Beef jerky is one of our all time favorites and when it’s done right they are some of the tastiest little pieces of meat you will ever have. 

The origins of jerky are not exactly known but many believe the recipe to have come from a South American tribe, The Quechua who were ancestors of the Incan empire.

There version was called ch’arki, or charqui which is where the name jerky is also thought to come from.

To cowboys and settlers in America this soon became a staple because of how easy it was to make and it lasts much longer than just plain meat which was a great thing considering there wasn’t much in the way of refrigeration in the Wild West. 

This recipe is our families favorite and is always in high demand, its a snack our family fights over every week.
Hope you enjoy and leave us a comment of any spices or flavors you like.

Ingredients 

2 lb Beef Top Round
1 tbl Salt
1 tbl Black Pepper
1 tsp Garlic Powder 

Steps

  1. Slice cold top round into long strips to make things easier. We aim for strips 2” wide by about 10” long, or however long you top round is.
  2. After you make your big strips now you can shave thin slices off of your big strips, making what will become your jerky pieces. We shoot for around 1/8” thick pieces.
  3. In a large bowl mix the little meat pieces ( the jerky to be ) with the three spices. Make sure to be thorough and coat each piece.
  4. Cover and refrigerate for 24 hours.
  5. Lay all of your little jerky pieces out on the drying racks of your dehydrator, close together but not touching. We use the Nesco Snackmaster and have had wonderful results.
  6. Once all of your tasty little morsels are laid out turn your dehydrator to 160° and let it do its thing, we give it 5-6 hours but it really depends on how hard you want your jerky to be. If you are using a dehydrator with multiple layers we recommend rotating the layers every two hours for the most even results.
  7. Once your jerky is where you want it, remove it from the dehydrator and place on a sheet tray or large plate covered in paper towels to rest for a few hours. This will give the jerky a chance to cool off and finish drying.
  8. Once cool store in an air tight container, we love these Glad containers, the jerky will last at least a few weeks. Well that’s what we guess anyway, it never lasts that long before we inhale it. Haha.
Click images below to shop our recommended products we used in this recipe.