Venison Jerky

Ground venison or ground elk can be seasoned and dried for delicious homemade venison jerky. This homemade jerky is perfect for snacking and for packing for whenever you're on the go!

Jerky is the perfect snack food for hiking, skiing, school, road trips, and just everyday nibbling.   We often use venison or elk to make our jerky  We live in an area where hunting is prevalent we always have plenty of wild game.

My husband and all three kids are hunters.  We usually end up with several freezers full of game meat.  Not only do they hunt, but Rod and the kids butcher and process the meat as well.  We grind a lot of the meat into burger.

Since we have so many hunters, we end up with a lot of ground venison and elk burger in our freezer. I mean A LOT!  Rod often makes jerky from elk or venison roasts sliced thin.  

One day we discovered a jerky gun at a store and we decided to give it a try.  In the end the only real difference between sliced jerky and burger jerky is the burger jerky tends to be easier to take a bite and chew. It's a great way for us to use up some of that burger in our freezer!

A jerky gun resembles a caulking gun. And the process is pretty similar to caulking, except you're shooting out meat.

Rod makes jerky quite regularly. The only problem is try to nail down an actual recipe from him! Over the years I have finally convinced him to keep a notebook with his recipes. He has a three ring binder and jots down what he does each time.

He's perfected a lot of recipes from homemade bacon and hams to smoked fish and of course jerky.

I understand why it was hard for him to write things down. This is how Rod works - a little red wine, some brown sugar, garlic powder,  red pepper flakes, black pepper, more red wine. Give a little taste - add more salt, onion powder - give a little taste.  That's hard to capture in a recipe, but he's finally captured a master recipe.

Use this recipe as a master and then you can decide to cook like Rod does and try a little of this and a little of that.

The marinade is heated so the sugar and salt are dissolved in the liquid. Once cooled, the marinade is poured over the meat and then combined. This is a job best done with your hands. Just dive right in and really mix everything together until all the liquid is fully incorporated into the meat.

Using the jerky gun

Dry in dehydrator.  Drying takes 4-8 hours.  The time varies depending on your dehydrator, how thick your strips of meat are, and how many trays you've used. We often need to rotate our trays so we get an even dry with all trays.  Even with rotating, we still have some trays that dry quicker than the rest.  

Store in a paper bag at room temperature for up to a week (if it lasts that long!)  Or place in a freezer safe bag and freeze until ready to use.

Tips

• Spray your trays lightly with a nonstick spray before adding meat. This helps prevent sticking.
• Rotate your trays after a few hours
• Test your jerky to determine when it's done. Remove a strip from the dehydrator and let it cool. The exterior should be dry and when you bend the jerky, it should be flexible, not crumbly. It's okay to dry longer than this point if that's your preference.

Variations

• Use ground venison or ground elk
• Can use ground beef, but make certain you select the leanest ground beef you can find
• To make with a roast, slice into thin strips. Marinade for at least 8 hours. Remove strips from marinade and place on dehydrator. Discard remaining marinade.
• For spicier jerky, add an additional ½ teaspoon black pepper and 2 teaspoons red pepper flakes

More wild game recipes

• Mongolian Beef
• Italian Meatballs
• Cocktail Meatballs
• Enchilada Soup
• Instant Pot Bone Broth
• Venison Stew
• Elk Steak au Poivre

If you make this recipe, I’d love to hear about it! Leave a comment below and snap a picture and tag me on Instagram @beyondthechickencoop

Be certain to check out all my Wild Game Recipes!

This recipe was originally posted in February 2015. The recipe and images have been updated.