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Sweet and Spicy Beef Jerky

Starts with sweet and savory and ends with a kick of heat
5 from 1 vote
Prep Time20 minutes
Active Time3 hours 30 minutes
Marinating Time16 hours
Total Time19 hours 50 minutes

Ingredients

  • 1 lb Brisket flat or similar lean meat

Marinade

  • 1.5 tbsp Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt
  • 1/3 cup Water
  • 1/3 cup Molasses
  • 3 tbsp Teriyaki Sauce
  • 1.5 tbsp Lea and Perrins Worcestershire Sauce
  • 1 tbsp Crushed red pepper flakes
  • 1/2 tbsp Ginger Powder
  • 1/2 tbsp 16 Mesh Black Pepper
  • 1/2 tbsp Granulated Garlic

Instructions

Slicing the Jerky Meat

  • If your meat is thawed, put in freezer for 30-60 minutes. If your meat is frozen, defrost in refrigerator until the meat is somewhat frozen/malleable.
    1 lb Brisket flat
  • Trim the meat, removing any exterior fat/silver skin.
  • Slice the jerky between 1/8 - 1/4" thick.
    Identify the grain direction of the meat and slice either with or against it. If you prefer soft jerky, slice against the grain. If you like jerky with a bit of "tug" slice with the grain.

Create Sweet and Spicy Jerky Marinade

  • Combine the ingredients in the specified quantities in a bowl. Ensure the molasses and the kosher salt are well combined.
    1/3 cup Water
  • Put your sliced jerky meat in a ziplock bag or non-reactive container. Then put your marinade into the bag with the jerky.
  • Roll the bag on top of itself to force out air, then close the bag. Leave the bag in your refrigerator overnight.
    My jerky marinated for 16 hours.

Pre-heating Jerky for Lethality

  • Pre-heat your oven to 350F.
  • Take out baking pans and line it with aluminum foil. Then put oven safe cooling racks on top of the pan so that the jerky is elevated.
  • Arrange the jerky on the cooling racks so that they don't overlap.
  • Place temperature probe in the thick piece you sliced. You want the probe to reach the thermal center of the meat.
  • Once the oven is pre-heated, put the baking pan on the middle rack and wait for the thick piece to reach 158F internal. When the thick piece is 158F, the thin pieces are also 158.
  • While waiting for the jerky to reach 158F, get your dehydrator to 130-140F. My dehydrator has a preset for 131F so that's what I used.

Dehydrating the Jerky

  • Once the jerky reaches 158F, take the jerky out and start placing them on the dehydrator trays. You want the jerky so that it's not overlapping and so that they aren't touching.
  • Simply wait for the jerky to be done.
    As you might expect, thin jerky finishes faster than thick jerky. If you sliced thin, check after 3 hours of dehydrating and then every 30 minutes to an hour after that.

Checking for Doneness

  • When checking for doneness, bend the jerky to expose the muscle fibers. If you see hues of red/pink, the meat is visibly moist, or it's rubbery, it needs to dehydrate longer.
  • If the bend is dry and has white spider-webbing, it's considered done.
  • As the jerky finishes, put into a sandwich baggy with the top open. This way you prevent condensation from happening inside the bag and you allow heat/moisture to escape. Once it's cool, close the bag and store in a cool/dry/dark place.
  • For longer storage, use a freezer bag/vacuum sealer with food-grade desiccant bags.