“It’s nice to eat a good hunk of beef but you want a light dessert, too.” –Arthur Fiedler
How to Make Beef Jerky
The ultimate snack food, great for football games, long car rides or camping: beef jerky. Who hasn’t popped into the 7-11 and grabbed a bag for the car? It’s salty and sweet, full of flavor, and lasts longer and is more satisfying than a bag of greasy potato chips. It’s healthier, too.
Dehydrated food like jerky is significantly lighter than fresh food. For example, five pounds of fresh meat will be dehydrated down to well under half its original weight. That’s why it’s so ideal for traveling.
Beef jerky can be made at home, too. Make your own, pop it into ziplock plastic bags, and presto–you have instant snacks for kids’ lunches or for between meetings.
Depending on how serious you are about making beef jerky at home, you may want to invest in a food dehydrator or a meat smoker. But if you just want to experiment or do a fun project with the kids, you can use your oven, too.
How to Prepare Beef Jerky in Your Home Oven
How to Prepare Beef Jerky
To prepare beef jerky in your home oven, choose a lean piece of meat like brisket (ideal) and slice into 1/8 to 1/4 inch thick strips.
Marinate slices in the seasonings of your choice. Be creative. Here are some popular seasonings for beef jerky:
- Worcestershire Sauce
- Onion powder and/or garlic powder
- Teriyaki sauce
- Garlic barbecue sauce
- Liquid smoke with brown sugar
- Sea salt and pepper
To dehydrate jerky in the oven, place the strips on wire racks in the center of the oven. Place a pan on the rack below to catch drippings and protect the oven from becoming soiled.
You must first heat the meat well enough to kill any bacteria. The USDA suggests meat be heated to an internal temperature of 160°F (71°C).
Once the bacteria has been destroyed, maintain a consistent drying temperature of between 130° to 140° Fahrenheit (54 to 60 degrees Celsius). Crack the oven door to allow air circulation, which is crucial to the drying process. If there are small children in the house, do not leave the open oven unattended.
Placing a fan by the oven door increases air circulation.
Preparing beef jerky in an oven can take anywhere from 2-6 hours.
Beef Jerky Recipes
Here is a basic beef jerky recipe that can be used in either an oven or a dehydrator:
- 5 lbs lean meat, trimmed of fat and sliced as above
- 18 oz. soy sauce
- 12 oz. Worcestershire Sauce
- 18 oz. teriyaki sauce
- 2 – 4 tablespoons Brown Sugar (dark is best)
- 3 tablespoons each garlic powder and onion powder
- 2 – 4 teaspoons cayenne pepper (finely ground, to taste)
- 3 oz. bottle liquid smoke
- 2 – 4 oz. molasses
Create a mixture of all ingredients in a large, shallow vat. Place the trimmed slices into the vat and coat evenly. Leave to marinate, covered, for 2-4 hours or overnight in the refrigerator. Then follow steps for dehydration.
Beef Jerky Recipe Variations
Chili heads will want a hotter flavor, as opposed to a sweet one. Blair’s Sudden Death Sauce or Dave’s Insanity Sauce both make great marinades for jerky.
Investing in a Meat Dehydrator or Smoker
If you are a serious jerky connoisseur, you’ll want to invest in a meat dehydrator or smoker. This will be a quicker, more energy efficient way of making beef jerky, since you won’t have to keep your oven door open for six hours anymore.
A food dehydrator can be large or small, depending on how much jerky you want to make. Most appliance stores have a smallish, basic model available, but a higher-end professional model can be purchased over the Internet or at specialty stores.
Dehydrators work by maintaining consistent air circulation below slatted racks on which the food – in this case beef – rests. A heating element provides a gentle heat that is moved around with the fan. The heat and air dry the food and the fan blows the evaporated moisture away from the jerky.
Still, even with a dehydrator, you’re looking at 2-6 hours for the drying process to be complete. However, the dehydrator means the process is enclosed, without fear of children’s little fingers or pets being injured by an open oven door. Not to mention you won’t be wasting as much electricity.
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