These incredibly tasty venison burgers are so juicy, tender, and perfectly seasoned with my favorite addition to keeping them wonderfully moist! Bacon adds a bit of fat and a ton of flavor to the meat, so these burgers taste great whether your grill them or cook them on the stove!
Easy Venison Burger Recipe
I love making burgers with underrated game meats like venison. It’s a tasty way to use venison, but too often, these burgers can wind up dry and tough.
I add bacon to the mix to make the burgers rich and juicy, then generously season with my super flavorful steak seasoning! After the burgers are seared or grilled to perfection, you’ll wonder why you had a burger any other way.
Venison burgers are flavorful, rich, and a uniquely delicious twist on the classic burger!
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Burgers are a weekend favorite in my house! I love to make a topping bar with everyone’s favorite toppings, so each of us can make our burger just how we like it! It’s one of my favorite fun ways to get everyone around the dinner table!
Did I mention how easy these burgers are? You can have these juicy burgers ready to eat in just 15 minutes! Now all you need is a side of fries!
❤️ Why I Love This Recipe
They’re Unique! Venison burgers are a great way to use up ground venison! It’s a distinctive and absolutely delicious flavor!
Perfectly Seasoned! My steak seasoning is full of delicious herbs and spices that mask gaminess without covering up the amazing venison flavor!
Just 3 Ingredients! That’s all you need to make these amazing venison burger patties!
🥘 Ingredients
These delectable burgers use ground venison, which can sometimes be hard to find in grocery stores if you or your family don’t hunt regularly. However, if you can find it, venison is so worth the delicious flavor!
- ½ pound Bacon – Finely chop or grind the bacon to blend with the ground venison. Use your favorite type of bacon here – I prefer to use a lightly smoked bacon, so the smokiness doesn’t overwhelm the flavor of the venison.
- 1 pound Ground Venison – Venison can refer to several game meats, but most often refers to deer meat! 90/10 Lean ground beef can be substituted for the venison if you can’t find it.
- 2 tablespoons Steak Seasoning – Use my versatile recipe or pick up your favorite store-bought brand!
- 4 Brioche Buns – I love keeping my easy brioche buns around for whenever I want a good burger or sandwich! You can also use your favorite store-bought hamburger buns.
If you happen to have spare or extra venison meat be sure to check out my favorite Venison Recipes.
*Be sure to see the free printable recipe card below for ingredients, exact amounts & instructions with tips!*
🔪 Instructions
If you need to grind the bacon and/or venison yourself, you can use a food processor or meat grinder attachment for a stand mixer!
- Process bacon. Start out by finely chopping ½ pound of bacon or pulsing the bacon in a food processor until ground. Then, with clean hands, mix the bacon with 1 pound of ground venison and seasoning until evenly distributed (the bacon adds much-needed fat to the lean venison).
- Shape patties. Once combined, portion the venison mixture into 4-6 equally sized balls and then flatten them into patties. Use your thumb or a spoon to leave an indent in the center of each patty to prevent shrinking. Then, heat your grill, skillet, or frying pan to medium-high (closer to high than to medium) heat. If cooking burgers on the stovetop, be sure to lightly oil your skillet or frying pan.
Fry & Assemble
- Cook the burger patties. Cook your burgers until the surface begins to caramelize, about 4 to 6 minutes. Once that side is done, flip, then cook the other side of the burger the same way.
- Rest and serve. Once the venison burgers are cooked, remove from the heat and allow the patties to rest for at least 5 minutes before serving on a brioche bun with your favorite condiments and toppings.
Rich and flavorful venison burgers are the best way to switch up burger night! I love to serve these juicy burgers for dinner with a toppings bar, so everyone can pile on their favorite condiments.
I highly recommend serving the burgers with a big mound of crispy French fries or onion rings! Or burger toppings like my sauteed onions! Or for the perfect accompaniments to venison see my best sides post. Enjoy!
💭 Angela's Pro Tips & Recipe Notes
- Mix the ground venison and bacon just until combined! Don’t over-mix, or it can make your burgers tough. Mixing with your hands also helps the burgers not get over-mixed.
- If frying burgers, lightly oil the skillet using an oil with a high smoke point. Good options include avocado oil, coconut oil, canola oil, vegetable oil, grapeseed oil, or peanut oil. You want to then heat the oil until it begins to shimmer and lightly smoke!
- Are venison patties sticking to your pan? Wait another minute, then try again! Your burger patty will release from the pan and flip when it has formed a good crust, about 4 to 6 minutes.
- Don’t eat pork? You can instead add ½ stick of cold, grated butter to the patties (make sure the butter is cold or even semi-frozen to be easier to grate). The butter will keep the patties rich and juicy!
- Use your favorite toppings for these burgers! Some of my favorites include cheddar cheese, bacon, lettuce, tomato, red onions, and pickles. For condiments, you can do classic ketchup and mustard, or try mayo, BBQ sauce, or Thousand Island dressing!
🥡 Storing & Reheating
Leftover burgers can be wrapped well in plastic cling film or aluminum foil, then stored in your refrigerator for 3 to 5 days!
You can easily freeze cooked or raw venison burger patties for up to 6 months! For either raw or cooked patties, wrap them in plastic wrap then store them in a freezer-safe, airtight container or a heavy-duty freezer storage bag.
Reheating Venison Burgers
The best way to reheat patties without making them tough is to reheat in your oven! Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C), then place burgers in a baking dish and cover with foil.
Next, put the burgers in the oven and reheat for about 10 to 15 minutes, or until warmed through completely.
🍟 Great Sides For Burgers
So many tasty sides for burgers - here are a few of my favorite pairings!
❓ Recipe FAQs
Sure! Make preparing these fresh venison burger patties easier by making up to 1 day in advance! Wrap the patties in plastic wrap, then place in an airtight container and refrigerate. Alternatively, you may place the patties in between layers of parchment paper inside your container. You can also freeze raw patties, if desired (see freezer storage instructions).
I highly recommend adding bacon to the ground venison! Venison is an extremely lean meat, that making the burgers without it would leave them quite dry. Adding the fatty bacon to the burgers adds richness, moisture, salt, and of course so much delicious flavor!
This recipe makes 4 6-ounce patties – that’s slightly larger than a ¼ pound patty! The burger sizes can easily be scaled up or down, so you can make 6 ¼ pound patties, or even 3 ½ pound p
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📖 Recipe Card
Venison Burgers
Ingredients
- ¼ lb bacon (finely chopped or ground)
- 1 lb venison (ground)
- 2 tablespoon steak seasoning (see recipe or use your favorite brand)
- 4 brioche buns (see recipe or use your favorite burger buns)
(Note: 2x or 3x only changes the ingredient list)
Instructions
- Start out with finely chopping the bacon or grinding the bacon with a food processor. Combine the bacon with the ground venison and steak seasoning until evenly distributed. *The bacon adds some much-needed fat to the lean venison!
- Once combined, portion the venison mixture into 4 balls and flatten them into patties. Use your thumb or a spoon to leave an indent in the center of each patty. Then, heat your grill, skillet, or frying pan to medium-high (closer to high than to medium) heat. *If cooking on the stovetop be sure to lightly oil your skillet or frying pan (*see note).
- Cook your burger until the surface begins to caramelize, about 4-6 minutes. Then, flip and cook the other side of the burger the same way.
- Once cooked, remove from heat and allow the patties to rest for at least 5 minutes before serving on a brioche bun with your favorite toppings and condiments.
Notes
- Mix the bacon and venison just until combined. Try not to over-mix, or it can make your burger less tender.
- Choose an oil with a high smoke point. Good options include avocado oil, coconut oil, canola oil, vegetable oil, grapeseed oil, or peanut oil.
- Patties can be made up to 1 day in advance. Wrap them tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate them in an airtight container.
- If your patties stick when you're trying to flip them, they're not ready. Wait a minute then try again.
Vicki says
Can u make venison in ghoulish or anything besides just hamburgers.
Angela @ BakeItWithLove.com says
Yes! See more venison recipes here and ground venison recipes here. My venison tenderloin roast is here and my fave rack of venison is here. I was just thinking it was time to make venison stuffed peppers too, yum!