How to Make Beef Jerky in a Dehydrator? (Step-by-step Guide)

Using a dehydrator or a 160° oven, remove any undesirable fat from lean meat. Then, perpendicular to the grain, cut broad pieces. Soak the meat in white vinegar for about 10 minutes. Drain and marinate overnight in the refrigerator. Dehydrate at 160°F for 4 hours, flipping halfway through. You don’t think it’s chewy enough? Allow for another 1-2 hours of dehydration.

Store-bought jerky frequently contains sugar, MSG, and preservatives. However, many people have questions about how to create jerky with a dehydrator. It’s also impossible to discern whether or not the meat they utilized was of good quality.

So let’s look into it a bit further.

What type of meat is best for jerky?

Of course, you can create jerky out of almost any type of beef.

Beef, on the other hand, is arguably the most popular. It’s critical to use lean cuts of cattle when making beef jerky. Fat, like oils, can readily rancid, therefore choose lean cuts of beef, such as any of the following:

• Top Sirloin steak on the tip side of the sirloin
• Steak Porterhouse
• Round steak (eye of round)
• Steak from the bottom round
• Steak from the top round
• Flap steak (also known as flank steak)

Before dehydrating, you should also reduce any surplus fat from those cuts.

They work nicely in addition to beef, chicken, and turkey, which are naturally lean. However, you should roast chicken (or pig or game meats) for at least 60 minutes before dehydrating them. As a consequence, the risk of salmonella is minimised. It’s a very good idea to freeze game meats ahead of time as an added precaution.

It is not required to boil or freeze the meat before dehydrating it.

Preparation of beef jerky

As previously stated, choosing lean cuts of meat and removing any extra fat from the meat before dehydrating is critical.

When you’re cutting your strips, be careful. When you cut the grain, you get a characteristic leathery chew and snap. Cutting the beef strips against the grain, on the other hand, results in brittle jerky that readily breaks apart. Decide what style attracts to you the most.

To make slicing your meat simpler, store it in the freezer for about 30 minutes.

While pounding the strips flat with a kitchen mallet isn’t required, it will speed up dehydration.

This is especially beneficial if your strips are particularly thick.

After a short soak in white vinegar for around 10 minutes, rinse and marinate for at least 8 hours, if not overnight, in a ziplock bag with your preferred sauce or marinade. You’re ready to start dehydrating once you’ve drained the marinade (but not washed or wiped it off).

Is it mandatory to boil jerky before dehydrating it?

The correct answer is no when it is beef jerky.

The meat will be dehydrated and allowed to cure naturally as a result of the dehydrator. The initial vinegar soak will help to preserve the meat and prevent bacteria from growing on it.

To reduce the risk of salmonella, roast hog, chicken, turkey, or other game meat in a 160° oven for at least an hour before drying it. You can freeze the meat beforehand as a precaution.

Is it important to cure the meat before creating jerky?

Here, too, the quick response is no.

However, there are several reasons to salt cure your beef ahead of time. For starters, a salt cure can help inhibit microbial formation in ground beef. Ground beef is more susceptible to pathogens since it has been exposed to more air and handled more.

A salt cure also enhances the jerky’s shelf life.

Jerky made from beef that has been salt-cured can last up to three months. Beef jerky that hasn’t been salt-cured, on the other hand, will barely survive two weeks. In both cases, keep the food refrigerated by closing it in an airtight container.

How much salt does a pound of beef jerky require to cure?

While salt curing your jerky isn’t required, it will extend its shelf life significantly.

If you’re going to make a lot of jerkies and won’t be eating it right away, salt curing is an excellent place to start before learning how to make jerky with a dehydrator.

You’ll produce a salt brine using 1 quart of water and around 1/2 cup of pickling salt. For around 5 pounds of beef, this is the correct quantity. You’ll need roughly 1 ounce of salt for every pound of beef (2 tablespoons).

You may also add more spices or a tablespoon or two of sauces like Worcestershire to your brine.

Always remove it from the brine and dry it with a paper towel after it has been in the brine for 1-2 days. Remove the brine and discard it. Then proceed to make your jerky with the dehydrator.

But, for something so basic, there’s a lot of ambiguity in the realm of salt.

So, if you’ve ever wondered if pink Himalayan sea salt is a complete hoax or the next health fad, this post is for you.

What effect does the treatment have on jerky?

Any meat may be preserved by curing it.

Prior to the invention of freezers, people used to slaughter an animal, butcher it, and then cut and cure it to have food for the following months.

Everything that comes into touch with absorbs moisture, even salt. You will naturally get thirstier than normal if you ingest something really salty.

As a result, salting or salt curing meat removes excess moisture from the meat, extending its shelf life.

How long do you dehydrate jerky in a dehydrator?

Making jerky in a food dehydrator at 160° takes around 4-6 hours on average.

The thickness of the strips or chunks of meat, on the other hand, may vary significantly. Making thick strips might take up to 15 hours.

Before dehydrating, pound the strips flat with a kitchen mallet to speed up the process. Simply pound the strips thin by placing them side by side between two pieces of plastic wrap.

To start monitoring for extra wetness, tenderness, and bendability at the 4-hour mark. Keep it running for at least another hour, and check again if you see any of those.

In a dehydrator, how long do you dehydrate jerky?

Making jerky in a food dehydrator at 160° takes around 4-6 hours on average.

The thickness and the width of the strips or chunks of meat, on the other hand, may vary substantially. To manufacture particularly thick strips, it might take up to 15 hours.

To speed up the dehydration process, pound the strips flat with a kitchen mallet before putting them in the oven. Simply place the side of the strip by the side between two pieces of plastic wrap and pound them thin.

At the 4-hour point, start looking for more moisture, softness, and bendability. Keep it on for at least another hour or so and see if any of those appearances.

Is it possible to overcook jerky in a dehydrator?

Yes, to put it briefly.

While overcooked jerky can keep for longer, it’s not the most delicious thing in the world when it’s incredibly brittle and bites like a piece of leather. As a result, it’s critical to set your dehydrator to 160°F and inspect it after 4 hours.

Your jerky may take six or even 8 hours to dehydrate, but you’ll want to keep an eye on it throughout the process to make sure it’s the appropriate consistency.

Don’t get me wrong: overcooked jerky is perfectly safe to eat; it’s simply not as flavorful and has an awful texture.

If you make your jerky in an oven rather than a dehydrator, you may experience overcooking since the oven bakes the meat rather than drying it. Some ovens don’t even reach as low as 160 degrees.

So, for oven-baked jerky, I may breach the oven door a tiny bit with a wine cork to allow moisture escape, and I might start monitoring at 3 hours.

Is it important to keep homemade beef jerky refrigerated?

The short answer is yes. To be on the safe side.

Store-bought jerky frequently contains preservatives, allowing it to last a long period on the shelf. Because we aren’t doing that, keep your jerky refrigerated at all times.

Jerky that has been salt-cured can be kept in the refrigerator for up to three months. Jerky produced without salt brine can be stored in the refrigerator for two weeks. Simply store your jerky in an airtight container and inspect it for mold regularly.

Have I covered all you needed to know about using a dehydrator to make jerky?

In this post, we conducted a deep dive into the world of jerky, both beef, and other meats. We investigated the best pieces of meat for the best outcomes, investigated why lean meats produce better jerky and addressed all of the most often asked issues and safety concerns about producing homemade jerky.

But, in the end, we learned how to utilize a food dehydrator to obtain the most outstanding results every time!

What’s your favorite jerky recipe for beef?