak the casings in water for about 30 minutes before stuffing. You can simply add them to some water before you start grinding and mixing. Rinse them off after they’ve soaked to remove some of the excess salt.
• Use a meat thermometer to make sure the finished product has reached 160 degrees before removing it from the smoker.

How to Store Summer Sausage

First and foremost, this recipe must be left in the refrigerator or freezer once it is cooked and cooled.

Summer sausage is best stored in vacuum-sealed packages or another airtight container in the refrigerator or freezer until it is ready to consume.

Once you open the package, store it in a tightly sealed reusable bag or tightly cover the end with foil or some other sort of wrap.

How long is venison summer sausage good for?

Frozen summer sausage will keep indefinitely, but its palatability begins to wane after about a year. Once opened, it will keep in the refrigerator for roughly a month.

Of course, if you see mold, it smells off, is making science experiments on your fridge shelf or something else… throw it out. But typically speaking it will keep for a pretty long time as long as it is properly handled and stored.

Other Venison Recipes To Try:

• How to Make Smoked Venison Jerky
• Easy Canned Venison Recipe
• How to Make Venison Bone Broth

If you try this amazing venison summer sausage, share your thoughts and questions in the comments section below! I’d love if you would give me a five star review on the card below! Also, feel free to tag me with your own perfectly juicy venison steaks on Instagram @therusticelk.