Spicy Ranch Beef Jerky
This spicy ranch beef jerky has the right amount of tang with a little spice perfect for your next snack. The only thing I can’t promise is you won’t eat the whole thing in one sitting.
I don’t know if it’s a Texas or Southern thing, but I love me some beef jerky, especially this spicy ranch beef jerky. I will take it any way I can get it too and in any flavor. We go to the big bulk store (aka Sam’s Club) when we want to stock up on the stuff.
Of course, I love making my own beef jerky. I remember my dad making his own since I was a kid. I always loved it when it was beef jerky making time. It really tests your patience when cooking beef jerky. This stuff takes all day to cook, but so worth it in the end.
So what other flavors would I make other than a spicy ranch? If you have read my past posts you know I’m obsessed with spicy stuff and all things with ranch, like spicy ranch Jalapeno dip! The ranch thing is a total Texan thing.
If you don’t have a dehydrator then you are missing out. I absolutely love mine. And it didn’t cost much either. This is the Food Dehydrator I have that I ordered from amazon. You can use this thing for so much. One thing I love using it for is drying my own herbs. It’s so simple to do and you can see a total difference between store-bought herbs and your own.
The Best Meat for Jerky
Now for deciding what type of meat to use for your jerky. People use all different types. For this recipe, I used ground sirloin. But you can also use flank, which is a popular one to use. How I choose just depends on what the store has. If I go to my favorite specialty store I usually just tell the butcher what I’m making and let him pick. Who knows meat better than a butcher?
Slicing your meat is probably the only challenging part of this. If you have a butcher at your local store ask them to pre-slice it for jerky for you. I’ve done this before and it saves you time and a headache. Now when you’re going to slice it yourself, put the meat in the freezer for about 30 minutes or so. This makes the meat a little stiffer, which makes it easier to cut in thin slices. And what thickness of slices is totally your own preference. I like mine on the thinner side.
Marinating Spicy Ranch Beef Jerky
As for marinating your jerky, if you can leave it overnight to marinate that’s the best choice, but just marinating it for 2 hours is fine too. It’s just about how strong you want the flavor. Just throw all the ingredients in a freezer bag and refrigerate until you’re ready to start cooking.
Now just lay your meat out on the racks of the dehydrator, making sure to not overlap any pieces and turn the heat on all the way on your machine and let it cook. About every hour I like to rotate the racks moving the bottom one to the top. The heat comes from the lid so the top one usually gets the most so rotating them gives you an even cook.
Some pieces will cook faster than others. This is usually the small or thinner pieces. After about 5 hours I start checking the different pieces and pick out the ones that are fully cooked. No reason to overcook them. I store my jerky in a plastic bag. I put them in the bag but let them cool off before closing it.
For some reason, homemade jerky tastes so much better than store-bought and now you can make your own right at home. Play around with different flavors. The number of flavors are endless. You will be warned that once you make this spicy ranch beef jerky it won’t be around for long.
Spicy Ranch Beef Jerky
Ingredients
- 2 pounds round sirloin or flank steak
- 3/4 cup of soy sauce
- 3/4 cup worcestershire sauce
- 3 TBSP of ranch dressing seasoning
- 2 TBSP red pepper flakes
- 1 1/2 TSP liquid smoke
- 1/4 TSP cayenne pepper
Instructions
- Either have butcher slice beef into thin slices or put meat in freezer for 30 minutes and take out and slice in thin slices
- Mix together all other ingredients and place everything in a freezer back and refrigerate between 2 hours and over night
- Line slices of beef on racks of dehydrator be sure not to over lap any slices and turn the dehydrator on the highest setting and cook 6-8 hours depending on thickness of beef
- Rotate racks every hour for even cooking
I really love the idea of adding ranch!
Me too! Lol. It brings a nice little tang to the jerky. Plus being from Texas, ranch is everything
I’ve been experimenting with lots of different jerky recipes and this is by far my favorite! Just enough spice with great flavor from the ranch. 10/10 recommend everyone try this! People who tasted when I made it raved about how great it was too. Thank you for sharing this recipe!