Venison Burger with Michigan Cherry BBQ Sauce

I grew up in Michigan, and if I’m being honest, we didn’t have a lot growing up. A venison burger wasn’t a delicacy in our house, it’s just what we ate. It was the most common red meat on our table, and I’m proud of that. It taught me early on that great food doesn’t have to cost a lot, and that where you come from shapes how you cook.

This venison burger is my love letter to Michigan. I’m calling it the Up North Burger, a nod to the very Michigan habit of calling anything north of wherever you’re standing “Up North.” 

Every element on this burger has a reason to be there, and every reason ties back to the state I grew up in. The venison, the Better Made shoestring potato sticks, the Michigan cherry BBQ sauce. Even the seasoning on the patty comes from Better Made, a Detroit-area snack company that’s been around since 1930. This one’s personal.

What Is the Up North Burger?

The Up North Burger is a venison burger built around Michigan ingredients. It starts with a thick half-pound ground venison patty mixed with rendered bacon fat to keep it juicy. 

It gets topped with smoked cheddar, crispy bacon, a drizzle of my homemade Michigan cherry BBQ sauce, and a generous pile of shoestring potato sticks for crunch. 

It’s a burger with a story, and once you taste it, you’ll understand why every single ingredient is on there.

Why This Venison Burger Recipe Works

A few deliberate choices make this venison burger stand out from every other version you’ve seen.

The fat problem is solved before it starts. Pure ground venison is very lean and tends to dry out. Cooking the bacon first and mixing three tablespoons of that rendered fat directly into the venison before forming the patties solves the moisture problem and adds a deep, smoky flavor to the meat.

Better Made does double duty. The Red Hot seasoning goes on the formed patties before they hit the grill, giving the outside of the burger a subtle kick and a great crust. Then, the shoestring potatoes go on top of the burger for added crunch. Same brand, two completely different jobs.

The cherry BBQ sauce is made from scratch. I used a real Michigan tart cherry spread as the base, not cherry flavoring, not cherry syrup. The result is a sauce with genuine tartness that cuts through the richness of the venison and bacon. It takes about 20 minutes, and it’s worth every one of them.

Smoked cheddar ties it together. You’ve got smoky bacon fat in the patty, and smoked cheddar melted on top. The smoke is a through-line that runs the entire length of this burger.

How to Keep a Venison Burger from Drying Out

This is the question everyone has about venison burgers, and it’s a fair one. Venison is an extremely lean meat. There’s almost no fat in it, which is great from a nutrition standpoint, but a problem when you’re trying to form a juicy burger patty.

The fix is simple. You need to add fat. In this recipe, that fat comes from the bacon you’re already cooking. After frying your bacon, you’ll have rendered bacon fat sitting in the pan. Let it cool slightly, then work three tablespoons of it directly into one pound of ground venison before forming your patties. That’s it.

Don’t overwork the mix. Combine it just enough to distribute the fat evenly, then form your patties and leave them alone. Overworking ground venison makes it dense and tough.

One more thing: cook venison burgers to medium, around 135° to 137°F internal temperature. Don’t push it to well done. Venison has no fat to protect it from drying out at higher temps.

Michigan Cherry BBQ Sauce

This sauce is the heart of the Up North Burger. I built it around a real Michigan tart cherry spread, the kind you’d find at a farm stand or specialty store in Traverse City. Michigan grows about 75 percent of the country’s tart cherries, so this isn’t a gimmick. It’s genuinely regional.

It’s super easy too, the sauce comes together in about 20 minutes. You’re chasing sweet, tart, and smoky in that order, with a little background heat at the finish. A splash of bourbon is optional but worth it if you have it on hand. It adds warmth and depth without making the sauce taste like a cocktail.

Why Better Made?

Better Made has been a Michigan institution since 1930. They’re a Detroit-area company, and if you grew up in Michigan, you know the brand. I grew up eating their chips, while drinking a Faygo “pop” – IYKYK. 

Using their Red Hot seasoning on the patty and their shoestring potato sticks as a topping wasn’t a marketing decision. It was a personal one. Every element of this burger has Michigan roots, and Better Made is part of that story.

How to Build the Up North Burger

The build order matters here, and there’s a reason for every layer.

1. Toasted bottom bun.
2. Arugula, mounded as a moisture barrier to protect the bun from meat juices.
3. Venison patty with smoked cheddar melted on top.
4. Bacon, 2 slices per burger.
5. First drizzle of Michigan cherry BBQ sauce, directly over the bacon to act as a base for the potato sticks.
6. Shoestring potato sticks, mounded generously.
7. Second drizzle of sauce over the potato sticks.
8. Toasted top bun.

That double drizzle of sauce isn’t just for flavor. The first drizzle helps anchor the potato sticks so they don’t slide off when you pick the burger up. The second drizzle is for that last hit of cherry on the finish.

Can I Make This with Ground Beef Instead of Venison?

Yes, and there’s no shame in it. Not everyone has access to ground venison, and that’s just reality. If you’re substituting ground beef, use an 80/20 blend. You won’t need to add the rendered bacon fat since the beef already has enough fat content, but I’d still cook the bacon and use it as a topping.

The Michigan cherry BBQ sauce, the seasoning, the potato sticks, the smoked cheddar. All of it still works with beef. You’ll have a great burger. It just won’t be the Up North Burger in the truest sense.

If you can get your hands on ground venison, do it. Most specialty butchers carry it, and it’s increasingly available online. The flavor is worth the extra effort to track it down.

Tips for the Best Venison Burger

• Let the rendered bacon fat cool slightly before mixing it into the venison. You don’t want to start cooking the meat before it hits the grill.
  
• Form your patties to about 3/4 inch thick and try not to overwork them.
  
• Season the patties right after forming them, and allow it to sweat into the meat.
  
• Get your grill or cast iron pan hot before the patties go on. You want a hard sear on the outside to build flavor.
  
• Add the smoked cheddar in the last minute of cooking and close the grill lid or cover the pan to melt it fast.
  
• Make the Michigan cherry BBQ sauce ahead of time. It holds in the fridge for up to two weeks and the flavor deepens as it sits.
  
• Load the potato sticks on right before serving. They’ll go soft fast if they sit in the sauce too long.

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