Do you have Taco Tuesday? It’s part of our regular rotation because theme days help me with my meal planning (see 5 Tips for Meal Planning). How many times can you have taco salad or tacos with ground venison? We recently made a fast food stop (we were on a road trip, otherwise that is NOT something we would do) and got the idea to make Venison Taco Burgers. Most of the recipes I saw as the result of web search used packaged taco mix which I am trying to get away from using because of the salt content. They are totally too salty for my taste even when I buy the lesser salt version. Of course, that meant it was time for a kitchen experiment.
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About Making Venison Burgers
Venison is a very lean meat which sometimes means it is not as versatile as beef. Burgers can be a problem because the meat will not hold together well enough to flip. I’ve learned that a few bread crumbs will do the trick. Ahh, but tacos…bread crumbs? Certainly that would be all wrong. Corn chips. But what kind. I stood in the snack aisle looking a my options: nacho style, restaurant style, blue corn? No, Frito-style.
Venison Taco Burgers
We started with about a pound of ground venison (pork fat added by our processor), half a cup (or so) of crushed Fritos, and taco spices. Mix all of that together with your hands. Come on, friend, get in there and get your hands yucky. You’re going to have to form the patties anyway.
When you are satisfied that the burger mixture is well mixed, form a ball and then score the meat with the side of your palm into quarters to get approximately even patties. (Yes, that is a Rachel Ray trick. A girl can have guilty pleasures, can’t she?) To make perfectly formed patties use a burger press like this one.
Grill on a hot grill (or fry in a cast iron skillet–we’ve had a very rainy spring!). Top with cheese. We used a slice of colby-jack and cheddar because we couldn’t decide on which one to use alone.
We put the burger on a whole wheat roll (it was the lowest carb roll at my supermarket) with lettuce, onion and homemade guacamole. These would make awesome knife and fork burgers if you’re looking to cut the carbs even more. Or you can served them on in lettuce wraps. And don’t forget to top them off with some Homemade Salsa.
For more Taco Tuesday ideas, head on over to our Taco Tuesday Recipe Page.
| Prep Time | 10 minutes |
| Cook Time | 10 minutes |
| Servings |
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- 1 tablespoon chili powder
- 1 small clove garlic minced
- 1/2 teaspoon dried minced onion
- 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1/2 cup crushed Frito style corn chips
- 1 pound ground venison
- 4 slices colby jack cheese
- 4 slices cheddar cheese
Ingredients
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- Mix all the dry ingredients into the meat with a fork or your hands.
- Form a ball with the meat mixture. Score it into quarters with the side of your hand. Form patties.
- Cook on a hot grill or in a hot cast iron frying pan. Flip the burgers only once when you begin to see blood on the top of the meat. Add cheese to melt.
- Serve on a roll with lettuce, onion and guacamole.
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