How To Make Beef Jerky At Home In The Oven

Do you require a smoker or a dehydrator to make beef jerky? No, so do not go and spend a lot of money on equipment. Begin with an appliance that everyone has, the oven! This is the no-dehydrator method for making delicious beef jerky! Making excellent-tasting beef jerky using the oven is really simple and inexpensive.

Making beef jerky at home with an oven is probably the most common way to do so. I would not say it is the simplest method – after all, a dehydrator wins here – but everyone has one in their kitchen. I have been experimenting with making beef jerky in my electric oven and am pleased to report that I have finally gotten satisfactory results.

Also Read: How To Eat Shredded Beef Jerky

Choosing The Right Meat For Beef Jerky

There is no such thing as the ideal meat for jerky. Any kind of lean meat can be used to make it. According to one source, a beef jerky should be at least 93% lean. This is because beef fat does not dry well and spoils quickly. That said, generally, we make beef jerky not just for its long shelf life without refrigeration but also for its flavor. In my home, a batch of jerky isn’t around long enough for rancid fat to develop.

Fatty jerky, without any doubt, is delicious. It is also much simpler to chew. I tried it once from the shop Big John’s Beef Jerky which was one of my favorite artisan beef jerky makers – and was hooked for good. However, because kitchen ovens’ lowest temperatures are not low enough not to melt fat and make your jerky oily, making fatty jerky in the oven may be difficult.

Also Read: How To Make Beef Jerky On A Traeger

Slicing And Choosing The Meat

1. Begin by purchasing a lean cut of meat, such as flank steak, for this particular recipe. This steak is not my favorite type of meat to use because it does not create very juicy jerky. The flank steak I have in Austin has more marbling than I prefer and is about twice as expensive as the beef eye of round, which is my preferred cut.
2. Trim off any visible fat from the meat. Because fat spoils your jerky, remove as much of it as possible.
3. Place the meat in a bag and seal it tightly. Freeze for around 1-2 hours to half freeze it. While not required, freezing helps to make cutting the meat at a consistent width easier. Slice against the grain with a thickness of around ⅛” – ¼”. When cooking flank steak, I have discovered that larger slices tend to keep the jerky pieces together better and result in better jerky.

You may also use a jerky slicer to cut your jerky straight away. I utilize the Weston Jerky Slicer. It ensures that all of your strips are of the same width, which allows them to dry uniformly. When you are preparing a lot of jerkies, having a slicer is really handy.

Also Read: How Thick To Slice Meat For Jerky?

Marinating The Meat

Set the slices of beef aside while you prepare your jerky marinade. I am using my lime chili recipe for this batch, but there are many different jerky marinades to choose from on my beef jerky preparation page.

Place the beef slices in the marinade and make sure they are completely coated. Marinate the jerky in the refrigerator for 6 to 24 hours.

To avoid drippings during the drying process, cover the bottom shelf of the oven with some aluminum foil. If you do not put a layer of protection down, it will create a mess. The last thing I want to do is spend an hour cleaning my oven because I skipped a 30-second step in the procedure!

Best Homemade Oven Beef Jerky

It might be difficult to locate healthy and delicious store-bought goods that fit when you are trying to follow a specific diet. (Have you checked out any of the gluten-free or Paleo snacks on the market?) This Best Oven Beef Homemade Jerky recipe is a favorite of mine because:

• There is no sugar added
• It offers a fabulous blend of the spices
• It also fits into Keto, Paleo, and Gluten-Free diets.

It is not the most delicious beef jerky I have ever created, and it is not the sweetest. However, in terms of flavor, texture, and health, it takes the cake! As a result, you must cook meals and all of your snacks at home. Although this is somewhat inconvenient at first glance, it leads to a far more nutritious and delectable daily routine. It also piques your culinary creativity!

We were just trying out a new food dehydrator. Despite the fact that I loved how fresh fruit was dried, I was dissatisfied with the quality of homemade beef jerky. Even after waiting so many hours, it still was not good. So we went to the oven to produce the best beef jerky possible!

I have prepared hundreds of batches of oven beef jerky since then, and I have been delighted with the results all the time. I really hope that you give homemade beef jerky a try soon and adore it as much as we do!

Also Read: How To Tell If Jerky Is Done Dehydrating

What Ingredients You Need

Many of the components required for making beef jerky at home may be found in your pantry. Feel free to substitute the spices and sauces to create your own preferences.

• Beef eye of round – or sirloin tip roast
• Gluten-free soy sauce – use coconut aminos to make it Paleo
• Worcestershire sauce
• Liquid smoke
• Spices – oregano, black pepper, garlic powder, ancho chili powder, and smoked paprika

Also Read: How To Keep Beef Jerky Soft

Beef Jerky And Food Safety

There are a variety of methods for ensuring that beef jerky is safe to consume. USDA recommends “steam or roast meat to 160°F before drying it.” The aim is to eliminate any pathogenic bacteria (like E. coli and Listeria) that may be present in the meat. Meat can be steamed or roasted at 275°F for 10 minutes, which helps to destroy any potential pathogens present in the food.

If you only need a tiny quantity, according to Stanley Marianski in his Home Production of Quality Meats and Sausages book, boil the meat for 2 minutes in the marinade if you have enough, or in a separately prepared brine.