Everyone loves going to their favorite Mexican restaurant and having sizzling fajitas delivered to their table. Not only does it sound fantastic, it tastes fantastic! After going out to eat and having fajitas last week, I decided it was about time I try making a fajita jerky.
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 and mix soy sauce, lime juice, brown sugar, canola oil, ground cumin seed, black pepper, chili powder, and minced garlic in a medium sized bowl or ziplock bag.
Remove meat from the freezer and slice against the grain between ⅛" - ¼" in thickness.
Add sliced beef to the mixture and marinate for 8-10 hours.
After the meat has finished marinating, remove from refrigerator and pat dry with paper towels.
Place slices on a baking sheet and insert a thermometer in the thickest slice. Bake in a pre-heated oven at 325 degrees until the internal temperature reaches 160 degrees, about 10 minutes. Remove as soon as internal temperate is reached
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 4 ½ hours at 130 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.