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Southern Chipotle Jerky gives you a kick of spice and a mellow background taste.
I have been reading several food blogs lately and have found that there is SOOOOO much information regarding blogging. There are topics that I have never even heard of that I now need to understand completely. (SEO, Title Tags, Plug ins...)
I now have a new found respect for people that spend countless hours cooking, coming up with recipes, creating beautiful websites, and operating those websites so we the user can benefit from it's content. Hopefully here in the somewhat near future I can become a master of blogging and can give you readers the best content I can.
I know I am blabbing on about things that have nothing to do with Southern Chipotle Jerky. Don't worry, I will get to this fantastic jerky recipe. I am talking about these things because I am going to start making a lot of changes to the blog and trying new ideas, photography, themes, etc... So hang on and keep reading while I try to make this blog better for who? YOU! Lucky you...
I started this recipe with my favorite jerky meat, beef eye of round. I left out the soy sauce to make sure it had a subtle yet delicious base marinade. Some chipotle chili pepper seasoning was added to the marinade, but the real heat comes from sprinkling it on right before dehydrating. I enjoy a little bit of heat and gave it a light coating. Personally I prefer a slightly spicy taste compared to a "mouth on fire" flavor. If you really like spicy wings and use hot sauce on EVERYTHING, then coat these bad boys well and get ready to sweat when they're done drying!
I highly recommend this recipe as it is my favorite to eat! Tell me how it turns out, I would love to hear your comments.
Ingredients
Lean Beef
- 1 lb eye of round
Marinade
- 3 tablespoon worcestershire sauce
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- ½ teaspoon chipotle chili pepper
- 2 teaspoon liquid smoke ( mesquite)
- ¼ cup water
Optional
- ¼ teaspoon Curing Salt (Prague Powder #1)
Topping:
- 1 tablespoon chipotle chili pepper
Equipment
Instructions
- Pick a lean cut of beef and trim all visible fat. After trimming the fat, place the meat in the freezer for an hour or two to partially freeze.
- While the meat is in the freezer; combine water, worcestershire sauce, salt, garlic powder, black pepper, chipotle chili pepper, and liquid smoke in a medium size bowl or container.
- Remove meat from the freezer and slice against the grain between ⅛" - ¼" in thickness.
- Add sliced beef to the mixture and marinate in the refrigerator for 6-24 hours.
- After the meat has finished marinating, remove from refrigerator and pat dry with paper towels. Sprinkle on remaining chipotle chili pepper. Add heavily for a real kick, or light for a nice spice.
- Dry with your favorite jerky making method. A dehydrator was used when making this recipe. The slices were placed on dehydrator racks so they were not overlapping or touching. Dried for 3 hours at 160 degrees and another 3 hours at 95 degrees.
- Jerky will be finished when it bends and cracks, but does not break in half. Allow to cool for several hours before storing in air tight containers.
Nutrition
Need more in depth directions on how to make jerky in an oven, dehydrator, or smoker? Visit my page Jerky Making Methods to become a pro at making jerky!
Will, my excaliber dehydrator only goes to 155 degrees F. What is the reasoning for this given most jerky recipes ask for a temp of 160 degrees? Thanks. Will i just leave the jerky in the dehydrator longer?
I know the display goes to 155 degrees but the unit will get hotter than that. If you dry your jerky on the 155 setting, it will reach the 160F internal temperature in about 2-3 hours.
Thank you!
I had never made jerky before but always wanted to. Was afraid of not doing it right and wasting a whole roast. Your site is clear and thurough and gave me the confidence to try it. I made the Jamaican jerk and the chipotle. Turned out amazing. Making my second batch of chipotle now. Again, such a great site with easy, complete instructions on how to do every step. I wish more DIY sites were this complete.
Thanks so much for the kind words Harry! I'm glad you have found the site helpful and got you started into the world of jerky making. Thanks again!
I just came across your site and I like the recipes I saw and all the great information, I look forward to trying many of these recipes.
I am using your recipe (Southern chipotle) as a guideline, I make my own chipotles by growing my own jalapenos and smoke them and make my own of adobo sauce. I will be using my smoker for drying. Normally I use dry rubs so I am looking forward to trying this style.
Sounds awesome man. I wish I had a garden to grow peppers. Let me know how your jerky turns out!
Can you add honey to this recipe to give it a sweet and spicy flavor?
Definitely! I encourage you to add or subtract ingredients until it tastes to your liking. Just keep taste testing/altering before putting the meat in the bowl.
Rather than use the seasoning, buy a can of chipotle in adobo sauce from the tex mex isle at your grocer...soak the meat in that for 24 hours then dehydrate. I made my first jerky ever the other day. I used venison and used the chipotle for marinade. I smoked for about 14 hours using pecan and it turned out awesome. Brought it to work and everyone loves it.
Thanks for the tip James!
Your Welcome. Love all the recipes. Cant wait to start trying them out. I am doing lemon pepper and southern chipotle this coming week with venison.
One of your ingredients says "Marinade". So what exactly are you using as Marinade?
Hey James. It took me a while to figure out what you were talking about. I was missing a bullet point in the program I use which puts "marinade" as a title. I fixed it and you should be able to read it better now. The Marinade is just the title and all the following ingredients are what make up the marinade. Thanks for pointing that out!
This Jerky is great! I make this one every other time I make jerky. My only modification is I add 3 tsp chipotle powder directly into the marinade, I don't pat it dry and skip the chipotle sprinkle. People beg me to make it for them.
One other note I have started 3 different people making Jerky and using your site as their go to site for recipes and info.
Great to hear. I'm glad you are getting other people into making jerky too!