Homemade sausages are part of a salami-maker’s repertoire; you can’t make salami if you can’t first make fresh sausages. Below are an eclectic list of homemade sausage recipes made with both wild game and domestic meats, mostly lamb and pork in that case.
Why make your own sausages? Control.
You can add or subtract anything you’d like, adjust how coarse or fine the sausage is, make them skinny or fat, long or short, spicy or sweet. A well-made sausage is a symphony in a link, needing nothing more than a simple accompaniment to play harmony.
Note that while I am categorizing these sausage recipes by what meat is in them, understand that you can mix and match. There is no reason you cannot use pork or duck or whatever in what’s listed as a venison sausage recipe.
Basics
If you’ve never made sausage before, I wrote a basic tutorial on how to make sausages at home on my friend Elise’s site Simply Recipes. Start there.
There are a lot of companies that sell meat grinders, sausage stuffers, casings, etc., but I mostly use The Sausage Maker out of Buffalo, New York. Good people, family business.
Venison, Beef, Lamb or Goat Sausage Recipes
Keep in mind that when I say “venison,” I am lumping in deer, elk, moose, antelope, caribou, etc…
Smoked Venison Sausages
One of my go-to venison recipes, this is a perfect recipe for a sausage made in late fall or early winter. You can use any variety of sage, and dried porcini work just as well as fresh.
Homemade British Bangers Sausage
My take on a traditional British banger sausage, made like a Gloucester style sausage. I use venison here, but pork is traditional.
Venison Merguez Sausages
This is the classic North African sausage, normally done with all lamb – casings, too. Here I go with all venison, plus sheep casings. This is a spicy sausage great for grilling.
Sage and Juniper Venison Sausage
I designed this recipe after deer hunting on Catalina Island, where there is lots of wild sage and juniper growing all over the place. This makes a pretty classic “hunter’s style” venison link.
Andouille Sausage Links, Cajun Style
A Cajun classic, you can use any meat. This one is spicy and smoked. A must for any Creole or Cajun gumbo, jambalaya or etouffee.
Garlic Sausages with Basil
Make this venison sausage in the summertime. Lots of fresh basil and garlic make it a great recipe for summer grilling.
Venison Sausage with Bay and Garlic
Bay leaves are the main flavor here. I love them, and if you get good ones, they smell floral and sweet. This sausage is good any time of year.
Greek Loukaniko Sausage
The quintessential Greek sausage, it has many variations. Mine is an amalgam of several classic styles.
Like the Recipe? Buy the Book!
You'll find everything you need to know to master venison in Hank Shaw's cookbook Buck, Buck, Moose.
Wild Boar or Pork Sausage Recipes
If you have bear meat, these recipes would fit well here.
Sweet Italian Sausage
This is the classic, the basic sweet Italian sausage we all know and love. I normally make this with wild pig, but really any meat will do.
Spicy Italian Sausage
This would be the other classic, hot Italian sausage. You kinda need both sweet and hot in a good Italian stew, right?
Polska Kielbasa
Traditional, smoked Polish kielbasa, made with lots of garlic and a little marjoram.
Portuguese Linguica Sausages
The essential Portuguese sausage, it is to Portuguese cooking what Andouille is to Cajun cooking. It’s a spicy link with lots of paprika and garlic. My version is smoked.
Louisiana Boudin Sausage
Louisiana style boudin sausage, which is more like a meat stuffing with rice in a casing than a regular sausage. Damn good eaten on crackers with Creole mustard!
South African Boerewors
A traditional South African link made with a mix of pork and beef (or wild game) and flavored aggressively with coriander and other spices. I first learned of this sausage under, well, extreme circumstances.
Herbed Wild Boar Sausages
A regular ole’ sausage link gussied up with lots of fresh herbs — enough to make the links look kinda green.
Morcilla, Sanguinaccio, Boudin Noir
Blood Sausage. Yep, the real deal. My recipe is inspired by Portuguese morcilla, but it is a combination pork meat-pork blood sausage; many blood sausages only have blood, no meat.
Hmong Sausage with Wild Boar
There is a strong sausage-making tradition in Southeast Asia, and unlike the smooth Vietnames sausages, the Hmong sausages are coarse and rustic. I prefer them. These are flavored with ginger, chiles and cilantro.
Mazzafegati — Italian Liver Sausages
An Italian sausage from Umbria that mixes liver and pork meat. This is my favorite thing to do with wild boar liver, which can be strong-tasting otherwise. In this sausage, flavored with oranges, the liver is barely noticeable.
Mexican Chorizo
A spicier, softer version of Spanish chorizo, this is my version of the Mexican standard.
Longaniza Sausages
Classic Mexican longaniza, a cousin to chorizo. This recipe is from the state of Tabasco.
French Pork Crepinette
Crepinettes are a French thing: Loose sausage meat wrapped in caul fat, and then fried or grilled.
Duck, Goose, Turkey and Other Poultry
I mostly make duck and goose sausages, but you’ll find a few turkey sausage recipes here, as well as those using chicken and pheasant.
Homemade Sheboygan Brats
Yep, this is the “white brat” you eat in Wisconsin while watching sports or drinking beer. I made this with wild turkey, but any white meat will work.
German Bockwurst
A traditional German-American sausage meant to be poached in bock beer and eaten with potatoes, kraut, and more beer. You can use pretty much any meat if you don’t have goose.
Duck L’Orange Sausages
Imagine all the flavors of classic duck l’orange – sweet, savory, spicy, orangey – in a sausage link, and that’s what you have here.
Duck Sausages, Hunter’s Style
My go-to sausage for wild ducks, these links are flavored with sage, juniper and a little Chinese Five-Spice powder.
Polish Duck Sausages
A great Eastern European style sausage that begs to be simmered in beer and sauerkraut.
Toulouse Sausage
A simple French recipe I do with duck, it’s flavored with garlic, nutmeg and black pepper. Use this recipe when you are planning to make cassoulet.
Smoked Canada Goose Sausage
An oldie but a goody. I designed this sausage back in 2007, and it’s served me well ever since. This is a German-style smoked link.
Duck Mortadella Sausage
Mortadella is what baloney thinks about when it dreams at night. This is not an easy recipe, but if you’ve been making sausages for a while, give this a go. You will not be disappointed.
Duck Hot Dogs
Yep, duck hot dogs. They’re awesome. Trust me.
Pheasant Sausages
A simple sausage for chicken or pheasant, flavored with oregano and garlic.
Provencal Style Chicken Sausages, also good with pheasant or turkey (my recipe hosted on Food & Wine magazine’s site)
I keep seeing links for duck giblet sausage that lead me to this page yet I can’t find it. If I’m blind and I am overlooking it I apologize in advance 🙂
Made the Boudin yesterday. It was fantastic.
Do you have a good Wild Boar Stick Reciepy
I was wondering if you had suggestions on casings. I’ve never made any type of sausage before, but I’d like to give it a whirl.
April: Always hog casings. I never use collagen casings. They are easy to find either online or at a butcher shop.
Do you have a recipe for smoke butt. It is Polish/Eastern European in origin. Oscar Mayer used to make a product called Sweet Morsel. I usually find smoke butt in Polish delis but there are none here in Tucson.
Great with good info and awesome recipies. will try all I can. is going to hard to find a man pig, but will try, LOL Thanks again.
Is lamb good to make into ground hot Italian sausage or ground breakfast sausage?
Jennifer: You bet. I like it a lot, although I still like pork better. 😉
I looked among your wild game recipes but found nothing for ManBearPig, a three hundred fifty pound, squinty eyed Climate Priest with over developed mammaries hung by his ankles from a tripod over smoldering cigars, on a calved iceberg tossed about on sea waves, warming and fermenting as the berg meltingly travels south.
Kru: This is true, as ManBearPigs are tough to find these days.
Just wanted to say thank you for such an informative website! I really appreciate being able to find all my answers in one place. We just raised and butchered a pig this summer and hunting season starts tomorrow. We’re happy to be able to make some sausage soon! We process our own deer. Thanks for your time!
Hank- Thanks so much for everything you do to educate everyone on the different options for their wild game, instead of just snack sticks and grind. My question concerns sausage making. It seems a waste to buy natural casings when you have them right there when you gut a deer, elk, pronghorn, etc. Do you have any experience or knowledge using the guts of your harvests for their own casings? Is the juice worth the squeeze? Thanks again for the knowledge and all the info you share!
George: Uff. Making your own casings is literally a shitty job. I leave it to others. You need to flush the intestines repeatedly and most manufacturers turn them inside out to ensure they’re totally clean.
I have just harvested a nice spring bear – my first bear. I have been eating his chops as i process him, and he is delicious!. I am very experienced with making sausage, but not with bear. Can I use the bear’s own fat in sausage, or should I trim the bear lean (as with deer/elk) and add pork fat? I am very interested in using the bear fat, but it appears to be significantly softer than pork fat and I am assuming that it will melt and run in a sausage.
Paul: Depends. In general, bear fat makes excellent sausage fat. But if it’s nasty smelling, you’d need to trim it out.
I”m looking for a basic recipe for loose breakfast sausage patties, and I found nothing on your page. What a disappointment.
Russell: Sorry! I hate breakfast sausage. You’ll have to look elsewhere. 😉
I’m just starting, where should I look for the sausage casings? I thought butcher shop?
Kit: Yes, a butcher shop nearby, but I buy mine from The Sausage Maker: https://www.sausagemaker.com/sausage-casings-s/1922.htm
I’m looking for a Swedish Potato Sausage
I can’t find a recipe for French andouillette that isn’t in French. This is not the Cajun andouille sausage. Can you help?
Michael: Maybe check Jane Grigson’s books? I am not a fan of that sausage, so I don’t make it.
Jan,
Here is a recipe for your Swedish Potato Sausage (Potatiskorv), perhaps it holds the secret?
https://www.meatsandsausages.com/sausage-recipes/potato-sausage-swedish
Hey Hank,
I’ve been trying to make Swedish Potatis Korv that tastes like what I buy from our local sausage house (HIGH $$) Can’t seem to get it right — most recipes call for equal parts pork, beef, and potato — plus onion, allspice, salt and pepper. However, the recipes don’t say whether to cook the potatoes and mash before adding – or not…??? Have you made Potatis Korv? I think it’s the best sausage I’ve ever had. Would love to be able to make it myself. Any advise would be appreciated. Thanks!
Hank,
I’m thinking about using rabbit (cottontails) mixed with pork and pork fat to make sausages and wondering what your thoughts are. Have you ever used rabbit before and do you think there is a particular recipe of yours that would work well? Thanks for your help.
Beth: Yep, it works well. Maybe use my recipes for pheasant sausages?
Can you break down to measured size, when you call for coarse, etc size grinder plates?
Mike: Sure. Something like 6 mm and something like 4.5 mm.
new to your site, i once had a venison wiener and the color and taste were as good as a Nathans coney island hot dog, have tried to duplicate but no luck can you help?