Making your own deer jerky at home is a satisfying experience that goes beyond simply enjoying a delicious snack. There's something incredibly rewarding about crafting your own jerky, allowing you to control the dryness and flavor profile to suit your exact tastes.
Whether you’re a hunter who’s recently returned from a successful trip or you’ve come across a bounty of deer meat from a generous friend or family member, transforming that venison into homemade jerky is a fantastic way to savor every bite. Deer meat is naturally lean and rich in flavor, making it perfect for crafting high-quality jerky that you can truly call your own.
Plus, by preserving your venison in this way, you’re extending its shelf life and creating a portable, protein-packed snack that highlights the best of what wild game has to offer!
Although we’ve been specializing in handcrafting commercial beef jerky for nearly 100 years and 4 generations, making homemade jerky in our ovens holds a special spot in our hearts. It’s where we like to experiment with wild flavors, some of which make it into our permanent lineup, like our Dill Pickle or Hot Honey flavored jerky.
This recipe keeps it simple with a basic homemade seasoning, but if you’re looking to enhance your jerky experience, check out our curated selection of beef jerky seasonings. (Coming Soon! Sign-Up For Early Access).
You can check out our Homemade Beef Jerky Project page for more resources on making your own jerky.
This recipe is designed for beginners, ensuring it’s easy to follow. With straightforward steps and simple ingredients, you’ll be on your way to mastering the art of homemade jerky in no time!
And don’t forget to share your results with our team on our social media platforms (TikTok, Instagram, or Facebook). We love to see the final product!
How Deer Jerky Differs From Beef Jerky
Compared to beef, venison has a richer and more robust flavor profile. It has a slightly gamey taste that many find appealing and unique.
Venison is often sourced from hunting wild deer, making it a popular choice for hunters. Although it’s less commonly carried in stores, you can find this meat in specialty butcher shops and online retailers like D'Artagnan, Broken Arrow Ranch, and Fossil Farms.
Venison is typically leaner than beef, resulting in more protein per ounce and a drier texture in the final product. It’s generally lower in fat and calories than beef, which means the jerky may be slightly tougher to chew.
Health Benefits of Venison
With less saturated fat than many other meats, venison is a leaner option that may help support heart health by contributing to lower levels of LDL (bad) cholesterol. Venison from deer that feed on natural forage can also have a higher content of omega-3 fatty acids, known for their anti-inflammatory properties and ability to lower blood pressure and triglyceride levels.
Venison provides an excellent supply of key nutrients such as iron, zinc, and B vitamins, particularly B12. These nutrients play a crucial role in supporting energy levels, boosting immune function, and promoting overall well-being.
STEP-BY-STEP INSTRUCTIONS FOR MAKING DEER JERKY
Making jerky only requires five easy steps, with the sixth being the best part – eating your venison!
- Slice the Meat
- Mix the Marinade
- Marinate the Meat
- Lay the Jerky
- Cook the Jerky
- Enjoy (and Store the Jerky)
1. SLICE THE MEAT
During the dehydration process, the meat will significantly reduce in weight. Therefore, we suggest using a large cut from the deer’s hindquarters. Meat from the hind leg (top round, bottom round, eye of round) is lean and easy to cut, making it the perfect candidate for homemade jerky. You can use the backstrap (loin) cut for this recipe, but some consider it too valuable for jerky.
Whatever cut you decide to use, make sure you trim the venison meat before you slice it for jerky. Fat can spoil and cause the jerky to become rancid, so removing as much fat as possible with a sharp knife is essential. Trim any silver skin, as it is tough and can provide an unpleasant texture to your jerky.
In order to make the meat much easier to slice, we recommend chilling it down in the freezer for 30-60 minutes before.
Slice the partially frozen meat into 1/4” pieces. A smaller thickness will dry out more quickly and be more crispy, while a larger thickness retains more moisture and takes longer to fully dehydrate. We’ve found 1/4” thick pieces to be the sweet spot.
Feel free to slice your venison into any shape you want. It doesn’t matter if they are jerky strips, jerky slabs, or jerky sticks, just make sure they all have a consistent thickness.
We prefer slicing against the grain (perpendicular to muscle fibers) for a more tender jerky, but if you prefer it tougher, feel free to slice with the grain.
Pro Tip: Don’t hesitate to request your local butcher to slice your meat. With the right tools, they can achieve a level of consistency that's hard to replicate at home, even for seasoned cooks.
2. Mix the Marinade
In a large mixing bowl or plastic bag, combine all of the wet and dry ingredients, excluding the meat. Ensure that the sugar is completely dissolved in the marinade.
3. Marinate the Meat
Piece by piece, add the meat to the marinade, then massage it with your hands to ensure even coating.
Pro Tip: Sliced jerky meat can sometimes clump together, resulting in some pieces not being fully coated with marinade. Be sure to mix and massage the meat thoroughly to ensure even coverage. This step also helps enhance the texture of the final jerky.
Cover with plastic wrap (or transfer contents into a resealable plastic bag) and let the meat marinate in the refrigerator for at least 12 hours and up to 24 hours. Knead the meat a few times during this period to ensure the marinade coats the jerky evenly.
Check out our guide on how long to marinate jerky to understand how we arrived at this recommendation. We experimented with marination periods ranging from none to 72 hours and identified the time that produced the best flavor.
4. Lay the Jerky
Preheat your oven to 165°F (74°C). If your oven does not go this low, you can prop the oven door open with a wooden spoon to help regulate the heat.
Be sure to monitor the temperature closely to achieve the best results. If possible, use the convection bake feature to circulate the heat evenly throughout the oven.
Pro Tip: Using a dehydrator provides superior control over temperature and airflow, ensuring consistent results with the ideal texture and flavor. If you're using a dehydrator, arrange the venison strips evenly on the tray and follow the manufacturer’s instructions for drying the jerky.
Before placing the jerky on racks, allow excess marinade to drip off and gently pat the meat dry with paper towels. This helps achieve an even cook and ensures the jerky dries thoroughly.
For easy cleanup, line your baking sheets with aluminum foil and place a wire rack in each pan. Arrange the marinated meat on the rack in a single layer. The pieces can touch, but they should not overlap.
5. Cook the Jerky
Cook the meat for 3 to 6 hours. Start checking the jerky at the 3-hour mark and then every 30 minutes until the jerky reaches the desired doneness. The cooking time will largely depend on the thickness of the jerky strips.
Pro Tip: At the 2-hour mark, rotate the pans from front to back and (if you have more than one pan) move them from top to bottom to ensure even drying.
Commercial jerky makers use specialized devices to measure moisture levels, ensuring their jerky is perfectly dehydrated and shelf-stable. Unfortunately, most home processors don’t have access to this kind of tool.
Instead, you must rely on your senses to determine when your jerky is done. But before you get to that, there are two important variables to consider: the thickness of the meat and the cooking time and temperature.
First, ask yourself:
- Did you cook the jerky for the recommended time and temperature?
- Are all the pieces of meat uniformly thick? If some pieces are thicker than others, they may require additional time to dry properly.
If you’ve met both of these conditions, you can move on to a visual and textural inspection.
Unlike a traditional venison roast, you can’t easily use a meat thermometer to see if deer jerky is done. Instead, you'll need to rely on visual cues. The jerky should have a dry, leathery appearance. When you bend it, the jerky should flex and show small cracks, but it shouldn’t snap. If it does, it’s over-dried. Think of it like bending a green branch – it should give but not break.
Telling when deer jerky is done takes time and practice. Check out our detailed guide on how to tell when jerky is done.
6. Enjoy
Now comes the best part – enjoy your homemade deer jerky!
Wait for the jerky to cool before storing it in a resealable plastic bag.
Unlike store-bought jerky, which often has a much longer shelf life, homemade jerky will stay fresh at room temperature for about a week if stored in an airtight container. Odds are, it won’t be around for that long.
If you have any concerns about the dryness level, feel free to store it in the refrigerator for extra precaution.
Learn how to store homemade jerky in this detailed guide.
