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This original ground beef jerky recipe is rich and flavorful as well as easy and quick to make! No marinating required. Everyone will love these meaty protein snacks.
I have had several questions lately about making beef jerky out of ground meat. There will soon be a page on here dedicated to making ground meat jerky (How to Make Ground Beef Jerky); but in the meantime I thought I would share a great, quick, and easy recipe that you can whip up anytime.
Most of the ingredients are ones that you will have hanging out in your pantry. The only ingredient that you might not have and can see in the picture above, is curing salt (It's the pink salt in the white 1/4 tsp).
If you decide not to use curing salt, substitute with 1/2 tsp of table salt and make sure to heat your jerky to 160°F to kill any potential bacteria.
When making ground beef jerky, liquid ingredients have to be kept to a minimum. I did add a tiny amount of soy sauce and worcestershire sauce to round out the taste of this jerky, but most ground jerky recipes will have 1oz of liquid ingredients per 1lb of meat. (2oz of liquid ingredients = 1/4 cup)
I used my super fantastic LEM Jerky Cannon to squeeze out and form my jerky strips for this recipe . I REALLY love this jerky gun. I feel like everything we buy now a days is made completely of plastic and lasts for about 3 uses before it breaks and finds its way to the trash.
Well, not this jerky gun. This baby is made to last and I love it for that. Super easy to use and comes apart easily too, making clean up a breeze.
Mix all the ingredients into one pound of lean ground beef, at least 90% lean. I used 96% lean 4% fat ground beef when making this jerky.
Mix well and refrigerate for 4-24 hours to help the meat bind together. Take out of the fridge and pack into the jerky gun making sure there are no air pockets.
Shoot strips of jerky onto your dehydrator trays or on baking sheets if using an oven.
Dehydrate for about 3 1/2 to 5 hours at your dehydrators highest setting until beef jerky has reached 160°F and has dried. I used my Excalibur Dehydrator which took me only 3 1/2 hours to dry this batch.
If using an oven, heat the strips for 10 minutes at 300°F with the oven door closed. Then turn the temperature down to the oven lowest setting (normally about 170°F), crack the door and "cook" until it has dried.
The ground jerky will be a lot easier to chew and has a totally different texture than whole muscle jerky. The only way to see whether you like ground jerky is to make a batch and eat it! Let me know how it turns out.. Enjoy!!!
For more in depth directions on how to dry your beef jerky, click on the pictures below.
Ingredients
Lean Beef
- 1 lb Lean ground beef (10% fat or less)
Marinade
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- 2 tbsp worcestershire sauce
- 1 tsp ground black pepper
- 1 tsp ground lemon pepper
- 1 tsp curry powder (red)
- 1 tsp ginger powder
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 1/4 tsp coriander
- 2 tsp liquid smoke (optional)
- 1/4 tsp curing salt (optional)
Equipment
Instructions
- In a bowl, combine the 1lb of ground beef with the other ingredients
- Mix the ground beef and seasonings thoroughly
- If using a jerky gun, load the gun with the ground beef mixture & shoot 4-5" long strips onto a dehydrator tray or on a baking sheet
- If not using a jerky gun, spread the ground meat on a baking sheet, cover with wax paper, and roll with a rolling pin until meat is 1/4" thick
- Slice the pan of beef into jerky strips 4-5" long and 1" thick
- Dry with your favorite jerky making method. I used a dehydrator at 160F for 3 1/2 hours
- Ground jerky is finished when it first starts becoming dry to the touch. It should bend without breaking in half. If it cracks in half when bent a little bit, it was over dried
Pro Tips
- Ground jerky is going to have a different texture than whole muscle jerky, it will be more brittle.
- Increase soy sauce to 2 tbsp for more saltier and intense flavor
- Using an oven and dehydrator are the best ways to make ground jerky
Nutrition
For more in depth directions on how to dry your ground beef jerky, visit my page Ground Beef Jerky
I used your recipe as a base, but made some modifications. Not a fan of curry or coriander... I use zero liquid:
2.25 lbs Ground Beef (93/7) (Standard Walmart Pre-pack)
1 Tbsp Soy Sauce Powder (Amazon)
1 Tbsp Worcestershire Sauce Powder (Amazon)
1 Tbsp Hickory Smoke Powder (Amazon)
1 Tbsp Swerve* Brown (or Brown Sugar). *Erthyritol Sweetener
2 Tsp Kosher Salt
2 Tsp Ground Black Pepper
1 Tsp Ground Ginger
1 Tsp Garlic Powder
1 Tsp Onion Powder
1 Tsp Red Pepper Flakes
1 Tsp Meat Tenderizer
1/2 Tsp Prague Powder #1
I use a simple Presto no frills dehydrator (no settings), a LEM gun and dehydrate for 4-4.5 hours. To say it is good, well that is a serious understatement. After spending over $100 a month to make jerky for about half the county; I now deny I know anything about making beef jerky...
Haha, that will happen. You have to be carefully who you tell and who you give jerky too. You can always start charging for it.... Thanks for the updated recipe Steve!
I left a couple of things out that I thought needed a comment:
When you use powder versus liquid (soy sauce, smoke flavoring, worcestershire sauce) use half the amount of the liquid version (1:2) called for in the recipe. I originally got them to reduce the amount of liquid in my ground beef jerky and now use them in a lot of different recipes. Very handy to have around.
Why meat tenderizer? It seems to do two things in ground beef jerky - it binds together much better and it remains pliable after dehydration.
I mix all ingredients together in a large bowl (with a hand mixer), cover it completely with plastic wrap and then into the fridge for 24 hour to let the flavors marry. If you don’t use the mixer you will get spots of flavor and spots of bland in the finished product. Plus the mixer seems to loosen the muscle strands, making for a smoother and more consistent jerky.
Awesome website and thank you for all your information.
What are your thoughts on liquid smoke? Add to the initial mix or brush on during the dehydration? Amount? Thank you
Thanks for checking out the site Jeremy! I like adding it to the marinade. The amount really depends on which one you buy. Some are diluted and require more, others are more pure and require less. It will say on the bottle.
Will,
I just bought a SIGVAL jerky gun and plan on making a few batches this weekend in my PitBoss pellet smoker. I was wondering if you have a good recipe for teriyaki flavored jerky and if you have ever made your jerky in a pellet smoker and if so whats your choice of pellet species.
Sorry Lance, been moving the last week and might be a little too late. I do have a good teriyaki recipe, try my Teriyaki II recipe. I REALLY like this one! I have not used a pellet grill as of yet. Looking at getting one though. Let me know what pellets you go with and how they turned out.
Thanks for this web site. This original recipe for ground beef was a huge hit in my house. I'll be making this in the future. But I'm wondering how the recipe would be adjusted for a whole muscle batch. I'm assuming more (say 1/2 cup to 1/3 cup) of soy and worcestershire sauce but would that dilute the dry ingredients shown in the recipe? What would you do to make this recipe for a whole muscle cut of beef? Thanks
1/2 cup on both soy and worcestershire , the dry ingredients should be fine as is. You can add just a tad more than what is called in the current recipe. Ground jerky tends to require more dry ingredients than whole muscle jerky, so shouldn't need more. Glad your family is liking the jerky!
I'm not new to making smoked muscle meat Jerky or smoked salmon using electric smokers, Weber BBQ, or in the oven. But I just got a Weston Jerky Gun that came with a sample packet of Jerky Spices and a packet of Cure. I've made my 1st. batch of ground beef jerky using the Weston spice & cure and it went very well and tasted pretty good. I had no problems.
I do a lot of cooking and I like to make my own spice mixes for everything I cook.
I don't like to buy pre-made store bought spice mixes because they cost way too much for what you get, and what you get is usually just a lot of salt and not much spice.
I read somewhere on your web site that you thought that the spice and cure for your DOS PEPPER JERKY RECIPE would be a choice for ground meat jerky using my new JERKY SHOOTER. Since DOS PEPPER is 1 of your top 3 favorite recipes I'd like to try it on my next batch. I have 3 questions to ask you first. I believe you said that ground meat does not require very much moisture, no more than 2TBS. per pound. I think DOS PEPPER said 1/2 cup of water which sounds like too much for ground meat. I'd rather not use any water at all so, what should I use to replace the water? and how much liquid should I use per pound of ground meat?
Also I used 96% lean beef on my 1st batch. It tasted really good but I thought it was too chewy so I thought I'd try mixing 1lb. of 93% ground beef and 1lb.of 93% lean ground turkey or pork to make it a little softer. What do you think?
Hey Bob! The water is in the recipe to help coat whole muscle jerky, just omit the water if you are making ground jerky. I have never tried mixing beef with turkey or pork. I mix my deer meet with pork, but have never made ground jerky out of it. Not sure why, it should turn out just fine! A lot of beef sticks (slim jims) are made of a mixture. I guess I'm going to have to give that a shot after this upcoming hunting season. Let me know how the beef/pork jerky turns out. I am not too sure about mixing beef and turkey, almost seems like there is something wrong with doing that. Haha. I'm not sure how that would taste. If you try it, let me know how it turns out. I'm really interested...
Can I use something other then curing salt? And what does curing salt do? This will be my first time making Ground Beef Jerky.
You don't have to use curing salt. You can just use regular salt and leave out the curing salt. Curing salt helps prevent and kill bacteria, making the jerky last longer. Let me know how your jerky turns out!
The purpose of curing salt is to prevent the growth of bacteria and fungus, specifically Clostridium Botulinum (botulism). Prague Powder #1 is 6.25% sodium nitrite and 93.75% sodium chloride. Normally I am not a big fan of chemicals in my food but botulism is a real risk and I’ll accept whatever risk there is in sodium nitrite vs dying... If you don’t use curing salt the jerky needs to be refrigerated!
Back in the 1960s my friend gave me some Moose Jerky to try, as this was about 55 years ago. If I am correct, this Jerky was dried to about a 1/4" sq. and maybe 8" in length. Either his Father, whom had a cabin on a small Fly In only lake or Brother who worked for Jonas Brothers Fur Co. had shot the Moose and brought it back from Alaska.
The best Jerky I have ever had and can not get any more as Moose meat can not be send via Mail
It's crazy we can remember how good something tasted such a long time ago. I bet it was delicious!
hello, will this recipe work with ground deer meat?
Yep!
found this recipe very bland
How long should I cook ground beef jerky in the oven? I don't have a dehydrator or a jerky rack. Planning on using a baking sheet with parchment paper on it. Suggestions?
Check out my page on making jerky in an oven. I would start checking it at 3 hours to see if it is finished. If not, let it go another hour and check again.