Dylan’s Beef Jerky Base Marinade: Start Here and Add Ingredients

The idea behind a “base marinade” is to use it for all of your jerky recipes.

To this base you then add ingredients like sugars, herbs, spices, chili peppers, tenderizers, etc. to make each recipe unique.

Dylan’s Beef Jerky Base Marinade Ingredients

Early on, this is what I found worked best for me:

• 1/3 Cup Low Sodium Teriyaki Sauce
• 1/4 Cup Tamari Soy Sauce*
• 1/4 Cup Water
• 2 Tbsp Worcestershire Sauce

*I wrote an entire article on this but the main reason a lot of beef jerky marinades are too salty is because of the Soy sauce.

Tamari soy sauce tastes much better than regular soy sauce and actually contains more salt (which is a good thing for jerky).

Aim for At Least 1 Cup of Liquid Marinade

The above recipe is roughly 0.958 cups.

1 Cup of Liquid will cover 1-1.25 lb of meat when marinated in a ziplock storage bag.

This way you’re not wasting tons of marinade – which is already expensive as it is.

Stuff to Add to Your Base Marinade

These are common ingredients I’ll add to the above:

Sugars – they’re humectants (bind moisture) and taste good.

To the above, depending on the marinade I’ll add ratios of:

• 1/4 – 1/3 cup of Creamed Honey or Regular Honey
• 1/4 – 1/3 Cup Molasses
• 2-4 Tbsp of Dark Brown Sugar or Honey Granules

Spices – Varying levels of heat via chili pepper flakes or hot sauce.

• 1/3 – 1/2 cup of Siracha
• 1-4 Tbsp of Your Favorite Hot Sauce
• 1/4 – 1/2 Tsp of Cayenne
• 1/2 – 1 Tbsp of Red Pepper Flakes
• 1/2 – 1 Tbsp of Jalapeno Flakes
• 1/2 – 1 Tbsp Cobanero Pepper Flakes
• 1/2 – 1 Tsp of Habanero Pepper Flakes
• 1/2 – 1 Tbsp of Chili Powder

Umami Ingredients – Because they taste good

• 1/2 tsp – 1 tsp of Granulated Onion
• 1/2 tsp – 1 Tbsp of Granulated Garlic
• 1/2 tsp – 1 tsp of Dehydrated Garlic
• 1/2 tbsp – 2 Tbsp of Black Pepper (Various mesh sizes too, table ground, 30 mesh, 16 mesh, etc.)

Tenderizers – Because they soften Jerky and kill microbes.

• 1 Tbsp Distilled White Vinegar
• 1 Tbsp Rice Wine Vinegar
• 1/4 Tsp Citric Acid
• 1 Tbsp Lemon Juice

Print Pin Recipe

Dylan’s Beef Jerky Base Marinade

Liquid Base to Add Ingredients to

Ingredients

• ▢ 1/3 Cup Low Sodium Teriyaki Sauce
• ▢ 1/4 Cup Tamari Soy Sauce
• ▢ 1/4 Cup Water
• ▢ 2 Tbsp Worcestershire Sauce

Instructions

• Add the ingredients in the specified quantities to a bowl and whisk together.
• Note: This base marinade does not need to be heated.

  BUT if you're adding ingredients that have a hard time mixing (like say creamed honey), add to a medium pot over low heat and whisk together until well combined.

  Then allow to cool and add to your ziplock bag or marinade container.