After making homemade bacon on my Weber Smokey Mountain smoker, I figured the next logical thing to try would be making homemade Teriyaki jerky. The curing process for jerky is similar in ways to curing bacon, but it doesn’t take as long. The smoking process is different, since the jerky needs to dry out on the smoker.
The Perfect Flavor-Packed Jerky
The end result was fantastic. This Teriyaki jerky has great Asian-inspired flavor. The meat was tender, with a little bit of tug, as you’d expect from jerky. We loved it. Everyone loved it.
A Few Notes
The most important thing to keep in mind when making jerky is to start with a lean cut of meat (I used a lean top round), sliced super thin, and smoke at a fairly low temperature, 150 – 175 F.
Smoked To Perfection
I lit just a handful of charcoal using my charcoal chimney. The easiest way to do that is to turn the chimney upside down, putting the charcoal where you’d normally put newspaper, and putting newspaper where you’d normally put charcoal. I put just enough unlit charcoal in the bottom of the WSM to cover the bottom grate.
To make slicing the beef easier, I sat it in the freezer for about 30 minutes first. Then I used a very sharp knife to get very thin slices.
To fit as much jerky on my Weber Smokey Mountain as I could, I suspended the meat on skewers. I was able to fit 3 pounds of jerky on my 18″ cooker (I made two different flavors). I could’ve probably fit 5 or so pounds on without any trouble.
Also check out my black pepper jerky. It has a really great peppery bite to it, with a little heat.
Teriyaki Jerky
Equipment
Ingredients
- 5 pounds beef lean, sliced very thin
- 10 ounces soy sauce
- 4 ounces Worcestershire sauce
- 2 tablespoon garlic chopped
- 2 teaspoons ground black pepper
- ½ cup brown sugar
- ½ teaspoon ground ginger
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 2 teaspoons sesame oil or more, but use sparingly
- 1 teaspoon pink curing salt
Instructions
- Note: Freeze the meat for at least 30 minutes to make slicing easier.
- Whisk together the remaining ingredients.
- Place the meat in a large resealable baggie or container. Add the marinade. Stir to coat well.
- Refrigerate for 2 days, stirring occasionally to make sure the meat gets well coated.
- Fire up your smoker for cooking 150 – 175 F. Use a light wood, such as apple or pecan.
- Shaking off any excess marinade. Place the meat on paper towels (use lots of them) and pat dry.
- Place meat on the smoker (I skewered ours so I could hang it, see the picture above) and smoke for 5-6 hours or until the meat is dry.
- Let cool for an hour before devouring.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional values are approximate.
