If you love making your own beef jerky, try this savory-sweet Korean inspired flavor combination. We use traditional Korean BBQ marinade with thin-sliced beef (we love using London broil) for a healthy snack.
Tips for Making Korean Style Beef Jerky
For best results, use a meat slicer. You can find an inexpensive meat slicer for less than $100 on Amazon. Here’s our pick for a budget slicer.
A meat slicer is essential for thin, even slices. Even slices ensures your entire batch of beef jerky will finish at the same time. Be careful though, while there are safety features for the electric slicer, it’s still a rotating blade.
While traditional Korean BBQ marinade includes using fresh garlic, I highly suggest using garlic powder in its place for concentrated flavor.
Optional: Add roasted sesame seeds
The Best Beef For Korean Beef Jerky
Start with the right meat. After several tests, we’ve found London Broil to be the best cut. Actually, “London Broil” is a term used to describe a method of cooking, not necessarily a butcher’s cut. However, many American supermarkets label Top Round Steak that’s cut even and flat as London Broil. Some butchers also label Flank Steak as London Broil as well, but I’m not as fond of Flank Steak for beef jerky as it’s often too thin and flat. Your beef jerky will turn out to be 1/2-inch wide strips. If you use Flank Steak for beef jerky, make sure you slice ACROSS the grain.
The London Broil a.k.a. Top Round Steak that I like to use is about 1.75-inches thick, which makes nice-sized beef jerky slices. Also, take a look at the meat. It is even in thickness and lean – very little visible fat is what you want, as dehydrated fat doesn’t taste very good. Photo source
I’ve turned the beef on its side so that you can see how nice and even this steak is.
How Thick Should Korean Beef Jerky Be?
It’s up to you. We like our beef jerky sliced very thin. While thick hunks of beef jerky certainly gives your jaws a workout, the thinner beef jerky wins in taste, texture, ease of enjoying and marinating time.
It’s best to test out which thickness you like best. Our meat slicer has a knob numbered 0 to 10. The top of the photo is beef sliced at 0.5, obviously too thin. The bottom meat was sliced at 1.5. We chose 1.25.
A Delicious Marinade For Your Beef Jerky
After slicing, prepare the marinade (garlic, soy, sesame oil, sugar, grated onion) in a freezer or storage bag. Add in your meat, seal. Massage and shake the bag to get the marinade incorporated throughout. I then unseal a tiny opening in the bag, squeeze as much air out from the bag as possible and quickly reseal. This helps the marinade stay put on the meat, instead of settling back down on the bottom of the bag.
Because the meat is sliced so thinly, I marinate only 30 minutes. I also like lightly seasoned beef jerky, not beef jerky that’s so salty you need a gallon of water to rehydrate yourself! However, if you are using thicker slices of meat, marinate for an hour or up to overnight.
Making Korean Beef Jerky In A Dehydrator
We bought the Nesco SnackMaster Pro Dehydrator $69.99 and have no complaints. It works very well, it does its job. I wish the unit would have a timer built in. Tip: don’t try to wash the drying racks by hand – you’ll go crazy just trying to scrub off all the dried bits. Instead, throw the racks into the dishwasher. The hot water will help soften the bits and clean them off. Also, during the summer, place the dehydrator outside on the patio so you don’t heat up your house with all that hot air!
Lay the beef slices in a single layer, spread them out so that there are no curls or folds in the meat.
Store Bought Vs Homemade Jerky
Store bought beef jerky “Jack Links Teriyaki Flavored”
-Ingredients: Beef, water, sugar, dried soy sauce (soybeans, salt, wheat), maltodextrin, fructose, monosodium glutamate, flavorings, hydrolyzed corn protein, sodium erythorbate, paprika extract, sodium nitrate.
-Not sure what type of beef
-Contains MSG and other chemicals I can’t pronounce
-$5.99 for 3.5 ounces
Homemade Beef Jerky
-Ingredients: Top Round steak, Soy sauce (soybeans, salt, wheat), sesame oil, garlic powder, onion powder, brown sugar
-Substitute soy sauce with Coconut Aminos (we love this sauce!) for a wheat and soy free alternative
-London Broil (Top Round Steak) – you can choose to use organic, free range beef
-$5.29 per pound for the meat (on sale), each pound makes approx 6-8 ounces beef jerky
Top Tips For Korean Beef Jerky
- London broil is my favorite beef for this jerky.
- A deli slicer is a great implement for beef jerky but also versatile tool in your kitchen. Recently received a Kalorik Meat and Deli Slicer for review that’s designed specifically for the home market. The unit is affordable at less than $100, and small enough to tuck away in the pantry.
- When marinating the beef in a plastic bag, unseal just a small section, push as much air out of the bag as possible, and reseal.
- Let the beef marinade for at least 30 mins.
More Recipes To Explore
- Steak Recipe: Turning Cheap “Choice” Steak into Gucci “Prime” Steak
- Flank Steak with Bloody Mary Tomato Salad Recipe
- 1-Step, Fail Proof Prime Rib Roast Recipe on the Rotisserie
- Korean Kalbi Baby Back Ribs
Korean Beef Jerky
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons low sodium soy sauce
- 3 tablespoons brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon Asian sesame oil
- 2 pounds London broil very thinly sliced
Instructions
- In a resealable freezer bag, combine all ingredients except for the meat.
- Add the sliced meat, seal bag and massage gently to incorporate the marinade throughout the meat. Unseal just a small section, push as much air out of the bag as possible, and reseal. Let marinate for 30 minutes (on counter-top at room temperature is fine) or refrigerate up to overnight.
- Lay out the meat in a single layer (as neat as possible) on the dehydrator racks. Set dehydrator according to manufacturer's instructions.
Did you try this recipe? Please leave a star rating in the recipe card below and leave a review in the comment section! I always appreciate your feedback and I know other readers do, too!
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I made two separate batches of it has hardly any flavor very disappointing
I have made beef jerky a couple of times and want to try yours. Both times mine came out a little tough/chewy.
What temp and how long in the dehydrator. What is your way of knowing it’s done?
Amazing recipe
I’m just finding your blog – loving it! I got goosies! It is remarkable the friends you have found. Amazing.
Thanks to whom ever posted to Pinterest 🙂
I’m wondering about storage- I know a recipe probably doesn’t last long. We are a Celiac family and making your own jerky is almost a must. Would like to make enough to store longer than a few days. What are your storage recommendations?
Hi Jacki- beef jerky lasts for a few weeks. Just make sure the jerky is properly dried (if it’s still uncooked/wet in middle of jerky, the jerky will spoil).
Great recipe! I followed the recipe and then offset smoked the strips with hickory for about 20 mins at 250º. The smoke adds that little bit extra to an already amazing marinade. Thank you!
Hm, I managed to stuff 5 pounds of beef in a gallon-size zip lock bag. I read the ingredients list, multiplied everything by 2.5, poured mix over the meat, mixed, and stuffed in the bag. It fit no problem. Then I read the recipe from the beginning, LOL. The only change I made was I added Prague Powder #1 to the mix and sliced beef thick, about 1/3 of an inch, I like my jerky thicker.
Thank you for the recipe! Marinate smelled so good I wanted to drink it!
I think I am going to have to dig out my dehydrator and try this soon.
That is so crazy that you all have so much in common! Too cool! Love the homemade beef jerky; hubby is a huge fan of it so I’ll have to try this out. I’ve actually been wanting to get a meat slicer and can’t wait to read up on it more.
Oh these look so great. Makes me what to make some beef jerky. Korean flavor sounds absolutely delicious! Thanks for sharing awesome recipe, Jaden.
M family would love to make it and eat it.
When I make beef Jerky I find that if you freeze the meet you are going to use for about 30 to 45 minutes if will firm the meat up and make slicing a lot easier.
I make beef and turkey jerky. I have the same dehydrator that you do and love it! It is my third one. I can’t wait to make your korean beef jerky although it is very close to my recipe. I make mine spicy with chili garlic paste and everyone I give it to as gifts love it.
YUM!!! If I were to use my oven overnight instead of a dehydrator, any estimate on the temp and time? Maybe 250 degrees? Thanks for any advice out there! 🙂
I LOVE my Nesco dehydrator! I have dried so many different things in the past year, but not jerky, yet! I really should make some for my oldest son who snacks on it all the time, and for us to have during hurricane season as emergency food. I don’t know how did without one all these years. I love the beans I dehydrate – I cook them, dehydrate them, and then I have instant beans that rehydrate in seconds. I’d love to have another meat/whatever slicer (mine died years ago and was never replaced) because the mandolin is one nasty, devious tool that nearly took my thumb pad off. I have not picked it up since. Dry onions and garlic on the porch/garage year round or you’ll have a stinky house. I love having the low heat source in the winter inside, too.
This sounds really good and I’d like to try this. I remember reading *somewhere* that putting raw meat in the dehydrator was not safe in terms of bacteria because the units don’t get hot enough to kill it and that meat should be partially cooked first. Is this not really the case?
Thanks!
Dave
I picked up a meat slicer at a garage sale, so I’m all set for jerky heaven! Thanks for posting the recipe.
Wonderful how-to explanation and simple recipe. Is your beef jerkey thin almost like beef chips, crispy like bacon? I got to try home made jerkey that was paper thin! So addicting!! Do you think it would be a 1 setting?
Hi Pauleen, Yes, it’s almost “crispy” beef jerky, which is soooo good. I would go with a 1 setting and see if you can get the meat that thin. I once tried making beef jerky from “shaved” beef that the butcher sells for cheesesteak sandwiches, but that was just a touch too thin and broke apart in the bag.
Can’t find/activate the recipe for jerky.
Hi Ms. Tweetley – Sorry, I didn’t meant to publish that draft yesterday! It’s fixed now. 🙂
Dang! Cliffhanger. where is the recipe…. ?
Sorry, I didn’t meant to publish that draft yesterday! It’s fixed now. 🙂