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Making Beef Jerky in a smoker, in my opinion, is the BEST way to make beef jerky. There is no adding liquid smoke, you let the wood of your choice infuse an intense flavor into your jerky.
This way of making jerky is as close to how it was done hundreds of years ago. Plus you get to sit outside, drink beer, and stare at a smoking box all day. What's better than that?!
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🥩 Choosing and slicing the meat
Start by buying a lean piece of meat, I am using a beef eye of round roast for this recipe.
Trim any visible fat from the meat. Fat will make your jerky spoil, so cut off as much as possible.
Wrap the meat in plastic wrap and place in the freezer for about 1-2 hours to partially freeze. This step is not mandatory, but does make slicing the meat at a consistent width easier. A VERY sharp knife will also work well on non frozen beef. Slice against the grain at around ⅛″-¼″ thick for an easier chew or with the grain for more chew.
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
Place the slices of beef to the side and assemble your jerky marinade. This recipe has a great black pepper flavor. Simply combine all of the ingredients and mix until everything is fully incorporated. 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.
♨️ Prepping the smoker
Cover the drip pan with aluminum foil to avoid cleaning up drippings after 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 smoker because you skipped a 30 second step in the process!
Put a small sheet of foil above the heating element to make clean up easier as well. Use a small piece of foil to allow air to easily flow from the bottom of the smoker up and out of the top.
⏲️ Drying the jerky
Dry the jerky strips on paper towels to remove any excess marinade and either lay your jerky pieces across the metal racks of the smoker or use toothpicks and hang your strips. I have decided to use toothpicks to hang my strips. After drying the strips on paper towels, I slide one toothpick through one of the ends of each piece of jerky.
Place the top metal rack on the highest slot in your smoker, and hang your strips. The Dehydrator that is shown in the photos is my Masterbuilt Electric Smoker.
Open the top vent on the smoker 100% and dry for 1 ½ hours at 170°F. *Do not put water in the water pan when making jerky if you soaked your strips in a "wet" marinade. If you used a dry rub to season your meat without any liquid, put a little water or vinegar in the pan during this 1 ½hrs.*
Bring the temperature up to 180°F to 200°F and add a handful of wood chips to the smoker. Before adding the wood chips, soak them in water for about 10-15 minutes. Smoke at this temperature until the wood chips have quit smoking (about 30 minutes to 1 hour). A blue smoke should be coming out of the smoker if the wood is burning at the right temperature. If the smoke is a heavy white, increase the temperature of the smoker. This white smoke can give the meat a bitter taste and ruin the jerky.
Lower the temperature back to 160°F and DO NOT add any more wood chips. Too much smoke will also ruin the jerky; 30 minutes to an hour of smoke is just perfect in my opinion. Leaving the wood tray door halfway open (after all the wood has finished burning) to allow airflow through the smoker also helps dry the jerky faster.
🍽 Pellet Smoker
If using a pellet smoker / pellet grill, simply turn the smoker to 200°F and lay the strips on the grill grates.
Smoke for 3-5 hours until finished. Beef jerky will finish a lot faster in a pellet smoker than an electric smoker. Start checking around the 3 hour mark.
🌡️ How to determine when it's finished drying
Continue to smoke at 160°F until your jerky bends and cracks but does not break in half. Periodically pull a piece out of the smoker and let it cool. Check to see if it is done by bending it AFTER it has cooled down (let cool for 5-10 minutes, this helps not to over dry).
It should bend and crack but not break in half. White fibers are also a good indication that the jerky is finished drying.
It should take a total of between 5 to 10 hours depending on the thickness of your jerky and the brand of smoker you have. With my Masterbuilt Smoker, jerky normally takes between 6-8 hours to dry to my liking. (Make sure to stop BEFORE you think it is totally done.
I have over dried more jerky in my smoker than any other drying method) During this final smoking step, I also leave the wood tray door open a small bit on the bottom of the smoker to allow air to circulate from the bottom of the smoker up and out of the fully opened top vent; this helps speed up the drying process.
That's it! You just made your first batch of smoked beef jerky. Let me know how your jerky turns out in the comments below!
👨🏻🍳 Pro Tips
- A pellet smoker is the easiest smoker to use for jerky
- Hickory and Apple woodchips infuse the best flavor
- If you have thick white smoke, increase the temperature to achieve a nice clear/blue smoke and avoid any unpleasant flavor.
💭 FAQ
3-5hrs in a pellet smoker and 5-10 in a traditional or electric smoker
No. There is no need to flip it
200°F is the ideal temperature for smoking jerky
Other Recipes & Information
Ingredients
Lean Meat
Marinade
- ¼ cup soy sauce
- ¼ cup cold water
- 2 tablespoon brown sugar
- 2 teaspoon ground black pepper
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ¼ teaspoon onion powder
Optional
- ¼ teaspoon Curing Salt (Prague Powder #1)
Equipment
Instructions
- Trim all visible fat from the beef, wrap in plastic wrap, and place in the freezer for an hour or two to partially freeze.
- While the meat is in the freezer, combine the soy sauce, water, brown sugar, ground black pepper, sea salt, garlic powder, & onion powder in a bowl or ziplock bag and mix well.
- Remove the meat from the freezer and slice ¼" strips against the grain for an easy chew. Slice with the grain for a chewier jerky. Or skip the freezing phase and use a Jerky Slicer.
- Add sliced beef to the mixture and marinate for 8-24 hours in the refrigerator.
- After the meat has finished marinating, remove from refrigerator and strain excess marinade.
- Pat dry the strips with paper towels.
- Dry with your Dehydrator, Smoker, or Oven. Click the links or read the post above for more detailed drying information.
- The jerky is finished when it bends and cracks, but does not break in half.
Pro Tips
- Use any type of smoker
- Make sure the smoke is a nice clear/blue color, NOT white. If you have white smoke, increase your temperature. The white smoke can alter the taste of the jerky... not in a good way!
- When testing the jerky to see if it is finished, let it cool for 5 minutes before testing it. Once cool, bend a piece, it should bend and crack but not break in half.
- Best wood chips to use are apple wood and hickory.
Nutrition
Ck says
First time making jerky. Tried to follow this recipe as closely as I could, however I used some NY strip steaks that I had in the freezer. Marinated the pieces for 24 hours. When it came time for smoking I have a charcoal/ traditional style smoker and I had a slightly difficult time keeping the temperature low enough around the 160 and 170 portions. I ended up having to keep the door open most of the time, other than when I added the actual wood chips which consumed fuel faster. In the end it came out well but I will definitely have to practice more to get the consistency I like.
Steve Campbell says
Awesome recipe. Just altered slightly by adding a little Worcestershire sauce and Frank's extra hot (1/2 tsp each per pound). Overdried it my first attempt... my bad. Crushed it the second time. So delicious, friends are all very impressed. keep up the good work Will.
Kurt says
One comment I would try for much thinner jerky.
I just got new portable smoker I’m going to try it me and dad did it on his massive deluxe smoker.
Dad made it way to hot no one could eat it we never tried again it was a shame it was good jerky
RD says
I was offered a smoker by my ex wife, I declined the offer but after reading your recipe and the comments I will be calling her today to take her up on her offer. Thanks for sharing.
Will says
Yeah, I would definitely do an about-face on that decision and have her buy you one immediately! Ha. Congrats on your soon to be new smoker.
Jason T. says
I've had a Masterbuilt "entry level" smoker for about 6 months now. Today was my first time making beef jerky with this recipe. I just "sampled" it. It needs about another hour, but I'm already thinking of going out and buying another 3 lb eye of round roast to do more. The taste is fantastic. The cost savings are amazing. And, the fact that I made it myself instead of buying it. I love it!!!!! Thank you so much for this recipe and easy to follow instructions.
Rick says
When I saw that you were using the same electric smoker as myself, I got really excited to try out this recipe. About an hour in, my smoker decided to stop working haha! What are the odds? I quickly got out my dad's propane upright smoker and wouldn't you know, the racks were a different size. I quickly cleaned up his racks, transferred the meat over and got the smoke going. All of a sudden, I noticed that I couldn't keep the temp low enough. I'm thinking that maybe I need to give up this project altogether. I grabbed a piece of wire and opened the door a little bit and was able to maintain at the finishing temps that I needed. I think I drank too many beers out of nervousness that this jerky wasn't going to turn out...
Well, the good news is that this recipe will be the ONLY recipe I use from now on. Just to spice things up, I may add some blended jalapenos or some cayenne. Otherwise, I highly suggest this recipe for a phenomenal jerky. I used venison and have already began to thaw out a couple of more backstraps to do more this weekend. Thank you for reading!!
Will says
Glad you were able to get the jerky finished with all the smoker problems you encountered! It always feels good when you find a recipe you love, glad you really enjoyed it. I think some jalapenos or cayenne will give it a nice kick. Let me know how it turns out!
Nicholas Barroga says
Add sriracha! Gives it a great flavor
Jerky enthusiast says
Great recipe. I've learned it depends on time of year, smoker quality, temperature (wind, moisture, etc) for how well and overall timing to complete a batch of jerky. I usually make more in the summer since it's warm and weather is consistent. I can rely on a mostly predictable
smoke session. A tip that works for me is getting the thin cut meat normally used for Carne asada but ask the butcher to slice it really thin for jerky. Quick smoke for thin cuts. Smoke setting (about 160-180) on Pit Boss and normally done in 2-2.5 hours.
Mike Kourofsky says
Did jerkey for the first time. Turned out great. Taste was a little bland but was moist. Think I needed to marinate longer. Only went 10 hrs. Had to double marinate recipe to cover all my meat. No big deal. Took 6 hrs at 170. Thanks for the recipe. Will definitely use this method again.
Mark Lange says
Made 3 lbs. on Sunday. Wow. It turned out perfect. This is my second time trying to make jerky and last time it wasn't great. Will's recipe, directions and tips made the process fool proof. I added some red pepper flake for an added kick. Thanks Will!
Jimmy Walker says
This is the first time I used this recipe it was great, I did over cook some of the jerky. Was still great.
Tony says
This is a great recipe. I have tried a few kits, but this is still the preferred one. Why don’t I need sodium nitrite as a preservative?
Will says
You can use curing salt with any beef jerky. I make some recipes with it and some without, it's up to you.
Dan says
The smoke itself carries nitrites needed for curing. You typically do not need to add any curing salts when smoking. They did not have curing salts hundreds of years ago, and their smoked meats worked just fine.
Arash says
This is one of my top recipes. To spice it, I add in 1 TBSP of red pepper flakes in the mix. Then when I dry off the meat before putting it on the smoker… I add a few red flakes per strip. My son loves the spice!