DIY Beef Jerky Recipe

When purchasing a whole cow carcass, we start dreaming up what we can do with it. Roasts for the winter? Stew? Burgers on the grill all summer? Of course.

But what are you doing with those skirt steaks? They’re thin, flimsy, and usually aren’t usable for much other than two things: stir fry and jerky.

Today, we’ll be taking a look at how to make your own jerky. No special equipment is required and with a simple recipe that anyone can follow, we’ll get you preserving that bounty of beef in no time. Keep in mind that you can, of course, use other cuts of beef. I just prefer the skirt steaks and other, already thin cuts of beef because it makes my life a little easier when it comes to cutting everything down to size. Let’s get started.

Flavors and Marinades

raw beef Jerky can be made to taste like anything you prefer, but most people (at least in the US) are used to jerky with soy sauce and brown sugar. Your average bag that you grab at the grocery store is almost always some base combination of those two flavors with extras added depending on the variety they’re going for.

You can get recipes like that absolutely anywhere. We’re going a little more spicy this time around. My family loves my sweet and spicy recipe. We use pineapple juice, habaneros, and a handful of other ingredients that give the beef a kick and a sweetness that lingers in the back of your mouth after every bite.

At the end of the day, the biggest thing you need to worry about is making sure that you’re marinating long enough. If you can start your marinade 24 hours prior to baking your jerky, do that. Yes, it’s a big gloopy bag in your fridge. If you need to, you can double-bag the marinade to make sure it doesn’t leak. Or, by all means, put it in a bowl. We aren’t going to talk about all the accidental drips I’ve had over the years, right?

Cutting and Storing

My hand strength isn’t what it used to be. Between the long hours in the garden and on the farm as well as writing articles like this, I’m afraid to say that I’m getting a little bit of arthritis in these old bones of mine. That’s why I don’t cut anything that’s fully thawed.

“What?” I get that a lot when I bring this up. Toss your thawed meat in the freezer for an hour or two (per 3-4 pounds) to firm it up. It won’t wholly freeze, but it will stiffen the fibers and crystalize some of the fluid enough to make it easier to cut your jerky strips. This means less knife slippage and fewer accidents.

Related: Cow In A Jar

Storage should be in an airtight container. Your jerky will be okay on the counter for a week, but I prefer to put mine in the fridge. If there is any possibility of mice or rats in your house (as there often is during the cooler months in older homes and on farmsteads), this jerky is extremely attractive to them. Use glass if storing on your counter, if possible. Otherwise, you will wake up to a mouse gnawing a hole in your jerky container. Another good place to store it is this underground root cellar you can build in your backyard that is also hidden from any prying eyes.

The Recipe

We title this section like this just in case you want to skip ahead. We know what it’s like: ten billion words and no recipe. Not here.

You will need:

Skirt steak or round steak, at least 2 pounds. Feel free to ratio the recipe up or down depending on how much meat you have handy.

1/2 cup brown sugar
1 dozen red habaneros
1 cup pineapple juice
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
dash or two of salt
dash or two of garlic powder or 2 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced
liquid smoke to taste: for beginners, we usually use 2-3 tablespoons for a charcoal BBQ-level flavor

Preheat your oven to 175 degrees F. Slice your beef into 1/8-1/4″ thick slices, as long or wide as you prefer. Personally, we go for about the length of the knife and no broader/wider than a credit card in most instances.

While wearing gloves, so you don’t hurt yourself later on, slice your habaneros into halves. You can slice them further if you want to, but we’re really just using them for the heat. Not the pepper itself.

Pour your marinade mix (everything but the beef) together in the largest locking plastic bag you can find. One gallon is usually fine, but if you can find two-gallon, size up. More room is better. Zip the bag, and shake it all up until it seems to be relatively well combined. Add your meat, zip it again, shake it again, and pitch it in the fridge for the next 12-24 hours. It will keep up to 48 hours, but I prefer not to do this. At that point, all you are doing is adding cooking time and effort to your jerky.

When your marinade is finished, go ahead and fish out your beef. Place it all on a cooking wire rack (or two, or three; or however many you need, we’re not judging here). Bake in the oven until the meat is dried all the way through. This usually takes three to five hours. I highly recommend checking it every now and again. Once the meat is dry, it tends to char pretty fast; especially with so much sugar on it.

Some of the elements that will affect your personal drying time are your elevation, the fat content of your meat, the thickness of your slice, the type of oven you’re using (a convection oven is going to be towards that three-hour mark), and so on and so forth.

Since we don’t know the specifications of your house, your kitchen build, or the exact type of meat you’re using, it’s very difficult to say that your jerky will be done exactly at this time or another. Again, our suggestion is to simply make certain that you check on it every 10-15 minutes after the three-hour mark.

Final Thoughts

We mentioned this before, but we’ll say it again: this jerky should keep for up to a week on your counter. However, I keep mine in the fridge just to be on the safe side. This should be kept readily for short-term hiking and camping, especially in cooler weather. If using it in warmer weather, watch to see if the meat sweats significantly. If it does, please dispose of it. The meat is not thoroughly dried and can easily make you ill. If you want to see how to make an Amish fridge that needs no electricity, here you’ll find step-by-step instructions and a complete list of materials, although as you’ll see, you don’t need much.

That said, happy cooking! We’d love to hear how our jerky recipe goes for you. Hit us up in the comments down below.

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