Nilgai Antelope Burgers with Sausage, Peppers, and Onions

One of my favorite parts about traveling around to cook for various hunting camps throughout the fall and winter is that you never know what kind of meat you might encounter. One camp it might be a beaver roast, another might be mountain lion—you never know. Our last deer camp of the year didn’t disappoint. A friend of one attendee had just returned from a low-fence exotic hunt down in Texas. We cooked various antelope, including sable, oryx, and nilgai.

You never know what type of wild game might show up at our hunting camps.

Nilgai were first imported to the Texas brush in the 1920s. A total of around 6,000 animals were released on the mighty King Ranch. They thrived, and rapidly spread. Today, you can head to the Lone Star State to hunt any number of free-ranging, low-fence African plains game. It’s a lot easier to get the meat home than it is from Africa.

When I rummaged through the cooler and came across a pack of nilgai sausage and some ground nilgai, I immediately thought it was time to make some burgers.

This burger recipe works well with any type of ground game or sausage.

I took the classic combo of peppers and onions cooked with sliced sausage, then piled it high over a cast-iron-seared burger topped with melted provolone cheese.

Slice the smoked sausage at an angle into thin rounds.

The results were spectacular. Don’t have any nilgai stashed in your freezer? Don’t worry. Any ground wild game and wild game sausage will work.

Pat the meat into three ⅓-pound patties. Season with salt and pepper.

Pat the meat into patties, then season well on both sides with salt and pepper.

Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the sausage, peppers, and onions. Sauté until the onions and peppers are soft and the sausage is cooked through.

Brown the sausage, then remove it from the pan while you cook the peppers and onions. Then return the sausage to heat back through.

In a separate skillet, sear the burger patties for 3-4 minutes on one side. Flip to sear the other side. Top each patty with two slices of provolone cheese. Cover the skillet to melt the cheese.

Sear the burgers in a hot cast-iron skillet.

Place a cooked patty on a bun. Top with sliced sausage and pile high with onions and peppers.