Homemade Beef Jerky
The days are getting colder and shorter, and as a result I'm doing more indoor activities as of late. That's no excuse however not to try new things! I found a really cool recipe idea inside Clean Eating Magazine for beef jerky and couldn't wait to adapt my own.
Read below for my step by step tips to making the best homemade beef jerky you've ever tasted – and be sure to use grass-fed beef to keep this recipe super healthy! That way, it's way healthier and cheaper than the packaged stuff. I use Butcher Box to source grass-fed organic beef.
First, head on over to the grocery store and pick up about 2 lb (around 1.0 kg) of eye of round beef roast. We got ours for about $13 at our local Longo's. Next, trim off any fat and discard. We bought 1.2kg of beef to account for the weight of the fat.
Freeze your meat for about an hour, cutting it into 2 equal pieces down the middle. Freezing it for a short period of time will make it easier to cut into very thin slices, which you will do immediately after freezing.
Meanwhile while the meat is freezing, make your marinade:
-1 cup low sodium soy sauce
-1/2 cup Worcestershire sauce
-1 tbsp honey
-1 tbsp fresh ground black pepper
-1 tsp onion powder
-1 tsp garlic salt
-1 tsp red pepper flakes
-1 tsp Spanish paprika
-2 tsp Sriracha sauce
Now pour over your meat slices in a large Ziploc freezer bag.
Marinate for 3-6 hours in the fridge, getting rid of as much air as possible from the bag. We left ours for about 4 1/2 hours and we found this was the perfect amount of time to let the flavours soak in.
After marinading, place strips on 2-3 sheets of paper towel then top with another 3 sheets, squeezing as much leftover liquid out of the meat as possible. Your meat strips should be almost dry afterwards. Preheat the oven to the lowest setting on your oven, usually 170 degrees F.
After soaking BBQ skewers in water for about 10 minutes, slide skewers through the end of the strips, leaving about 1 inch of space between each slice of beef.
Transfer an oven rack to the highest position in your oven and place the other oven rack at the very bottom of your oven. Place tin foil over the lowest rack. Now, thread your skewers of beef through the highest oven rack so the strips are in a hanging position.
Close your oven door, propping it open slightly with an oven mitt. Be sure to do this so some moisture can escape from the oven, and cook for 4-5 hours, checking on the jerky each hour. Feel free to taste test as you go along to see what sort of consistency you want.
Et voila, homemade beef jerky! The process is certainly long and it is an all-day project, but the steps themselves are relatively easy, and the cooking is pretty low maintenance. You'll have a super yummy snack for a couple weeks, if you can make your supply last that long–we're warning you now, it's GOOD!
Share your jerky results with us on Facebook and Twitter! We promise this will be the best thing you make all year!
Jennie says
Love this recipe and directions, however i did mine with londo n broil at 160d and as Patti above mentioned i proper the door open with a wooden spoon. It was done in 3 hours. Is it safe to not refrigerate? It’s definitely cooked all th e way. i love in southern florida, and have noticed differences in oven times did to elevation, just wondering if this is the case.
Taylor Stinson says
Hey Jennie! You could definitely leave it in a container on the counter for a few days without putting it in the fridge – thinking 3 to 5 days tops. If you’d like it to last up to 2 weeks, I’d store it in the fridge. I unfortunately can’t speak to oven times and elevation but I will say that all ovens are different and can result in changes in cook times – I know this from experience in baking!
Colbi T says
So if I do it in the dehydrator do I do all the steps up until putting them in the oven? And for how long usually?
Taylor Stinson says
Hey Colbi! Sorry I wouldn’t be able to advise on the dehydrator method since I didn’t do it this way myself.
Simon Périgny says
I use a dehydrator (Excalibur 9 trays).
A couple things:
1- The length of time will depend on the actual thickness of your pieces of meat. Myself, I use a slicer (looks mostly like https://www.consolidatedfoodservice.com/sirman-mirra250). I go against the grain as it makes tender jerky.
2- The more dehydrated your meat becomes, the more resistant to mold it will be, as mold requires oxygen, moisture, organic matter and a “livable” temperature. Because I slice my meat quite finely (I’d say somewhere along the lines of 0.1 inch thick) and it becomes very dry, I store my jerky at room temperature for several weeks. I haven’t had a single batch spoil yet (15 years and counting).
3- Another enemy of jerky is fat. I cannot say this enough. Fat will go rancid. I use eye of round and trim all the fat, and the connective tissue. I lost a few batches at the beginning because there was some fat and I had neglected to trim it off.
4- I usually dehydrate at 165 for 5 hours. I do not turn the meat because it is thin enough, but if you go for a thicker cut, I would suggest you turn your meat over, halfway through, as the side that touches the tray will not dry as fast.