DIY Teriyaki Jerky

he Hubs needs snacks! He can go from “working on all cylinders” to “crash and burn” in 60 seconds flat. And I’m no better, as a stay-at-home, home-schooling, part-time-blogging, mom of four, I can get so caught up in our day that I easily forget to feed my face and wind up irritable, cranky and…I believe the word I’m looking for is “HANGRY”.

Because of this, I like to keep quick and easy snacks on hand that we can grab whenever low blood-sugar rears its ugly head! Jerky is the perfect solution; it’s high in protein and can be flavored a thousand different ways. Pair it with a handful of homemade Pookie-mix and we’ll be running on all four cylinders for hours!

This recipe is enough to marinate approximately 4-5 pounds of sliced jerky meat and works well with beef, pork, turkey, venison, elk and moose. 

To Make Teriyaki Sauce: Make brown sugar (if using our DIY recipe), mince garlic and add all ingredients in a quart size mason jar. Screw lid on tight and shake to combine. Refrigerate and use within a month.

To Make Marinade and Jerky: 

Step 1: Make brown sugar (if using our DIY recipe), then add all ingredients in a medium size bowl and whisk to combine.

Step 2: Slice meat into 1/4-1/8 inch slices (remembering they’ll shrink in size by about half). Place sliced meat and marinade into a zip-top bag, seal and place in a large bowl in the refrigerator. Marinate, turning every 6-8 hours for 12-48 hours.

We marinated ours for about 36 hours and it was delicious! Just remember, the longer you can marinate your meat, the more flavorful and tender it will be. But do what you can! (even our “overnight” test batch turned out well)

Step 3: Drain marinade and save it to marinate tonight’s dinner, or discard.

Step 4: Arrange meat onto dehydrator trays, do not overcrowd as this will prolong the drying time.

Step 5: Dehydrate at 160℉ for 4-12 hours. The time will depend on how thick your meat is cut. Check every couple of hours as some pieces may finish before others.

Step 6: Once meat reaches desired consistency, remove from dehydrator and allow to cool completely. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator, or divide into individual serving sizes and freeze to pull out as needed.

Additional Savings Tip:

We buy 20 pounds of un-trimmed, Top Round from a local butcher. It’s a big hunk a meat but really quite economical.

For this article we paid $3.50 a pound for the meat (may have trimmed off a single pound of fat). The same chunk trimmed out and cut jerky ready would have been $7.00 per pound. Also consider that store bought, preservative free jerky, can easily coast $30.00 per pound, making $3.50 per pound and a little work is a great deal!