FAVORITE JERKY MARINADES?? Please share yours!

[mdbannister]

Hey guys, I'm starting this thread as a place where we can post our favorite jerky marinade recipes. I'm hoping it becomes a quick reference guide for finding lots of different ideas in one place.

I'm new to making jerky, so I don't have much to contribute to this conversation, but I am definitely interested in what you guys might share. :D

I'll go ahead and throw in a recipe I'm still experimenting with that's based on my attempt documented here: https://smokingmeatforums.com/threa...rst-attempt-critiques-tips-are-welcome.270819

Based on the above, my next batch will be this honey/sriracha marinade recipe:

Marinade:

• 1/2 cup sriracha
• 1/2 cup honey
• 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
• Cure #1 as needed

(Reduce marinade before using)
Marinate meat for 24-48 hours, then add Honey Sriracha seasoning by McCormick to meat before smoking.

I'm also thinking I'll try this Dr. Pepper/Jalapeño recipe in short order: https://heygrillhey.com/recipe/dr-pepper-jalapeno-beef-jerky/

What are some other good recipes to try?

 

[PerazziMx14]

Please remove

 

[johnmeyer]

This is what I've been using. It is a combination of various recipes I've tried. Works quite well, with or without smoke.

For ten pounds of ¼" sliced beef. Use ¼ recipe for 1½ - 2 pounds.

Use London broil, top round, or flank steak. Must be lean.

Amounts for both Full and One-Quarter recipe are shown below.

Beef Jerky

Full Recipe
1 cup soy sauce
1 cup worcestershire sauce
¼ cup tabasco
3 tablespoons kosher salt
1 tablespoon onion powder
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon black pepper, ground to taste
1 tablespoon garam masala (optional – I don’t use)
2 level teaspoons InstaCure (optional – I don’t use)
½ cup Jack Daniels (optional)

¼ Recipe
¼ cup soy sauce
¼ cup worcestershire sauce
1 T tabasco
2¼ t kosher salt
¾ t onion powder
¾ t garlic powder
¾ t black pepper, ground to taste
¾ t garam masala (optional – I don’t use)
¼ t InstaCure (optional – I don’t use)
2 T Jack Daniels (optional)

Marinade for 24 hours, overhauling a couple of times. Smoke at 140º-160º for one hour, then lower smoker to 120º and smoke for another hour. Finish in convection oven, set to lowest level (140º) for 4-10 hours, until reasonably dry, or use a dehydrator, if you have one. I use hickory pellets in the AMNPS which I put into my popcorn mod external smoke generator.

Don’t slice too thin. Use at least the 2nd mark on a Chef’s Choice 615 slicer, and probably more (3rd mark?). If sliced too thin, and then marinated overnight, it falls apart. The slicer is used to get a consistent thickness rather than to get the meat sliced super-thin.

 

[Rafter H BBQ]

I really like the Sriracha honey mix on bacon jerky, but for some reason don't care much for it on beef. Guess just personal preference. That being said, I recently tried a new to me recipe posted by a great member of the forum, CrazyMoon. It is a recipe he tweaked from Eldon Cutlips book & it's very tasty IMO! Post #11 in the following link.

https://smokingmeatforums.com/threads/eye-of-the-round-jerky-try.238666/

 

[phatbac]

I have some jerky right now marinading in this....

https://smokingmeatforums.com/threads/lemon-pepper-jerky-recipe.266786/

Happy Smoking,
phatbac (Aaron)

 

[forkin pork]

I really hope this post continues, jerky making is "ONE" of the things I like to do, so I don't do it everyday.
Now that you posted this, I'm getting hungry for some fresh stuff and will try your recipe and will enjoy posting anything special I come up with.

 

[Co4ch D4ve]

Here is my favorite jerky:

4 lb eye of round roast (sliced @ 1/4”)
1/2 cup soy sauce (low salt)
1/2 cup Worcestershire sauce (low salt)
1 tbsp liquid smoke (if using oven as dehydrator)
1 tbsp garlic powder
1 tbsp onion powder
1/2 tbsp black pepper
Crushed red pepper to taste
1/2 tbsp Morton's Tender Quick per lb of meat.

Mix all ingredients and beef and place in fridge overnight or so. Hang in oven on dehydrate (140 degrees). Done in about 9 hours.

Here it is hanging in oven:

 

[mdbannister]

Lots of great options to try already! I'm excited about experimenting with several of these!

 

[forkin pork]

Lots of great options to try already!

You aint kinding md, and nice job Co4, I gonna do some jerky right after Christmas for sure, gots the feeling in my bones now.

 

[mdbannister]

Well, I just made 5 different kinds of jerky with 5 different marinade ideas. The 3 that are my new favorites are:

1. BWW Caribbean Jerk BBQ sauce. This is pretty basic. Buy the Caribbean Jerk sauce from Buffalo Wild Wings. Add Cure #1 to sauce. Marinate beef jerky strips in the sauce for 2 days. Throw 'em in the smoker for 4-4.5 hours at 160-170*, and enjoy! This stuff is AWESOME!! Probably my favorite jerky right now.
   
2. This Dr. Pepper Jalapeño jerky: https://heygrillhey.com/recipe/dr-pepper-jalapeno-beef-jerky/ (I'll probably add another jalapeño or 2 to my next batch as I like the added kick). Also, I let it marinate for 3 days.
3. Cranberry Sauce with Red Pepper marinade. This one is my wife's favorite.

- 14 oz can of cranberry sauce
- 1/3 cup red wine vinegar
- 2 tablespoons crushed red pepper
- 1 box of dried cranberries (I used the 1 oz box of craisins by Ocean Spray)
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp Cure #1​

I put all ingredients in a blender together before pouring over meat in a ziplock bag. In hindsight, I probably wouldn't blend the red pepper in next time in order keep it a visible size (blending it purees it to a point that it's not really visible anymore), but I'd definitely blend the other stuff together again. I marinated for 3 days before smoking.​

 

[Zachary L Betts]

I used the above recipe and made my first batch of jerky, A little salty for my taste my boys love it. Next time Im adding some sugar and no added salt.

 

[Co4ch D4ve]

Zach,

Which recipe did you make? Looks great!

Dave

 

[noboundaries]

That Cranberry Sauce and Red Pepper marinade tastes fantastic in my grey matter. Going to give that a try! Based on the amount of cure and the weight of the ingredients, I'm saying the recipe is for about 2 lbs of meat.

 

[mdbannister]

That Cranberry Sauce and Red Pepper marinade tastes fantastic in my grey matter. Going to give that a try! Based on the amount of cure and the weight of the ingredients, I'm saying the recipe is for about 2 lbs of meat.

Yep. I did 2lb.

 

[SonnyE]

Well, I just made 5 different kinds of jerky with 5 different marinade ideas. The 3 that are my new favorites are:

1. BWW Caribbean Jerk BBQ sauce. This is pretty basic. Buy the Caribbean Jerk sauce from Buffalo Wild Wings. Add Cure #1 to sauce. Marinate beef jerky strips in the sauce for 2 days. Throw 'em in the smoker for 4-4.5 hours at 160-170*, and enjoy! This stuff is AWESOME!! Probably my favorite jerky right now.
   
2. This Dr. Pepper Jalapeño jerky: https://heygrillhey.com/recipe/dr-pepper-jalapeno-beef-jerky/ (I'll probably add another jalapeño or 2 to my next batch as I like the added kick). Also, I let it marinate for 3 days.
3. Cranberry Sauce with Red Pepper marinade. This one is my wife's favorite.

- 14 oz can of cranberry sauce
- 1/3 cup red wine vinegar
- 2 tablespoons crushed red pepper
- 1 box of dried cranberries (I used the 1 oz box of craisins by Ocean Spray)
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp Cure #1​

I put all ingredients in a blender together before pouring over meat in a ziplock bag. In hindsight, I probably wouldn't blend the red pepper in next time in order keep it a visible size (blending it purees it to a point that it's not really visible anymore), but I'd definitely blend the other stuff together again. I marinated for 3 days before smoking.​

That Cranberry-Red Pepper sounds really good!
I'd suggest doing what you did, but when on the trays, sprinkle on some additional red pepper flakes.
I typically do that for the visual of the flavor on the finished batch.
Just a thought...

 

[dan the mano]

Well, I just made 5 different kinds of jerky with 5 different marinade ideas. The 3 that are my new favorites are:

1. BWW Caribbean Jerk BBQ sauce. This is pretty basic. Buy the Caribbean Jerk sauce from Buffalo Wild Wings. Add Cure #1 to sauce. Marinate beef jerky strips in the sauce for 2 days. Throw 'em in the smoker for 4-4.5 hours at 160-170*, and enjoy! This stuff is AWESOME!! Probably my favorite jerky right now.
   
2. This Dr. Pepper Jalapeño jerky: https://heygrillhey.com/recipe/dr-pepper-jalapeno-beef-jerky/ (I'll probably add another jalapeño or 2 to my next batch as I like the added kick). Also, I let it marinate for 3 days.
3. Cranberry Sauce with Red Pepper marinade. This one is my wife's favorite.

- 14 oz can of cranberry sauce
- 1/3 cup red wine vinegar
- 2 tablespoons crushed red pepper
- 1 box of dried cranberries (I used the 1 oz box of craisins by Ocean Spray)
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp Cure #1​

I put all ingredients in a blender together before pouring over meat in a ziplock bag. In hindsight, I probably wouldn't blend the red pepper in next time in order keep it a visible size (blending it purees it to a point that it's not really visible anymore), but I'd definitely blend the other stuff together again. I marinated for 3 days before smoking.​

i have a question for you ,this Dr pepper one , do you really need to let it marinade for the extra days ,and what would happen if say i were to use hot sauce instead of the jalepenos. thank you for the information

 

[Rings Я Us]

Doing a Hi Mountain Bourbon BBQ blend.

Smells real good.
Will let everyone know if it's good or bad in a couple days

 

[zerowin]

My favorite so far is Teriyaki:

• 1lb beef eye, top, or bottom round

Marinade

• ½ cup soy sauce
• 1 tbsp rice vinegar
• 2 tbsp honey
• 2 tbsp brown sugar
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp dried ginger

Optional

• ¼ tsp Curing Salt (Prague Powder #1)

And second is Chili Lime:

• 1 lb eye, top, or bottom round

Marinade

• 1 tsp liquid smoke Don't add if using a smoker
• 1 tbsp worcestershire sauce
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 2 tbsp chili garlic sauce
• ½ tsp salt
• 1 tbsp brown sugar
• 1½ tbsp lime juice
• 1 zest of lime

Optional

• ¼ tsp Curing Salt (Prague Powder #1)

Both were from jerkyholic's site, and I've tried several others there, almost everything was good so far.

 

[ab canuck]

Some really good jerky marinades shared here. May have to try some of these.


One our boys have really come to enjoy :
Slice our venison up to 1/4" ( usual meat of choice ) 2.5lbs
Cure ( use as req'd per pound 1 level tsp /5lb meat) 1/2 tsp
Honey 1/2 cup
Teriyaki sauce 1/2 cup
Soy sauce 2 Tbsp
Cracked black pepper 2 Tbsp
2 ounces water. mix well put in 2 large zip lock bags store in fridge 3-7 days massaging daily. then smoke

 

[mdbannister]

i have a question for you ,this Dr pepper one , do you really need to let it marinade for the extra days ,and what would happen if say i were to use hot sauce instead of the jalepenos. thank you for the information

I've only done it once, so I'm not sure on either of these questions. I definitely marinated longer than the instructions called for.