If you haven’t yet read the Making Ground Meat Jerky article, you should check it out to make things easier as you begin the process of choosing and making the ground meat jerky recipe of your choice.
The Ground Meat Jerky Recipes Should Get You Started
Smoked Hamburger Jerky
- 1/2 c Soy sauce – can use light
- 1 TB Allspice
- 4 TB Sugar
- 2 tsp Fresh ginger, grated
- 1 Clove garlic; minced
- 1 TB Liquid smoke: hickory or mesquite
- 2 lbs Ground meat, leanest possible
Press hamburger meat into flat strips 5 inches long by 1-1/2 wide and ¼ inch thick.
Place one layer of hamburger strips in dish for marinating. Mix marinade ingredients together in a bowl. After well mixed, sprinkle marinade sauce over the meat, soaking well. Turn meat over and sprinkle with sauce. Add layers of hamburger strips to the marinating dish and repeat the sprinkling of marinade. Pour the remaining marinade sauce over the meat. Cover tightly and let marinate in refrigerator for 6 to 12 hours. Rotate layers of meat occasionally.
Place in dehydrator until dry. While meat is drying, blot excess oil with a paper towel.
Authors Note: For most ground meat jerky, you can mix the marinade or spices into the meat to let it marinate. I would do that with this recipe. Mix the meat and marinade well in a bowl, then cover for 6 to 12 hours. Then, extrude or cut the meat as you desire. Look for the section about Forming Ground Meat Jerky.
The reason I suggest this is because once you cut raw ground meat, it will be challenging to handle and maintain the shape of the meat.
Fake Jerky Strips
Meat Mixture
- 1 lb Ground beef
- 1 tsp Garlic powder
- 1 tsp Salt
- 1/4 tsp Black Pepper
- 1 tsp Liquid smoke
- 1 TB A-1 Sauce
- 1/2 cup Quick Quaker Oats
- 1 Egg white
Sauce
- 2 TB A-1 Sauce
- 2 TB Worcestershire Sauce
- 3 TB Ketchup
- 2 TB Vegetable Oil
- 1 tsp Soy Sauce
- 1 tsp Liquid Smoke
- 2 TB Water
1. Mix ground beef with all other ingredients and stir until mixed. Put into a food processor with a chopping knife blade and chop for a good minute, until well-mixed together and the consistency of putty.
2. On a floured cutting board, take a ball of meat mixture and coat both sides lightly with flour so it won’t stick. Roll out with a floured rolling pin, fold, and roll until roughly 8″ by 12″ rectangle 1/8″ thick or thinner.
3. Using a pizza cutter, cut into 1″ wide strips 8″ long and carefully transfer to a wire rack.
4. Heat the oven to 300 F, and place a wire rack with meat in the oven on an oven rack in the center of the oven, with a second oven rack one notch below. On the lower rack, place a cookie sheet under the meat to act as a drip pan.
5. Bake for 1 hour at 300 F.
6. Mix the sauce ingredients together in a shallow dish. Remove rack of meat, roll each strip into sauce mix, and return to rack. When all coated, return to oven and increase temp. to 450 F. Bake for 15 min.
7. Remove the rack again, recoat the strips, and return to the oven for another 15 min. or until the strips become almost burnt around the edges.
8. Remove from oven and coat one last time, then let sit and cool to room temperature.
Thought: I don’t know where the name came from, but maybe the “fake” came in because of baking at high temperatures. I’ve never done this. If you try this recipe, let me know how it comes out. If I try this, I will replace this note with the outcome. Interesting, to say the least.
Onion Ground Beef Jerky
- 2 oz Package dried onion soup mix
- 1/4 cup Water
- 1/4 cup Soy sauce
- 1 tsp fresh Garlic minced
- 1 tsp Curing salt (or other salt)
- Dried herbs or flavorings of choice
- 1 1/2 lbs. Very lean ground beef
In a bowl, combine the onion soup mix and water. Let it sit for 10 minutes.
Add the remaining ingredients, including the beef, and combine well.
Let marinate for at least 2 hours. For a more pronounced flavor, cover and refrigerate for 8 to 12 hours.
Put the meat through a jerky press or shape it into sticks or flat strips (see Forming Ground Meat Jerky).
Arrange the meat rounds on the mesh sheets or racks. Dry at 145 F. or higher until stiff, about 6 to 10 hours.
If beads of melted fat form on the meat as it is drying, blot them up with a clean, un-inked paper towel.
I will have more ground meat jerky recipes coming soon. If you have a special recipe you don’t mind sharing with us, I would gladly give you credit. Share it below.