Skip to main content

How to Grind Whitetail Deer Venison

Learn how to properly prepare venison for the grinder and other tips on grinding your own wild game.

How to Grind Whitetail Deer Venison

Freshly-ground venison tastes best and you can make your own at home by following these whitetail deer grinding tips. (Jenny Nguyen-Wheatley photo)

Print Recipe

For whitetail deer hunters, grinding venison is one of the best and easiest ways to utilize this wild game meat. You don’t have to worry about overcooking ground meat, and you don’t have to wait hours for a slow cooker to do its magic.

For treatments such as steaks and roasts, does and young bucks are often preferable. But for the trophy hunter, grinding older, tougher whitetail bucks is probably the best way to eat it. I personally am not a trophy hunter, but I do get a lot of meat “donations” from friends who are. I’ve found that while old whitetails don’t make the best steak dinner, they do make delicious, flavorful ground meat.

Here is what you need to do for the best ground venison.

Preparing the Meat for Grinding

Save the loins and tenderloins for your grill, and use only the quarters for grinding. But first, you must remove the bone from the meat. For better control and power, a sharp, stiff boning knife or a fillet knife works best on deer. For example, a fillet knife designed for processing fish would be much too flexible for getting around a deer’s thick bones and joints.

venison chunks for the grinder
Not only is ground venison much leaner and healthier than beef, but it can also substitute ground beef in virtually all recipes. (Jenny Nguyen-Wheatley photo)

Next, remove as much silver skin as possible from the meat. Many people skip this step, but I find that removing it creates a better product in the end. Silver skin is tasteless and does nothing to enhance ground meat. I’ve also found that too much silver skin can prevent your ground venison from binding together for recipes such as burgers and meatballs. Don’t worry about removing every bit possible – just focus on large, thick areas.

Make sure to remove as much fat as possible from the meat. Most off-putting flavors in venison is stored in the animal’s fat. Also, venison fat is the kind that unpleasantly coats your palate with a waxy texture.

Keep It Cold

Then cut the meat into large chunks – whatever size your grinder can easily take. Place meat pieces onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper, making sure they don’t touch. Chill in your freezer for about 30 minutes or until the meat becomes firm to the touch, but not frozen through. This will help prevent bacteria from growing, as well as help your grinder work more efficiently; soft, sticky meat is more difficult to mince than firm meat. Additionally, as your grinder operates, friction will also warm up the machine. You can also take the extra precaution of chilling the grinder attachments in the freezer before using them.

chilled venison chunks on a cookie sheet
Chill chunks of venison on a cookie sheet for 30 minutes in your freezer before adding the meat to the grinder. (Jenny Nguyen-Wheatley photo)

Add Fat

Depending on what you’re planning to cook, you may want to add fat to your ground venison. This added fat can be bacon, pork shoulder, pork belly, beef tallow, etc. It’s purely personal preference.

I always add about 15-20 percent fat if I’m making hamburger or kebabs, which makes the meat juicier and more flavorful. But for recipes such as taco meat, meatloaf, meatballs, meat sauces, etc., I do not add fat, especially if the meat requires simmering in a sauce or has other moisture-enhancing ingredients in it such as egg, milk and/or breadcrumbs.

To add fat to venison, cut it up into pieces and chill in the freezer as described in the previous section.

Grinding

Thoroughly read the instructions that came with your grinder. Fit the grinder with the coarse ground die, and once ready, add the chilled wild game and fat into the tray and grind together. Try not to handle the meat more than you have to, to keep it cold and firm. Some people grind their meat twice, but I do it only once through the coarse die. I rarely use the fine die, unless if I plan on making ravioli filling or something that requires a smoother texture.

For the most part, I like my ground meat coarse and meaty. Too fine and ground meat takes on a mealy texture.

course ground venison meat in a bowl
For coarser, meatier ground venison, use the coarse die on your grinder. (Jenny Nguyen-Wheatley photo)

Grind Fresh or Store Tightly

Freshly ground meat is the best ground meat. When I make venison burgers, that meat is usually ground right before I cook it. This ensures that I’m cooking with freshly ground meat every single time, especially since I enjoy my burgers on the rarer side.

As mentioned previously, grinding meat creates lots of surface area where bacteria can attach and grow. Additionally, pre-grinding meat exposes more air to the meat, which causes discoloration during grinding, then freezing and then thawing.

Recommended


However, this may not be feasible for most people. Dragging out the meat grinder before every meal is a chore. If you choose to grind large bulks of meat beforehand, I suggest vacuum sealing that ground meat instead of using the typical freezer bags/sleeves for long term storage. These bags are not airtight, and your ground meat will not last as long in the freezer.

Another trick I’ve learned to grind small batches of venison is to use a food processor. Follow the previous steps, except cut venison into smaller pieces than normal, and pulse the semi-frozen meat (and fat, if desired) in small batches to prevent overwhelming the machine. For small batches of ground venison, this method works very well and can be utilized for all kinds of meat.




GET THE NEWSLETTER Join the List and Never Miss a Thing.

Recommended Articles

Recent Videos

Danny Farris puts his Browning OVIX camouflage to use in the rocky terrain of Texas.
Gear

Team NAW Tests Taurus' Raging Hunter on Texas Axis Bucks!

Danny Farris puts his Browning OVIX camouflage to use in the rocky terrain of Texas.
Gear

Winchester's Continued Legacy: The .400 Legend

Danny Farris puts his Browning OVIX camouflage to use in the rocky terrain of Texas.
Gear

Savage Unveils New Line of Popular Axis Hunting Rifles

Danny Farris puts his Browning OVIX camouflage to use in the rocky terrain of Texas.
Gear

Browning's Brand-New X-bolt 2 Hunting Rifle

Danny Farris puts his Browning OVIX camouflage to use in the rocky terrain of Texas.
Gear

Ripcord Arrow Rests Rejuvenates Lineup with Three New Models

Danny Farris puts his Browning OVIX camouflage to use in the rocky terrain of Texas.
Gear

Don't Sleep on Conventional Trail Cameras

Danny Farris puts his Browning OVIX camouflage to use in the rocky terrain of Texas.
Gear

Browning Trail Cameras Announces Cellular Innovation for 2024

Danny Farris puts his Browning OVIX camouflage to use in the rocky terrain of Texas.
Gear

ATA 2024 Core SR First Look from Bowtech

Danny Farris puts his Browning OVIX camouflage to use in the rocky terrain of Texas.
Gear

Browning OVIX Camo: Ultimate Concealment for Any Time, Any Place

Danny Farris puts his Browning OVIX camouflage to use in the rocky terrain of Texas.
Gear

Air Venturi Avenge-X Classic PCP Air Rifle Reviewed

Danny Farris puts his Browning OVIX camouflage to use in the rocky terrain of Texas.
Gear

Primos Edge Carbon Fiber Tripod Shooting Sticks

Danny Farris puts his Browning OVIX camouflage to use in the rocky terrain of Texas.
Gear

Bowhunting Aoudad in Texas with Browning OVIX Camo

North American Whitetail Magazine Covers Print and Tablet Versions

GET THE MAGAZINE Subscribe & Save

Digital Now Included!

SUBSCRIBE NOW

Give a Gift   |   Subscriber Services

PREVIEW THIS MONTH'S ISSUE

Buy Digital Single Issues

Magazine App Logo

Don't miss an issue.
Buy single digital issue for your phone or tablet.

Get the North American Whitetail App apple store google play store

Other Magazines

See All Other Magazines

Special Interest Magazines

See All Special Interest Magazines

GET THE NEWSLETTER Join the List and Never Miss a Thing.

Get the top North American Whitetail stories delivered right to your inbox.

Phone Icon

Get Digital Access.

All North American Whitetail subscribers now have digital access to their magazine content. This means you have the option to read your magazine on most popular phones and tablets.

To get started, click the link below to visit mymagnow.com and learn how to access your digital magazine.

Get Digital Access

Not a Subscriber?
Subscribe Now

Enjoying What You're Reading?

Get a Full Year
of Guns & Ammo
& Digital Access.

Offer only for new subscribers.

Subscribe Now

Never Miss a Thing.

Get the Newsletter

Get the top North American Whitetail stories delivered right to your inbox.

By signing up, I acknowledge that my email address is valid, and have read and accept the Terms of Use