BBQ Sauce-Flavored Beef Jerky: Recipe & Guide

What Type of Meat to Use for Beef Jerky

This recipe uses Flank steak.

If you don’t have flank steak, any of the following will suffice:

• Top round/london broil
• Bottom round
• Eye of round
• Brisket flat
• Round tip

Any cut that’s lean and cheap works well.

If your goal is preservation, look for a cut that is as lean as possible.

Slicing the Meat for Jerky

The way you slice will depend on your taste preferences.

• If you prefer Soft Jerky – slice against the grain.
• If you prefer jerky with a Tug – slice with the grain.

If you’re unsure of what “grain” means with respect to meat – read this article.

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

This ensures that the meat dehydrates in a timely manner and is easier to chew.

BBQ-Sauce Beef Jerky Marinade Ingredients

This marinade is for ~1 lb of meat.

• 1/2 Cup Sticky Fingers Carolina Sweet BBQ Sauce*
• 2/3 Cup Water
• 1/4 Cup Molasses
• 3/4 Tbsp of Morton Kosher Salt
• 1 Tsp Paprika
• 1 Tsp Chili Powder
• 1/2 Tsp Cloves (Nail removed and flower ground)
• 1 Tbsp 16 Mesh (Coarse) Black Pepper
• 1 Tsp Onion Powder
• 1 Tsp Garlic Powder
• 1 Tbsp Vinegar

*Use your favorite BBQ Sauce – the goal of the other ingredients is just to build on the flavors of the sauce.

If you want to add “smoke” flavor, add 1/2 tbsp of Liquid smoke to the marinade OR use a BBQ sauce that has liquid smoke in it.

Marinating the Beef Jerky

Ensure the marinade ingredients are well combined – especially the molasses and the kosher salt.

To a gallon storage bag or non-reactive container add your sliced meat and then your marinade.

Marinate for at least 2 hours or overnight – I prefer overnight.

Heat Treating the Beef Jerky

I like to heat treat my beef jerky so that I can dehydrate at a lower temperature – I find the jerky is much softer this way.

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

Set your oven to 350F.

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

Put your marinated beef jerky on top of the cooling racks.

Once the oven is pre-heated, put your baking sheet on the middle rack for 10 minutes.

While the jerky heat treats set your dehydrator to 120-130F.

Dehydrating the Beef Jerky

Once the beef jerky is heat treated, transfer the jerky strips to your dehydrator trays.

Allow the meat to dehydrate for at least 3 hours before checking for doneness.

Checking the Jerky for Doneness

At 3 hours, start taking a few pieces that you suspect are done out of the dehydrator and allow them to cool for 5-10 minutes.

After 10 minutes, bend a piece to check for “spider webbing.”

If the bend feels rubbery and you see hues of red/pink – the jerky is not done and needs to dehydrate longer.

Typically it takes ~3-5 hours for jerky that’s sliced 1/8″ – 1/4″ thick.