Easy Homemade Beef Jerky

This is beef jerky I made in my dehydrator. I actually made it from bison from Lindner’s Bison at the Santa Monica Farmer’s Market.

It’s so easy to make — and it makes an extremely healthy and nutritious portable snack.

This is a very basic, all-purpose recipe. If you like your jerky sweeter or hotter, try adding various ingredients like maple syrup or honey or hot sauce or ground chili pepper powder.

Easy Homemade Beef Jerky

Equipment:

Dehydrator or an oven
1 gallon size Ziploc bag (you can also use a large glass baking dish)

Ingredients:

Grass-fed beef or bison, not ground beef (1-2 pounds) — I think I used top round because that was all they had that day — but I think you could use rump roast or other cuts as well. Ask your farmer or butcher what he or she recommends for making jerky.
Worcestershire sauce (1/3 cup) — I got some organic sauce from Whole Foods; avoid the regular kind as it is probably genetically modified and it has high fructose corn syrup
Naturally fermented soy sauce (1/3 cup) — I use Eden brand
Freshly ground black pepper (1 tsp)
Onion powder (2 tsp) — I used an organic brand from Whole Foods

Directions:

1. Slice the meat very thinly, with the grain (so it doesn’t fall apart).
2. Put the pieces of meat into a gallon-sized Ziploc freezer bag.
3. Add the rest of the ingredients, close the bag, and mix well by moving the meat around with your hands.
4. Let the meat marinate for at least 8 hours. I forgot about mine and it marinated for over 24 hours — still came out great.
5. Pat the meat dry with paper towels.
6. Line your dehydrator trays with parchment paper. If you are using an oven, put some foil on the bottom of the oven to catch drips.
7. Set your dehydrator to 150 degrees for 8 hours. If you are using the oven, set it to the lowest setting (this is often 170 degrees) and crack the door open a bit.