Venison Jalapeño Cheddar Summer Sausage

Learn how to make delicious smoked jalapeño cheddar summer sausage with venison! This easy, customizable recipe walks you through grinding venison, seasoning it to perfection, and smoking it for incredible flavor.

When life hands you a freezer full of ground venison, you get creative—at least that’s the motto around here. Aaron’s venison summer sausage with jalapeño and cheddar has become a favorite in our house, and it’s no wonder why. It’s smoky, savory, and just the right amount of spicy, with melty pockets of cheddar that make it irresistible.

The best part? This recipe is simple, flexible, and perfect for anyone looking to turn their venison stash into something truly special. Whether you prefer a classic peppered sausage or want to experiment with different cheeses and add-ins, this recipe gives you the freedom to make it your own.

If you love cooking with venison, be sure to try our fan favorite Venison Summer Sausage (this is our original summer sausage recipe!), Venison Jerky, All-Purpose Venison Marinade, Venison Breakfast Casserole, Venison Goulash and Venison (Hamburger) Helper.

Jump to:

• Shopping list
• Optional add-ins
• How to Make Jalapeño Cheddar Summer Sausage
• Cool and Bloom
• Recipe
• Helpful Tips for Perfect Venison Summer Sausage
• Storage
• Safety Note
• Helpful Tools
• And that's a wrap!
• More venison recipes
• What's New on the Homestead
• Comments

Shopping list

• Venison: We are using deer meat from the neck, shoulders, flank or any of the extra pieces that don't make up the prized cuts that we save for roasts and steaks.  
• Pork: The best pork for this recipe is a whole pork shoulder (aka Boston butt shoulder roast) that you grind yourself. Pork fat is crucial to this recipe, and you'll need to make sure to have at least 20% fat in this venison summer sausage recipe.
• Kosher salt: Feel free to swap out kosher salt in your venison summer sausage with options like table salt (non-iodized), sea salt, Himalayan pink salt, or pickling salt.
• Black peppercorns: Prepared black pepper is fine, but we like the flavor of fresh ground peppercorns. 
• Mustard seed: We buy whole yellow or brown mustard seeds (brown is stronger and may give you a subtle spice resembling horseradish).
• Garlic: Our favorite is fresh minced garlic. Garlic powder works great too.
• Sugar: Sugar in sausage recipes isn't just for sweetness; it balances flavors, adds depth through caramelization, contributes to texture and moisture, and helps feed beneficial bacteria during fermentation. 
• Cure #1: This goes by other names, such as curing salt, pink salt, Insta Cure, and Prague powder. The curing process from sodium nitrite helps to prevent common food borne illnesses associated with trapped air in a meat mixture.
• Ascorbic Acid: Good old Vitamin C keeps things visually appealing and ensures your venison summer sausage stays fresh and flavorful. 
• Powder milk binder: Powdered milk acts as a binder, helping to improve the texture of your sausage. It ensures a nice, even consistency. It also gives the sausage a creamy and moist texture. We used and you can read about how to make it here!
• Dried jalapeño peppers: Jalapeno peppers will kick the heat up! Add pickled or dried Jalapeño flakes if you add cheese.
• Cheddar cheese: You can add crumbled high temperature cheese (sometimes called high temp cheddar cheese). We actually prefer to use plain (not high temp) sharp cheddar for our cheddar cheese summer sausage. 
• Water or beef broth: I like to use cold water.

Optional add-ins

• Coriander seeds: Aaron loves coriander in sausage and adds it every time. It can add a fibrous chew in certain bites, If you don't like it, leave it out or blend it really well. No big deal.
• Dried hot peppers: Self explanatory! It will kick the heat up! We have a special 'garden blend' of dehydrated peppers that we make at the end of the season before it freezes. This mix has everything from habaneros and bell peppers to ghost peppers. It'll sneak up on you!
• Red Pepper Flakes: It will make your sausage spicier, but you'll live (ha!).
• Dried cranberries: Finely chop dehydrated cranberries and mix them in with the cheddar and peppers. It adds a sweet and tart flavor that's unexpected and delicious!

How to Make Jalapeño Cheddar Summer Sausage

Prep the Meat

1. The meat needs to be near-freezing temperatures— firm but pliable, so that the protein and fat won't smear.
2. Grind the meat together using a coarse plate, then regrind with a finer plate for your desired texture (we love a 3/16" grind for smooth, even sausage).

Make the Seasoning Blend

1. Weigh out all spices. Grind whole seeds (like peppercorns and coriander) in a spice or coffee grinder, but leave mustard seeds whole for texture.
2. In a large bowl, mix the salt, black pepper, mustard seed, coriander, garlic, sugar, cure #1, ascorbic acid, and powdered milk thoroughly.
3. Store your blend in a mason jar or a large shaker for easy use.

Combine the Meat and Seasonings

1. Add the ground meat to a mixer, starting it on low speed. Gradually sprinkle in the seasoning blend and slowly add water or beef broth.
2. Mix thoroughly for 5-10 minutes, watching for the mixture to develop a sticky, stringy texture—this is key for binding. Add the jalapeños and cheddar crumbles during the last few minutes of mixing. See image gallery below.

Stuff the Sausage

1. Soak fibrous casings in warm water (100°F) for about 30 minutes. Prepare 20 casings for this batch, plus a few extras.
2. Load the sausage stuffer, packing each handful firmly, to push out any air in the meat. Using a large stuffing horn, slide a fibrous casing to the end and firmly stuff the sausage casings.  These 20-inch casings will create a generous 20-inch log of summer sausage. See image below.
3. Secure the ends with hog rings or butcher twine.
4. Allow the sausage mix to rest for a minimum of 12 hours to 36 hours. This lets the cure do its job and the flavors to mingle. We either put the sausage in the refrigerator or let it hang in our butcher room at room temperature for better fermentation.

Smoke the Sausage

1. Preheat your smoker to 130°F and gradually increase the temperature in stages:
   • 145°F (1 hour)
   • 155°F (1 hour)
   • 165°F (1 hour)
   • Final temp 175-190°F until the internal temp reaches 156°F.
2. Smoke for 6-8 hours, allowing the low, slow heat to infuse flavor into the venison sausage. See image above.

Cool and Bloom

1. Once the sausages are fully cooked, chill them in an ice bath for 30 minutes to an hour. Don't skip this step!
2. Hang them to dry, then transfer to the fridge for storage.

Recipe

Helpful Tips for Perfect Venison Summer Sausage

1. Cold meat grinds and mixes better. Freeze your pork and venison until they’re firm but not frozen solid for the best texture.
2. Start with a coarse grind for hearty texture, then regrind with a finer plate for a smoother finish. A 3/16" plate is our go-to for this recipe.
3. Don’t rush the mixing! The stringy texture (called myosin development) is what binds the meat and helps the sausage hold together beautifully when cooked.
4. Soak fibrous casings in warm water to make them flexible and easier to stuff. Always have a few extra casings on hand in case of tears.
5. Use a meat thermometer to ensure the sausage reaches an internal temperature of 156°F. Undercooked sausage isn’t safe, and overcooked sausage will lose its juiciness.

Storage

The best way to store your game meat summer sausage is in the fridge. Wrap sausages tightly in plastic or zip-lock style bags or vacuum seal for short-term storage in the fridge. For longer storage, freeze them in airtight, vacuum-sealed packaging.

Safety Note

This recipe is written with some flexibility in the spices, but do not attempt to change the amounts of salt, ascorbic acid or cure.  These ingredients are necessary for preventing food borne illness.

As an amazon associate, this post contains affiliate links, which means I make a small commission at no extra cost to you. See my full disclosure here.

Helpful Tools

Most of these tools are linked in my Amazon Store Front in the Butcher Shop section. If you prefer to shop small, we get most of our butchering equipment and seasonings from Walton's. They gave me a code to share with you for a free Ultimate Steak and Roast Shaker with a $50 purchase! Use MEGAN24 to save!

• Meat grinder: We have the Weston size 22 meat grinder. It's durable and grinds as fast as you can fill it with meat.
• Kitchen scale: I like to use my small kitchen scale for weighing the seasonings and a big scale for weighing the meat.
• Meat mixer: this is a heavy duty machine that can evenly mix 50 pounds of meat without bogging down. Smaller mixers will work if you work in smaller batches.
• Sausage stuffer
• Instant-read thermometer 
• Fibrous casing: These non-edible, durable casings are large and easy to work with. They allow you to stuff the mixture tightly and smoke or hang sausage or salami without fear of bursting. 

And that's a wrap!

And there you have it! Making your own smoked venison summer sausage is a homestead journey worth taking. Everything is better when you make it yourself, right? From your own deer that you hunted and processed, to a stick of summer sausage in your hand.

If you enjoyed this recipe, I have good reason to think you'll also like my easy Venison Hamburger Helper recipe, All Purpose Venison Marinade or my guide to making the Best Deer Meat Burgers (and yes, even if you consider yourself to be a ground beef person, I know you'd love it!).

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