Alton Brown’s Beef Jerky
Jerky fan? Make Beef Jerky from scratch with this easy and trusted recipe! Alton Brown’s Beef Jerky is the only way you’ll eat jerky again!
Oh Alton Brown, he knows no wrong. Between his peanut butter and sauerkraut, he’s always come through. Last month I made jerky with the awesome jerky gun with it that Mona got for us as a wedding anniversary present (I know, she’s so freakin’ sweet). At that time I used the seasonings it came with, but in true ‘from scratch’ fashion, it’s time to make our own. So of course I turned to the culinary Obi-wan, Alton Brown and his Beef Jerky from scratch recipe!
Ingredients Needed
Although making beef jerky from scratch out of ground beef is awesome and affordable, I also wanted to try it out with a nice cut of sirloin steak. I grabbed a steak and the ingredients for Alton’s seasoning:
- Liquid smoke
- Worcestershire sauce
- Soy sauce
- Onion powder
- Black pepper
- Honey
- Red Pepper Flakes
- Sirloin or Flank Steak
Instructions
With a super sharp knife (like our favorite, Shun knives), I sliced the steak as thin as I could. Now Mr. Brown said to stick the steak in the freezer so that it would be easier to cut… I did not have the time and so I didn’t… but I wish I had because as usual, Alton knows all. It definitely would have been easier that way.
Next step: throw it all into a ziplock bag for about 3-6 hours. As with most marinades, the longer the better!
And because I got busy / distracted (most likely distracted), which is fine, it just meant I had to leave the little guys in the dehydrator longer because they were super saturated. We dehydrated them for about 24 hrs in our dehydrator. If you marinate for about 3 hrs you could probably get away with only 8-12 hrs.
Here is the dehydrator that we used for this recipe, but we’ve since upgraded to this bad boy.
No Dehydrator? No Problem!
See the recipe instructions for Alton Brown’s notes on how to make it without one!
When it was finally done…Mmmmm Beef Jerky From Scratch!
This jerky is SO incredibly flavorful. It is is our go-to for road trip snack and our go-to road trip gift! Have a friend who’s moving cross country? THIS is a gift they will LOVE.
We were pretty excited about it; although now I understand why really good jerky is expensive, just like why a really good steak is expensive. Both are totally worth the money. So inline with that, the better the steak, the better the jerky.
Other Dehydrator Snacks
Enjoy! As always, if you make this recipe or any of my others, I love to hear what you think! Leave a comment below, email me, or you can find me on Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest!
If you want to see more, be sure to sign up for my 5 Easy Ways to Start Cooking From Scratch!
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 to 2 pounds sirloin or flank steak
- 2/3 cup Worcestershire sauce
- 2/3 cup soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
- 2 teaspoons onion powder
- 1 teaspoon liquid smoke
- 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
Instructions
- Trim the fat off of the steak and thinly slice it with the grain (see notes). To help with this, you can add the steak to a plastic bag and put in the freezer for about an hour. This will firm up the meat and make slicing thin easier.
- Add all of the other ingredients in a large 1-gallon zip-lock bag and then add meat strips. With your hands, give the meat a little squeeze and move the liquid around so that it's covering all of the meat. Place the bag into the refrigerator for 3 to 6 hours.
- Add strips to food dehydrator trays and dehydrate for 18 – 24 hours. Check after 12 hrs (Wen it is done will depend how long you let the meat marinate).
- Or, if you don’t have a dehydrator here are Alton Brown's Instructions:
- Remove the meat from the brine and pat dry. Evenly distribute the strips of meat onto 3 of the air filters, laying them in the grooves and then stacking the filters on top of one another. Top these with 1 empty filter. Next, lay the box fan on its side and lay the filters on top of it. Strap the filters to the fan with 2 bungee cords. Stand the fan upright, plug in and set to medium. Allow the meat dry for 8 to 12 hours. If using a commercial dehydrator, follow the manufacturer’s directions.
- Once dry, store in a cool dry place, in an airtight container for 2 to 3 months.
Looks delicious! I love beef jerky and use to make it a lot years ago, maybe it is time to make some again! 🙂
Thanks for sharing I was just about to make this last week as my dehydrator was lost in the last move 🙁 glad to see your tips to help me along 🙂
Thanks, Amber! Are you going to try Alton’s box fan technique?? Someone on twitter said that way was better than a dehydrator anyway, so if you do, please let me know how it turns out! 🙂
I was late to the party and the jerky was all gone. Yum maybe next time
This looks like a recipe I should try making. I’ve been meaning to try beef jerky ever since I got my dehydrator, but never came across a good recipe. Thanks for this one.
You’re welcome, Hilda! I hope you try it and enjoy it! 🙂
I’ve never tried the jerky beef, but it makes me very curious… Thanks a lot for bring this original recipe at Angie’s party… I’m sure is going to disappear in a couple of minutes!
Thank you!! 🙂
right that’s it! i have to get one! 24 hrs drying time? how long do you reckon sausages would take to dry? is it possible in your marvelous machine?
Oh, Mr. Fitz you totally dooo! 24 hrs mainly because it was in the brine so long. It probably would have been fine at the 18th or 20th hour too. Hmmm, sausages sliced really thin wouldn’t take that long at all- maybe 8 hrs? But oh they’d be sooo good! I really hope you get one so I can see all the fun things you do with it!! 😀
Right that’s it! I am getting one! I have been looking and your model over here costs about 160 usd, there are others for like 50? Yet seeing that you are so happy with yours I think that’s the way forward !
Whooo hooo! I’d say anything that allows you to control the temp. is good! The only thing I don’t like about mine is that it doesn’t have (or at least I haven’t found it / figured out) how to turn it off without just unplugging it- although that could totally be just a user error… haha. Can’t wait to see what you make, Mr. Fitz!! 😀
Made this for Gene every year as this was one of his contributions to “Deer Camp”. Something to chew on when they were out in the woods 🙂 I used my double ovens because I made so much and Gene made screened shelves just to fit the ovens. A dehydrator always works good too 🙂
Ooooh in the oven, nice! What a great snack for “Deer camp”! 🙂
Who doesn’t like jerky! We used to take it on road trips with our children. They loved it too.
Jerky’s such a great road trip snack! 🙂
The reason I know this is Alton is because of the bungee cord and fan plus air conditioning filters! Ha! Looks delicious!
Hahaha!! This literally made me laugh out loud, Sue. It’s so true!! 🙂
Mark and I are sitting on a plane right now drooling at these pics… This is one of serious upcoming missions!!!!!!!!! Dahhhhhhhhh
Yay! Have a wonderful wedding weekeeennnddd! Can’t wait to see what you guys make! 🙂 xo