Jerky is a favorite snack around here. The kids will eat it as willingly as sweet stuff like muffins or cookies, and it’s easy and lightweight enough to carry around in a jacket pocket or mom purse.
The only issue we have with jerky is the price – have you costed out grass-fed beef jerky lately? Not cheap. So when I placed my latest wholesale order for beef, I purchased several flank steaks with a mind towards making my own DIY Beef Jerky.
Jerky is easy – it doesn’t require any special equipment or ingredients (though having a food dehydrator makes the process easier), and the homemade stuff tastes so much better than store-bought.
Step One: Select Your Cut of Beef
I used flank steak, so that’s what is shown in all the photos in this tutorial. Flank is a flavorful but fairly lean cut that holds up well to marinating and drying. It’s also small, so it’s easy to work with at home.
Other good cuts of beef for jerky come from the round. Eye of round is excellent, but top or bottom round are fine too. Flap meat is similar to flank, and if well trimmed of excess fat can be used for jerky as well.
If you opt for a different cut of beef for your jerky, here’s a couple things to keep in mind:
- Keep it lean! Fat in jerky makes it more prone to rancidity and spoiling. Your jerky meat doesn’t have to be completely devoid of fat, but the leaner the meat the longer the jerky will last. Avoid well-marbled cuts.
- Keep it fresh! A high-salt marinade and dehydration is what makes beef jerky shelf stable. The way I make jerky, the meat isn’t really cooked, so it is vitally important that you start with very fresh, well handled meat. Although it might be temping, this isn’t the place to use the markdown manager’s special meat that’s 2 hours from its sell-by date.
Step Two: Prepare and Trim Your Beef
The goal is to trim the beef of any excess fat and silverskin. Use a sharp knife – I like a filet knife for this – and remove any pockets of fat or shiny, thick membranes on your flank steak.
Here is one side of a flank steak before trimming:
And after the excess fat has been trimmed away:
The other side, before trimming:
And after:
As you can see, some bits of fat do remain, but most of the exterior fat is gone.
Step Three: Slice With The Grain Or Across The Grain?
Your beef for jerky should be sliced about 1/4-inch thick. The thinner and more uniform you can make your slices, the better. It can help to slightly freeze the beef before slicing.
You have to make a decision about how you are going to slice your beef. The fibers of meat have a directionality. This is called the grain of the meat. If you slice your meat with the grain, you will get a chewy jerky. If you slice across the grain, your jerky will be easier chew but more prone to falling apart. I recommend slicing your meat with the grain.
Flank steak has a very distinct, course grain. When you are looking down on a whole flank set widthwise in front of you, this grain is horizontal with a slight fanning out towards the wide end of the flank.
If you cut across the grain (like below), those fibers are all kept very, very short so there isn’t a lot of “chew” to the finished jerky – it comes out easier to chew, almost brittle – and there also isn’t a lot to hold the jerky together as it dries.
If you cut with the grain, the muscle fibers are kept much more intact, so the jerky dries very well, and is chewy – more work for your jaw!
Flank steak cut into slices with the grain:
The two batches of jerky below show the difference in slicing. The jerky on the right, which was sliced across the grain, was prone to breaking apart. There is no right or wrong way to cut your beef for jerky, but I prefer the results from cutting with the grain.
Step Four: Season Your Jerky
A dry-rub or marinade is your opportunity to flavor your jerky as you like and add some food-preserving salt and sugar to the mix. I tried four different seasonings – one dry rub, two wet marinades and one hybrid thick-paste-kinda-marinade. All recipes are below.
The basics of seasoning are simple: mix up your rub or marinade, add it to your sliced beef in a glass container or large zip-top plastic bag, and refrigerate.
I refrigerate my beef for jerky for 24 hours. That’s 24 hours-ish. An hour here or there isn’t going to make a difference – this isn’t rocket science. You can reduce the marinade time if 24 hours gives you a product that’s more salty than you like – Alton Brown calls for 3 to 6 hour marinade for his recipe. If you are getting the impression that jerky-making is pretty flexible, you’re right.
I keep it simple by getting my beef in a marinade around mid-day, refrigerating overnight, and getting the jerky into the dehydrator around mid-day the next day. This gives me enough time to complete the dehydration step before I go to bed.
Step Five: Dry Your Jerky
Traditionally, jerky was hung and dried in the cool smoke over a fire. If you have the inclination, by all means smoke-dry your jerky. I use a food dehydrator to dry mine, because it’s easy and consistent.
Remove your jerky from the marinade or dry rub and shake off any extra marinade or clumps of spices. I do not rinse my jerky.
Lay your jerky slices out in a single layer with no overlap in your dehydrator. Set your dehydrator to 155 degrees. Dry at 155-degrees (this is typically the highest setting on a dehydrator with a heater unit) for 4-6 hours, until the jerky is fully dry and dark throughout and bends to a tear without beads of moisture.
If you don’t have a dehydrator, or if your dehydrator doesn’t have a fan or an adjustable heating unit, you can use a different method of drying. You can dry your jerky in the oven as described here or use the Alton Brown box-fan hack described here.
Official recommendations call for an heat-pasteurization step in the oven following drying. I don’t do this, but you should read about what’s involved here and decide for yourself if you are comfortable skipping this step.
Step Six: Store Your Jerky
Let your jerky cool completely to room temperature before storing it away. If you put warm jerky into a mason jar or plastic bag, moisture will form in the container. This can spoil your jerky, causing it to mold. Gross.
Store it in an air-tight container or well wrapped at cool room temperature for up to two months. For longer storage, or if you are a spooked about keeping slabs of home-dried meat at room temp in your pantry, keep your jerky in the freezer.
Beef Jerky Recipes: Four Variations
1. Alton Brown’s Classic Beef Jerky
Adapted from The Food Network
Of course Alton Brown has a beef jerky recipe. He’s the man’s man-chef! I tweaked his marinade list to accommodate what we had on hand (no liquid smoke or onion powder). This jerky is balanced and tangy, neither too sweet nor too spicy. Classic flavor.
Ingredients
- 1 flank steak, 1 1/2 to 2 pounds
- 2/3 cup Worcestershire sauce
- 2/3 cup soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
- 2 teaspoons garlic powder or 2 cloves smashed, minced garlic
- 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
Trim and slice flank steak. Combine remaining ingredients in a small bowl to make the jerky marinade. Add prepared flank steak to the marinade. Refrigerate marinating flank steak for 24 hours. Drain flank steak, lay out on trays of food dehydrator and dry thoroughly, 4-6 hours.
2. Honey Garlic Beef Jerky
I was trying to duplicate the flavors of the honey-garlic hot wings from I used to get from a hot wing dive back in college. I think I’ve nearly nailed it. The honey makes this jerky sticky and sweet and the garlic and black pepper add a lot of zip.
This is basically spicy beef candy – if you are a purist who doesn’t like a sweeter jerky, this is not the recipe for you, but if you like the combination of savory, sweet and spicy all together, you may enjoy it. I’m presenting the recipe just as I made it, but when I make this again I will add 1/4-cup apple cider vinegar to the marinade for a more balanced flavor.
Ingredients
- 1 flank steak, 1 1/2 to 2 pound
- 1/2 cup honey
- 2 tbsp granulated garlic
- 2 tbsp kosher salt
- 2 tbsp cracked black pepper
Trim and slice flank steak. Warm the honey in a small saucepan, to make it more free-flowing. Add the remaining ingredients to the honey, stir together and let cool. Add prepared flank steak to the marinade. Refrigerate marinating flank steak for 24 hours. Drain flank steak, lay out on trays of food dehydrator and dry thoroughly, 4-6 hours.
3. Mandarin and Star Anise Dry Rubbed Beef Jerky
Adapted from America’s Test Kitchen DIY Cookbook
This is a dry-rubbed jerky. The spices and salt work on the meat without added liquid. I loved the outcome, which was very full-flavored.
Ingredients
- 1 flank steak, 1 1/2 to 2 pounds
- 1/8 cup kosher salt
- 1/8 cup brown sugar
- 1/8 cup whole coriander
- 1/8 cup tangerine peel, dried or fresh minced
- 5 whole star anise pods
- 1 tablespoon paprika
- 1 teaspoon red chili flake
Trim and slice flank steak. Combine remaining ingredients in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a metal blade and process until the spices are fairly uniformly ground. Gently toss the slices of the prepared flank steak with the spice mixture and refrigerate the spice-rubbed flank steak for 24 hours. Brush excess spice rub from flank steak strips, lay strips out on trays of food dehydrator and dry thoroughly, 4-6 hours.
4. Five Spice Teriyaki Beef Jerky
The kids favorite, because – duh – it’s teriyaki. Sweet and salty without too much kick. This variation went fast. Feel free to play with the spices – I love five spice powder with meat, but you can adjust to your preference.
Ingredients
- 1 flank steak, 1 1/2 to 2 pounds
- 1 cup soy sauce
- 3/8 cup brown sugar
- 1 tsp five spice powder
- 1 tbsp ground ginger
- 1 tsp ground cumin
Trim and slice flank steak. Combine remaining ingredients in a small bowl to make the jerky marinade. Add prepared flank steak to the marinade. Refrigerate marinating flank steak for 24 hours. Drain flank steak, lay out on trays of food dehydrator and dry thoroughly, 4-6 hours.
Stuff I Use To Make Beef Jerky…
(These are affiliate links. Purchases made through these links cost you nothing extra but allow me to bring you more giant step-by-step tutorials. Full financial disclosure here. Thanks for your support, guys. If we were lost in the woods together I’d totally share my last piece of jerky with you.)
The best cookbook for DIY enthusiasts ever: The America’s Test Kitchen DIY Cookbook
The dehydrator I use: Waring Pro DHR30 Professional Dehydrator
My dream dehydrator: Excalibur Stainless Steel Dehydrator with Stainless Steel Trays
My favorite really sharp knife for slicing beef into thin strips (and nearly everything else): Shun Classic 8-Inch Chef’s Knife
Have you ever made jerky at home? How do you flavor your jerky?
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Thank you! I have always wanted to make beef jerky at home. My kids love it, too, but the cost, the COST. Yikes! Thanks for giving me the boot in the pants that I needed – I will definitely be trying this.
Question! In the star anise/mandarin recipe photo, it looks like there’s an eighth of a cup or so of brown sugar in the middle, but that isn’t listed in the recipe. Was that ingredient accidentally left out? Thanks, and I’m really looking forward to trying these out.
Yes, good catch, thank you! I’ve corrected the recipe.
I’m trying to avoid refined sugars, so could I substitute the brown sugar with honey, agave, or maple syrup? If so, how much?
Erica
I marinated flank steak for overnight then in dehydrater for 6 hrs it got moisture on it I put back in at 160 for an hour
I hope this does it getting weary and I have so much in $$$$ on this please help!
It’s 10:38pm
My time I pray you see this I am afraid I am going to ruin all this meat!!
Haven’t made jerky in years, but we made some good turkey jerky for camping back when we first got our oven with a dehydrate setting (it requires keeping the oven door ajar, so once there were little people in the house it became impractical to use).
Great article!
I’m planning on making several pounds of jerky but I’m going to attempt using the oven. I’ve used the dehydrator in the past, but don’t have access to one right now.
Thanks for the recipes!
Very informative post! You do such good work! I am always so impressed. I have a wonderful Excalibur dehydrator but it’s still in storage from our move 🙁 I have not yet tried to make jerky, but my husband occasionally campaigns for it, so when we finally unearth the dehydrator, I will try my hand. Yours is one of my very favorite blogs, ever. 🙂 Thanks.
This may be a dumb question, but is it possible to make a low sodium version of beef jerkey? My husband is on a sodium restricted diet, but loves beef jerkey.
Hi Nancy,
You can make a lower sodium jerky.
Using a low sodium soy sauce or less salt, will help. Salt adds flavor and it preserves the meat, so expect a much shorter shelf life and less taste.
Thanks Erica! I currently have some round steak marinating with you Teriyaki recipe and some flank steak marinating with your modified (apple cider vinegar added) Honey Garlic recipe. The flank steak was on the thin side, so hopefully it will turn out ok. This is my first jerky attempt with something other than ground beef.
I was cleaning up the jerky mess in my kitchen when your post arrived. It was my first effort. I used up some antelope meat from last year, ground it, and used the spice packet in my new jerky gun. Dried it in the oven because I liked the idea that 200* (a bit warmer than my dehydrator) would kill off any bacteria. It was good, but the flavoring kind of blah. So I was thrilled with your post that offered some variations. Grinding the meat for jerky is a good alternative for game meat or wild fowl, but mixing in the spices will be a bit different than marinating -well, a lot different- but it gives me great ideas for flavor combination. A number of recipes suggest the use of cure, even insist that it’s necessary for preservation. You haven’t mentioned it. What do ypu think?
Very nice article on making jerky! I found this company called jerky gold marinade…
Amazingly tasty stuff!! I highly recommend it! Check their website out
http://www.jerkygoldmarinade.com
Do you have any ideas for Turkey Jerkey? I am not a big fan of beef but love turkey jerkey.
We like to have beef jerky cut into small pieces rather than taking a long piece. This is good when travelling, etc. as it’s easier to reach into a baggie and pick out one piece.
What is the proper way to handle this…cut the meat in pieces, then marinate, and follow with dehydrating, or cut the meat into small pieces after the hydrating is complete.
Thank you
It will be easier to handle if you use bigger pieces. Once it is dried you can use a knife or kitchen shears to cut it down to the size you want.
what spices are in the 5 spice?
Neil, the spices in 5 spice depends on who made it but in general it contains:
Star anise
Cloves
Chinese Cinnamon
Sichuan pepper
Fennel seeds
Great job on this article. I’m a beef jerky amateur chef (enthusiast), this is going to my bookmarks!
The teriyaki jerky was the big hit of our family’s five-day Christmas-New Year hike in the Australian alps. We used beef, but will give kangaroo a go next time.
This website, together with the relevant links you provide in your discussion, is the best jerky website I have seen – I am new to the jerky game, but this will be my main reference point – thank you!
Hi, I don’t have a dehydrator, so I’ll need to use my oven.
The two lowest temperatures are 40 degrees C and 100 degrees C. What can you recommend and what time to dehydrate?
Thanks in advance!
-Jay-
40 C is too low for safe drying, I think. I recommend you go with 100 C, and if you happen to have a convection fan in your oven, turn it on. Start for just an hour or so, and check often. You might have to vent the oven open a bit to try and regulate the temperature lower. The other option is to try a literal air drying. You could put the thin jerky strips on a mesh rack over a sheet pan, and aim a big fan right at the meat. Dry the meat like that for two hours (flip it over at the 1 hour mark), then put it the oven for an hour or so at 100 C. I haven’t tried this, but I think the combination of air drying with an oven finish will give you a texture more similar to traditional jerky, and as long as you aren’t air drying more than 2 hours and do an oven finish there shouldn’t be an issue with food safety. Please let me know how you get on. Cheers!
It worked out great!
I just kept switching between 100 C and 40 C , and tried to let most of the moist out in between. Took me about 3-4 hours.
When it comes to curing beef jerky you are not relying on the temperature to kill the bacteria. Most dehydrators only go to 145 degrees F. It is the salt concentration that kills the bacteria.
My son and I use a smoker and have tried several different recipes. One problem or flaw we always have is, after taking the beautiful jerky out of the smoker and laying it to dry at room temp. it develops an almost sticky shiny coating on parts of the pieces, it’s like from the teriyaki or brown sugar I’m guessing. Is this normal? It always tastes great and we eat it anyway, but does not look like store bought.
Thank you.
Patting it dry before smoking will remove the excess marinade and should eliminate the extra coating.
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Wow, this is haven for jerky lovers! I’m actually drooling over the BBQ jerky recipe. Thanks for sharing!
Is there a recipe for just a hot sauce flavor?? I don’t like the way beef jerky taste but think it would be good if it just had like a red hot flavor or a Texas Pete flavor. Thanks.
I add two tablespoons of sambel oelek. Look for it in the Asian section of your grocery store. It is quite common.
http://www.amazon.com/Sambal-Oelek-Chilli-Paste-18oz/dp/B000JMDHCC
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I really liked this post on beef jerky making, –awesome pictures!
I was hunting around for more of a dry rub type jerky recipe to try, finding your “Mandarin and Star Anise Dry Rubbed Beef Jerky,” so that is this weekends project. Looking forward to trying it out.
When I make mine, I tend to keep the dehydrator temperature down on the lower end. I decided to do this after watching that same Alton Brown episode referenced in your post. He used only a box fan, –no heat.
Always something new to try, and it usually tastes a lot better than the store bought stuff.
Thank you so much for the information. I have made jerky at home before, but didn’t really use all of the salt and seasonings, because let’s face it, jerky doesn’t last that long at my house because I eat it until it’s gone. It’s a good snack and wonderful for when you travel and such. I’m coming up on a vacation in a couple of weeks, so this would be wonderful to take and put into the ice chest for a quick bite in between our travels. I usually can’t find a recipe that I like, which is why I make my own, but it looks like you have nailed it here. I’m going to try a couple of these and maybe tweak it just a little bit as I don’t normally keep these spices in my kitchen.
I just ordered a dehydrator and am excited to make some tofu jerky. Do you have any knowledge about if it’s possible to do both dry and wet rubs when using tofu?
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Hi, Erica.
I was searching for one good recipe and guess what .. 🙂 I have found 4 – All good ones. I mean pictures speak right. They seem to increase my appetite.
I love jerky, and have made it using ground beef. My question is what is the best piece of meat (beef) to use for jerky? Also, you can smoke your jerky using your grill. Just soak the wood chips you’re going to use and wrap them in tin foil, leave an opening on each end. Then place the foil on the coals, or if using a gas grill, place foil on the flavorizer bar. The flavorizer bar is the part that fits over the burner. If your gill has 2, 3, or 4 burners, just use one of the burners leaving the rest of the burners off. Depending on how much wood you have wrapped up in the foil, it can last up to 4 hours of good smoke. If you need to dehydrate more either use your oven or wrap up more wood in foil. I’ve smoked peppers and they have turned out marvelous!!
Thanks for the Teriyaki recipe, I have some marinading as I type! 🙂
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Hi there not sure if you will get this as this thread is over a yr old now… However I was wondering if you possibly had a hot and spicy jerky recipe as well?? Absolutely love the four above but my partner wants something with more zing to it if you know what I mean.. Thanks a bunch for this site helped out so much. Eagerly awaiting your response..
Kindest regards
Charlize. 🙂
Use Alton’s recipe and add more red pepper, or a tbsp of sriracha sauce or both!
Stubbs came out with a beef marinade this summer which in my opinion is exactly the flavor you are looking for
Hi!
Great article! Im really excited to dive into making jerky.
One thing, I didnt see anything about a “cure” for the meat.. im stumped on this whole “cure” thing.
Is this because the recipes are salty enough already?
Thank you for the great pictures, they are very helpful! I wasn’t sure if the marbling I saw in my flank steak was normal, but my flank looked just like yours. Relieved to see that! I just finished (I think) making jerky for the first time ever, and I did it in the oven. I had not seen your post yet when I made it. What concerned me was the melted fat that I saw on the meat, and it took a lot of hours for this to dry up. It really seemed to be fat and not moisture in the form of juice. I am wondering if all of this melted fat need to be dried up, or is it OK if there is a tiny bit here and there when it seems done otherwise? It just seemed to me the beef was dry, almost overly so, but there was a little bit of this liquid fat in some spots still. I took it out and it’s now in the refrigerator, just in case.
I used Alton Brown’s marinade, and though my son loves it, I actually really didn’t like the tartness of it. Guessing it’s the worchestershire sauce? So I’m here looking for alternative recipes. Thanks again!
Do you have any receipts using Witts Seasoning as a base?
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You said you add food preserving salt to it. I’ve never used it before and am going to be shipping jerky to someone so I was told I should. Do I was wondering about how much you usually add to it?
Great stuff! I’ve been experimenting with different rubs and marinades, but I’m going to try all four of yours. Thanks!
Incredible………. The first recipe is the only one I use.
This is a great read. Great recipes that I now must try. Looking for new recipe ideas to add to my list over at my new store, https://www.4seasonsjerky.com/ Please check it out and give me some feedback. I would love that.
Thank you for the amazing information…
Hoping to make a couple of comments:
A) The dehydrator is vastly superior to smoking meats, or using liquid smoke. Scientists are aggressively lobbying government to label smoked meat products like cigarettes! Smoked meats are like smoking for your stomach… The dehydrator makes this amazing treat healthy as opposed to health deteriorating.
B) For those hoping for a gluten free version of jerky, the process is intimidating, because all recipes call for soy sauce and worchestershire sauce (and often teriyaki sauce), all of which contain gluten… I have had success eliminating these ingredients, using celery salt, onion powder, garlic powder, whole grain mustard, chilli flakes, and red wine as the base for a marinade (I add in some dried rosemary, paprika)… Turns out very nicely!
Thank you again for the excellent information…
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