Sugar-Free Oven Beef Jerky
Chewy, smoky, peppery jerky made in your oven from lean steak and a savory tamari marinade. There’s no sugar and no dehydrator, and far fewer carbs than most store-bought bags.
Nutrition per serving
about 1 oz (30 g)- Net carbs
- 1.4g
- Calories
- 151kcal
- Protein
- 19g
- Fat
- 7.1g
- Total carbs
- 3.3 g
- Fiber
- 0.3 g
Calculated from USDA FoodData Central values for each ingredient (optional ingredients excluded). Brands vary — check your labels if you track closely.
Ingredients
Teriyaki: Fresh ginger, sesame oil and a sweeter marinade give a glossy, takeout-style teriyaki jerky.
- Leave out the Worcestershire and paprika and whisk the extra allulose, ginger and sesame oil into the marinade. Allulose browns easily, so keep the oven at 175°F (80°C) and start checking the strips at 2½ hours.
Sweet heat (sriracha): Sriracha and extra chili flakes make a garlicky, sweet-hot jerky for spice lovers.
- Whisk the sriracha and extra chili flakes into the marinade. Taste a cooled strip at the 3-hour mark, since the heat builds as the jerky dries.
- Beef
- Marinade
- Nice to have (optional)
- Beef
- Marinade
-
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauceleave out -
1 tsp smoked paprikaleave out - Also add
- Nice to have (optional)
- Beef
- Marinade
- Also add
- Nice to have (optional)
Estimated cost $19.78 for 8 servings ($2.47 each) · how we estimate
Instructions
-
Wrap the steak and freeze it for 1–2 hours, until firm but not solid. This makes thin, even slicing much easier.
-
Trim off any remaining fat (it turns rancid as jerky sits), then slice the beef against the grain into strips ⅛–¼ inch (3–6 mm) thick. Slicing with the grain gives a chewier jerky.
-
Whisk the tamari, Worcestershire, vinegar, sweetener, garlic powder, onion powder, pepper, paprika, chili flakes and liquid smoke (if using) in a bowl. Add the beef and toss to coat, then seal it in a zip-top bag and refrigerate 6–24 hours, turning the bag once or twice.
-
Heat the oven to 175°F (80°C), or its lowest setting up to 200°F (95°C). Set wire racks on two foil-lined sheet pans. Drain the strips, pat them dry with paper towels and lay them on the racks in a single layer, not touching.
-
Dry the beef for 3–5 hours with the oven door propped open about 1 inch (2.5 cm) with a wooden spoon so moisture can escape, flipping the strips halfway. It’s ready when a cooled piece is dry and leathery and bends and cracks without snapping, with no soft or moist spots.
-
For food safety, finish with a short blast of heat: move the strips onto a sheet pan, raise the oven to 275°F (135°C) and heat for 10 minutes. This post-drying step, recommended by food-safety extension programs, destroys bacteria that a low drying temperature may not. Cool completely on the racks and blot off any surface fat.
Tips for success
-
Thin, even strips dry at the same rate. Pull pieces off as they finish; strips near the edges are often done an hour before the ones in the middle. - The nutrition counts the whole marinade, though much of it stays in the bag, so each serving is probably a little lower in carbs and sodium than listed.
- Lean cuts make the best jerky: flank, eye of round or top round. Fatty cuts such as ribeye don’t dry properly and spoil faster.
Nice to have, not needed
- A dehydrator makes the drying hands-off — use its jerky setting, then give the strips the same 10-minute 275°F (135°C) finish in the oven.
- An oven thermometer shows whether a “low” setting really stays near 175°F (80°C); without one, check the strips every 30 minutes after the 2-hour mark.
Storage & meal prepMeal-prep friendly
- Keeps 7 days in the fridge
- Freezes up to 3 months
Reheat: Eat at room temperature
Prep tip: It keeps 2 weeks airtight at room temperature, so one batch covers two weeks of desk-drawer snacks; refrigerate or freeze anything beyond that.
Store in an airtight container or zip-top bag at room temperature up to 2 weeks. Refrigerate for longer storage, up to 1 month, or freeze up to 3 months. If you see moisture inside the bag, dry the jerky further.
Variations
2 variations, each with its own ingredients and macrosTeriyaki
FlavorFresh ginger, sesame oil and a sweeter marinade give a glossy, takeout-style teriyaki jerky.
- + 2 tbsp extra allulose
- + 1 tbsp fresh ginger
- + 1 tsp toasted sesame oil
- no Worcestershire sauce
- no smoked paprika
1 g net · 155 kcal · 19 g protein · 7.7 g fat · ≈$2.54 per serving (−0.4 g net carbs vs the original)
Sweet heat (sriracha)
FlavorSriracha and extra chili flakes make a garlicky, sweet-hot jerky for spice lovers.
- + 2 tbsp sriracha
- + ½ tsp extra chili flakes
2.3 g net · 156 kcal · 19 g protein · 7.2 g fat · ≈$2.52 per serving (+0.9 g net carbs vs the original)
Save it for later
Pin this recipe to your keto board so it’s there when you plan next week.
Save to Pinterest
