Homemade venison jerky is ideal for the whole family

Hunting enthusiasts often enjoy homemade venison jerky. It’s a great way to preserve your game in delicious form with the flavor of a venison jerky seasoning or marinade.

Wild game is not treated in the same way as commercially sold meat. The curing process, which uses salt and a mixture of venison jerky that is salt curing, is an essential step that must be done right. This will ensure the proper flavor, tenderness, and shelf life of your jerky.

Making Venison Jerky from Scratch
Making venison jerky is easy, once you know what you’re doing. Experienced hunters will generally use an injection cure for large sections of meat. Use the proper ratio of water, salt, and curing salt, working from the inside out.

For our purposes, we’ll assume you’re using a cut of meat the size of a round roast of beef. In this way, we can use a wet or dry cure, in the form of jerky or dressing. Always use the recommended amount for your curing salt.

If you’re buying your venison from a butcher, it’s likely already cured. They may even be willing to cut it into 1/8″ strips, which will save you time and effort. Otherwise, partially freeze the meat before slicing thinly with a sharp knife.

We recommend cutting against the grain. This will cut the muscle fibers open and make the venison jerky much more tender and absorb the flavors.

Venison jerky recipe
We like to keep our venison jerky recipes very simple, however you can certainly experiment on your own. Ours is an example of a template that uses few ingredients, but is tasty and enjoyable.

You can also sweeten it with brown sugar, molasses, or honey. Citrus ingredients, such as wine, beer, pineapple juice, and apple cider vinegar, will tenderize the meat and add unique flavors.

• 2 pounds. venison (boneless)
• ½ cup teriyaki or soy sauce
• 4 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
• 2 tbsp. smoked paprika
• 2 teaspoons salt
• ½ teaspoon each garlic powder, onion powder, and black pepper

Combine all ingredients in a venison jerky marinade. Combine the marinade and sliced ​​meat in a sealed container, such as a freezer bag, and marinate in the refrigerator for 12 to 24 hours.

Set your venison jerky dehydrator to 160 degrees F. Place the uncooked venison jerky strips on the dehydrator trays and dry for about 6 hours.

Dry times change, depending on preferences. Venison jerky should be cooked to an internal temperature of 165 degrees, and you can certainly dry it out longer. Reduced humidity will allow for longer storage times as bacteria will have less chance to thrive.

Once you’re done, let your homemade venison jerky cool for about 30 minutes. They will store in the refrigerator for about 3 weeks to a month. Remember that if you keep them in the freezer, they will last you at least a few months, but the flavor may suffer for it.

Secrets for seasoning venison jerky
A ground venison jerky recipe will work well with a dry rub or seasoning. It is possible to take our Venison Jerky Marinade, or any type of sauce, and turn it into a Venison Jerky Mix, from scratch!

All you need is a food dryer. Simply pour the sauce into the solid variety of dehydrating trays up to 1/8″ thick and dehydrate at 135 degrees F. Once dry into solid chunks, you can seal them in bags and then shred when ready to reduce oxidation.

A jerky dehydrator is versatile and will help preserve your meat for full enjoyment!