Teriyaki Beef Jerky Recipe

I travel a lot for work. Teriyaki Beef Jerky is one of my all-time favourite road trip snacks, so I end up eating a lot of it. Lately, I have found that gas station jerky doesn't always live up to expectations, so I came up with my own dehydrated teriyaki beef jerky recipe.

Truth be told when I make jerky, I typically use a smoker instead of a dehydrator, but I find the smoke flavour overpowers the teriyaki flavour, so for my teriyaki jerky recipe, I use a dehydrator. I've shared a link at the bottom of this post to my smoked beef jerky recipe if you want to check that out when you're done reading this one.

If you, like me, love teriyaki jerky, I think you're really going to like this recipe. It's simple, flavourful, and addictive. What sets teriyaki jerky apart from regular beef jerky is that sweet, salty, umami-rich glaze that coats every piece.

Regular jerky is great, don't get me wrong, but it tends to lean heavily on salt and pepper, maybe some garlic. Teriyaki brings a completely different flavour profile to the table. The soy sauce gives you that deep savoury backbone, the sugar caramelizes slightly during dehydration and creates an almost candy-like coating on the surface, and the vinegar cuts through it all with just enough acidity to keep things balanced. It's the kind of snack that you start eating and suddenly half the bag is gone.

Jump to:

• Teriyaki Beef Jerky Marinade
• The Best Beef For Jerky
• Marinating the Beef for Jerky
• Dehydrating The Teriyaki Beef Jerky
• Storing Your Teriyaki Beef Jerky
• Time To Make Teriyaki Beef Jerky
• Recipe

Teriyaki Beef Jerky Marinade

The secret to great teriyaki beef jerky is the marinade. If you wanted, you could buy a grocery store teriyaki marinade, and I'm sure that would taste fine. But I prefer to make my own. It is really simple to do, and the best part is that you know what's in it.

Teriyaki jerky marinade starts with a base of soy sauce or gluten-free tamari (that's what I used). To that, sugar, rice or white wine vinegar, and a bit of water are added.

How to make it: Those ingredients are boiled until they coat the back of a spoon, cooled, poured over thinly sliced beef, and put in the fridge to marinate.

For my tastes, that's all you need, but if you'd like, add one teaspoon each of puréed ginger and garlic to the marinade as it is cooking and a half teaspoon of white or black pepper for a bit of spice. The measurements are in the recipe at the bottom of the page.

If you've ever had my grilled teriyaki steak, you'll notice the marinade is similar. That's because a good teriyaki base is versatile. It works on everything from a thick ribeye to thin strips of jerky. The difference here is that we're concentrating the flavour by reducing the marinade before marinating, which means every piece of beef gets coated with an intense, sticky glaze rather than a thin liquid.

The Best Beef For Jerky

The best cuts for jerky are sirloin or inside round. You want a lean cut of meat for jerky because the fat won't dehydrate and will go bad much quicker than the meat.

Preparing the meat: To prepare the meat for beef jerky, freeze it for about 30 to 45 minutes before slicing. The beef shouldn't be frozen solid, just firm. This will make it much easier to slice.

The thickness of your cuts makes a real difference in the final product, and this is something I see people get wrong all the time. You want your strips to be about ⅛ of an inch, or roughly 4 mm thick. If you go too thin, you'll end up with jerky that's brittle and snaps instead of having that satisfying chew. Go too thick and it won't dehydrate evenly.

The outside will be dry while the centre stays moist, which is a food safety concern and also just doesn't taste right. Consistency is key here, which is why freezing the meat first is so important. A slightly firm piece of beef is infinitely easier to slice evenly than one that's flopping around on your cutting board.

Take your time with this step. Even slices mean even drying, and even drying means every piece of jerky is perfect.

When cutting the beef for jerky:

• Once the beef is sliced, put it in a medium bowl.
• Cut across the grain to shorten the muscle fibres, making the meat less tough.
• Cut the beef into thin strips (⅛ inch or 4 mm).

Marinating the Beef for Jerky

• Pour: Pour the cooled Teriyaki Marinade over the beef and add about half a teaspoon of black or white pepper.
• Mix: Mix the meat and pepper into the marinade to ensure all the meat is coated.
• Cover: Push a layer of plastic wrap onto the surface of the beef to prevent oxidation, then cover the bowl with a second piece of plastic wrap and put it in the fridge.

The meat should marinate for at least 2 hours, but it can go as long as 48 hours.

How long you marinate really does affect the final flavour, and this is a situation where patience pays off. At two hours, you'll get a nice teriyaki flavour on the surface, but it won't have penetrated all the way through. The jerky will taste more like beef with a hint of teriyaki.

At twelve to twenty-four hours, the marinade has had time to work its way deep into the meat, and every bite is packed with that sweet-salty flavour. That's my sweet spot. Beyond twenty-four hours, you start to see diminishing returns. The texture can get a bit soft as the soy sauce and vinegar start to break down the proteins, almost like a ceviche effect.

If you're in a rush, two hours will do, but if you can plan ahead, I really recommend marinating overnight. Just toss it in the fridge before bed and it'll be ready to dehydrate in the morning. That pressing-the-plastic-wrap-onto-the-surface trick I mentioned is important because it keeps the top layer of meat submerged in the marinade even if you don't have enough liquid to cover everything.

Dehydrating The Teriyaki Beef Jerky

Once the meat has had time to marinate, remove it from the marinade, shaking off the excess. Place the marinated beef in a single layer onto the racks of a dehydrator.

Dehydrator Method:

• Temperature: Turn the dehydrator to 150F - 160F.
• Time: Assemble the dehydrator and dehydrate the beef for two to three hours or until the meat is dry and chewy but not brittle.
• Storage: Store the beef in the fridge in an airtight container or ziplock bag for up to a month.

Oven Method: To dehydrate the jerky in your oven, place the jerky on a rack set over a sheet pan and place it in a 200F oven for a few hours or until dry but not brittle.

The oven method works perfectly fine, but there are a few things to know. Most ovens don't go as low as a dehydrator, which is why you're using 200F instead of 150F. The higher heat means the jerky can go from perfect to overdone more quickly, so start checking at the two-hour mark.

If your oven has a convection setting, use it. The circulating air mimics what a dehydrator does and gives you more even drying. Prop the oven door open just a crack with a wooden spoon to let moisture escape. Without that airflow, the steam gets trapped inside and you end up steaming the beef instead of drying it. The dehydrator is still my preferred method because it's more consistent and uses less energy, but the oven is a great option if you don't want to invest in another piece of equipment.

So how do you know when your jerky is actually done? This is the question everyone asks, and it's a fair one because there's a fine line between perfectly chewy and unpleasantly dry. The best way to test is the bend test.

Take a piece of jerky and bend it in half. It should bend and crack slightly on the surface but not snap in two. If it breaks cleanly, it's overdone. If it bends without any resistance and feels moist, it needs more time. You want to see a few fibres tearing on the outside while the inside still has a bit of flexibility.

The jerky will also firm up slightly as it cools, so if it's close but not quite there, err on the side of pulling it a few minutes early. You can always put it back in the dehydrator. You can't un-dry jerky that's been turned into shoe leather.

Storing Your Teriyaki Beef Jerky

Proper storage is what separates jerky that lasts from jerky that doesn't. Once your teriyaki beef jerky has cooled completely to room temperature, transfer it to an airtight container or a resealable ziplock bag. Push out as much air as you can before sealing.

In the fridge: Your jerky will stay fresh and flavourful for about a month. I wouldn't recommend leaving it at room temperature for more than a week or two, especially because our homemade version doesn't have the preservatives that commercial jerky does. The sugar in the teriyaki marinade also means it has a bit more moisture than a plain salt-and-pepper jerky, which shortens the shelf life slightly at room temperature.

In the freezer: If you want to make a big batch and store it longer, you can freeze jerky for up to three months. Just portion it into smaller bags so you can thaw only what you need. Thawed jerky is best eaten within a few days.

Time To Make Teriyaki Beef Jerky

After trying this homemade teriyaki beef jerky, you may find it hard to resist the sweet, salty, and savoury flavours that make it so addictive. In fact, you may find yourself finishing the entire batch in just a few days. But if you can resist temptation, this jerky will last in the fridge for about a month.

Not only is this recipe a delicious snack, but the teriyaki marinade is also perfect for grilling up salmon, pork, beef or chicken. If you enjoy making things from scratch, you might also like my guide to mastering the stir-fry or my ground beef and green bean stir-fry for another great way to use lean beef.

If you liked this post, you may also like my post about how to make smoked beef jerky. You can find it here.

Recipe