Garlic Pepper Beef Jerky: Recipe and How-to Guide

What Type of Beef to Use

For beef jerky you want to use meat that is lean and cheap.

This recipe uses round tip.

Any of the following will suffice:

• Top round
• Bottom round
• Eye of round
• Brisket flat
• Flank steak

If your goal is preservation – ensure the meat lacks fat.

Slicing the Jerky Meat

The way you slice your jerky will depend on your taste preferences.

• For tender/soft jerky – slice against the grain.
• For jerky with a “tug” – slice with the grain.

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

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

This thickness ensures the meat can dehydrate in a timely manner and ensures the marinade can penetrate.

Garlic Pepper Beef Jerky Marinade Ingredients

This marinade is for ~1 lb of beef.

• 1/3 cup Water
• 4 tbsp Kikkoman Teriyaki Sauce
• 2 tbsp Lea and Perrins Worcestershire Sauce
• 1/3 cup molasses
• 1 tbsp 16 mesh (coarse ground) black pepper
• 1 tbsp fine ground black pepper
• 1/2 tbsp Lemon Juice
• 2 tbsp granulated garlic
• 1/2 tbsp dehydrated garlic
• 0.75 Tablespoon of Morton Kosher Salt

Combine well in a bowl and ensure the molasses has dissolved in the liquid.

Marinating the Beef Jerky

In a ziplock bag or in a non-reactive glass container, add your beef jerky and marinade.

Allow the jerky to marinate for at least 2 hours – I prefer overnight.

Heat Treating 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.

Pre-heat your oven to 350F.

Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and then place metal cooling racks on top:

Place your beef jerky on top of the cooling racks.

Once your oven is at 350F, put your baking sheet in the oven on the middle rack for 10 minutes.

While your meat is heat treating, get your dehydrator setup to 130-140F.

Dehydrating the Jerky

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

Then start checking for doneness.

Checking for Doneness

Usually beef jerky that’s cut to 1/8 – 1/4″ takes around 3-5 hours to finish.

At 3 hours, check for doneness.

Take a smaller piece and take it out of the dehydrator and allow to cool for 5-10 minutes.

Once cooled, bend it – the jerky should have a noticeable spider webbing at the bend.

If the jerky feels like rubber and the bend has hues of red/pink – it’s not done.

Store in a Ziploc Bag

As your beef jerky finishes, put it into an open ziplock bag – doing this will allow it to aerate and ensures steam doesn’t get trapped.

Once all your jerky is done and cooled, seal the bag and store in a cool dark place until you’re ready to eat it.