Venison Burgers

Venison Burgers: Baked in the oven, these juicy venison burgers are combined with ground sausage, and a few spices and there’s a special trick at the end like we use in our baked burgers, that makes these deer burgers the best!

 

Burger recipes are probably our favorite thing to make when it comes to dinner recipes. They’re easy to make, and once we developed and figured out how to use aluminum foil to “steam and toast” the buns, it was a game-changer for our burgers.

So when it came to wanting to make venison burgers, we knew we’d keep that trick the same but there were a few things we needed to do differently than our other burgers since deer meat tends to be pretty lean.

Now, if you love burger recipes in general, you’ll definitely want to check out our cowboy burger, stovetop burgers, and these cheeseburger sliders. Or if venison recipes are your thing, you’ll really love this fried deer meat recipe that has become so popular!

Jump to:

• Why This Recipe Works
• Ingredients Needed
• Substitutions
• How to Make Venison Burgers
• The Trick…
• Recipe Pro Tips
• Recipe FAQs
• Storage
• More Burger Recipes
• Recipe
• Comments

Ingredients Needed

I’ve highlighted a couple of ingredients with some relevant notes. Aside from this, the ingredients needed are pretty basic.

• Ground Sausage – We used a pound of ground sausage in this recipe but that results in a strong sausage flavor. So if you prefer to use less, you absolutely can. I’d recommend using only ½ pound sausage instead. However, we like using the entire pound of sausage, to spread out the number of burgers that we can make, and we actually like the sausage flavor to help make the burgers less “gamey” tasting.
• Worcestershire sauce – If you can get it, we highly recommend Lea & Perrines for this recipe. We used to buy whatever brand was the most affordable but when I had Lea & Perrines for the first time, I decided I’d never buy a different brand. (It’s a world of difference in flavor.)
• Crackers and the egg – the purpose of these two ingredients is to help hold the venison together in the shape of a patty. Deer meat is so lean that the burgers can be dry and crumbly if you don’t add something to help keep it together.

Substitutions

Sometimes substitutions are necessary because of ingredients that are unavailable or needed for dietary restrictions. Here are some suggestions that can help:

• Ground Sausage – if you don’t want to use ground pork sausage, you could substitute it with ground beef, ground turkey or even ground chicken. If you don’t want to use any other type of meat to mix with the venison, that’s ok too but just know that it could result in a “dry” burger. The addition of the other meat is to help the burgers be juicier.
• Crackers – we used buttery-round crackers (such as Ritz) but you could also use saltines if you’d like. Crush these so they’ll be in small pieces and mix in to the meat mixture well.

How to Make Venison Burgers

You’ll first combine the meat with spices and binders. We feel this results in the best and most flavorful burgers.

*Be sure to see the recipe card below for the full ingredients list & instructions!*

STEP 1. Preheat and Prep. Preheat your oven to 375° F. and get out a baking dish that will be big enough for all of the (6 or 8) burger patties, and place them in a single layer, without overlapping.

STEP 2. Mix meat with binders. In a large bowl, add the ground venison meat, the ground sausage, the egg, and the crushed crackers (Image 1).

STEP 3. Add sauce. Next, pour in the Worcestershire sauce (Image 2).

STEP 4. Add spices. Next, pour in the paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, and pepper (Image 3).

STEP 5. Mix. Using your hands or a large spoon, mix together the meat with all of the binders and the spices until evenly combined (Image 4).

STEP 6. Make burgers. Patty out 6-8 burgers (depending on how thin/thick you want your burgers — just note they may not need to bake as long if on the thin side) and place them in the baking dish in a single layer (Image 6).

STEP 7. Sprinkle with salt. If desired, sprinkle each burger patty with salt (Image 7).

STEP 8. Bake the burgers, uncovered, in the oven for 25 minutes or until juices are running clear (Image above) or until the internal temp reaches 165° since it has sausage in it.

Tip: After baking, leave the oven on if you want to do the following steps.

The Trick…

STEP 9. Wrap and steam. Although this step is optional, it is highly recommended. For each burger that you plan to eat, tear aluminum foil squares for each one. (Make sure each square is large enough to wrap a burger on a bun, completely.)

STEP 10. Top with bun & cheese. If desired, top each burger patty with a slice of cheese and place the burgers on buns (Images 9 & 10).

STEP 11. Wrap in foil. Wrap each assembled burger that’s on a hamburger bun with cheese, in a piece of aluminum foil and place in another baking dish or cookie sheet (or even back on the oven rack) for about 2-3 minutes (Images 11 & 12).

Don’t forget to turn the oven off!

Enjoy! Or top with your favorite toppings! (Tip: sometimes the bun and cheese can stick together after this trick — but you can put toppings on the bottom bun if so, or add your toppings before toasting.)

Recipe FAQs

Storage

If you have leftover burgers (without the buns), store them in an airtight container or wrap in plastic wrap for 3-5 days.

If you pre-made the burgers and the buns with the “trick” mentioned above, it may be harder to reheat the burgers but it’s not impossible. It would be best to place the assembled burgers in at 375° oven, wrapped in aluminum foil, for about 8-10 minutes or until heated through.

More Burger Recipes

If you love burgers as much as we do, you’re also going to love these:

Did you make this? I’d be so grateful if you left a “star” rating below to let me know what you thought! Then, the next time you need a quick and easy recipe, come back to Fantabulosity to browse all of my easy recipes!

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