The BEST Ground Beef Jerky Recipe - Hey Grill, Hey (2024)

FAQs

How long to dehydrate ground beef jerky in dehydrator? ›

Use a rolling pin to roll meat about 1/4 inch thick. Place in a dehydrator and dry at 160°F for 3 hours or until ground jerky is dry when touched. It should be pliable when bent.

The leaner the better. 80/20 works well.

Is a cure necessary when making jerky? For safety, yes. Using a jerky cure will inhibit bacteria growth and prevent botulism or other foodborne illnesses, as jerky is dried at low temps, not cooked. Cured jerky will also lengthen the shelf-life of your product.

Seasoning the meat

Season the meat with your favorite recipe, mix well with your hands, and refrigerate for 3-24 hours so the meat can bind together.

The jerky should bend and eventually break, but not snap off. If you're unable to break the jerky into two pieces, and it's still rubbery, that means it needs more time. If the jerky snaps into two pieces with bending, it's most likely over-dried. Pro Tip: Finished jerky should be like a green tree branch.

The Downside of Overhydration: Loss of Flavor and Texture

Dehydrating beef jerky for too long can lead to over-drying. While this may not pose as immediate a health risk as undercooking, the implications for your taste buds are dire. Over-dehydrated jerky loses its chewy and palatable texture.

You can understand why, since processing jerky takes time, and a pound of meat only produces about 1/4-pound of finished jerky. However, it really is a manageable process that you can do at home.

The best meat for jerky are Top Round, Bottom Round, Lifter and Pectoral, but a variety of cuts can be used such as Flank Steak and Skirt Steak. These cuts of beef check all the boxes for beef jerky—economical, lean, and full of flavor.

Consistent thickness is the name of the game when it comes to jerky slicing. Slicing your jerky evenly will ensure that each piece cooks and dries at the same rate. This prevents over-drying and under-drying. We recommend slicing meat for jerky at a thickness between 1/8" and 1/4" with the perfect thickness at 3/16”.

Rinse briefly, about 5-10 seconds. This will help remove any extra oils or fats. Now, spread out meat in a dehydrator or baking sheet. Dehydrate at 160 degrees F for about one hour or until all meat turns into dry, little pebbles or what feels like little rocks.

What is a good substitute for curing salt for jerky? ›

What is a substitute for curing salt? Celery juice powder and celery powder are natural substitutes for curing salt.

Using curing salt correctly helps to reduce the chance of harmful bacteria growing on meat and ensures a safer curing process. It also improves flavour, colour and extends the shelf life. Jerky will last for about 2-3 weeks with curing salt versus less than a week without it.

The majority of dehydrators will recommend a temperature range of 160°F to 165°F (70°C to 74°C) for beef jerky. This range ensures not only the thorough drying of the meat but also addresses the primary safety concern: eliminating harmful bacteria.

Occasionally, “cure” may be added to the raw meat. Cure is the ingredient nitrite, which typically is added as sodium nitrite, but it also may include sodium nitrate. Nitrite is used to fix the color of the jerky. Nitrite also is a potent antioxidant, which prevents spoilage during storage, and a flavor enhancer.

You can tell the jerky is ready because it will just begin to crack when you bend it. It should not be brittle. And remember, the jerky will firm up when it cools, so pull it when it seems just a little under-dried. For me, this takes about 7 hours at 145 degrees.

Since we'll be dehydrating it, it can last for months! So make a lot—enough to last you for at least a month or two. No reason to dehydrate ground beef every week if you can do it a few of times each year instead. Get the meat with the lowest fat content you can find.

Put oven on warm temperature (160-170°F) and stick an oven thermometer in there just to make sure your temperature is right. Crack the oven door open with a towel so moisture can escape, and cook 10-12 hours. When jerky is done it should be dark, dry, and crack apart a bit when you bend a piece.

Dehydration time varies from processor to processor and depends on many variables such as dehydrator temperature setting, humidity control, jerky slice thickness and equipment configuration. Some dehydration cycles that include a lethality step take more than 12 hours.