Ground venison jerky is delicious and an exciting change up from traditional jerky. It’s the perfect snack to have on hand and will save you hundreds of dollars if you’re regularly buying jerky at the store. Plus, it’s a great way to use up some of that grind when processing your own deer.
The key tool to have on hand for this recipe is a jerky gun, and you’ll certainly impress all of your friends at deer camp when you pull this out! Not only is it fun to use, but it makes this recipe a breeze. This is one of our favorite venison recipes, for sure!
*Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links to products (including Amazon). I’ll earn a small commission if you make a purchase through my link, at no additional cost to you! Regardless, I only link to products that I personally use on our homestead or believe in.
Why Ground Jerky vs Traditional Jerky?
I’ve never been a big fan of the stringy and chewy texture of regular jerky (hello TMJ flareups!). So, when I discovered that not only does ground jerky have a great texture but it also allows you to mix in some delicious ingredients (like BACON), I was sold. It takes a few extra steps, but it’s well worth it. Trust me! Plus, you’ll get to use a jerky gun, which is pretty fun.
What About Nitrates?
The addition of curing salt is the most common way to make jerky (among other wet-cured venison products like sausages and pastrami). This product preserves the color of the meat, enhances flavor, improves shelf-life, and reduces the risk of harmful bacteria growth. Sounds good, right?
While adding some form of a curing agent is a smart move overall (no one likes grey meat or botulism), this lab-made product contains sodium nitrite and FD&C Red #3. The red food color is used to keep individuals from accidentally using it as table salt, which can lead to illness and even death. Eep!
Some studies have shown an association between the consumption of processed meats (which includes cured meats) with colorectal cancer, but the results are inconsistent. Is it the sodium nitrite? Is it the food dye? Is it the conventionally-raised animals? Is it the diet as a whole? It’s hard to say, exactly.
The bottom line is that mixing toxic lab-made ingredients and artificial food dyes into the pure, acorn-fed venison that we harvested from our property is simply a hard pass for me. No thanks.
So, what’s the alternative?
Celery powder! Celery naturally has a high concentration of nitrates and offers a mild flavor that won’t affect the product taste all that much. It doesn’t even have a risk limit like curing salt does. Bingo!
Many food producers are already catching on and providing this kind of product for the public. If you find a package of “uncured” bacon at the grocery store, look closely at the ingredient list and you’ll see “no nitrates or nitrates added: *except for naturally occurring nitrates and nitrites in celery powder.”
Unfortunately, there’s very little research out there to say that a celery powder curing agent is actually healthier than a man-made curing agent. However, I have a hard time believing it’s not. I’ll take a whole food ingredient over a lab-made, artificially-colored product any day.
Ground Venison Jerky Recipe
Ryan and I eat a lot of jerky (it’s our go-to snack), so this recipe is pretty large. If you want to make a smaller batch, feel free to halve or quarter this recipe. Now that we’re super pumped about this delicious snack, let’s do this!
Tools
- Meat grinder
- Large bowl
- Measuring cups and spoons
- Jerky gun
- Dehydrator
The Homesteading RD's Product Picks: | |
 | This jerky gun is the BEST and is easy to use and clean! It features a stainless steel barrel, 5 stainless steel nozzles (flat strip, double flat strip, round jerky, double round jerky, and long round jerky), 5 cleaning brushes and a stainless steel meat pusher. |
Ingredients
- 7 lbs of venison
- 1 lb of bacon (pasture-raised and organic, if possible)
- 1 cup dried apples, roughly chopped (dried berries work, too!)
- 16 g celery powder
- 72 g salt (I like Redmond Real Salt)
- 2 Tbsp black pepper
- ¼ cup onion powder
- ¼ cup smoked paprika
- 2 Tbsp garlic powder
- 2 tsp ground nutmeg
- 1 cup water
*If you prefer to use curing salt instead of celery powder, substitute 12 g of curing salt for the 16 g of celery powder
How to make ground venison jerky
Step 1: Grind the venison, bacon and apples
Start by chopping the venison, bacon, and dried apples into chunks (1″ should fit through most grinders) and roughly mix them together. If the venison and bacon have warmed up by now, stick them in the freezer for a bit until very cold. If you try to grind warm meat, you’ll end up with a mess.
Start by grinding the mixture using the coarse die, then run it through again using the fine die. You may need to stick the mixture back into the freezer again before moving onto the fine die.
Step 2: Mix the ingredients and let rest
Once finely ground, mix in the remaining ingredients until well incorporated. You can wear gloves if you wish, but I prefer to just get in there with my clean hands.
If you want to give the mixture a taste test at this point, grab a little chunk and fry it up in a pan. Next, cover the mixture and refrigerate for 1-2 days before moving on to the next step.
*This is a large recipe so if you don’t have a massive bowl for mixing, you can split it up into two smaller containers like what I’ve done in the photo below. A large stainless steel bowl set is definitely on my wish list!
Step 3: Use the jerky gun!
After 1-2 days have passed, grab the jerky mixture from the fridge and set out your jerky gun and dehydrator trays. Using a spatula, pack the mixture tightly into the barrel of the jerky gun. Using steady pressure, press out the mixture directly onto the dehydrator trays.
You can make them any length that you want, just be sure that there’s at least 1/2″-1″ of space between pieces to ensure good airflow.
The very ends of the jerky can be thin due to the nature of the tool, so I use my fingers to press the ends in tightly to form a uniform piece of jerky. If you are using the same dehydrator that I’m using, this recipe should fill all 9 trays perfectly!
Step 4: Dehydrate
Load the trays into your dehydrator and set at 160F until fully dry. For my environment, 4-5 hours is perfect. I would recommend you start checking it after 3 hours and then check in 30-minute increments after that.
When finished, the jerky strips should feel dry, but still slightly pliable. If it crumbles and breaks apart, it’s too dry.
Step 5: Store
Ground venison jerky contains more fat than traditional jerky (thanks to the delicious bacon), so the big negative here is that it won’t store quite as long. Let cool completely, then store in an airtight container in the fridge. Consume within 3-4 weeks.
If you make a year’s worth of jerky at one time (that’s what we do), then freeze it. I vacuum seal small packs of jerky and then bring out one bag at a time as we need it. It still tastes great!
*When processing, be sure to save all of the fat! So many people throw this out. It’s easy to render down and wonderful to use in things like tallow candles and whipped tallow balm!
FAQ About Making Ground Venison Jerky
Can I increase the amount of bacon?
While that’s incredibly tempting and I’m sure it would be delicious, I don’t recommend it. That’s because bacon is largely fat and won’t store as well. If you plan to consume it all right away, then that would be fine.
Do I have to use bacon?
Yes, bacon provides the fatty, sticky texture that acts as the “glue” to hold the mixture together. Otherwise, you’ll end up with a crumbly jerky, which would be a bummer.
Can I make this without a jerky gun?
Yes, but it will take a lot more time, the results won’t be uniform, and they’ll likely fall apart during the transfer, but you can give it a try!
Lay down some parchment paper, then roll out the jerky mixture using a rolling pin. Once rolled to your desired thickness (1/4″ is ideal), slice into strips with a pizza cutter and transfer to dehydrator trays.
I don’t have a dehydrator, can I use my oven?
While a dehydrator is ideal, an oven can work in a pinch. Set it at the lowest temperature possible and prop the door open with something. Most ovens only go down to 250F, which is quite a bit higher than the recommended 150F, so that’s why propping the door open is helpful. It’s not a perfect method and you’ll want to keep an eye on it hourly, but it can work.
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Homemade Ground Venison Jerky
Equipment
- Large bowl
- Measuring cups
- Measuring spoons
Ingredients
- 7 lbs venison
- 1 lb bacon pasture-raised & organic, if possible
- 1 cup dried apples (roughly chopped) dried berries work, too!
- 16 g celery powder
- 72 g salt
- 2 tbsp black pepper
- ¼ cup onion powder
- ¼ cup smoked paprika
- 2 tbsp garlic powder
- 2 tsp ground nutmeg
- 1 cup water
Instructions
- Chop the venison, bacon, and dried apples into 1" chunks and roughly mix them together. If the venison and bacon have warmed up by now, stick them in the freezer for a bit until very cold. If you try to grind warm meat, you'll end up with a mess.
- Grind the mixture using the coarse die, then run it through again using the fine die. You may need to stick the mixture back into the freezer again before moving onto the fine die.
- Mix in the remaining ingredients until well incorporated. If you want to give the mixture a taste test at this point, grab a little chunk and fry it up in a pan.
- Cover the mixture and refrigerate for 1-2 days before moving on to the next step.
- Using a spatula, pack the mixture tightly into the barrel of the jerky gun. Using steady pressure, press out the mixture directly onto the dehydrator trays.
- Load the trays into your dehydrator and set at 160F until fully dry. For my environment, 4-5 hours is perfect. I recommend checking it after 3 hours and then check in 30-minute increments after that. When finished, the jerky strips should feels dry, but still slightly pliable. If it crumbles and breaks apart, it's too dry.
- Let cool completely, then store in an airtight container in the fridge. Consume within 3-4 weeks.
Notes
Nutrition
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