Jerky, the ultimate road food. Meat snack. Beef leather. Chewy, savory, spicy, sweet, it’s my favorite thing to gnaw on ever since I ate biltong, the Mother of All Jerkies, in Zimbabwe 20 years ago. Making your own deer jerky at home is a snap: Slice, brine, dry, eat.
But making good jerky, I mean really good jerky, is harder than that.
I’ve made deer jerky a lot in recent years, and I’ve come to learn that nuances matter a lot. How thick do you slice the meat? Across the grain or with it? What do you marinate it in? Or do you do a dry cure instead? How long is enough? How long is too long? Dry in an oven or dehydrator? Again, how long?
Slice thickness determines whether you will have chewy jerky or the really brittle stuff you need to moisten with your saliva before you can even begin to eat it; this latter stuff will last forever at room temperature.
Across the grain makes it easier to tear with your teeth, but the shorter strands are a little less satisfying as you gnaw them. Slicing with the grain can make for a challenging chew, but the fun lasts longer this way.
Brining, marinating or dry curing is virtually freestyle.
So long as you have ample salt (or something salty, like soy or Worcestershire) you’re in business. Long-time readers of this site know I am not normally a fan of marinating meats because marinades penetrate only about 1/4 inch into the meat per day.
But considering that I prefer to slice my venison jerky about 1/4 inch anyway, marinating works in this case. How long? Longer than you think you might need. Seasonings in jerky tend to fade a lot with the drying process, so you really want it to get in there.
As for the drying process, a dehydrator beats an oven hands down. Even a low oven cooks the meat a bit too much, leaving it crispy. Of course, if you like crispy, go for it.
Through a fair bit of trial and error I’ve come up with this, my favorite deer jerky recipe. It’s not complicated, which is a bonus, and it really packs a lot of flavor into the meat.
The key to this is the chipotle in adobo. Don’t worry, it sounds more esoteric than it really is. It’s basically smoked jalapenos canned in a rich, spicy adobo sauce. There are several makers of this magical stuff, and the little cans are widely available in Latin markets and in really any supermarket that has a “Hispanic” section. If all else fails, you can buy chipotles in adobo online.
You do need some curing salt to make this jerky with 100% safety. I use Instacure No. 1
, which protects the meat as it slowly cooks in the dehydrator. You don’t need this if you use an oven, but since I dehydrate at 145°F to 155°F, which is in the danger zone for bacteria, I use the nitrite.
You can also dry your jerky in a smoker. Set it as low as it will go, 165°F in my Traeger, and use whatever meat makes you happy. For this deer jerky recipe, I prefer mesquite.
The end result is a chewy, slightly thick jerky loaded with an almost “spicy BBQ” flavor. It’s an addicting flavor — I ate three pieces one after the other, unconsciously, as I was trying to evaluate the flavor. That instinctive taking another bite is always a good sign.
Want to do a different route? Use my duck jerky recipe and substitute venison. Works great.
Chipotle Venison Jerky
Ingredients
- 5 to 7 pounds venison roast
- 1 cup soy sauce
- 2/3 cup sugar
- 1 cup chopped onion
- 1 head garlic, peeled and roughly chopped
- 1 7- ounce can of chipotles in adobo
- Juice of 2 limes
- 1 teaspoon of Instacure No. 1
- 2 tablespoons salt
Instructions
- Put the soy, sugar, onion, garlic, chipotles and the adobo sauce, lime juice, curing salt and enough water to fill the can of chipotles into the blender and blend until smooth. Taste it (it will be a bit zippy), and add salt if you need it -- the marinade should taste pretty salty.
- Cut the venison roast against the grain into roughly 1/4 inch slices.
- Mix the marinade into the meat really well. The slices are going to want to stick to each other, so you need to use your hands (wear gloves if you are very sensitive to chiles) to make sure each side of every slice gets well coated with this marinade. It's enough for a full 7 pounds of meat. Pack the mixture into a non-reactive (plastic, ceramic, stainless steel) container, cover and refrigerate for at least 24 hours, and up to 48 hours. How long you take it depends on your personal salt tolerance and on whether you plan on storing the finished jerky for months or not. If not, go less salty.
- When you are ready, lay the meat on dehydrator trays in one layer. Don't let the slices of meat touch. Set the dehydrator to 160°F for 2 hours, then drop the temperature down to 145°F until the jerky is ready. You know this because the jerky is still sorta pliable, but when you bend it, the meat starts to fracture and crack a little -- this is how I like my jerky. All told, the jerky should be ready in about 6 hours. You can, if you are planning to store this at room temperature for a long time, dry it until the meat is brittle.
- If you are using an oven, set the oven as low as it will go and use something to prop open the door, which lets air circulate inside the oven. If you have a convection oven, use it.
- Store it in the fridge for uh... a long time. Or freeze it until the Second Coming. I vacuum seal packages of it and take them on road trips. They've been fine for weeks at room temperature this way.
Made this with white tail and axis strips. Followed the recipe exactly and left it in the sauce for three days; amazing flavor and really easy to make. Almost gone with no time to vac seal and freeze.
made this with 2 meats using cold smoke.. did beef and moose. beef was a roast but sliced it down to good size and moose was steak so sliced that up… love it… both turned out great so this will be a staple when i’m smoking from now on… has a little bite at first but not lingering… great flavor?????
Thanks Hank. I planned on trying your ground recipe. I love the Chipotle one so much I was hoping I could use that one for ground as well.
Question for you on the ground recipe: can I get away with not using the instacure? It gives me migraines.
Josh: Yes you can skip the instacure.
Could this recipe be modified to use ground meat? What would you change? Thanks!
Josh: No. Use this recipe instead: https://honest-food.net/ground-venison-jerky-recipe/
I figured with Coronavirus and potential food shortages, now would be a great time to make some jerky out of this past fall’s venison harvest. I have never made jerky with backstrap before, but that was more or less all i had left…..about 5 lbs of backstrap, and then a 2 lb roast……been marinatign for almost 48 hours, going to hit the dehydrator in a few hours. very excited to try this recipe out. Thanks!
Hello, do I need to wipe meat slices with the paper towel after marinating before placing in the dehydrator or just put it as it comes from the marinating container? Thank you.
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Aleksandra: Shake the excess off the meat before drying, but no need to fully wipe them off.
Thanks for this, just did a roast and a section of loin in the oven @170 *F for 8 hrs. Delicious! I know that a slower cure is always better with anything. What improvements do you see when using a quality dehydrator over the oven?
Nate: Cooler temps give you a more flavorful effect, more cured and less cooked feeling…
Does it have to have curing salt in it?
Katie: No, as I mention in the post. Curing salt gives it a pretty color, and allows you to dry it more slowly, safely. If you don’t use it you need to dry much hotter, at least 165F.
This recipe makes absurdly good jerky!
This looks perfect for my Canada Geese. However, I’d prefer not to sweeten. Is the sugar for flavour only? Thank you!
Barbara: Sugar also helps remove moisture from the meat, but yes, you can skip it.
When you say to cut against the grain do you mean across?
Miguel: Yes.
Do we need to wipe excess marinade off meat before dehydration?
Darrell: You can, but only if it’s really glopped on.
I couldn’t help but notice that you mentioned biltong. I have been wanting to try to make biltong with venison for a long time now. Do you have any recipes for that? I was thinking to cut some thicker strips of the backstrap or hind quarter muscles, marinade them and then hang in a dehydrator.
Just tried this out and … Wow! Have you ever looked into mods that would allow this recipe to be done in a jerky gun similar to your Tanka recipe? My wife prefers the ground meat style over the slab, so I was hoping it might work. I appreciate any info.
Wow. This is a great recipe. Really nice spice, quite warm but not ‘biting’ spicy. My kids loved it. Used elk outside round for this and I think I’ll be digging out some more roasts to do this. Thanks from shoreacres BC Canada!
Best recipe I have ever found! Perfect amount of spice and flavor! Thank you!!!
I feel like it is way better in an oven than a dehydrator. It seems to dry from the outside-in so it leaves a small amount of crisp out side while leaving the inside soft. The dehydrator seems to either dry it to much or not enough. I haven’t found the sweet spot for time yet. I usually go a little thicker with the meat.
Do you rinse off the marinade before dehydrating?
Simon: Nope, you don’t.
Good enough that my 78-year old father gave me the elusive ‘double thumbs up’. The downside is that he’s now doorbell ditching his deer in my driveway.
this recipe has came out phenomenally in my dehydrator more than once. Just bought a smoker… any modifications recommended to make this in a smoker?
Wes: Sure, smoke over low heat, as in less than 200F, for a few hours, then dry the rest of the way in the dehydrator.
Have you ever tried this modified to make it a ground venison jerky similar in texture to your tanka bars?
Craig: I haven’t, but I ought to!
Super easy and super tasty! Going to try the duck jerky next.
I’ve been wanting to try to make a basic salty and hickory smoked jerky. How would you approach this? You have mentioned a basic brine of 2 tablespoons of salt per quart of water. Could you slice the meat, brine for 24 hours, and then smoke until ready? Would you need to add Instacure to the brine?
JR: That would work. Or go 1/4 cup salt to 1 quart water and brine for 12 hours.
First batch was a tad too salty for me, but otherwise delicious! Started marinating second batch tonight with only half a cup of soy sauce rather than 1 full cup to see if that helps.
I made this with beef cuz had no venison.
had extra space in the dehydrator so I tossed in a bunch of mint from the garden to dry as well. Some mint fell through and stuck on the chipotle meat and dried into the jerky. Awesome!
Crazy good taste combo. Thanks for the recipe.
Is sugar necessary for this recipe? I try to limit my intake of sugar if at all possible. Thank you!
John: You can skip it, but I like the interplay of sweet and spicy.
I’m confused about what
you mean by adding enough water to fill the can of chipotles…do you mean add water with peppers and sauce still in can? Could you explain?
Brandon: You empty the can of chiles for the jerky, then add a can’s worth of water. If you are not emptying the can, use about 2/3 cup.
after the bring process should you leave the brine on or take some off of the meat by draining or rinse it before going to the dehydrator .
Robert: I shake it off, but I don’t rinse.
Just made this last night. Amazing. I woke up this morning with another bag of venison thawing in the fridge because the boyfriend wants me to make more.
Recipe in explanation as very much spot on as to taste and how it would come out. I used my smoker (Peach wood soaked in a little Jack Daniels) instead of the dehydrator, and used brown sugar as opposed to white sugar. Real happy with the results in taste and texture. I split the difference and did 6 pounds of meat, marinated it 36 hours. 165 for two as stated and 145 for 2 1/2 hours.
* I’m a chef for more years than I would like to say. Looked at a ton of recipes to do something different with this years harvest. Out of all of them (Way too many bad ones) this one caught my eye. Directions were precise and the flavor combinations are excellent. *
Would this also work with ground venison?
JR: Not as such. You’d need a different recipe to make that all come together. I should work on one!
Hank, I just set 7lbs of moose with this recipe into the fridge. Smells fantastic! I haven’t used a thick marinade before, so I’m not sure if, before I put this in the dehydrator, I should rinse the meat or not. Usually a terriaki doesn’t stick, but it’s not rinsed off either.
Wade: I generally scrape most of it off, but I do not rinse.
Ever use lamb? Done lamb prosciutto but not Biltong.
Hey Hank I will be trying this recipe on our wonderful Sambar deer this weekend (I’m in Australia). I made some last weekend but was a little heavy handed with the liquid smoke! From my tiny amount of experience so far, it seems that fewer ingredients and higher quantities are key! Thank you for your recipe. We love your work down here!
Tim
I have used numerous brines and rubs for venison jerky with satisfactory results but have always been on a quest for the ultimate. You’ve provided it with this recipe! All of my acquaintances that salivate to sample my latest batch have hands down selected this as the BEST. Thanks for sharing your talents.
Oh goodness this is amazing. I added an extra tablespoon of chipotle pepper flakes and only used 1 tbl salt. Not venison – just plain old top round. Can’t keep it around – delicious.
Hank, this receipe is my venison and honker go-to. Everyone loves it. The only thing I do differently is first smoke it in the Traeger for :45-:60 and then finish it off in the Excalibur dehydrater. I would like to do a ground meat/jerky gun version of this. Could this recipe be adapted for that type of process?
Can i substitute instacure for Morton tender quick? It contains both Sodium Nitrate and Sodium nitrite, salt and sugar and the pink dye…. so it’s a bit more like instacure #2 than #1. Would that still work?
Jackie: no.
Howdy Hank,
Is there anything I can substitute the chipotles in adobo with? I have been to all three store in or little town and no one seems to have them.
Thank you!
2 tablespoons of salt sounds like a lot. Is this right?
Joe: Yes, it’s right. It’s for the brine.
I just finished my first batch. I used honey for the sugar and put into a gallon freezer bag to marinate massaging the meat and marinade several times a day. This is the best – I mean it- the best jerky I’ve ever tasted. Thanks Hank.
1 tsp of curing salt seems low? No? I’m marinating as we speak!
Jake: Nope. Not too low. You really don’t need much.
This looks wonderful. Has anyone substituted honey for the sugar? I try to avoid processed sugar. Thank you.
Brenda: You could use honey.
Hank, can a smoker be used instead of dehyrator and still get good results? Thanks!
Charlie: Yes, but be careful. Keep your temps below 200F and don’t smoke for more than about 4 hours, tops. Otherwise your jerky will be a overpoweringly smoky!
Hank, can this recipe work with ground jerky ?
Joe: Not really. You need to get the right ratio of meat to seasoning for ground jerky to work.
can i substitute anything for the instacure? I can’t find it locally. Im going to order some but I already have meat thawed. I have some tender quick, but didn’t know if that would work or not.
Marshal: You can sub TenderQuick, but not 1:1. I honestly don’t know the ratio, but TenderQuick has way more nitrite per ounce than Instacure. I bet you could find some more info online, but my gut says to use maybe half the amount?
Holly smokes!
Hands down, the best jerky ever!
Thanks for the great recipes, Mr. Shaw. ??
Wow! This is some fine tasting Venison Jerky. I did use the backstrap, but it was from road kill, so not the hard hunted Venison from last November.
Greetings…I recently made my first jerky and was massively confused by the online articles which say to cook the meat first to 165F. What’s with this? Also, wondering if you pat the meat totally dry or just plop it on the dehydrator trays straight from the container? Thanks!
Kate: I pay the meat dry with paper towels. The cooking to that high temp is a USDA thing. I rarely do this, but the danger is that in the slow heating and drying, bacteria can multiply on the meat and then be reactivated by your saliva once you eat it.
I am making this right now. I followed the recipe to a “T” only exception is that i had on 3 3/4 lb of venison. I have a dehydration setting on my oven. 2 hours at 160 now only 1/2 hour at 145. It looks and tastes like it is done. But I don’t either want it ruined and over cooked or under cooked and get everyone sick. One other question is what is the right Instacure #1 salt to meat ratio by weight? In Buck, Buck Moose you make a big deal about getting the ratio correct for curing meat, but the jerky recipe is not so specific.
I wanted to ask the same question as Brian. I used my smoker today to dry some jerky (I wish I had used this recipe). How does the smoker compare to the dehydrator?
Can you use a smoker for this recipe? If so, how so? Thanks!
Does it take 6 hours in oven also?
Becki: Probably not. Just keep checking it after, say, 2 hours.
Hank, if one did not want to use instalcure, could you use kosher salt instead and double the salt requirement? Thank You, recipe looks great.
David: Nope. If you don’t use instacure, just replace the weight of the instacure with salt. When you dry it, make sure the heat is a little hotter though. Instacure allows you to dry at a cooler temperature.
Do you have any suggestions for already dehydrated deer meat? My husband got some jerky made from the processer but there’s no flavor. Is there a way to somehow rehydrate it and marinate it or is that even a dumb question?
Thanks
Gwen: My advice would be to look up Mexican recipes for machaca, air dried meat. They usually shred it and put into eggs with chiles.
This is absolutely my favorite jerky recipe, hands down. I have tried it with elk, mule deer, pronghorn, and now mountain goat. I believe that you could marinade an old shoe in this marinade and it would be just fine. Thanks Hank!
Hey Kris – I have a Bradley smoker, and i usually cold smoke it for 2 or 3 hours with hickory, then transfer it to the dehydrator.
I’ve used mesquite in the past but in a side-by-side, blind taste test, the family universally chose hickory.
By finishing in the dehydrator I just get more control over the final product.
HANK, you are my jesus. If you were going to smoke this in a bradley instead of the dehydrator, what smoke would you use and how long would you go?
Kris: I’d use any wood you want and smoke it over very low heat for at least a couple hours — you won’t want it too smoky.
Could you use an electric smoker instead of oven or dehydrator and add a little smoke to jerky? I just got a Masterbuilt smoker and trying to figure what some options are to utilize it. Made some decent duck breast pastrami so curious about jerky.
Mark: Absolutely you can!
By head of garlic do you mean the whole piece of garlic or just one clove. I used the whole entire garlic.
Hans. Yep. I mean a whole head.
Did 14 lb of Mountain Goat back straps and hind quarter. Followed the recipe to the T. It came out better than I thought. It came out excellent. This is the best way to eat Mt. Goat by far. The meat of mature billies is much tougher than venison. Used to grind it all up into burger and sausage. Still do with the other cuts but will turn the straps and larger chunks into Chipotle Goat Jerkyfrom now on.
Made my first every batch of jerky today using beef instead of venison and following this recipe. Amazing! Thanks for the recipe Hank. Next time I’m thinking about using kangaroo meat.
Great recipe did 6lbs venison best ever !!!
Smoked in my converted 1950 refrigerator to smoker
hunt fish and stay in the woods
What should my jerky look like after dehydrater.
Very good recipe, thank you for sharing this. I halved the recipe for 3lbs of venison but used a full 7oz can of chipotles in adobo and used Morton Tender Quick instead of instacure. It turned out fantastic! It really seem to hit its peak flavor after about 5 days, which is something I have noticed with just about all the jerky I have made this winter. Anyone looking to add smoke flavor should consider a cold smoke generator in conjunction with a dehydrator. Sure, you can smoke and dry the meat at the same time in a smoker, but frankly I don’t have the time to tend to my smoker and keep the temp perfect for 10 hours. I have been using something called an A-Maze-N-Smoker that burns hardwood sawdust with great results. Cold smoke in any grill or anything, really, a cardboard box would work as this thing produces about as much heat as a cigar burning. Then dehydrate for another 6 hours and you have perfect smoked jerky.
Trying my first batch here tonight. Doing half the batch with 24 hours and second half wth 48 in fridge to try difference.
Recipe looks awesome thanks 🙂 Hank.
A side note to the guy who uses smoked salt , I read and have tried this before and it works good is take your normal table salt and put it in the smoker next time cold smoking something like cheese. When the top gets brownish stir and repeat and then store when finished with smoker. I put it right in my salt shaker at the stove, find it doesn’t add much difference in cooking but smells great when you shake it out and I bet on jerky would work well as it’s not cooking the flavour away.
Food for thought.
David: I don’t know, you’d just have to monitor it. And pink salt is Instacure. Just a different brand name…
Hank, awesome recipe. If I am using an oven, is the drying time about 6 hours as well? Can I use pink salt instead of instacure? Thanks!
Yup, I only did about 30 hours in the marinade. Thanks for the info on what acid (Worcestershire) worked. I thought it woke up the “heat” as well as adding an additional dimension of flavor.
I just pulled a batch off the dehydrator this morning. 6 hours was too soon – ended up taking about 9 to be pliable and not brittle. Might just be my dehydrator.
I bought a 12oz can of chipotle peppers and decided to use the whole thing. The jerky came out great and is very spicy – but delicious. Next time I will do the recommended pepper amount; however there is nobody that would call this batch bland.
HorseDoctor: You must be used to some powerful jerky! I too found this kinda bland when I marinated for my usual time, i.e., 12-24 hours. That’s why I wrote the recipe for a full 48-hour soak. What you’re getting with the Worcestershire soak is acid, which is what is brightening the flavor. Not a bad idea…
This looked like a great recipe. I just did a 7# batch. I followed directions exactly and was very surprised to find it much blander than I was expecting. Just a tip if anyone else finds it the same. I shook the entire batch with about 1/4 cup of Lea & Perrins Worcestershire sauce and gave it an additional hour in the dehydrator and that really “woke it up”! Will add that to the original marinade next time. Fabulous!
I find that my oven works fine for jerky. I can do larger batches in the oven and it takes less time to dry. I place the wet jerky on cake drying racks placed on a cookie tray. The tray helps keep the oven clean. I set the oven on “bake convection” at 175.
Works great and I have no problem with the meat cooking or getting too dry.
Michael: It’s a safety measure that also affects the color and to some extent flavor of the jerky. Most of the commercial jerkies use it. You really only need it if you are drying the meat in a low temperature environment, and even then I’ve done it without using the curing salt and was fine. Think of it as an insurance policy against botulism.
Hi,
You’re blog is great! Quick question, how important is Instacure No. 1? My dad and I have been making venison jerky for years and I’ve never come across something like this.
Thanks!
Jared: I don’t much like the ground meat style of jerky, so I don’t have a recipe for it. Sorry!
Hank – could you recommend a variation using ground venison? I’m not sure if a marinate would work, but dry spices would do the trick.
Thanks! Love the blog.
I always tell people to start simple and embellish as they learn the process. I never use preservatives but I also store my jerky in the fridge in any case. It never lasts very long with two kids in the house… Something basic like soy and brown sugar with some black pepper and crushed pepper flakes is a good start. I agree that dehydrators beat ovens, hands down. Smokers are even better but you have to 1) keep the temp low and 2) remove excess marinade (or even pre-dry it, like you do with cured salmon). One trick to give your dehydrated jerky a smoked flavor is to add some smoked salt (I get Oaxacan oak smoked salt at my local grocery). Final tip: my niece can’t handle soy. I made a batch for her using reduced balsamic vinegar instead of soy sauce. It was sublime.
Janine: Well, then this recipe won’t work for you. Use this recipe instead, using venison.
Erik: I kind of shake off a little excess, but I don’t wipe it off. And I am working on smoking the meat first, but haven’t perfected it yet. Will post another recipe when I do.
Hi Hank-
Do you wipe the excess marinade off the meat before you dehydrate, or just lay the meat on the rack and let the marinade dehydrate into the meat? Also, do you ever smoke the jerky for an hour and then dehydrate to get some smokiness in the jerky?
Your website is awesome!
Thanks,
Erik in Minnesota
Faboulous recipie Hank
Have bee a “silent” fan for a couple of years now; thanks to you I am a more accomplished omnivorous hunter angler gardner cook.
With regards to this recipie, may I ask for some help in preparing this for people who absolutely cannot physically tolerate even mild “spicy” as in chipotles etc…in their food.
Thank you
One of the better descriptions of jerky I’ve seen in quite a while Hank.
I agree with you on the majority of your points, especially the brining/marinating. I typically slice and start marinating on a Sunday afternoon, leaving it in the fridge until Tuesday evening.
That said, I do pull the meat out an massage it to make sure the marinade has swirled its way around every morsel
And yes, dehydrator beats the oven. I tried it once in the oven and it just wasn’t the same. And although I’ve never smoked jerky, I may someday.
I don’t hunt, but will use this recipe for my next batch, or at least a portion of it. My tried and true recipe is a fan favorite at my bowling center on a weekly basis.
🙂
Cheers from Southwest Ohio,
Michael