Making Jerky at Home

Common ingredients for jerky and marinating jerky in bags

For us jerky addicts, the expense and preservatives associated with store bought jerky make homemade jerky an economical and healthy choice.  The fact that it is a very simple process is icing on the cake.  

Neccesary items:

Dehydrator - It needs to be able to dehydrate between 145-155 degrees and an adjustable thermostat is nice.  We use the Excalibur 9 tray, but cheaper dehydrators like this, this, and this will work in smaller batches.  With the smaller dehydrators, you will have to lay the meat on the trays instead of hanging it.  

As an alternative, I have heard of people setting their ovens to the lowest setting (180-200 degrees usually), putting the meat on the oven racks, and cracking the door with good success.  I haven't done this, but would suggest putting a cookie sheet or foil below the meat to catch drippings.

Lean, fat free meat - Wild game meat like deer, elk, buffalo etc. has worked best for us, but we've also made good jerky by looking for sales on beef cuts like flank steak (best option) or eye of round.  The key is good, lean meat.  No fat or it will taste gross and turn rancid.  Avoid dehydrating fish or poultry.

Jerky can be made is several forms:

• Whole muscle strips no more than 1/4" thick at its thickest point are our preferred style.  We do make some batches thicker (1/2"), but due to high moisture content after drying they must be kept in the freezer until we are ready to eat them. 
• Whole muscle sheets no more than 1/4" thick at its thickest point.  These must dried on trays, but otherwise are prepared the same as strips.
• Strips made from ground meat with dry ingredients mixed in.  We have no experience with these.

Spices - Let your imagination go wild here.  Soy sauce serves as the base ingredient for most jerkies, but anything can be used.  Try different things that you like.  We like original, peppered, Cajun, and teriyaki, but we've tried crazy things like coconut milk and shredded coconut (it was awful).

Some various spice suggestions (not in any order):

• Soy sauce
• Worcestershire sauce
• Teriyaki sauce
• Liquid smoke (a little goes a long way)
• Frozen orange juice concentrate
• Louisiana hot sauce
• Garlic salt
• Onion salt
• Mrs. Dash (original yellow cap or spicy red cap)
• Coarse ground black pepper
• Red pepper flakes
• Cumin
• Honey
• Brown sugar
• Lemon or lime juice

A basic recipe:

• 3 pounds lean meat cut into 1/4" strips
• 1 cup Worcestershire sauce
• 1 cup soy sauce
• 2 cap fulls Mrs. Dash original (red lid if you want it spicier)
• 1 tablespoon garlic salt
• 1 cap full liquid smoke 

1. Put cut up meat into a 1 gallon zip-lock bag.  
2. Combine all other ingredients in a bowl and mix thoroughly.  
3. Pour the marinade in the bag with the meat and squeeze all air out before sealing.
4. Massage the bag with your fingers to ensure that all of the meat surfaces are in contact with the marinade and then put in in the refrigerator for 24 hours.  Massage it 2 or 3 more times during the marination period to ensure even coating.
5. After 24 hours, drain the meat and pat it somewhat dry with paper towels.  At this point, sprinkle with any dry ingredients if you choose (Coarse black pepper, red pepper flakes, etc.) then put it in your dehydrator and turn it to 145-155 degrees Fahrenheit.  We hang ours from metal skewers due to ease of clean up.  Don't let meat pieces touch each other in the dehydrator.  I come in after an hour of drying and run a knife between any pieces that have stuck together.
6. It takes 4-12 hours depending on your dehydrator.  Remove meat when it is as hard as you like.  A good general guideline is when it cracks when bent, but does not snap completely in two.
7. Place the jerky into plastic bags immediately or it will continue to dry out.  Unless you dry your meat to rock hard (which I happen to like), it's a good idea to store it in the freezer until you are ready to eat it to prevent molding.  Adding salt and nitrates to the marinade can make it shelf stable while moist if you want to do that.  We prefer not to add these.

Jerky hanging and ready to be dried

Jerky hanging in the dehydrator with paper towels below

Finished jerky original recipe

Finished jerky with added red pepper flakes