Homemade Beef Jerky

Reviews

• "I agree with asking the butcher to cut it into thin strips for you, I had the store cut it into 1/4" thick strips and it was much easier than doing it myself. This was my first attempt at making jerky, and was extremely pleased with the outcome. This is a very flavorful jerky, although we did omit the hot sauce and found it spicy enough for our taste. But if you are into spicy foods, I would definitely put it in. My family is just a little bit wimpish when it comes to really spicy. But this marinade is great, I am glad that I decided to try it for my first batch of jerky!!"

  By SlipC on November 26, 2002 | 32685

• "Great recipe. You can use any cut of beef you like and get the butcher to slice it thin for you (saves your fingers if you're clumsy like me). Awesome for high protien snacks. Add a bit of BBQ sauce for a little different zip."

  By Devon S on October 24, 2002 | 28954

• "This is an excellent basic recipe. It didn't suggest to use a meat mallet to flatten the jerky just prior to dehydrating. This makes it easier to chew for those with difficulty and lowers the drying time significantly. I also used a dehydrator. The spices were a good eve blend and well balanced and I like the idea of not adding the unnecessary sugar so many jerky recipes call for. I used Braggs Amino Acids in place of the soy sauce.
  
  Overall this is one of the best jerky recipes out there."

  By Maeven6 on March 28, 2011 | 1205229

• "Jerky is the best all around protein snack, you can add a little bit of Ginger to this recipe and it gives a flavor that is familiar and makes this taste even better...."

  By Ronbiz on August 23, 2010 | 1141505

• "In the process of making this recipe for the second time, the first I had no liquid smoke and no hot sauce. I also used skirt steak and had the butcher slice it for me. I really liked it but my family thought it was a little hot.
  
  This time around I have sourced some liquid smoke but still no hot sauce (next time).
  
  I have cut back on the chili and cayenne a little but added some brown sugar and more garlic powder. I think this recipe is a great starting point to tweak to your taste."

  By RandomLogic on June 16, 2012 | 1312309

• "OMG! LOVE THIS! I have the beef sliced so thin, that halfway through the oven time, my husband and I are eating it. Can't wait till it's all done. This is better than any jerky recipe out there. Thanks, Cindy. Awesome post!"

  By ~Srb~ on September 12, 2010 | 1146238

• "Used London Broil, or what ever iwason sale. Froze the meat for a few hours so it was easier to slice. My husband thought the Worcestershire sauce was a bit overpowering."

  By IndyEater on April 19, 2010 | 1086926

• "Dang! Dad (gepaza) beat me to the review!!! Oh, my gosh!!! The flavor on this was BEYOND amazing. I didn't slice mine thinly enough - that's Dad's area of expertise - but it was still incredible, and I got him hooked on it so quickly that we had to make more that weekend! We actually used a brisket that he sliced super-thin, and I don't think I would ever use anything else. Cindy, thank you for a very cost-effective way to make one of my favorite munchies!!!"

  By katindallas on February 14, 2010 | 1053318

• "This is actually 10 stars, because my daughter introduced me to it and she loves it as much as I do! Fantastic recipe! One note: one reviewer indicated that she (or he) cut the strips 1/2 inch thick. I think the recipe is intending to say that the meat should be 1/2 inch thick before slicing, and the slices should be considerably less than that even before pounding. I slice mine about 1/8th inch and do not pound it at all. My daughter slices it about 1/4th inch and pounds it with gusto."

  By gepaza on February 11, 2010 | 1051405

• "Ho wow! This recipe is SPICY! Now, admittedly I am a wuss, but darn! I did not have the Frank's Hot sauce so I did 1/2+1/8 c soy and the same Worcestershire to make up the liquid difference. The hanging skewer thing is great advice, and works great. Maybe taking out the cayenne and halving the chili would make it more... wuss friendly. Other than it is very flavorful. The one star down is because it is just too spicy for my taste."

  By Ben Syhe on January 23, 2010 | 1038707

• "I used to only marinate my jerky in teryaki sauce and wanted a change. When I came across this recipe I was excited. I tried it out right away. I made a few minor adjustments to suit my family's taste. I used teryaki sauce instead of soy because we prefer the taste. One batch for my husband, he likes it spicy so I left it as it was except I omitted the onion powder, he hates the taste of onions. And one batch for the kids (4 and 6 years old) and me. We don't care for spicy so I left out the Cayenne pepper and the hotsauce and added a little more teryaki and worcestershire to equal the amount of hotsauce. It was a great hit! My husband ate all of his in one night and the kids loved it too. The batch I made for the kids and me still had quite a bit of zing but wasn't spicy. Also for those of you who hate the meat cutting part of making jerky here's a little short cut. I found beef sliced for stir fry in my grocery stores meat section and decided to try that and it was great. Saves a lot of work. Love it, love it, love it! Can't wait to make it again, this is a keeper. Thanks so much!"

  By Steph Doll on August 21, 2006 | 304378

• "I would like to add some advise after making this a few times. 1st. Its important to cut your strip with the grain of the meat. 2nd. Hang the meat in the over with tooth picks, placed in between the bars on your oven rack. 3rd. Liquid smoke is hard to get in the UK and Ireland. Use ebay. 4th. I found that using real garlic paste instead of powder give a better taste. Teriaki sauce is quite nice when added . Dont go mad on the Worcestershire sauce as it is the strongest flavor when finished... I also found turning down the over to 120 c over a longer period has a better finish. Your meat will be 1/4 is size when done"

  By brokenarms on March 04, 2013 | 1371198

• "Good recipe. Getting the butcher to slice is an excellent idea; takes so much of the tedious work out. I don't think you need to pound it either; it's supposed to be a bit chewy. Love the spice and will add more next time. I tried another batch and substituted a homemade rub for the marinade and it was even better to my taste. Try your own rub that you use for smoking meats. You'll love it. The thing I like best about the recipe is that it doesn't have any sweetener. So many recipes for jerky (and everything else) contain some form of sugar. I never have understood why so many people feel the need to hide the flavor of food with sugar. Savory rules!!!"

  By webejammin843 on January 05, 2013 | 1357727

• "The first time I made this recipe, I didn't have enough soy sauce on hand, so I used about half the amount the recipe calls for. I also make my own hot sauces, so I used one of mine: kinda medium and very garlicky. After trying it, I didn't think more soy sauce would have improved the flavor much. The second time I made it, I used the recommended amount of soy sauce, and added a little ground cumin (about 2 tsp., I'd say)... definitely helped.
  
  A couple of food safety concerns: I used a food deydrator, not an oven (easier to control the heat at such a setting)... it's important to use at least 175-180?F to dry jerky, because the meat can "develop" pathogens if it's not hot enough. Also, even if you trim the fat off a lean cut of meat, as the instructions recommend, even a small amount of fat can turn rancid, so it's best to keep this in the refrigerator. Overall, a good recipe."

  By nikflorida on January 02, 2013 | 1357218

• "This recipe is amazing! Of course being a chef myself i changed it a little. I could not handle quite all the spice so i used paprika instead of cayenne and i cut the franks red hot down just a bit. I also added brown sugar to the recipe. Although the recipe is great just the way it is my first batch I directly followed the recipe. But had to go back and cut down the heat.Other than that it is great. This works really good with venison as well. ."

  By jmreis on December 16, 2012 | 1353438

• "Awesome snack. I used flank steak sliced very thinly and reduced the amount of cayenne and hot sauce since we didn't want it very spicy. I liked the spice mixture a lot and the liquid smoke was a very nice touch. Thank you."

  By Katanashrp on March 25, 2012 | 1296237

• "Excellent beef jerky recipe. I made this as written and didn't change a thing, I won't next time either. This came out just as I was hoping it would. Thanks for sharing!"

  By mae2september on March 14, 2012 | 1294166

• "I haven't tried this yet but I have decided to try different recipes for beef jerky. I have created my own with only 3 ingredients but this one sounds very tasty. I have been using London broil for some months now and was pleasantly surprised to see this one also recommending London broil. It's a good cut of meat because it has very little or no fat on the inside and the fat on the outside can be easily trimmed away. I'm looking forward to using this recipe."

  By FilmNoirFan on July 29, 2011 | 1239361

• "I have forgotten to review this, sorry. I have made this jerky now, about 6 times. It's delicious! My whole family loves it; I think the nex time I make it, I will triple the batch because it dissapears to fast. Thank you for posting!!"

  By Q & A's Mom on June 03, 2011 | 1223396

• "This is a good recipe!! A great base to start with. I think the pepper is just fine in fact I added a little more on top before smoking. (did not use liquid smoke) I smoked my jerky for 4 hours and finshed in the oven for another 4 hours. It took a little longer but I sliced my jerky thick. I only gave this recipe 4 stars because I thought it needed a little something like brown sugar or honey maybe even your favorite BBQ sauce. Thanks for a good recipe but I will tweek this to my liking. My wife really liked this recipe!! Thanks!"

  By Remi 13 on July 09, 2010 | 1128814