3 Easy Dehydrator Jerky Recipes that Will Have Them Asking for More

These dehydrator jerky recipes can be made with any lean red meat like beef, lamb, goat, venison, moose, or elk. Beef is the most common choice but other red meats can be used successfully.

Once you master the skill of making jerky you will be able to store meat at room temperature, adding to your food preservation skills and improving the variety in your food storage.

Homemade beef jerky is the ideal food for summer hiking, car trips, and trips to the park. It is nutritious and low in sugar. The additional salt reduces dehydration and exhaustion. It stays fresh without refrigeration. It won’t melt at high temperatures. For the best flavor though, store it in the fridge or freezer till you are ready to travel. It won’t stay fresh for long if kept stored in a hot car.

There are advantages to curing and smoking your own meat. Don’t be intimidated by the thought of preserving raw meat without refrigeration. Jerky is easy to make at home if you have the right dehydrator and safe for adults and children provided clean food handling rules are followed in preparing it.  The ideal way to make beef jerky or other homemade jerky is with a dehydrator that reaches 165F.  I have used both the Cosori dehydrator and the Excalibur dehydrator successfully.  Both have a maximum setting of 165F which is the ideal temperature for beef jerky.  The Cosori dehydrator has stainless steel trays that can be sanitized in a dishwasher.  It gives consistent results without the need to shuffle the trays.  The Cosori dehydrator is my favorite for making beef jerky at home.  My 10 tray Excalibur dehydrator also does a good job making jerky but it has plastic trays and requires a bit more work to sanitize the trays between batches.

Choosing a dehydrator for making jerky

The dehydrator you choose to make jerky in must have

• A fan
• A temperature of 165 F.

See my review of the Excalibur Dehydrators here.

If the temperature in your dehydrator doesn’t reach 165 F. you can still use it to make jerky, but you will need to add one more step to ensure that your jerky is safe for room temperature storage.  (see below)

Jerky can be made in a convection oven if the temperature of your oven can be maintained at 165 F or higher.  Leave the oven door ajar to allow the moisture to escape while the jerky dries.

Making safe jerky at home

There are a few important rules for making safe homemade jerky:

• Follow safe meat handling procedures
• Wash your hands
• Use clean utensils
• Never cross-contaminate different batches of meat by using the same cutting board and tongs.
• Thaw meat in the refrigerator, never on the countertop
• Keep meat below 40F in the fridge or freezer until ready to use
• Pre-Soak meat in white vinegar for 10 minutes before marinating to reduce surface bacteria
• Brine meat for 4 to 6 hours in refrigerator or overnight before dehydrating
• Dehydrate at 165 F to hold the meat at a safe temperature while drying
• If your dehydrator does NOT go to 165F, post-treat jerky in a 225F oven for 10 minutes after drying, to further reduce and foodborne bacteria

 

Preparing the meat for jerky

Choose lean meat for dehydrator jerky recipes. Fatty meat or heavily marbled meat will not dry adequately and any fat left on the meat may go rancid in storage. Eye of the round, sirloin, flank steak, and chuck steak, rump roast, or brisket are suitable cuts of beef for jerky. Similar cuts from other animals are suitable as well.

Remove any visible fat and sinew on the meat with a sharp knife.

The meat should be very cold to make slicing easier. Cut into strips 1/4 inch thick and 1 1/2 inches wide by 4 to 8 inches long.

For chewy jerky cut with the grain of the meat and for easier to chew jerky slice across the grain.

 

Vinegar pre-soak

If you are working with sliced meat, presoak the meat in white vinegar (5% acetic acid) or lemon juice for 10 minutes then drain the meat and discard the vinegar. This helps to reduce the surface bacteria and the possibility of food borne illnesses.  If you are working with ground meat, skip this step.

 

Marinade the meat

Place the meat in a glass container. Cover the sliced beef completely with the marinade. Refrigerate 4 hours or overnight to allow the flavors to permeate the meat before drying.

 

Dehydrating the jerky

Drain the marinade from the meat. There is no need to rinse the meat strips before drying.

Place the meat strips in a single layer on dehydrator trays, ensuring that no two pieces are touching.

Dehydrate at 165F for 4 to 6 hours. Check the strips after 4 hours and turn the pieces over on the dehydrator trays to ensure that the meat is drying evenly.  If your dehydrator doesn’t reach 165F, dry the jerky at 145F until done, then pasteurize the jerky in your oven (see below).  Drying time of homemade jerky at 165F is 6 to 8 hours.  At 145F it will take a little longer.

Remove any pieces of jerky that are fully dry. Continue dehydrating until all the jerky is completely dry.

 

Doneness test for jerky

Always let the piece of jerky cool to room temperature before testing for doneness.

Jerky is done when:

• It is dry to the touch
• There is no coolness to the piece
• The jerky is a uniform temperature throughout the piece with no cold spots
• A piece of jerky bends but doesn’t snap when you bend it, like a green stick

Post dehydrator treatment for longer storage

If your dehydrator doesn’t get hot enough, you can still dry the jerky in your dehydrator but add one additional step post dehydrating to ensure that your jerky remains safe in storage.  After drying, place the homemade jerky on a baking sheet in a preheated oven at 225F, bake for 10 minutes to ensure the safe storage of the jerky.  Remove from the oven and all the homemade jerky to cool to room temperature before packaging.

 

How long will jerky last?

Home dried jerky isn’t treated with chemicals to prolong its shelf life. It should be consumed within two weeks of making it if the jerky is stored at room temperature. If you are making jerky for a car trip or a camping trip it will safely keep without refrigeration for about 2 weeks.

For longer storage put the jerky in a sealed bag in the freezer. Jerky will keep for at least 6 months in the freezer or 1 month in the refrigerator.

3 Beef Dehydrator Jerky Recipes that You Can Make At Home

The following beef jerky recipes are for 2 pounds of beef steak, sliced into ¼ thickness, and presoaked for 10 minutes in 5% strength white vinegar to reduce bacterial contamination. Then drained. While one recipe calls for kombucha vinegar, you can substitute regular vinegar or kombucha for any of these recipes, or this one.

The ideal beef steak to use is a marinating steak that is 1 to 1 ½ inches thick with low fat, to reduce waste.

The smoked salt gives the jerky a smoky flavor without the need for a smoker. It can be purchased on Amazon.  You can also use liquid smoke in the place of the smoked salt for a smoky flavor.

 

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Classic Beef Dehydrator Jerky Recipes

Each of the following 3 dehydrator jerky recipes yields  8 to 9 ounces of beef jerky from 2 pounds of raw beef steak, depending on how much waste you need to cut off from the steak.

Begin each recipe by slicing and briefly soaking the jerky slices in white vinegar to reduce any bacterial contamination on the surface of the meat. Soak the meat for 10 minutes, drain, and then proceed with the recipe.

 Beef Brine Marinade

Ingredients:

• ¼ cup worcestershire sauce
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 2 teaspoons maple syrup
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• ½ teaspoon hickory smoked salt
• ½ teaspoon onion powder
• ½ teaspoon garlic powder
• ½ teaspoon black pepper
• 1 teaspoon parsley, dried

Directions:

• Mix all the ingredients together until the salt is dissolved in the liquid.
• Place prepared jerky meat in a glass container with a tight-fitting lid.  Pour the marinade over the jerky in the container.  Ensure that the meat is fully covered.  Add more water if necessary to completely cover the meat.  Place the meat in the container in a refrigerator for 4 hours or overnight.
• Drain the marinade from the meat, discarding the marinade.  Place the meat evenly on dehydrator trays and dry at 165F for 4 to 6 hours until jerky tests are done.  If your dehydrator doesn’t go to 165F pasteurize the meat for 10 minutes in a 225F oven before packaging.

 

Probiotic Chili Lime Beef Dehydrator Jerky Recipes

This is a mild-tasting jerky with warm but with a little bite.  If you like your jerky hotter, add ¼ to ½ teaspoon hot pepper flakes or cayenne pepper powder to the marinade ingredients.

Beef Brine Marinade

Ingredients:

• ½ cup kombucha, vinegary older brew
• ½ cup rosemary-infused white balsamic vinegar
• ½ cup fire cider (cider vinegar infused with hot pepper, horseradish, ginger, onions, garlic, lemon peel)
• 2 tablespoon maple syrup
• 1 teaspoon grated lime zest
• 2 fresh garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
• 1 teaspoon chili-lime salt
• ½ teaspoon applewood smoked salt

Directions:

• Mix all the ingredients together until the salt is dissolved in the liquid.
• Place prepared jerky meat in a glass container with a tight-fitting lid.  Pour the marinade over the jerky in the container.  Ensure that the meat is fully covered.  Add more water if necessary to completely cover the meat.  Place the meat in the container in a refrigerator for 4 hours or overnight.
• Drain the marinade from the meat, discarding the marinade.  Place the meat evenly on dehydrator trays and dry at 165F for 4 to 6 hours until jerky tests are done.  If your dehydrator doesn’t go to 165F pasteurize the meat for 10 minutes in a 225F oven before packaging.

 

Gluten-free Teriyaki Beef Dehydrator Jerky Recipes

Beef Brine Marinade

Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup gluten free tamari sauce
• ½ cup pineapple juice
• ½ teaspoon onion powder
• 1 tablespoon fresh ginger, grated
• 2 fresh garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
• ½ teaspoon pepper

Directions:

• Mix all the ingredients together until the salt is dissolved in the liquid.
• Place prepared jerky meat in a glass container with a tight-fitting lid.  Pour the marinade over the jerky in the container.  Ensure that the meat is fully covered.  Add more water if necessary to completely cover the meat.  Place the meat in the container in a refrigerator for 4 hours or overnight.
• Drain the marinade from the meat, discarding the marinade.  Place the meat evenly on dehydrator trays and dry at 165F for 4 to 6 hours until jerky tests are done.  If your dehydrator doesn’t go to 165F pasteurize the meat for 10 minutes in a 225F oven before packaging.

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How to store the jerky

Store the jerky in an airtight container at room temperature for up to two weeks.  For longer storage jerky can be vacuum sealed in storage bags or glass Mason jars and stored in the fridge for up to a month or in the freezer for 6 months or more.

How to use jerky

Jerky can be used as a snack food, a lunchbox snack, or for hiking trips. We use jerky on long trips and flights.  It’s not often easy to find gluten-free food choices when traveling and jerky is a good backup plan.  It travels well.

Jerky can also be used in meals by re-hydrating it.  Use a ratio of 1 cup of jerky chunks with 3 cups of water and soak for 30 minutes to re-hydrate. Because there is a lot of salt in the jerky after dehydrating, I like to discard this soaking water and add fresh water for cooking.  Then boil or cook as usual for stew or soup.

Dehydrator snacks are also the best kind of snacks for travel and summer outdoor activities.  They require no refrigeration, won’t melt in the heat, and keep for weeks without spoilage.  Plus they are naturally nutritious and low in sugar because they are made from whole, raw food.

Dive into dehydrating food:

If you’ve never dehydrated food before, you can start this year. Nearly any fruit or vegetable can be dehydrated. Dehydration is one of the most accessible methods of food preservation, and you don’t even need a dehydrator to get started. You can even dehydrate meat and full meals.

• • What’s dehydrating, anyway?—Learn the basics of how dehydrating works, and the essential tips and tools you need to get started with your dehydrator.
  • Dehydrating from A to Z—Discover how to properly dehydrate fruits and veggies, meat and fish, and even herbs and spices.
  • Meals, snacks, and sides—Put your newfound knowledge to the test with recipes for classic dried foods like Kale Chips and Apple Leather, and full meals like Shepherd’s Pie and Curry Chicken with Rice.
  • Pro-tips on food preparation, rehydration, and using your dehydrated food to boost flavor and nutrition.

Start drying your own food today with the Dehydrator Cookbook for Beginners.

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