Wild Game Sausage Recipe | Homemade Game Sausage
Turn venison, elk, moose, wild boar, bear, or other game meat into flavorful homemade sausage with this step-by-step wild game sausage recipe. Learn the ideal meat-to-fat ratio, how to season and stuff sausage links, troubleshooting tips, and how to package your homemade sausage for the freezer. A practical recipe for hunters, homesteaders, and anyone wanting to make the most of their harvest.
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Servings: 8 servings
Calories: 189kcal
Cost: varies
Equipment
- Meat Grinder The most affordable option is a food processor or a KitchenAid meat grinder attachment. However, if you are making sausage on a large scale, we recommend an industrial meat grinder.
- Food Scale Using a food scale is helpful in achieving the right lean-to-fat ratio.
- Sausage Casings These are the sausage casings we use.
- Sausage Stuffer A hand-crank sausage stuffer is the easiest to control and has fewer parts that can break.
- Plastic Wrap optional
- Freezer Paper optional
- Tape optional
Ingredients
- 850 grams venison or other wild game meat, cubed
- 150 grams pork fat cubed
- 30 ml red wine vinegar
- 30 ml ice water
- 18 grams salt
- 4 grams bay leaves ground
- 4 grams black pepper ground
- 1.5 grams celery seed
- .5 grams fresh garlic minced
- 1 gram red pepper flakes optional
Instructions
- Grind meat and desired fat using the large grider plate on your meat grinder. Repeat using the small grinder plate. Remember, the ideal ratio of meat to fat is about 15%.
- Mix all the spices with the vinegar and water. Combine mixture into the ground meat until evenly distributed throughout.
- Take the ground meat mixture and, using a hand-crank sausage stuffer and sausage casings, thread the casing onto the stuffer hose.
- Tie a knot at the end of the casing and begin filling the casings with the ground meat.
- To keep the sausage from getting piled up in a heap, arrange it on the counter in a large spiral (as shown in the video).
- Once the entire casing is filled, tie off the other end and begin twisting into desired-sized links.
- Package sausage into serving sizes. Wrap in a layer of plastic wrap and then again in freezer paper.
- Freeze for up to one year.
- Defrost in the refrigerator overnight and cook thoroughly until sausages reach 165°F.
Notes
Wild Game Sausage Tips and Troubleshooting:
Homemade sausage isn’t difficult, but a few details make a BIG difference.
Homemade sausage isn’t difficult, but a few details make a BIG difference.
Serving Suggestions:
One of the things I really appreciate about having homemade wild game sausage in the freezer is just how easy it is to turn it into a meal.
For breakfast, cook up a few links alongside eggs and this sweet potato hash recipe. It’s simple, filling, and especially good on one of those cold mornings when everyone comes into the kitchen hungry.
For dinner, I like to keep things just as uncomplicated. Serve the sausage with fall roasted vegetables or whatever seasonal vegetables you have on hand, or pair it with this fermented sauerkraut recipe or braised cabbage for a hearty, old-fashioned meal.
You can also slice the cooked sausage and add it to pantry soup, stews, beans, greens, or a simple skillet dinner.
And don’t overlook homemade bread. A few sausages, a warm loaf of no-knead artisan bread, and something fresh from the garden or pantry can make a wonderfully satisfying meal without requiring much fuss.
Especially during the colder months, there’s something so comforting about pulling a package of sausage from the freezer and knowing dinner is already halfway figured out.
That’s the kind of food storage I want in my freezer. Not food that simply sits there because I preserved it, but good, practical food my family will actually eat and enjoy.
Storage Instructions:
- Keep Everything Cold - This is one of the most important parts of sausage making. Start with cold meat, cold fat, and ice water. If your mixture starts getting too warm while you’re working, stop and chill it before continuing.
- Your Sausage Seems Too Dry - First, look at your fat ratio. Wild game is often very lean. If you didn’t add enough fat, the finished sausage may be drier than you’d like. That’s why we recommend beginning with approximately 15% fat.
- Your Sausage Tastes Too “Gamey” - The red wine vinegar helps balance some of the stronger flavors you can encounter with wild game. Proper handling of the meat also matters, so always begin with clean, properly processed game.
- The Casings Keep Bursting - You may be filling them too tightly. You want a nice, full casing, but you still need enough flexibility to twist the sausage into individual links. Slow down a little and give yourself some room to work.
- Weigh Your Ingredients - This is not the recipe where I’d eyeball the salt. Using grams makes the recipe much easier to scale and gives you consistent results, whether you’re making 2.2 pounds or 22 pounds. For every 1 kilogram (2.2 pounds) of your meat and fat mixture, use:
| Ingredient | 1 kg. Pork (2.2 pounds) | 10 kg.Pork (22 pounds) |
| Salt | 18 grams | 180 grams |
| Bay Leaves | 4 grams | 40 grams |
| Ground Black Pepper | 4 grams | 40 grams |
| Celery Seed | 1.5 grams | 15 grams |
| Fresh Garlic | .5 grams | 5 grams |
| Red Pepper Flakes (Optional) | 1 gram | 10 grams |
| Red Wine Vinegar | 30 ml | 300 ml |
| Ice Water | 30 ml | 300 ml |
- Refrigerator - Keep raw sausage refrigerated until you’re ready to cook or freeze it. Because storage time can depend on the type of meat and how it was handled, follow appropriate food-safety guidance for your particular wild game.
- Freezer - For our method, package the sausage into family-sized portions, wrap it first in plastic wrap and then in freezer paper, label it, and freeze it for up to one year. Good packaging matters. Air is the enemy when it comes to maintaining quality in the freezer.
- Thawing - Thaw frozen sausage overnight in the refrigerator rather than leaving it on the countertop. Then cook thoroughly before serving.
Nutrition
Serving: 1link | Calories: 189kcal | Carbohydrates: 1g | Protein: 27g | Fat: 8g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 3g | Trans Fat: 0.04g | Cholesterol: 104mg | Sodium: 1049mg | Potassium: 401mg | Fiber: 0.3g | Sugar: 0.01g | Vitamin A: 85IU | Vitamin C: 0.4mg | Calcium: 18mg | Iron: 4mg
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