Best Beef For Jerky | Texas Jerky Recipe

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Creating your own Texas beef jerky using the best cuts of beef is an authentic culinary experience. You get to enjoy the satisfaction of creating jerky from scratch, and sharing the tender jerky with family and friends makes this an even more rewarding experience!

When selecting the beef for jerky, you want to ensure you get the best cuts possible, ensuring that your jerky is both flavorful and tender. There are many other selections from different cuts of beef or other meat and proteins altogether.

In this blog post, we'll discuss some of the best cuts of beef for making jerky and why they're so well-suited for the task. By the end, you'll know what to look for the next time you're at the butcher shop.

Texas pepper beef jerky on cutting board

⬇️ Table of Contents

What is Beef Jerky?
What to Consider When Buying Meat for Making Jerky
🥩 Cuts of Beef To Make Jerky
🍽 How to Make Beef Jerky Using a Dehydrator
⏳ How Long To Dehydrate Beef Jerky
🙋 Can You Make Jerky In The Oven?
🔥 How to Smoke Beef Jerky
🥫 Types of Jerky Marinades
How to Use a Fatty Piece of Beef For Jerky
📖 Recipe Card

What is Beef Jerky?

Beef jerky is a dried and cured meat that has been around for centuries. The process of making beef jerky begins by selecting the best cuts of meat, trimming the fat, and then slicing the meat into thin strips.

The strips are then placed in a marinade consisting of spices, types of sugar, soy sauce, vinegar, and salt. After being soaked in the marinade, the meat is dehydrated.

What to Consider When Buying Meat for Making Jerky

When buying meat for making jerky, you should consider the USDA grade of beef, the flavor, tenderness, and cost. The higher the USDA grade, the more expensive the meat will be. However, higher grades of beef will have better flavor and tenderness. If you are on a budget, you can still make great-tasting jerky by choosing a lower grade of meat.

Remember that it may not be as tender or flavorful as the higher grades.
When it comes to quantity, it is typically recommended to buy at least 1 pound (450g) of meat. This will make about 2-3 ounces (56-84g) of jerky per person.

🥩 Cuts of Beef To Make Jerky

There are a variety of cuts of beef you can use to make Texas beef jerky. The usual best for making jerky is low in fat meats. Now, fat is flavorful and helps keep things moist and tender. We have meat options to explore.

Beef jerky was designed to have a longer shelf life and stand up for extended times away from the house. Over the years, it has become so popular that you can find it almost anywhere.

Today, I’m going to share a fantastic cut of meat with you that has become easier to find and breaks the rules of beef jerky making, and it turns out so very good.

Eye of Round

One of the more popular cuts of beef to use for making jerky.

Slice the eye of round into strips ¼ inch thick or less (about ⅛ inch is ideal) with the grain for maximum toughness before marinating overnight for intense flavor.

The eye of round is a cow muscle found in the bottom sirloin subprimal cut. This lean, well-worked muscle provides rich flavor but can be tough if not appropriately sliced.

Low in fat
Lower in cost
The fat cap needs to be trimmed (remove the white fat)
The meat grains run the length of the beef and make for easy slicing against the grain for maximum tenderness

Bottom Round

Another top pick among enthusiasts

The bottom round is an oblong-shaped cut that comes from the outer muscle of the cow's upper leg. The bottom round has less fat than most other options, with less fat and the location of the muscle making it more flavorful and leaner.

Bottom Round beef is one of the most economical cuts available from the cow. It's often chosen by people trying out this hobby because it is one of the most economical cuts available.

Overall, this is a tougher cut of beef, but it still makes delicious jerky.
Another cut of beef that’s very affordable.
Lean with low marbling; some can be marbled more than others. Look for grass-fed.
Very flavorful.

Flank Steak

A great choice is a higher-quality cut of beef with all the flavor

Flank steak cuts have more fat content than the bottom round.
Flank steak is comparable in cost to a bottom round at $11 a pound on average.

The flavor is comparable to the bottom round when broken down into thin slices and made into jerky.

The key to working with flank steak is making sure you cut "against" the grain, or the meat will be very tough.
One of the more tender choices for beef jerky.
Tons of flavor.

Top Round

Top Round beef, also known as London broil, is a large, lean cut that comes from the rump and hind legs.

The muscles in this area are used for movement, so it's cheaper than other types of meat with less tenderness but still delicious!

Similar to the bottom round cut but is more tender and sits right on top of the bottom round.
Another cut of beef that's very affordable for jerky making.
Lean with low marbling; some can be marbled more than others. Look for grass-fed
Very flavorful.

How to use a dehydrator for making beef jerky — Meat Packers Brisket (Point & Flat)

Brisket

Brisket comes from the midsection of the steer, below the first five ribs.

Tip: If you choose brisket for your jerky meat, you should cut away any excess fat.

The brisket may also need to be sliced thinly (less than ¼ inch) because it is a tough cut of beef yet with a big flavor.

Brisket has more intermuscular fat.
Brisket is made up of two sections, #1 "The Point" and #2 "The Flat." Opt for the flat as it has less fat.
Brisket is higher in cost but a highly flavorful choice of beef.
The end product offers a more tender piece of jerky... Win Win...

One of our readers,@Smokehouse Jerky Co, commented that we should not forget about Brisket because they LOVE making beef jerky out of Brisket.

Top Sirloin

Not as mainstream as the other cuts of beef mentioned above, but still a very excellent choice for making quality jerky

Top sirloin has intermuscular fat. When shopping, opt for a piece with less marbling (it offers a longer shelf life).
Higher in cost than the "rounds" listed above.
One of the more tender choices for beef jerky.
Very flavorful. (When you read the word sirloin, assume the cut of beef will have more flavor.

Chuck

Chuck beef roast is perfect for making jerky. The reason why chuck beef roast is so ideal for this purpose is that it is very tender and has a great taste.

Chuck beef roast is also rated as one of the best types of meat for making jerky.

When it comes to using Chuck beef, there are several things that you need to keep in mind:

Make sure that the chuck beef roast is properly trimmed.
You should also remove excess fat from the meat before slicing it into strips.
Once you have sliced the chuck beef roast into strips, you will need to marinate it.

Beef Tenderloin

Beef tenderloin is a good option if you are looking for a lean, tender cut of beef. This muscle group is located between the ribs and hip bones. The tenderloin is a relatively small muscle group but produces a large amount of meat.

The beef tenderloin is one of the most popular cuts of beef due to its leanness and tenderness. It is often cooked as a steak or used in other recipes that call for lean, tender beef, like jerky.

Deer Jerky | Venison Jerky

Incredible flavor and belongs in the tender category. Makes amazing jerky

Marinading works very well, and it is a way to reduce some of the gaminess.
Very lean, making it perfect for jerky.
Deer or venison can be found online, in your local butcher shop, or with your hunting buddies.

Specialty Cuts of Meat For Jerky

Elk
Pork – Use the pork tenderloin due to the lowest amount of fat
Bear
Bison

🍽 How to Make Beef Jerky Using a Dehydrator

Texas pepper jerky dehydrated on wire rack

The first thing to do is inspect the dehydrator. Open it up and look around for anything that wasn't cleaned well. It never hurts to be safe and wipe everything down again.
Check to make sure the dehydrator is still working. Plug it in and turn it on. It might sound obvious, but it is overlooked. The dehydrator sits in your closet most of the time, and things just happen to equipment that sits around. It would be very disappointing to be ready with your marinated meat only to find out the machine doesn't work.
If you want to maximize the shelf life of your lean piece of meat, it should be dried at a temperature of between 160 °F and 170 °F to an internal temperature of between 145 °F and 155 °F, which yields the meat up to 30% longer than other forms of jerky.
I would suggest testing the temperature range that your machine offers using a temperature probe. You never know; a slightly lower or higher temperature could be where your dehydrator produces the best beef jerky.

⏳ How Long To Dehydrate Beef Jerky

The main thing that will affect the dehydration process timeline is the thickness of the slices of meat. The timing for dehydration can swing between 4 to 15 hours. That’s a huge time window and can be confusing. Testing with your machine is the key.

Dehydration Time

4 hours

🙋 Can You Make Jerky In The Oven?

You can use the oven. Set your oven to 160 degrees and keep an eye on it. Cook time will vary greatly this way.

Tip: Cook on a roasting rack for even cooking.

🔥 How to Smoke Beef Jerky

You can use a Grill or best use a Smoker to make jerky. The key is using indirect heat to smoke the meat.

Building the Fire

Build a fire for at least 30 to 40 minutes before placing any meat on the smoker. You will need to get the fire down to around 160 degrees to smoke the meat safely. Do not exceed 170 degrees; you will no longer be dehydrating the meat but cooking it. Allowing the fire to burn down for a while is the key.
Build a large enough fire so that the temperature will hold once the temperature is down to 160–170 degrees. Have small pieces of wood to add to the fire to keep it going. Do not add large pieces of wood or risk a fire flaring up and increasing the temperature past the desired temperature.

Smoking the Meat

Place the beef jerky on a wire rack. This will make it easy to move the jerky around while smoking. Make sure the wire rack is square to optimize the smoker's space.
Give the square wire rack a 180-degree turn after 30 minutes. The idea is to keep flipping the square wire rack so that the side closest to the fire flips to the opposite side of the fire. Repeat every 30 minutes. I like to add some 90-degree flips after the first few 180-degree flips.
Average smoke time: 3 hours to 6 hours. You must pay attention to the cooking process. Or risk over dehydrated meat. How well you manage the fire and the size of the meat will determine the cooking duration to completion.
If you think the meat is cooking too quickly, move it away from the heat source and spray it with water to cool it down.

🥫 Types of Jerky Marinades

The fun part of beef jerky making is that there are no absolute rules regarding the flavoring used in marinades. Using what you like is the key. The balance of sweet and spicy is how to create a classic flavor profile.

Other Types of Marinades to Try:

Teriyaki sauce (+ add soy sauce)
Hoison sauce
Sweet garlic sauce
Southwestern (garlic, lime, cilantro, tomato paste, Rotel, Worcestershire sauce, meat tenderizer(salt), fresh peppers like jalapeno or serranos).

Texas Beef Jerky Marinade Recipe

Soy Sauce	1 Cup
Teriyaki Sauce (Kikkoman)	10 oz (1 bottle)
Worcestershire Sauce	3 Tablespoons
Brown Sugar	1 Tablespoon
Fresh Cracked Black Pepper	1 Tablespoon
Coarse Ground Mustard (spicy jalapeno flavor: optional)	2 Tablespoons
Liquid Smoke	1 Tablespoon
Wasabi (Kikkoman Brand) Chef Pennington's addition	1 Tablespoon

Video: How To Make Texas Beef Jerky

How to Use a Fatty Piece of Beef For Jerky

Sirloin flap cut of beef being held by the butcher.

Fat is flavor that adds to the finished jerky's tenderness.

Using a fatty cut of beef for jerky is against the code in most enthusiast circles. That does not mean you cannot create top-quality jerky using a fattier cut. The main difference is the shelf life and fatty needing to be refrigerated.

So Good!

Trim off most of the excess fat. Just remove what you see around the edges and on the top and bottom. If you see a significant piece of fat in the middle, you can remove it.
Be sure to slice the beef ¼ inches thick, not any thinner.
Longer marinade times are not suggested because the fat can over hydrate with the marinade. Two to three hours.
You must store this type of jerky in an airtight container and/or in the refrigerator. Zip-Lock bags in the refrigerator work well.
The downfall of fatty jerky is it will have a shorter shelf life.

The cut of beef I used to make fatty beef jerky, the amazing Sirloin Flap!

I wrote an article covering the special cut of beef. What Is Sirloin Flap Beef and Why Is It So Great? Prep & Marinade Recipe

Beef Jerky Storage

You can store the jerky at room temperature with a low-fat traditional cut of beef that is properly dehydrated. I would still suggest keeping it in an airtight container or zip-lock bag.
Fatty Cut of Beef Storage: You must store this type of jerky in an airtight container and/or in the refrigerator. Zip-Lock bags in the refrigerator work well.

How Long Does Beef Jerky Last?

If stored correctly, commercial jerky can last for several months, while homemade beef jerky usually lasts only a few weeks.

Can I Freeze Beef Jerky

Yes. If properly dehydrated, the moisture will have been mostly removed from the jerky and can then stand up to being frozen.

Jerky Marinade Tips

1) You can reuse the marinade once on a second batch. Make sure the marinade does not sit out at room temperature. Store the marinate in the refrigerator asap.
2) Stop yourself from adding too much sugar, as it creates an odd, almost slimy exterior.
3) Extra fresh cracked black pepper for the win. You can sprinkle extra on the jerky after the marinade to create a nice layer.
4) Fatty cuts of beef should not be marinated for long periods, like overnight.
5) Experimenting is encouraged. Make the recipe you like, test flavor combinations using some small side bowls, add the ingredients, and then do a taste test.