Old Fashioned Venison Jerky Recipe

What Makes Venison Jerky “Old Fashioned”

“Old fashioned” jerky generally means a simple, straightforward marinade — soy sauce, salt, pepper, maybe a little smoke flavor — rather than a modern recipe with a long ingredient list or a store-bought seasoning packet. It’s the kind of recipe you can make with pantry staples and no special equipment beyond an oven or a basic dehydrator. That’s the approach this recipe takes: a short marinade, a straightforward dry, nothing complicated.

Choosing and Prepping the Meat

Jerky works best from big, lean cuts rather than your best steaks. A whole roast from the hind leg is ideal — it holds together well, slices easily, and is naturally a bit firmer than backstrap, which makes it a better candidate for jerky anyway (using backstrap for jerky is technically fine, but most wild game cooks would rather grill or smoke that cut and save the roasts for jerky).

Before slicing:

• Trim off all visible fat. Jerky needs to be lean — fat left on the meat can go rancid during drying and storage, even if the meat itself is properly cured.
• Remove the silverskin. That thin, sinewy membrane won’t break down when dried; leave it on and you’ll be chewing through it in every bite. A sharp boning or fillet knife makes quick work of it.
• Freeze the meat for about an hour before slicing. Partially frozen meat is much easier to cut into clean, even strips than fully thawed meat.

Slice against the grain into strips about ¼-inch thick. Thinner slices dry faster and stay more tender; thicker cuts (up to about ½ inch) will still dry fine but won’t keep as long and are best made for jerky you plan to eat within a few days.

Best Seasoning for Deer Jerky

A traditional, no-frills marinade for about 2 pounds of venison:

• ⅓ cup soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons liquid smoke
• 1 teaspoon salt
• ¼ teaspoon black pepper
• Optional: a dash of cayenne, hot sauce, or Cajun seasoning for heat

Soy sauce does double duty here — it seasons the meat and improves the color of the finished jerky. If you want a more complex, cure-forward flavor, some traditional recipes swap in or add Worcestershire sauce and a touch of brown sugar, which rounds out the saltiness with a little sweetness and acidity.

Old Fashioned Venison Jerky Recipe

1. Slice the meat into ¼-inch strips across the grain, after trimming fat and silverskin (see above).
2. Marinate. Combine the soy sauce, liquid smoke, salt, pepper, and any optional spices in a large zip-top bag. Add the venison strips, press out the excess air, and seal. Refrigerate for 8 to 24 hours, turning the bag occasionally so everything marinates evenly.
3. Pat dry. Remove the strips from the marinade and pat them dry with paper towels — excess surface moisture slows drying and can lead to uneven results.
4. Arrange for drying. Lay the strips in a single layer on dehydrator trays or a wire rack set over a baking sheet, making sure pieces don’t touch or overlap.
5. Dry until bendable, not brittle. The jerky is done when it cracks slightly when you bend it but doesn’t snap. It will firm up a bit more as it cools, so pull it when it seems just a touch under-dried.
6. Cool completely at room temperature before packaging.

Oven Method vs. Dehydrator Method

Dehydrator: Set to 160-170°F and dry for roughly 4-6 hours, checking periodically after the 4-hour mark. This is the most consistent method since dehydrators hold a steady temperature and circulate air evenly.

Oven: Set your oven to its lowest setting (ideally around 160-170°F; many home ovens won’t go lower) and prop the door open slightly with a wooden spoon to let moisture escape and keep the temperature from creeping too high. A convection setting helps circulate air, similar to a dehydrator. Check for doneness starting around the 4-hour mark, since home ovens vary more than dehydrators.

Whichever method you use, drying too hot or too fast can “case-harden” the jerky — the outside dries and seals before the inside has a chance to, trapping moisture in the center. If your jerky feels dry on the surface but still soft or spongy in the middle after it cools, that’s usually the cause; drop the temperature slightly and give it more time next round.

Do You Need Curing Salt?

Curing salt — sold as Instacure or Prague Powder No. 1 — is sodium nitrite, and it’s a food-safety ingredient, not a flavoring. It helps prevent the growth of bacteria like Clostridium botulinum during the drying process, especially important if you’re drying at lower temperatures over a longer time. It also improves the color and gives jerky that familiar “cured” flavor.

For this simple, higher-temperature (160-170°F) oven or dehydrator method, curing salt is optional rather than strictly required, since the drying temperature itself helps control bacterial growth. That said, it’s cheap, widely available, and adds a real margin of safety — especially if you plan to dry at a lower temperature, want jerky that keeps longer at room temperature, or are making a large batch. If you do use it, follow the ratio on the package exactly; more is not safer.

What Ingredients Tenderize Deer Jerky?

Jerky doesn’t get tender the way a steak does — the texture mostly comes from how thin you slice it and which direction you cut relative to the grain. Slicing thin and across the grain shortens the muscle fibers, which is what keeps jerky from being tough and stringy, regardless of marinade.

That said, a few marinade ingredients do soften the texture somewhat: the acidity in vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, or citrus juice breaks down surface proteins slightly, and some traditional recipes use a splash of pineapple juice for the same reason. Don’t overdo the acid, though — too much for too long can turn the surface mushy rather than tender. Think of these as a modest textural assist, not a substitute for good slicing technique.

Common Deer Jerky Mistakes

• Leaving fat on the meat. Even a small amount can turn rancid and shorten shelf life.
• Not removing the silverskin. It won’t dry out or soften — it just stays tough.
• Slicing with the grain instead of across it. This is the single biggest cause of stringy, hard-to-chew jerky.
• Skipping the marinade time. Under 8 hours often isn’t enough to season the meat all the way through.
• Drying too hot, too fast. Leads to case-hardening — dry outside, underdone inside.
• Not drying long enough. Jerky that’s pulled too early won’t keep as long and is more prone to spoiling.

Storing Your Jerky

Properly dried jerky keeps well in a sealed bag or container at room temperature for a few weeks, though the fridge is a safer bet if you’re not sure it’s fully dried. For longer storage, vacuum-seal the jerky and keep it in the fridge for several months — without a vacuum seal, jerky tends to dry out further and turn brittle over time.

If you’d rather use a more tender cut for a quick meal instead of jerky, see our guide to grilling venison backstrap for the right temperature to keep it juicy.