how to make easy homemade, healthy beef jerky

Sharing is caring!

homemade beef jerky.

It’s what’s for dinner…and breakfast…lunch…afternoon snack…

Or at least in our home it is!

When you’re in a rush and you don’t want to fill up with useless calories that won’t sustain your energy needs through a busy afternoon, beef jerky should be your go-to snack.

Or when you’re headed out on a long road trip or plane trip then beef jerky is the perfect compact snack to avoid fast food (and their nasty seed oils) and frequent stops.

And the great part of homemade beef jerky is that it’s super easy to make at home! Just takes a little bit of your time and some special equipment.

why use this beef jerky recipe?

why is this beef jerky recipe healthy?

things to consider when making homemade beef jerky

Beef jerky can last 1-2 months in airtight containers but a batch doesn’t remain uneaten for that long in my home.

Feel free to use this recipe with other meat like lamb, bison, yak, or chicken. I find that leaner meats (like yak and bison) need less time than beef to reach the finished product. This is due to the fat content.

We’ve used our dehydrator with apples, bananas, garlic, and onions to great success. A good dehydrator can be a useful way to preserve food or to create your own snacks and spices.

for easier clean-up

When making jerky, I like to lay down parchment paper underneath the trays to catch the salt and liquid from the meat. It makes for easier cleanup. 

My ground beef typically comes in one or two pound packages that I thaw in a large bowl. This keeps my fridge from being a mess with liquid leakage.

cooking temperature

The USDA recommends heating meat to 160 degrees for safety purposes in a dehydrator. As you read the recipe, you’ll discover we do not follow this guidelines as it results in more nutrient loss.

DEHYDRATE AT YOUR OWN RISK.

what beef to use?

You can cut steaks into pieces of jerky, but I highly recommend a jerky gun and ground beef. It’s a much easier and less time-consuming method to making jerky. I’ve made jerky both ways and I’ll never abandon my beloved jerky gun.

The leaner the ground beef the better. You won’t waste the fat calories (and associated dollars spent) with leaner meat. 90/10 is perfect. Whatever fat is at the bottom of the dehydrator gets scooped up and fed to Juno (our livestock guardian dog) and the chickens. No waste!

Try to source grass-finished beef as that’s the healthiest cattle. We want whatever is going in our bodies to be optimally healthy to support our health. Cattle are not meant to be finished healthily on high grain diets.

The downside is that the jerky gun handle can tend to leave black residue on your hands but it’s easily washed off.

thawing the meat

Thaw your meat the day before making jerky but don’t let it reach room temperature. You want the meat to be thawed enough to where no parts are frozen and chunky but not too warm to where it’s super liquidy.

The jerky gun tends to leak even with cold meat, but it’s better than using room temperature meat.

But don’t make it so cold that it’s difficult to squeeze through a jerky gun. If the ground beef is too cold, my hand tends to fatigue and cramp trying to squeeze the meat out of the jerky gun.

do I have to use a special dehydrator for homemade beef jerky?

No! Some ovens can also reach low enough temperatures to dehydrate food. Or you could harness the power of the sun to create a solar dehydrator! Even some airfryers have the option to dehydrate food as well.

The dehydrator I use can fit roughly ~16lb of ground beef depending on my spacing on the trays. I highly recommend not opening all your ground beef packages all at once. Open them as you go in case you can’t fit all of it in the dehydrator.

the tools

the edible supplies

To get started making this recipe, you’ll first want to gather all your ingredients.

the steps

Step 1: Thaw ~16lb of 90/10 (or close to it) grass-finished ground beef

Step 2: Open a few ground beef containers and shape them into a small tubular log shape that will fit into the jerky cannon.

Step 3: Place those tubular log shapes into the jerky cannon and gently shake up and down to pack the ground beef

Step 4: Start at one corner of a tray and squeeze a long line of ground beef from top to bottom

Step 5: Repeat until the tray is full

Step 6: Sprinkle salt across all the columns (I do a couple of four finger pinches per tray)

Step 7: (Optional) Sprinkle seasonings to taste

Step 8: Place the tray in the dehydrator and finish all the other trays

Step 9: Set the dehydrator to 125 degrees for 26 hours

Step 10: Once finished, store the beef jerky in an airtight container and enjoy!

Now you have the perfect snack for an afternoon pick-me-up, a roadtrip, or late night indulgence!

This post may include affiliate links that earn us a small commission from your purchases at no extra cost to you. See our Privacy and Disclosure Policy for more.

shop this post

Here are some of the supplies that I used when making this recipe!

Find this post helpful?

Share it on Pinterest

Share Now!

easy, homemade, healthy beef jerky

When you’re in a rush and you don’t want to fill up with useless calories that won’t sustain your energy needs through a busy afternoon, beef jerky should be your go-to snack.

Or when you're headed out on a long road trip or plane trip then beef jerky is the perfect compact snack to avoid fast food (and their nasty seed oils) and frequent stops.

Print Recipe

Prep Time:1 hour hr

Cook Time:1 day d 2 hours hrs

Total Time:1 day d 3 hours hrs

Equipment

• 1 jerky cannon
• 1 large bowl to hold thawed ground beef
• 1 Excalibur dehydrator (or your choice)
• 1 salt crock (or a container for salt)

Ingredients

• ~16 lb grass-finished ground beef (or your choice of meat)
• to taste salt
• to taste (optional) seasonings

Instructions

• Thaw ~16lb of 90/10 (or close to it) grass-finished ground beef
• Open a few ground beef containers and shape them into a small tubular shape that will fit into the jerky cannon.
• Place those tubular shapes into the jerky cannon and gently shake up and down to pack the ground beef
• Start at one corner of a tray and squeeze a long line of ground beef from top to bottom
• Repeat until the tray is full
• Sprinkle salt across all the columns (I do a couple of four finger pinches per tray)
• (Optional) Sprinkle seasonings to taste
• Place the tray in the dehydrator and finish all the other trays
• Set the dehydrator to 125 degrees for 26 hours
• Once finished, store the beef jerky in an airtight container and enjoy!

Notes

The USDA recommends heating meat to 160 degrees for safety purposes in a dehydrator. As you read the recipe, you’ll discover we do not follow this guidelines as it results in more nutrient loss.

DEHYDRATE AT YOUR OWN RISK.

The leaner the ground beef the better. You won’t waste the fat calories (and associated dollars spent) with leaner meat. 90/10 is perfect.

Thaw your meat the day before making jerky but don’t let it reach room temperature. You want the meat to be thawed enough to where no parts are frozen and chunky but not too warm to where it’s super liquidy.

Keyword: easy, healthy, protein, snack