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When making homemade jerky it is really important to follow strict food safety precautions to prevent any foodborne illnesses. The most common bacteria growths in poorly made jerky are Salmonella and E. Coli. These can be deadly, making food safety extremely important when making jerky.
By following these steps, you will prevent bacteria growth and have plenty of safe jerky for everyone to enjoy!
How to make safe jerky
1. Clean your kitchen, utensils, bowls, and all other equipment with water and bleach. Also wash your hands with soap before handling any raw meat.
2. Thaw frozen meat in the refrigerator instead of at room temperature to prevent bacteria growth. I see many people put meat on the counter and leave it for hours. This is NOT safe and should NOT be done. Leave yourself ample time to thaw your meat in the refrigerator.
3. Marinate the meat at a temperature between 36-40°F (2°C-4°C). Do not marinate at room temperature. Keep meat in the fridge while you mix your marinade together. Bacteria can grow fast on raw meat left out at room temperature. After marinating, do not save and re-use a marinade.
4. At the beginning of dehydrating, heat the jerky to 160°F (71°C) to kill dangerous bacteria. For jerky to be safe, it should be heated to 160°F for beef and 165°F for turkey or chicken jerky BEFORE you dry your strips.
Heating the jerky after dehydrating might not kill all bacteria due to it becoming more heat resistant during the drying process. This is why bringing your jerky to 160ºF at the start of your jerky making process is recommended by the USDA.
If you have a dehydrator that will heat jerky to this temperature, you can bypass this initial heating stage. See my page on Dehydrator Reviews for more information.
If your dehydrator does not heat the jerky to 160°F, pre-heat the meat in an oven after it has finished marinating. As an extra precaution; I ALWAYS pre-heat any turkey or chicken jerky I make, as well as use curing salt, to make sure it is safe to eat. I like being as safe as possible when using fowl.
Pre-heat 1/4″ slices of beef to 160°F, it takes about 10 minutes in a 300°F (149°C) oven. To pre-heat 1/4″ slices of turkey to 165°F, about 8 minutes at 300°F (149°C) does the job. Not all oven are the same, so wrapping one strip around an oven thermometer while baking is the best way to determine when the jerky strips reach the desired temperature.
5. Use curing salt to help prevent bacteria from growing. In this age where the craze is only eating Organic Foods, curing salt might not be in your recipes. While I do understand the 'staying away from preservatives', be extra careful when not using them when making jerky!
When the right amount of curing salt is used, there are no harmful effects that many believe come from using these salts. If you decide not to use curing salts, make sure that you follow the other safety precautions closely. Especially heating the meat to 160ºF to kill any bacteria and eat the jerky within a couple of days.
With that said, I DO recommend using cure when making ground meat jerky because the meat has been handled and processed making it more susceptible to having bacteria. I also recommend using curing salt when making turkey or chicken jerky due to salmonella.
Better to be safe than sorry! So in short… No jerky recipe NEEDS cure as long as beef is heated to 160°F and fowl to 165°F. But it is another line of defense to kill bacteria and allows your jerky to last longer.
6. Store jerky in a cool dry place for up to a week or vacuum seal and freeze for up to 6 months.
That's it folks! Making jerky is both fun and VERY rewarding. Just make sure to keep in mind these tips on how to keep you and your loved ones safe when making and eating homemade jerky.
For more information, visit the USDA Webpage on Jerky and Food Safety.
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Hi Will, I love the site. I’m looking for a little clarification on your recommended drying time for chicken breast. I follow your instruction and cooked the chicken in the oven at 300 for 10mins. However, I’m unclear how long to dry for after than when using chicken and not beef. I did also use curing salt to be on the safe side as I’m not using a high salt marinade.
Thanks
Hey Danielle! You really have to go on how it feels and when it reaches the consistency that you like. I would start with around 3 hours and then take a piece out of the dehydrator, let it cool for 5 minutes or so, and test it. Does is feel dried? Bend and crack? That will tell you it's finished. If not, put it back in the dehydrator for another 30 minutes to an hour and test again.
Hey Will, absolutely love this site and your amazing recipes. I literally make jerky all the time now for friends and family, I give all the credit to you and this amazing site. Quick question, I have had an awful time with my Weston jerky slicer. Sometimes it works great and sometimes it’s just awful. I was looking into and electric slicer. Do you have any to recommend? Thanks so much.
Glad you have been making some great jerky Derrick! I do not have an electric slicer and have heard of many problems with them slicing raw meat. So I don't have any to recommend, sorry. I have had my Weston slicer give me some problems before, but I have found it's normally because the metal guides that hang down inside the slicer go down too far. If you pull those up a little bit while slicing the meat you will find it works better. If that's the problem you are also having...
I am making jerky for my dog and don’t want to use any salt will it be ok to bring it up to 160 for 6 hours for him and if so how long will it keep in the fridge thanks rick.
Salt is definitely a huge part of why jerky will last such a long time. If you are going to just cook/dry the meat, I would say make small batches that will only last a week or so. Storing in airtight containers will also help it last longer.
I'm new to your site and fairly new to making jerky. You've got a great site full of great information and advice. After reading through the questions, most deal with using curing salt and the 160 degree bacteria kill point. So does my question... When using the cure #1 salt, do I simply add it to the other dry ingredients for whole meat marinade and the flavor mixture for ground beef jerky? You also did a great job of clarifying how to check for doneness. In the past, I've dried my jerky so that it's hard to tell the difference between jerky and my dog's rawhide chews. Thanks for sharing your knowledge, experience and recipes.
This is the 3rd time I’ve posted my question and it shows up on your site but disappears after several days, unanswered. To keep from typing a bunch of kudos since this will also probably disappear without an answer, I’ll only ask my question: Do I simply add the Prague Powder #1 to the other ingredients in the marinade for whole muscle jerky and to the other ingredients for ground beef jerky?
I just answered your question a second ago Bob, (going through all my unseen comments) sorry again about the delay. It shows up for a little while and goes away because every comment requires me to approve it in order for it to stay on the site permanently. Sometimes people on here can be very rude and mean to other people on here, me as well sometimes. I try to keep it as friendly as possible by personally seeing and approving every comment. I'll answer your question again however on this thread/page. Since most whole muscle recipes have liquid ingredients, simply add it to the jerky recipe ingredients. The liquid will dissolve it and allow it to coat all of the meat. For ground jerky that does not have ANY liquid ingredients, first dissolve the curing salt in 1 tbsp of water and then add it to the rest of the ingredients. Thanks again for coming by!
Hello Will,
I make chicken jerky for my dog and wanted to mail some to my son but need to get the facts straight on safety before i do so. I marinade the chicken in the fridge and then dry it in the oven at 200 degrees for about 3 hours. The slices are approx 1/4". For my dog, i let it cool then put in a ziplock bag in the fridge. My question is, cooking the jerky at this temp for this period of time and then vacuum sealing it, is that enough to not have to refrigerate it ? After vacuum sealing i wanted to then mail some to my son but do not want to kill him.
Thank you for all of the great jerky making tips.
If you are going to mail it, maybe do beef jerky. When making turkey or chicken, marinade it like usual but also add curing salt. Then before drying it on 200F in the oven, increase that temperature to around 300F and basically cook the meat to an internal temperature of 165F, then lower the oven temp and dehydrate. This will change the consistency of the jerky by pre-heating it. This will however make it safe and kill any potential bacteria. The curing salt will also help it last longer when vacuum sealed. Hope that helps Trisha.
I love your site, which I just found this last week. I have a question about using curing salt (#1). Does this add a salty taste? Yes, I know it's salt. Do you just add to the recipes, or must you make a brine and pre-soak the strips? If so, how long? And what about using it with ground meats? Sorry, but I am new to jerky making and have autoimmune issues, so I don't want to mess this up.
Thanks for all your time and trouble and for sharing all your knowledge.
It will not make it any more salty than adding the same amount of table salt because as you mentioned, it's about 93% regular salt. It will give the meat that red color and that distinct 'jerky' flavor. I add the curing salt with all the other ingredients making a marinade/brine and soak the meat for 6-24 hours. Curing salt #1 is fact acting unlike curing salt #2 which is used in bacon and breakfast sausage. If making a ground jerky recipe that does not have any liquid ingredients, mix the curing salt with 1-2 tbsp of water and then massage into the meat with the other ingredients. You want to dissolve the salt in some liquid so it's incorporated fully throughout the meat. Thanks for stopping by and let me know how your jerky turns out!
When you're about to dehydrate things like beef for jerky or chicken breast for doggy jerky you don't want to completely thaw your meat. A semi-frozen breast or cut of meat will slice so much easier and uniformly without slipping or sliding. Keep it safe and in the fridge for thawing but don't wait too long.
I've tried this recipe a couple of times with ground deer meat. Using an Air Fryer Toaster oven combo with dehydrate function, it comes out too dry. I am dehydrating at 160F. First batch was done for three hours and hard as a rock. Second batch done for 1.5 hours and still dry. Any tips? I used your Original Ground Beef jerky recipe. Thanks
I have never used an Air Fryer Toaster oven combo before and would think that is what is making the jerky dry. Have you tried another recipe to see if it does the same thing to another recipe? I have NEVER had jerky finished in 1.5 hours. That is extremely fast to make jerky dry or even close to being finished at all.
Hi! I have the Nesco American Harvest FD-61. The dial goes up to 160 degrees and I just temped the empty dehydrator- it gets to right bout 170 degrees.
Does this mean I can use the dehydrator alone for making pork jerky? Or do I still need to cook it in the oven before/after dehydrating?
Thank you!!
It should be enough to get the pork up to temperature. If you have a small thermometer, try to check the internal temperature of the pork jerky and make sure it is 160F. Using curing salt would be a good idea to make sure the jerky is safe as well. However, you should be good to go though without pre or post heating.