5 venison sausage recipes to make for dinner are here. Also known as ground deer sausage, cooked with onions and peppers is a delicious way to cook wild game meat in an air fryer, slow cooker or on the stove.
What is Venison sausage? These are types of links with a casing made from the meat of a deer. It is very lean and has a distinctive flavor, which imparts a unique taste to any recipes you make with it. Carefully cooked to tender inside we have 3 ways of cooking them you’ll love.
Deer Sausage Recipe
These were given to us by a friend who is an avid hunter. We did some favors for him and in return he brought them over one day, frozen to say thanks. We aren’t hunters ourselves so we don’t have the opportunity to enjoy these very often but when we do it is a real treat for sure. Homemade venison sausages come linked together in the casings and the meat is raw.
in Air Fryer
Air fryer sausage links are small like breakfast size and are the fastest of them all to get the outsides nice and crispy. If you love a snap of whole air fryer sausage, served on a hoagie roll with mustard you can follow this timing too. Just preheat, air fry and enjoy in just about 10 minutes start to finish!!
in Slow Cooker
The second way we like to cook these is as a Crockpot recipe. You can use any sort of sauce you like but typically I use either a jar of spaghetti sauce or have used a packaged stew sauce as well other times. Because these are so low in fat, low and slow is a nice way to cook them. Surrounded by sauce gives them more moisture as well which is another plus.
I based this one off of our slow cooker sausage and vegetables dish where in that one I used pork links or kielbasa. Made the same way it is a great one pot meal you can make that doesn’t cost a lot beyond the protein itself. You can use a jar of spaghetti sauce OR this time I used beef stew sauce
on the Stove
If you want to cook these items on the stove you would heat large skillet over medium heat. Slice summer sausage in half lengthwise (keeping sausage casing in tact or remove). Slice 1/2 onion and 1/2 bell pepper. Heat 2 tbsp olive oil in skillet, set sliced sausage with flat side down in pan with onions and peppers. Or make into Venison Stroganoff.
Put lid on top. Cook until meat reaches 160 degrees F inside and veggies are tender. Another option if you want to bring a bit of sweetness to the dish is just heat the meat in one and make caramelized onions in another. Want a bit of heat too? Sprinkle some red pepper flakes in there too. 😉
in the Oven
Sausage in the oven you would preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Slice bell peppers and onion into strips. Place these into a bowl. Toss with 1/4 c. olive oil and sprinkle of salt and pepper. Cover baking sheet with foil. Pour veggies on top in a single layer. Lay links on top of them. Drizzle or spray just a touch of oil on meat. Cook for 25-30 minutes turning meat half way thru. Enjoy once middle of meat has reached 160 degrees
Smoked
Last but certainly not least the 4th way is to cook smoked sausage which will give you yet another flavor profile to your ground venison entirely. The cooking process takes less than slow cooking but longer than the other methods.
Venison Sausage Recipe
Equipment
- 1 air fryer or slow cooker, recipes listed below
Ingredients
- 6 venison sausage
- 1 onion, sliced
- 1 bell pepper, sliced
- 2 tbsp olive oil
Instructions
- Air fryer venison sausage – You want to preheat machine to 360 degrees F for 5 minutes. Poke with a knife 4 small pokes on each side of each link. Lay inside basket without overlapping them. Air fry for 6 minutes flipping halfway thru or until the internal temperature reaches 160 F inside.
- * If you want to air fry onions and bell peppers with it – Add into a bowl 1 onion and 2 bell peppers sliced + 1/4 tsp Old Bay + 1/4 tsp onion powder + 1/4 tsp garlic salt + 1 tbsp olive oil. Toss together so they are coated. Add into a preheat air fryer set to 380 degrees. Air fry for 10-12 minutes shaking contents every 5 minutes until they are as tender and crisped on the edges you'd like.
- Slow cooker venison sausages – Sprinkle sliced onions and bell peppers on bottom with links on top. Poke links with a knife a few times on top. Pour jar of spaghetti sauce over the top (or if using Campbells beef stew sauce, also add 1/2 cup of beef broth over the top. Cook on low for 6 hours or until internal temp of meat is 160 degrees F.
- Skillet vension sausages – Heat large skillet over medium heat. Slice sausage in half lengthwise. Slice 1/2 onion and 1/2 bell pepper. Heat 2 tbsp olive oil in skillet, set sliced sausage with flat side down in pan with onions and peppers around it. Put lid on top. Cook until meat reaches 160 degrees F inside and veggies are tender.
- Smoked venison sausage – Preheat your smoker to 350 degrees. Set raw links on grate for 15 minutes, lift lid and flip to other side. Test and remove once internal temp reaches 160 degrees F.
- Venision sausage in the oven – Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Slice bell peppers and onion into strips. Place these into a bowl. Toss with 1/4 c. olive oil and sprinkle of salt and pepper. Cover baking sheet with foil. Pour veggies on top in a single layer. Lay links on top of them. Drizzle or spray just a touch of oil on meat. Cook for 25-30 minutes turning meat half way thru. Enjoy once middle of meat has reached 160 degrees
Video
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
with Bell Peppers
Most of the time we want some veggies on the side. If you have a dual drawer version like you see here you can put the meat in one side and air fryer peppers in the other so they’re done at the same time. Mix and match the colors but typically I will buy green bell peppers and yellow.
Breakfast Sausages
Now this is different, but still delicious. Because it has a higher fat usually with pork belly added into the meat grinder when made, it is more moist and cook time is a bit longer. We love it made into venison breakfast sausage patties cooked in a pan like this is great too.
What is a safe internal temperature for venison sausage?
You will need to cook venison sausage links long enough where your meat thermometer reaches 160 degrees Fahrenheit or 71 degrees Celsius inside the thickest part. Same goes for other meats like sausage patties in oven, checking outside of heat source is important for an accurate read.. Remove from the heat source to get the most accurate read. Juices should run clear as well so that is another sign that they are likely done.
Meat ground like this are specifically seasoned for breakfast sausage recipes. They are often flavored with a blend of spices and herbs such as sage, thyme, rosemary, and sometimes a hint of sweetness from ingredients like maple syrup or brown sugar.
The texture is usually smoother because of the coarse grinding than regular links making them more suitable for patties, links, or crumbles in morning dishes. Delicious made this way or break up and use as a sausage stuffer in your bird. If you don’t use all of what you have, save the rest to cook later in a freezer bag. If frozen to begin with, defrost in refrigerator overnight to make any of these dishes.
