Nickel metal supported on HZSM-5 (zeolite) is a promising catalyst for lignin depolymerization. In this work, Ni/HZSM-5 catalysts were synthesized via deposition-precipitation (DP) and characterized. The effect of synthesis parameters; including nickel loading, DP time (synthesis contact time), and calcination temperature, on catalyst properties were studied. N-2 and CO2 adsorption techniques were used to look at textural properties and confirmed the existence of lamellar species generated from DP. X-ray diffraction (XRD) confirmed that nickel metal was present on the support after reduction and passivation of the catalyst. Temperature programmed reduction showed that all the catalyst preparations were reducible at 733 K after 4 h, and that the DP method formed a mixture of Ni2+ species on the support. Transmission electron microscopy, XRD, and H-2 chemisorption were used to determine approximate particle size and dispersion of nickel metal. From all the preparations, the 15 wt% Ni/HZSM-5 catalyst with long DP time (16 h) and low calcination temperature (673 K), exhibited the most favorable particle size (similar to 5 nm) and dispersion (7%).