Air Fryer Beef Jerky Recipe | Love Food Not Cooking (2024)

Air fryer beef jerky is the best way to make beef jerky at home. Simple and straight-forward, tasty and nutritious. And the best part? No dehydrator required.

How to Make Beef Jerky in an Air Fryer

Beef jerky makes an awesome snack. It is delicious, healthy, low carb, and portable too!

Air frying makes amazing homemade beef jerky! The recipe is very simple and prep time is minimal, but it does take a bit of organization as you want to marinate the sliced beef overnight (or at least for a few hours) to allow the flavor to develop.

Scroll down for the recipe card for this air fryer beef jerky, or read on for all the details.

Ingredients

What Beef to use for Jerky

The best beef to make homemade jerky is something lean and flavorful.

Top round and bottom round steaks are ideal and what I normally use.

Because the cook time is very long and at a low temp, you can use a cheaper (tougher) cut of meat than if you wanted to quick roast it (a good quality tender cut is better used for an air fryer roast).

A tougher cut means chewier jerky. A tender beef cut will give softer melt-in-the-mouth jerky. So choose a cut of beef appropriate for the type of jerky you want to make.

Marinade

The marinade I use combines the rich smoky flavor of Worcestershire sauce, honey for sweetness (you can substitute brown sugar), and soy sauce and onion powder for a flavor punch!

You can substitute any other marinade you like or mix up the ingredients if you like. The basic recipe to air fry the jerky is the same.

Some other seasoning flavors to try are:

• Teriyaki beef jerky: soy sauce, brown sugar, garlic powder, ground ginger
• Smoked beef jerky: add some liquid smoke or smoked paprika to the recipe below
• Spicy beef jerky: add some chili flakes to the recipe below

Directions

How to prepare beef for jerky

Step 1: Trim the beef. Begin by removing any excess fat from the outside of the beef (this helps with the drying process)

Step 2: Slice the beef. Then you need to slice the beef very thinly, aim for no thicker than 1/4 inch thick.

Partially freezing the beef can make it easier to cut thinly. Alternatively, you should be able to ask your local butcher to slice it for you.

I have also had good results using thin minute steak (Rouladen style beef).

If you are slicing it yourself, use a very sharp knife and slice with the grain (not against as you normally would when carving beef).

You can either make jerky from the full size slices, or cut it into strips or squares if you prefer.

Step 3: Make the marinade. Mix all the marinade ingredients together in a bowl, and add the beef strips, ensuring that they are separated and are all covered by the marinade.

Step 4: Marinate. Cover and place in a refrigerator to allow the beef to marinate. This will take at least 3 hours, though overnight is best.

Step 5: Drain and pat dry. After marinating the beef strips, remove from the refrigerator and drain. They need to be dried thoroughly before air frying.

I drain the beef in a sieve to allow excess marinade to drain away, then pat the beef strips dry with a paper towel.

How to Air Fry Beef Jerky

It needs to reach 160°F/71°C to be safe to consume, so check with an instant-read meat thermometer to be sure.

It is difficult to know exactly how long it will take to cook as it depends on a few things including exactly how thick the beef was cut and how efficient your air fryer is, so it is best to monitor it as it gets close to the end of the cooking time.

See Also

Artichokes Alla Romana / Roman Style Artichoke Recipe

You can also make this jerky recipe in a regular oven, you just need to lay the jerky on a rack, or turn it often to ensure it dries out evenly.

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