ndugarv farrah student
Prisc Chandola
This Recipe for Beef Jerky in a Dehydrator is a must have for any fellow dehydrator owners and knocks any store bought beef jerky out of the park. It's just so delicious that I'm willing to bet you'll never want to buy it from the store again!
Choose tender, lean cuts of meat. I've experimented with a few different cuts of beef to make homemade beef jerky. I've had great results with the following cuts: Brisket, Rouladen, Top or Bottom Round, Eye of Round, Sirloin Tip or Flank Steak.
Meat slices should be no more than 1/4-inch thick, 4 inches long and 2 inches wide. If slicing the beef yourself (otherwise, ask the butcher to do it for you), stick it in the freezer for an hour or so for easier slicing.
Slice against the grain for softer, more tender jerky. Slice with the grain for chewier, tougher jerky. There really isn't a right or wrong way of doing this and IMHO, it really depends on your preference and the type of meat you're using.
If you don't have a dehydrator, try baking the jerky in the oven instead. Lay it out on wire rack lined baking sheets and bake in a 180F oven. Prop the door of the oven open with a wooden spoon and bake the jerky for 3-6 hours. Begin checking for doneness at 3 hours and again every 30 minutes after.
Looking to learn how to make homemade beef jerky? Look no further, here you will learn step by step instructions on how to make beef jerky in a dehydrator. This includes everything from choosing which meat to use, slicing said meat, marinating with a great recipe, dehydrating the jerky, and testing for when it's finished.
Big box stores tend to have the best prices when it comes to meat for beef jerky. These include the main two, Sam's Club and Costco. If you like purchasing local, great! Local butchers have great cuts of meat, they just tend to be more expensive. However, you are supporting local businesses.
Unfortunately, I do not have any good butchers locally and so I shop at Sam's Club. Right now there is a promotion for Sam's Club where you can buy their membership for $45 and then receive a Sam's Gift Card the same day in store for $45. So basically, the membership is free. We tested the offer on 3-16-21 and it works as advertised. Free Membership Valid until 4-30-2021.
It will give you a coupon code when filling out information. Make sure to copy that code down and give it to the person at the membership table at Sam's. The lady we dealt with already had it, but make sure to write it down just to be sure.
Step 2 - Trim off the fat cap and other visible fat from the meat. Fat will make meat spoil faster, so removing as much fat as possible now will extend the shelf life of your finished beef jerky.
The way you slice the meat has a big impact on the final texture and whether you will have a tough or soft beef jerky. If you need more information on slicing meat, visit my slicing meat for beef jerky page.
You can also skip the freezing stage and slice your jerky using a jerky slicer. I use a Weston Jerky Slicer. It makes sure all your strips are the same width which allows them to dry evenly. Having a slicer is great when making a lot of beef jerky, if you are only making small batches every once in a while it is not as important.
Step 4 - Finish slicing all of your meat and set aside. Now it's time to get the marinade ready. Mix all of the ingredients together in a bowl or ziplock bag and stir well. Since this recipe doesn't have any whole peppers, a blender is NOT needed.
Step 5 - Add the beef strips and shake the container so all the meat is evenly covered with the marinade. Marinate in the refrigerator anywhere from 6 to 24 hours for great flavor, the longer the better. This beef was marinated in the fridge for 18 hours.
Step 7- It's time for the easy part! As I mentioned above, I used my Excalibur Dehydrator for this batch. Place the beef strips on the racks making sure that they are not touching or overlapping.
Step 8 - Beef jerky takes around 4-5 hours to dry when dehydrating. Turn the dehydrator to 165 and let it run for about 4 hours until the internal temperature of the jerky reaches a safe 160 as per guidelines from the USDA. Depending on how thick your slices are will determine how long it will take to finish dehydrating, this beef jerky took 5 hours to dry.
Step 9 - Make sure you check your beef jerky throughout the drying process to avoid over drying. The jerky will be done when it bends and cracks but does not break in half. You will also see white fibers within the meat. If it's done, let it sit on the rack and cool for a couple hours.
Step 10 - Now it's time to either store the beef jerky in ziplock bags, vacuum sealed bags, glass jars, or my favorite; your stomach! Beef jerky will stay good for 7-10 days if kept in ziplock bags. For longer storage, using vacuum sealed bags will allow the jerky to last 1-2 months. Please visit my page on storing beef jerky for further information.
I'm a bit confused by the 165 degree recommendation found throughout your site for beef. While the FDA recommends an internal temperature of 165 for poultry and 160 for ground beef, the recommendation for beef, pork, veal and lamb is 145 degree. Not knocking you or your directions as you have a great site full of very good recipes and information. And better safe than sorry I guess. But 165 for four hours out of five seems like I'll be cooking the meat rather than just dehydrating it. Dehydrators do vary of course, but it seems to me that reaching an internal temperature of at least 145 degrees for even a short period is sufficient to kill harmful bacteria, after which the goal is just to dry the meat to remove excess moisture. The reason I mention this is that I have an older Oster dehydrator with a simple on/off switch. The manufacturer says it reaches 140-185 degrees. I'm testing it now to see what it actually does. I did also buy a new dehydrator with temp (165) and time control, but then realized that my old one may have worked just fine... If so, I can do larger batches which isn't a bad thing.
So the recommended temperature for beef jerky is 160F and 165F for poultry. If you are grilling a steak where the meat has been minimally handled and not sliced before cooking, 130F is fine because bacteria stays mainly on the surface of the meat (which is higher temp then the interior) and doesn't penetrate into the middle. But when you are slicing beef into thin slices for jerky this means it has been handled more which can introduce bacteria and no longer is 1" thick which is hard to penetrate. This is why ground beef is recommended to 160F, it's not a solid piece of beef. It's been ground up giving it lots of surface area and has been handled a lot more.
When grilling or cooking in a pan, the cooking process is pretty quick and there is moisture. When jerky is dehydrated slow, it stays in that "danger zone temp" much longer. It's also pulling out the moisture which can make bacteria become more "heat resistant" and able to live at higher temperatures. This is why beef jerky is recommended to be heated to 160F.
I bought an excalibur 5 tray at Good Will for $9.99 good temp control and set timer on stove. Works great. The people at work love my jerky. Does the higher rack stay at same temp as lower rack? should I rotate the racks? Please advise.
Hi Will, I've just started learning to making jerky. I can't remember where I found the process I'm using, but after reading yours I think I maybe be over killing it. I set oven for 325 degrees, place marinaded (with pink salt) jerky on cookie sheet, and place in oven. Use temperature probe in meat until jerky gets to 160 degrees. Then I remove from oven and place in Nesco dehydrator at 160 degrees for 4 to 5 hours. Is this process overkill? Your thoughts please.
Normally if I am using curing salt, I do not do the pre-heat in the oven. Pre-heating will change the texture of the jerky and I feel comfortable with my dehydrator getting the jerky to 160F within 2 hours as well as having the curing salt.
Hey Will,
Just starting out dehydrating and this recipe is a great base to venture off from. One thing I found is that Walmart sells Milanesa, which is top round presliced at around 1/8 inch and really makes things much easier. It's about a buck a pound more than the regular cut, but worth it IMO.
Hey Reggie! Hopefully they are dead long before reaching 160F, but better safe than sorry. When it comes to drying meat, the temperature and time to kill bacteria can be different than cooking meat quickly. Since the drying removes moisture and raises the meat temperature slowly, the bacteria can become more heat resistant and can live longer and at a higher temperature than if cooking quickly with moisture.
I have modified the marinade ingredients to include teriyaki sauce, smashed garlic cloves, onion powder, chili powder, and cayenne pepper (dried powder). I have decided to put the mixture in a saucepan and warm for a while over low heat. My thinking is that the dry ingredients will dissolve, and this will give the garlic a chance to release more flavor into the mixture. I will then let the mixture cool before combining with the beef slices.
Hey Ken! I have heated the marinade before when using sugar in a recipe. It definitely helps dissolve sugar into the marinade and increases the flavor of the jerky. If using smashed garlic, it will definitely add more flavor to the recipe. But like you said, just make sure to let the mixture cool before pouring over the meat! Let me know how it turns out!
This batch turned out good. Not great, but plenty good. The flavor is a little too complex; I'll not add teriyaki sauce or chili powder in my next batch. The heat from the Cayenne pepper is nice. It's not too much, just a little zing after a bite or two.
I have a dehydration feature on my new stove and used this recipe to make my very first batch of beef jerky. Perfect amount of heat from the chili pepper flakes and sweetness from the brown sugar. I marinated the beef strips for 24 hours and the flavour soaked all the way through the meat. Fantastic! I highly recommend this recipe.