Tangy BBQ Beef Jerky

Ever since we posted The Best Homemade Beef Jerky in summer 2023 we haven’t looked back. 

For all of us on the Between Carpools team, the Best Homemade Beef Jerky recipe has been a game changer. 

Yes, making your own beef jerky isn’t hard at all. The results are fabulous. And it costs much less than store-bought beef jerky. 

Does it save you money in the long run? Nope. Because you’ll simply make much more jerky. 

But your kids will love it. Especially your boys. They like it so much, we all agreed, it was worth devoting a whole cabinet to store that dehydrator.

But after we made batches and batches of beef jerky, our families asked, “What about other flavors?”

The original recipe is a teriyaki version and includes both teriyaki and soy sauce. But why mess with success? Perhaps we can make new varieties by keeping the other ingredients the same, and just swapping out the teriyaki/soy for new flavors.

Our first attempt at making a new jerky variety was a Tangy BBQ flavor. And it was a new favorite!

Simply swap the ½ cup teriyaki sauce and ¼ cup soy sauce for ½ cup of your favorite BBQ sauce (we liked Sweet Baby Ray’s) and 2 tbsp hot sauce (or more if you want it spicier).

For more specific tips and instructions, see the original post here.

Print Recipe

Tangy BBQ Beef Jerky

Ingredients

• 2-3 lbs thinly sliced shoulder meat, like pepper steak 
• 1½ cups dark brown sugar 
• 1 cup honey 
• ½ cup BBQ sauce
• 2 tbsp hot sauce
• 2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce 
• 2 tbsp liquid smoke 
• 2 tbsp meat tenderizer 
• 1 tsp each salt, pepper, garlic powder and paprika

Instructions

• In a Ziploc bag, combine all marinade ingredients and mix well until brown sugar is dissolved. Add meat and seal bag, making sure marinade covers all parts of the meat. Refrigerate overnight or, preferably, for 24 hours.
• Remove meat and place on dehydrator trays. Group similar sized pieces of meat together. This way, when the smaller pieces are ready before the bigger pieces you will remove that tray and let the rest cook for longer.
• Plug in the machine. Set the knob on “jerky,” the highest setting. Dehydrate for 2 ½ – 3 hours. Remove the tray/pieces that are ready and replace the lid to continue drying.
• Store your jerky in a resealable container for a few days in your fridge, or, vaacum pack for longer shelf life.

That’s all! What should we try next? What other flavors of jerky are your favorite?