Venison Burger Fat Ratio: How Much Pork or Beef Fat to Add

For venison burger, published guidance lands between 10% and 25% added fat by weight. LEM's grinder manual says to add at least 10% pork fat; Penn State and Ohio State Extension suggest one part pork fat to three or four parts venison, which is 20-25% of the blend. Pork fatback gives the softer bite; beef fat is the fallback LEM names when pork isn't on hand.

Deer meat is lean, and the deer's own fat is the wrong fat to leave in. Utah State University Extension says to remove it because venison fat "has a very strong 'game' flavor," and MeatEater's Danielle Prewett calls it "very saturated and waxy." So the fat in a venison burger is fat you add. The only questions are how much, and which kind.

Venison burger fat ratios, by source

Ratios are written lean-to-fat by weight of the finished blend: 80/20 means 20% of the burger is fat. The middle column is how much fat that takes for every 10 lb of trimmed venison.

Note the basis. "80/20" means fat is 20% of the finished burger, not 20% of the venison, which is why 10 lb of venison takes 2.5 lb of fat for 80/20 rather than 2 lb. Penn State's "one part fat to four parts venison" is the same 80/20. LEM's "10% pork fat" doesn't say which basis it uses; at 10% the difference is about a tenth of a pound per 10 lb, so it rarely matters.

Pork fat vs beef fat

Pork fat is the default in most of the guidance we read. LEM's grinder manual names pork fat first, Penn State and Ohio State specify "high-quality pork fat," and MeatEater's Prewett calls pork fatback the best choice because "its flavor doesn't overpower wild game and it has a soft texture."

MeatEater also cooked patties with different fats side by side at 15% fat (their kitchen, not ours). Pork back fat was the clear winner. Beef fat made a juicy, well-browned patty, but "the mouthfeel was horrible. It was rubbery." A pork butt blend came out driest, with poor browning, and bacon cooked up well but its flavor "totally overpowered" the venison.

Beef fat has its own camp. Bone Collector recommends beef fat, specifically trimmed ribeye fat, at about 2 lb per 10 lb of venison for flavor and to help the patties bind. LEM names beef fat as the fallback when pork isn't available, Utah State lists pork or beef fat interchangeably for fresh game sausage, and Bass Pro's list of good fats includes beef tallow alongside pork butt and bacon ends. Sources disagree on pork butt in particular: Bass Pro suggests it, and MeatEater's comparison rated it lowest.

Pick the ratio by what the meat is for

The right ratio depends less on the deer than on the pan it ends up in. Mapping the published guidance to how the meat gets cooked:

• Patties for the grill: 80/20. MeatEater's Prewett calls 80/20 the richer end of her burger range, and it is Penn State's one-to-four ratio.
• All-purpose packs: 90/10 to 85/15. Enough fat to hold a patty together (LEM's manual sets 10% as the minimum for wild-game burger) while staying lean in a sauce.
• Loose grind for chili, tacos and sauce: 0 to 10%. Prewett keeps some of her venison fat-free for exactly this, adding oil in the pan instead.
• Sausage: 20% and up. LEM, MeatEater and Utah State all put sausage fattier than burger; details below.

If you only want to grind once, split the batch: weigh out the loose-grind share before the fat goes in, then blend the rest for patties. Both packs come off the same grinding session.

How much fat for one deer, or a season

Multiply it out and the fat stops being an afterthought. At the Ohio Division of Wildlife average of 52.19 lb of venison per deer, and assuming the whole deer goes into the grinder (your number is lower if you keep steaks and roasts whole):

Two things fall out of that math. First, a five-deer season at 80/20 needs 65.3 lb of fat, which is worth lining up before opening day rather than the morning you grind. Second, the fat adds the same weight to your grinding load and your freezer: 261 lb of venison becomes 326 lb of burger. Our meat grinder sizes guide uses exactly that blended weight to match a grinder to your season, and how much meat you get from a deer covers the yield study itself.

When and how to add the fat

Add it before the grinding is done, not after. Penn State and Ohio State both say to add the pork fat "before grinding." Utah State's fresh game sausage method grinds the meat coarse, mixes, then grinds again through a fine plate, so the second pass does the blending. Either way, the grinder should see fat and lean together at least once.

Keep the fat as cold as the meat. Bass Pro's first rule for ground venison is to keep everything below 40°F, and LEM's Grinder Workshop says chilling the meat in the freezer until it firms up helps prevent the fat smear that turns a grind to mush. Cube the fat about the size of the venison pieces so it feeds evenly, and weigh both on a scale rather than eyeballing a lug. The full sequence is in our guide to how to grind deer meat.

Burger ratios aren't sausage ratios

Sausage runs fattier. LEM's manual says to "use at least 20% fat" for sausage, or it "will be dry when cooked, and will tend to crumble when cut or sliced." MeatEater's Prewett treats 20% as the minimum and 30% as standard for sausage. Utah State's fresh game sausage uses 1 to 2 lb of pork fat for every 3 lb of game, which is 25-40% of the blend. If the grind is headed for casings, start from our venison sausage guide instead of a burger ratio.

For a sense of the ceiling, USDA's rules cap store-sold hamburger and ground beef at 30% fat, and allow beef fat to be added to "hamburger" but not to "ground beef." That is a labeling rule, not a recipe, but it's a useful marker: anything fattier than 70/30 is fattier than any burger a store is allowed to sell as ground beef or hamburger.

Can you skip the fat?

Yes, if you plan for it. Prewett grinds some venison with no fat at all, keeps it loose for recipes, and adds flavored oil in the pan when she cooks. That keeps your options open: the same pack can go into chili, sauce or tacos. For patties, LEM's manual makes the case for the fat: it "will give the burger moisture, but still not make it fatty." Whatever you choose, the safety rule doesn't change. USDA says to cook ground meat to 160°F, checked with a food thermometer, and a fattier blend doesn't lower that number.

The gear for mixing fat in evenly

Once you are blending 50 to 60 lb or more per deer, two tools earn their space: a grinder that runs the coarse and fine passes without stalling, and a mixer that blends fat and seasoning evenly without warming the meat with your hands. These two are sized for a Moderate season.

For more mixer options, including bigger tilt-tank models, see our best meat mixers.