Make Your Own Smoked Beef Jerky At Home

Oak or hickory wood gives the beef a nice, deep smokey flavor that compliments the marinade perfectly.

Ingredients:

2-3 lb top round (labeled as London Broil in the US)

1 tbsp seasoned salt, check out my recipe

1 tbsp raw cane sugar

2 tsp yellow mustard

1/2 c soy sauce

1/4 c apple cider vinegar

1/4 c oil (avocado is my go to)

1/2 c hot sauce (my habanero sauce is amazing)

1 tsp freshly cracked black pepper

Tools needed:

Mixing bowl

Measuring cups and spoons

Zip top gallon plastic bag

Sharp knife (check out my favorite santoku knife perfect for slicing meat thin)

Cutting board

Lump charcoal

Wood for smoking (I use oak or hickory)

Smoker (I have an offset smoker)

Baking sheet

Parchment paper

Mason jar with lid

How to make it:

You can most likely get your butcher to slice the meat thin around 1/8 to 3/16 inch thick. Otherwise, partially freezing the meat will help get thin slices with a sharp knife. To do that, place the meat in the freezer for up to 1 hour. Slice the meat against the grain. When ready to marinate.

Make the marinade as listed above in the ingredients and add to the mason jar. Place a lid on the jar snuggly and shake to mix the ingredients. Put sliced meat into the zip top bag, add marinade. Allow the meat to marinade for 24 to hours making sure the meat stays completely covered with the marinade. Turn the meat over half way through the time marinating frame.

Once it’s time to smoke, place meat into a colander to drain the excess marinade. Lay down parchment paper onto a baking sheet. Using a pepper mill, spread some black pepper onto the parchment. Place jerky on a sheet pan and season the top with black pepper.

Keeping a good coal bed is very important for temperature and fire size in a small offset smoker. It is easier to control the size of the fire rather than using the vents and chimney damper. Small offset smokers I found don’t react that great with those adjustments.

Warm up your smoker to 175 to 200 degrees f. Lump charcoal is great for small offset smoker like mine to keep the charcoal bed going. I set a piece of wood that is about to go into the smoker on the top of the fire box to warm it up for a few minutes before placing it in the fire box. Be careful not to leave it on the fire box too long or it can ignite if the box gets too hot. Every 45 minutes to 1 hour add another piece of wood and a small handful of charcoal if needed. I found that placing a pair of tongs propping the firebox lid open can help if the smoker gets too hot.

Smoke at the 175 to 200 temperature range for about 3 hours. The jerky is to be cooked through and just barely starting to dry out. Check on it at the 2 hour mark to make sure it isn’t getting too dried out, especially if there are any accidental temperature spikes in the offset smoker.

Once the smoke time is up, remove the jerky from smoker and cool on counter top to cool to room temperature. Once cooled, keep in a glass dish in the refrigerator. It should be consumed within 4-5 days.

Enjoy!

Logan