Smoky Sriracha Beef Jerky Recipe

What Type of Beef to Use?

This recipe uses top round/London Broil.

Other cuts you could use:

• Round tip
• Eye of Round
• Brisket Flat
• Flank Steak

Slicing the Meat for Beef Jerky

The way you slice will depend on your personal taste preferences:

• For softer jerky – slice against the grain.
• For jerky with a “tug” – slice with the grain.

If you need help with identifying the grain direction, check out this article.

You also want to slice the meat to roughly 1/8 to 1/4″ thick.

This thickness ensures the meat can dehydrate at the same speed (roughly 3-5 hours) and so that the marinade can penetrate the meat entirely.

Sriracha Beef Jerky Marinade Ingredients

This marinade is for ~1 lb of meat.

If you have more than 1 lb of meat, work in 1 lb batches as apposed to scaling this recipe.

• 1/3 Cup Water
• 1/4 Cup Honey
• 1/4 Cup Molasses
• 1/4 cup Kikkoman Teriyaki Sauce
• 2 Tbsp Lea and Perrins Worcestershire Sauce
• 1/2 Cup Sriracha
• 0.5 Tbsp Morton Kosher Salt
• 1 Tbsp Distilled White Vinegar
• 1 Tbsp Lemon Juice
• 1 Tbsp Ground Ginger Powder
• 1 Tsp Cayenne
• 1/2 Tbsp Smoked Paprika
• 1/4 Tsp Citric Acid*

*If you don’t have citric acid, use another tablespoon of lemon juice (total of 2 tablespoons).

Marinating the Jerky

In a bowl combine the marinade ingredients in the specified quantities.

Add the sliced beef and marinade to either a ziplock bag or nonreactive container.

Marinate overnight (16+ hours) or for at least 2 hours.

Heat Treating the Jerky

The reason for heat treating is to kill microbes and because it will allow you to dehydrate at a lower temperature – which results in softer jerky.

If you don’t care about this step, skip it – dehydrate at 160F.

Pre-heat your oven to 350F.

Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and then place oven-safe cooling racks on top.

Put your marinated beef jerky on the cooling racks.

Once oven is at 350F, place on the middle rack for 10 minutes.

While heat treating, set your dehydrator to 120-130F.

Dehydrating the Beef Jerky

Once the beef jerky is heat treated, transfer the meat to your dehydrator trays and allow the meat to dehydrate for 3 hours.

After 3 hours, start checking for doneness.

Checking the Jerky for Doneness

Jerky that’s sliced to 1/8″ – 1/4″ thick will take 3-5 hours to dehydrate.

At 3 hours, take a few strips out of the dehydrator that you think are done. Allow them to cool for 5-10 minutes.

Once cooled, take a piece and bend/tear it – if it has spider webbing, it’s done.

If the jerky feels like rubber and the bend has visual queues of red/pink – it’s not done and needs to keep dehydrating.

Store in a Ziplock Bag

As the jerky starts to finish, transfer it to a ziplock bag with the top open. This will allow the meat to aerate and ensures steam doesn’t get trapped.

Once the jerky is completely cooled, zip the top and store in a cool, dry, dark place.