This easy homemade Spicy Deer Breakfast Sausage Recipe is one of the most satisfying breakfast delicacies that you can make. It’s a lot easier and faster than making your own bacon, plus you can easily change the flavor profile to your liking.
If you’re looking for something that’s a little more classic, give my more traditional venison breakfast sausage recipe a try. It has all of the flavors that most hunters love with a tiny hint of sweetness.
I’m a huge fan of spicy breakfast sausage and wanted to create a recipe that has brighter flavors than dried chili flakes or powder. So I decided to use roasted green chilies in their place.
Roasted green chilies (canned or fresh) add a little heat, smokiness, sweetness, and a welcomed robust flavor to this breakfast sausage. This sausage freezes very well and can also be stuffed inside of casings if you like.
I prefer to grind my own deer meat for sausages to control fat content and texture. If you’re new to processing deer meat, my grinding venison guide is a great start, followed by my guide on how to make venison sausage.
Cuts of Deer Can to make Venison Sausage
In theory, you could use any cut from a deer to make sausage. But, using cuts like the shank or sirloin tip will have you fighting with silver skin while trying to grind the venison. I recommend using cuts that have little to no connective tissue, such as top round, bottom round, eye of round, and loin. If you need help identifying those cuts, take a look at my venison round steak guide.
Tips for grinding:
Keeping your meat grinder attachments ice cold is just as important as for the meat and fat. It plays a part in achieving superior flavor and texture with this sausage. Grinder attachments can warm up fast and when metal warms up, fat starts to melt. I also like to pre-chill the container that the ground pork will be falling into while grinding, in the freezer before starting as well.
Freezing The Sausage
Like most fatty sausages, if they are stored properly, they freeze well for around 3 months and still retain their quality. I like to wrap them first in a layer of plastic food wrap, followed by either freezer paper or freezer bags. Vacuum sealing is another great and convenient option.
Making Seasoning Adjustments:
After all of your ingredients are mixed together, now is the time to make adjustments. I highly suggest cooking off a small bite of the sausage and adjust the seasoning to your liking. You can add more maple syrup for sweetness, peppers for heat or salt and pepper to your taste buds.
You can also take another shortcut and use the same quantity of salt-free poultry seasoning in place for what herbs that I have listed. The flavors won’t be as bright and profound as with fresh, but they will still be tasty.
More Venison Sausage Recipes
Below are some of my most popular venison sausage recipes. If you’re looking for even more ideas on how to utilize your harvest, check out my complete venison recipes page.
- Venison Salami
- Venison Summer Sausage
- Venison Snack Sticks
- Venison Boudin Sausage
- Venison Italian Sausage
Lastly, if you make this homemade Southwest Venison Breakfast Sausage, be sure to leave a comment or tag me on Instagram! I thoroughly enjoy hearing feedback and checking out the photos of recipes that you’ve made.
Southwest Venison Breakfast Sausage
Ingredients
- 1.5 pound boneless venison, diced
- 8 oz pork back fat, diced
- 1 sweet onion finely chopped
- 1 garlic clove, peeled and finely chopped
- 2 large poblano peppers or 1/2 cup of canned green chilis
- 1 tablespoon fresh sage, finely chopped
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme,
- 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger or 1/2 teaspoon dried ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon maple syrup
- ice cold water, as needed (usually around 1/4 cup)
Instructions
- If using canned chiles, skip to step 2. On your grill or in your oven under the broiler, roast and char the chilies on each side. Place them in a bowl covered with plastic wrap for 15 minutes. Peel the skins off of the chilies and remove the seeds. Roughly chop the chilies. Place them in the refrigerator for 15 minutes to chill.
- Place all of the ingredients except the water and maple syrup in a large bowl. Toss the mixture to coat the meat and fat.
- Grind the venison mixture through the small die attachment of your grinder. Place the ground mixture in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. If you don’t have a stand mixer, use a large metal bowl and a sturdy spoon.
- Mix the ingredients until they just start to incorporate. Now slowly add the water and maple syrup while mixing. Keep mixing until the sausage ingredients are fully incorporated and the mixture is tacky. If the sausage appears to be dry and not tacky, add a little more ice cold water and repeat the mixing process.
- Cook a small portion of the sausage in a skillet and check for seasoning. Add salt and pepper as needed.
