If you season, cure, and smoke ground venison and pork fat, you can make venison bacon, which is sweet and smoky sheet bacon.
This recipe has been on my to-do list for a long time. People who like to hunt really like venison bacon, but I could never find a recipe for how to make it. I could only find ready-made cure mixes that I had to buy. For people like me who are proud to kill their own animals and make everything from scratch, that wasn’t okay. So I set out to create this recipe.
Venison bacon is made from ground meat instead of a whole cut of meat like pork belly in regular bacon. It is also sometimes called “formed ground bacon.” It is prepared and cooked like venison sausage, but loaded with bacon seasonings and thinly sliced.
Venison bacon is a tasty alternative to traditional pork bacon, but its leanness makes it tricky to cook just right. Undercook it and you risk foodborne illness. Overcook it and you’ll end up with dried out, chewy meat So how do you know when venison bacon is perfectly done? Here are some foolproof ways to test for doneness
What is Venison Bacon?
First, let’s quickly go over what makes venison bacon special. It starts with boneless venison, usually from the hindquarters, that is cured and often smoked To make up for venison’s lack of fat, pork fat is added, with a typical venison to pork ratio of 50/50 or 60/40. This gives venison bacon a similar texture and flavor to regular bacon
Venison Bacon Cooking Methods
You can cook venison bacon using various methods
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Pan frying – Quick stovetop cooking method best for crisping up slices.
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Baking – Useful for cooking a venison bacon roast evenly throughout.
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Grilling – Adds nice charred flavor though easy to overcook on a grill.
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Smoking – Low and slow smoking infuses venison bacon with extra flavor.
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Microwaving – Fast but can lead to uneven cooking so need to adjust power and flip slices.
Doneness Tests for Pan-Fried Venison Bacon
When frying venison bacon slices in a skillet, watch for these signs of doneness:
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Shrinkage – The strips will shrink up a bit from their original size as the moisture cooks out.
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Crispness – Look for the fatty edges to become browned and crispy as they render.
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Color – The lean venison portion will transition from pinkish red to more brownish tan when done.
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Texture – Bacon should feel firm but still tender when poked, not mushy or squishy.
Venison bacon takes just 2-4 minutes per side to fry up nicely.
Doneness Cues for Baked Venison Bacon
If cooking a whole venison bacon roast, monitor these indicators for doneness:
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Internal temperature – Use a meat thermometer to test for 145°F minimum.
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Appearance – The exterior should be browned while the interior remains faintly pink.
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Firmness – Bacon should feel firm to the touch but still tender when poked.
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Caramelized edges – The outer crust will become crispy and caramelized from the oven’s dry heat.
Allow 15-20 minutes per pound when roasting venison bacon to reach safe internal temperature.
Doneness Factors for Grilled and Smoked Venison Bacon
With grilling or smoking venison bacon, consider these factors to avoid under or overcooking:
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Probe temperature – Pierce slices or roast with a thermometer to check for 145°F.
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Texture – Bacon should firm up but still have tenderness when done.
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Color – Look for exterior browning and faint pink inside when sliced.
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Fat render – Properly cooked bacon will release visible fat droplets as the fat renders.
Use lower heat around 250°F and monitor closely with a meat thermometer for best results.
Food Safety with Cooked Venison Bacon
Since venison bacon contains pork, follow pork safety:
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Cook to minimum 145°F internal temperature.
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Refrigerate within 2 hours of cooking.
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Reheat fully to 165°F before serving leftovers.
Following proper doneness tips will ensure your venison bacon tastes great while staying safe to eat.
Common Cook Errors
It’s easy to mess up venison bacon cooking:
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Undercooking – Not reaching 145°F can mean surviving bacteria leads to food poisoning.
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Overcooking – Venison dries out quickly if cooked too long. err on the side of less time.
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Inconsistent cooking – Faster exterior browning compared to the center; flip or turn bacon frequently.
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Letting it stick – Getting good sear without sticking takes experience. Don’t move venison bacon until ready to flip.
Mastering the art of perfectly cooked venison bacon takes practice but leads to amazing results.
Serving Suggestions
Once cooked, serve your venison bacon:
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Chopped in omelets, frittatas or breakfast tacos
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On pizza, burgers, sandwiches and Cobb salads
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In soups like baked potato, chili, or clam chowder
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Crumble over baked beans, mac and cheese or barbecue
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Pair with roasted Brussels sprouts and sweet potatoes
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Add to roasted root veggie hash or fried rice
The savory, smoky flavor pairs well with so many dishes. Get creative with this leaner bacon variety in your cooking.
Doneness Judgment Tips
Determining venison bacon doneness relies on visual cues, texture tests, thermometer probes and hitting the 145°F safety zone. Keeping close tabs on shrinkage, color change, fat rendering, firmness, and final internal temperature will ensure your venison bacon turns out perfectly cooked. While quick cooking methods require attentiveness to avoid over or undercooking, using this doneness knowledge helps you nail venison bacon cooking every time. Enjoy the savory venison flavor in a bacon-style treat by mastering the art and science of cooked venison bacon.
Does Venison Bacon Taste Like Bacon?
Venison has a distinctly different flavor than pork which will be reflected in the bacon. However, venison bacon does have the same traits as traditional bacon – wonderfully sweet, smoky, and salty!.
Equipment Needed for Venison Bacon
There are affiliate links in the list of things you need to make venison bacon that let you quickly and easily buy the same things I use from Amazon.
- Stick smoker—You can use a regular oven to make deer bacon, but smoking it will make it taste better. It is best to use an electric smoker for making any kind of sausage because it lets you control the temperature more precisely as you raise it gradually during the cooking process.
- Deli Slicer: Once the bacon is done smoking, you can use your chef knife to cut it into thin slices, but a deli slicer is much faster and easier to use. You can also use it to cut my smoked rump roast recipe into thin slices.
- Meat Grinder: You will need to use a meat grinder to grind your deer brains into bacon that is already formed. Read my How to Butcher a Deer tutorial for tips on how to grind deer meat.
Most likely, you don’t keep a few of the things you need for venison bacon on hand if you don’t usually make bacon or sausage.
- Curing—The meat needs to be cured because it will be cooked at very low temperatures for a long time. The cure stops dangerous bacteria from growing in the meat while it cooks, making it safe to eat. You can buy a lot of different cures. Always read the label to make sure you use the right amount.
- Dairy-Free Dry Milk Powder: You can get this at any grocery store. It is added to sausage to keep it together, keep the moisture in, and stop it from shrinking while it’s cooking.
- Brown Sugar—Smoky and sweet is the classic bacon pair. The brown sugar gives the meat a great sweetness and makes a sticky glaze on the outside. Feel free to add/substitute maple syrup as well.
- Ground Venison—I use a mix of ground venison and pork fat to make venison bacon. Somewhat less than 80% lean meat and 20% fat is a good starting point, but you can go as high as 30% fat if you want to. Make sure you don’t lose more weight than you need to, or your bacon will taste dry and lack flavor. If you had a butcher process your deer meat, you can ask them what fat ratio they used.
How to Make Venison (Deer) Bacon at Home | The Bearded Butchers
FAQ
How long does it take to cook venison?
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Rare
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13-15 minutes per 500g
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12-14 minutes per lb.
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Medium
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20-22 minutes per 500g
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18-20 minutes per lb.
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Well done
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25-28 minutes per 500g
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22-25 minutes per lb.
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