Best Ground Beef Jerky Recipes

Although most of the recipes for making homemade beef jerky call for a thinly sliced, lean cut of beef that can be quite expensive, it’s possible to make jerky using a simple pound of ground beef as well. Beyond the ease of finding ground beef at any store or market, this can save you even more money than you’ll be saving by making your jerky instead of buying pre-made and preprocessed brand name products.

Ground Meat Beef Jerky Recipe #1

Step 1: Mix the Ingredients

Simply begin by mixing one pound of ground beef into a large bowl with the following marinade ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons of Worcestershire
• 2 tablespoons of soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon of ketchup
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• ½ teaspoon of onion powder
• ½ teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/8 teaspoon of hot sauce (more or less according to your desired taste)

Cover this bowl and place it into your fridge for four hours.

To turn the ground beef into strips, you’ll need to place the pre-chilled and pre-mixed meat between plastic wrap in a tablespoon at a time. Then, you’ll flatten the beef using a rolling pin. Your final strips should be around 1/8 of an inch thick.

Step 2: Choose Either a Dehydrator or an Oven

For this recipe, you can use either a food dehydrator or your home oven.

In the dehydrator method, place the beef strips along the machine’s trays in a way so there’s space between them. The actual length of time varies per model, but four hours is an average figure. Be sure to turn the strips when they’re halfway dried.

For the home oven, you’ll need to set it to its lowest possible heat setting (around 150° F).

Step 3: Dry the Meat

Place your strips onto a rimmed sheet pan. Dry them until they can be bent easily but not completely moist. Again, halfway through the process, turn your beef over to allow for maximum drying. Also, there is no set time, so you must keep a watchful eye over your jerky in the oven so that you don’t overcook it.

Other Considerations: Meat Preparation and Care

It should be noted that using ground beef can be dangerous because of the presence of pathogens on the meat. However, you can easily overcome this potential danger through proper pre and post-drying care.

In the post-drying phase, once the jerky is ready, you’ll want to cook the jerky for about 10 minutes on a cookie sheet at 275° F to burn off any bacteria.

Before you dry the jerky strips, you can also take some precooking precautions. You can either heat the meat in salt water until their internal temperature reaches 160° F or bake them to the same internal temperature.

In another precautionary tactic, you can also soak the marinated beef in vinegar before placing them into the oven or dehydrator. Note that this will add flavor to your jerky, though.

Conclusion

And there you have it. If you want to save a little cash and still make some homemade beef jerky, the above method is quite easy to follow. Just keep in mind the precooking and post-cooking methods of limiting your exposure to pathogens, and you’re in the clear!

Ground Meat Beef Jerky Recipe #2

Because most people will probably want to begin with a ground beef recipe, here’s an additional way to make jerky from the ground meat, although with a jerky gun, food dehydrator, and meat tenderizer.

Step 1: Mix the Ingredients

First, you’ll want to mix four pounds of lean ground beef into a large bowl with the following marinade mixture:

• 3 tablespoons of brown sugar
• 2 ¼ tablespoons of meat tenderizer
• ¾ tablespoon of pepper
• 4 and a half teaspoons of salt
• 2 ¼ teaspoon of Accent seasoning
• ¾ teaspoon of garlic powder

Make sure you mix everything together well, digging into the meat thoroughly with your hands.

Using your jerky gun, press the mixture into thin strips.

Step 2: Add Sauces and Mix

Next, you’ll need to mix some sauces together to strip the beef strips. They are: ½ cup of Worcestershire sauce, ½ cup of liquid smoke, and ½ cup of ketchup.

Using a basting brush, coat the meat strips with the sauce mixture.

Step 3: Dry the Meat

Next, you’ll place your strips into the food dehydrator and wait for them to dry out after around four to five hours.