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Home » Ground Venison Seasonings

Ground Venison Seasonings

July 17, 2020 by Mike Shreckengost 7 Comments

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All of these homemade ground venison seasonings will help elevate the flavors of your easy ground venison recipes! From a basic chili ground venison seasoning to a delicious blackened venison seasoning, you’re sure to find something for your next venison recipe!

a collage of six different ground venison seasonings for ground deer meat

The addition of seasonings can transform bland ground venison meat into delicious and flavorful recipes. Below are a few of our basic seasoning combinations that we use with some of our ground venison recipes.

Basic Chili Seasoning

This seasoning mixture is great for your venison or other wild game chili recipe. Use one batch per one pound of ground venison meat when making venison chili. You can double and triple this recipe and store in an airtight seasoning or spice jar.

a basic chili seasoning for ground venison seasonings
  • 1/2 tsp. onion powder
  • 1 Tbsp. chili powder
  • 1 tsp. garlic powder
  • 1 tsp. cumin
  • 1 tsp. salt
  • 1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper

Basic BBQ Seasoning

This basic BBQ ground venison seasoning is perfect for grilling season! It’s great on venison burgers, meatballs, or even on poultry or other grilled wild game meats when you want that classic BBQ flavor. Make a batch or double, and store in an airtight seasoning or spice jar and season as needed.

spices for a basic BBQ seasoning for ground venison seasonings
  • 1 Tbsp. smoked paprika
  • 1 tsp. ground mustard
  • 1 tsp. celery salt
  • 1 tsp. salt
  • 1/2 tsp. black pepper
  • 1 tsp. chili powder
  • 1 tsp. garlic powder
  • 2 heaping Tbsp. brown sugar
  • 1/4 tsp. onion powder

Cajun Seasoning

This cajun seasoning is great for when you want a hint of that salty heat with your ground venison. It’s great on burgers, meatballs, wild game steaks, and fish! Make a batch or double, and store in an airtight seasoning or spice jar and season as needed.

spices for a cajun seasoning for ground venison
  • 1 tsp. smoked paprika
  • 1 tsp. garlic powder
  • 1 tsp. salt
  • 1/4 tsp. black pepper
  • 1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
  • 1/3 tsp. dried oregano
  • 1/2 tsp. thyme

Blackened Seasoning

Blackened seasoning is great on fish, but it can also take your ground venison up a notch in flavor! It’s great on venison burgers, ground venison, and steaks! Make a batch or double, and store in an airtight seasoning or spice jar and season as needed.

spices for a blackened seasoning for ground venison seasonings
  • 1 tsp. garlic powder
  • 1 tsp. dried oregano
  • 1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper
  • 1 tsp. smoked paprika
  • 1 tsp. onion powder
  • 1 tsp. cumin
  • 1/2 tsp. salt
  • 1/2 tsp. black pepper

Santa Maria Seasoning

While Santa Maria seasoning is great for steaks, don’t forget to try this seasoning on ground venison recipes. Use Santa Maria seasoning with your meatballs in a classic spaghetti and venison meatballs recipe, or to season your burgers on the grill. Make a batch or double, and store in an airtight seasoning or spice jar and season as needed.

spices for a Santa Maria seasoning
  • 1 1/2 Tbsp. coarse Kosher salt
  • 2 tsp. cracked black pepper
  • 1/2 tsp. onion powder
  • 1/2 tsp. garlic powder

Stew Seasoning

When you think of stew, you probably think of larger cuts of venison meat like roasts, but this is also great with ground venison, too! You can make a ground venison vegetable stew and use this seasoning to add great flavoring to the dish. This would also be great in a venison pot pie or venison Shepard’s pie recipe. Use about 1/4 cup stew seasoning for every 1 pound of ground venison in the recipe. Make a batch or double, and store in an airtight seasoning or spice jar and season as needed.

spices for a stew seasoning mix
  • 1 cup flour
  • 1 tsp. dried oregano
  • 1 Tbsp. dried basil
  • 1 tsp. thyme
  • 1 Tbsp. dried parsley
  • 1/2 Tbsp. salt
  • 1/2 Tbsp. black pepper
  • 1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper
  • 2 Tbsp. onion powder

Coffee Rub Seasoning

Coffe rub is great on venison steaks and tri-tip, but it also makes for a great rub on grilled burgers, like in this Grilled Coffee Rubbed Burgers with Horseradish Sauce recipe (just swap in ground venison). Make a batch or double, and store in an airtight seasoning or spice jar and season as needed.

spices for a coffee rub seasoning

Try these ground venison seasonings with these recipes!

  • Loaded Venison Queso Dip – season the ground venison with the basic chili seasoning
  • BBQ Bourbon Venison Meatballs – add 1-2 tsp. of the basic BBQ seasoning to these meatballs
  • Venison Stuffed Jalapeño Peppers – add in 1 tsp. of the blacked or cajun seasoning for an extra kick of flavor

FAQs

What spices go well with venison?

I would really encourage you to experiment with individual spices and seasoning blends to see what pairs well for your particular taste. But, these ground venison seasonings all work well when cooking with deer meat.

How long do homemade seasonings last?

Ground spices, even homemade blends, should last up to one year if stored correctly. You want to keep them in an airtight container and stored in a cool, dry place.

Recommended kitchen resources for homemade seasonings

Primal Pioneer participates in the Amazon affiliate program. Please see my affiliate disclaimer. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

Try these other seasoning recipes!

  • The Best Homemade Taco Seasoning – Tastes of Homemade
  • Homemade Tuscan Seasoning – Kylee Cooks
  • Homemade Seasoning Salt – The Spice Train
a man elk hunting in a forest
Mike Shreckengost

Primal Pioneer is a food blog and public land hunting resource by Mike and Jennifer Shreckengost. We’re a husband and wife team who combined their two passions – a love of the outdoors and food – into a joint effort with Primal Pioneer! You’ll find resources on planning and executing your own DIY over-the-counter public land big game hunt, along with wild game recipes featuring mostly venison and elk.

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Filed Under: Elk Recipes, Fish, Venison Recipes, Wild Game Recipes

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Fred Ray

    December 28, 2020 at 1:18 pm

    Thank you for the great recipe seasoning tips and advice on how to use the best combination of the spices to achieve the best flavors I tasted in ground venison ever and I’m an old country boy from way back that still loves to hunt, fish and cook, then enjoy the meat God gave us to enjoy. Thank y’all very much, I’m 64 and still enjoy the thrill of the hunt and learning new ways to cook it.

    Reply
    • Mike Shreckengost

      December 29, 2020 at 12:00 am

      You are very welcome, we are so glad you enjoyed them! We’re always looking for new ways to bring out the best flavors with venison and other wild game meats and then share them with our readers. Keep on enjoying the hunt!

      Reply
  2. Mimi

    January 29, 2021 at 7:19 pm

    Are all of these seasonings once mixed up for 1lb of venison?

    Reply
    • Mike Shreckengost

      February 5, 2021 at 2:14 pm

      Hi!

      We break it down inside the post for each seasoning. The chili seasoning is one batch per pound. The stew seasoning is 1/4 cup for every 1 pound of meat. The rest are more seasoning mixes used as needed, depending on how you’re using them. For example, if used as a rub they would cover 1-2 pounds of meat. If mixing into ground venison, I would use them more like a seasoning mix and use 1 tsp. to 1 Tbsp., again depending on what you’re making. (Example, we mix in 1-2 tsp. of the BBQ seasoning into BBQ meatballs)

      Reply
  3. Debra

    October 27, 2021 at 9:19 pm

    Hello. I need your help if you can. I am going to grind up my deer into deer patties and freeze them for grilling etc. what do I mix with the ground deer so that it will not be dry. What I’m going for is frozen patties that are already pre seasoned.

    Thank you
    Debra

    Reply
    • Mike Shreckengost

      October 29, 2021 at 2:20 pm

      Our recommendation would be to add in pork fat. You can do a 90/10 ratio and I would grind the pork fat in as you grind your venison. You can usually get straight pork fat from a local butcher. Let us know if that helps!

      Reply

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