Do you need a dehydrator or a smoker to make beef jerky? No, so don't go running out and buying expensive appliances. Start with an appliance everyone already has, an oven! Using the oven to make beef jerky is a very easy, simple, and cost effective way to make great tasting jerky.
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🥩 Choosing and slicing the meat
1 - Start by buying a lean piece of meat, I am using flank steak for this recipe. Flank steak is not my favorite cut of meat to use, mainly because it produces less tender jerky. The flank steak I have access to here in Austin has a little more marbling than I like and is also about twice as expensive as my favorite cut; eye of round.
2 - Trim any visible fat from the meat. Fat will make your jerky spoil, so cut off as much as possible.
3 - Wrap the meat in plastic wrap and place in the freezer for about 1-2 hours to partially freeze. Freezing is not mandatory, but does make slicing the meat at a consistent width easier. Slice against the grain at around 1/8″-1/4″ thick. When using flank steak, I have found that wider slices allow the jerky pieces to stay together better and produce better jerky.
You can also skip the freezing stage and slice your jerky using a jerky slicer. I use a Weston Jerky Slicer. It makes sure all your strips are the same width which allows them to dry evenly. Having a slicer is great when making a lot of jerky.
🧂 Marinating the meat
4 - Place the slices of beef to the side and assemble your jerky marinade. As I mentioned earlier, I am using my Chili Lime recipe for this batch, but you can find dozens of jerky marinades on my beef jerky recipe page.
Once you have made your marinade, place the beef slices in your marinade and make sure they are covered evenly. Marinate the jerky in the refrigerator for 6-24 hours.
5 - Cover the bottom rack of the oven with aluminum foil to avoid drippings during the drying process. It will make a mess if you do not put a layer of protection down. If you are like me, the last thing you want to do is spend an hour cleaning your oven because you skipped a 30 second step in the process!
⏲️ Drying the jerky
6 - Dry the strips on paper towels to soak up any excess marinade and either lay the jerky pieces across the metal rack or use toothpicks and hang the strips. I have decided to use toothpicks to hang my strips. After drying the strips with paper towels, I slide one toothpick through one of the ends of each piece of jerky.
7 - Take the metal rack out of the oven and pre-heat the oven to 300°F. Hang the strips on the metal rack while its outside the oven. You can also place the strips laying flat on a baking rack and leave the ovens metal rack in the oven while pre-heating.
8 - Once pre-heated, put the oven rack of jerky in the oven on the highest rack position, being careful not to allow the strips to fall. Bake in the oven with the door closed for 10 minutes. This will heat the jerky to an internal temperature of 160°F killing potential bacteria.
9 - After 10 minutes, turn your oven down to 160° or as low as it will go and prop the door open. My oven will only go as low as 170°. Prop the door open with a wooden spoon to allow moisture to escape and air to circulate during the drying process.
How to determine when it's finished drying
10 - It should take between 3-8 hours depending on the thickness of the jerky. Check after 3 hours, and continue as needed. The jerky will be done when it bends and cracks but does not break in half. It took 4 hours to dry this jerky to my liking.
That's all there is to making great tasting beef jerky in an oven. It's a great way to get started in making jerky without having to buy any fancy and expensive equipment. Let me know if you have any questions by leaving a comment below.
Click for dozens of Beef Jerky Recipes!
Hi Will! Great site. I am sharing it with my niece and nephew. They were planning on running out to buy a dehydrator and meat slicer to make jerky. I shared a recipe for using LEAN ground beef and an oven. I love your recipes for flank steak, (we usually use London Broil) and I'm going to start working on some fun, tasty recipes to use with the LEAN ground beef, incorporating some of your ingredient combinations! Thanks for sharing yours!
No problem Rhonda! Glad you guys are enjoying the site and recipes!
Hi Will. Just finished making my first ever jerky, using this recipe & a piece of topside. So much better than the mass produced stuff we get in the uk. A bit drier than I was expecting after 3 hours, but I did have problems keeping my oven at a low enough temp.
I'm looking forward to refining things with the next batch.
Glad to hear it turned out good! Make sure to check out some of my other Recipes as well!
Using my own recipe, but using your steps. Got in the oven right now! Thank you for posting your steps!
No problem Katrina. Let me know how it turns out!
Just popped some frying steak in the convection oven Will ...........5 hours later salt and pepper jerky , don't know why I've been buying it for so many years!!!!
Regards from the UK
Chris
Yep, homemade jerky beats store bought all day long! Cheers!
Hey There !
Just wanted to thank you for the recipe, tried it this week end and it turned out wonderful ! The beef is just dry enough to be crunchy and the worcestershire sauce i added brings a gentle sweetness to the meat.
Greetings from Paris, France !
Wow, all the way from Paris! My wife LOVES visiting your city.... Glad the recipe worked out Virgile!
Hi Will,
What a great site! Thanks so much for all this useful information.
I am ready to start making some jerky for my son. Who is in the Marines and goes "out in the field" for a week at a time. Carrying all his food with him. I think this wood be a great option for him. Store bought jerky is so expensive. How long do you think it would last unrefrigerated?
I am planning on using your curing salt. Does it go in the marinade?
It does go into the marinade. I would also invest in a vacuum sealer to help keep it longer. If you use curing salt and vacuum seal it should last a couple months.
I've made this about 3x over the last year or so. IT'S AMAZING. Tips for 1st timers:
~Definitely hang meat with toothpicks from rack. Cooks way better than laying on a rack.
~I line the bottom of oven with aluminum foil to prevent a mess.
~ Marinate for 24 hours MINIMUM. I've even done 2 days. The flavor is so much better!
This Samsung oven i have stays in the pre heat mode at 175* ... With a temp probe what temp should it the be for it to be safe to eat? right now it's in the oven for an hour and the meat is 114* F any sugg.
160F internal temperature. If you are going to dry the jerky at 175F, it's going to take around 4 or more hours. You will not be able to use a probe to get the internal temperature if you dry on that low of heat. If you pre-heat the meat to 160F, you need to increase the temperature of your oven to around 300F for around 12 minutes or so.
A great meat to use is the 2 big fat-free slabs of breast meat from a Canada goose or other wild goose. Makes excellent jerky from an otherwise tough piece of meat. Your oven recipe will work fine.
Thanks for the tip. I just need to get a Canadian goose! I have yet to make goose jerky.
I just found this site, I've been looking all over for affordable jerky in bulk, and it just doesn't exist. Then it dawned on me, I'll just make it myself! So I'll be giving it a shot, thanks for all the instructions and advice to OP and everyone else – NOW IT'S JERKY MAKIN' TIME!!!
Glad you found the site, let me know how your jerky turns out!