How to Step Cook Beef Jerky for Improved Yields and Consistency

The popularity of beef jerky is at an all-time high.

According to research done by the Simmons National Customer Survey (NHCS) in 2019 and the U.S. Census, approximately 50% of the U.S. population, which is nearly 160 million people, eat meat snacks and beef jerky regularly.

Americans love their beef jerky! So much so that, according to data from IRI, dollar sales of jerky increased 18.2% year-over-year at the start of 2021¹. Compare that to last year, the category had only grown about 1% year-over-year².

This increased growth has put a lot of pressure on processors to improve yields and consistency in order to compete for those dollars.

Improving Beef Jerky Yields & Consistency

The best way to improve yields and consistency in your beef jerky product starts with your cook cycle.

How you slice your jerky, how you space it on the racks, and the cooking recipe you use all matter. Get those wrong, and your product won’t cook evenly — which results in some jerky being darker and dryer and some jerky being lighter and moister in the same batch.

Achieving consistent yields and coloring on every screen in the oven is possible if you follow these tips.

Consistent Slices

When slicing your whole muscle or ground and formed jerky, the consistency of your slice matters.

You want to make sure your slicer is producing accurate and consistent slice thickness every time.

It’s why we recommend slicing your jerky with a circular blade industrial slicer. The consistency in slice thickness is far better than slicing by hand or by a deli-style slicer.

Any inconsistency in the thickness will ultimately affect the cook cycle — resulting in thicker jerky taking longer to cook while the thinner slices cook too quickly.

Loading the Oven

How you load your jerky into your oven also plays a huge role in improving yields and consistency.

We broke down the science of how to load your oven in this post, so we won’t regurgitate it here. Just make sure you’re following these basic tips:

• Fully load the oven, even if the trucks aren’t fully loaded. It helps with airflow.
• Keep trucks 12″ from the oven walls and 6-8″ away from each other (in double-wide ovens)
• Keep product a minimum of 12″ from the oven floor
• Fully load the truck, if possible, but don’t overload
• Evenly space product over every truck
• Avoid large, empty areas in the oven

Practice Step Cooking

Step cooking is the process of slowly increasing the cooking temperature over a period of time to retain purge. Rather than starting the cooking process at 180°F, start the process at 140°F and work up to 180°F over the course of a few hours.

Step cooking prevents beef from giving up outside moisture too quickly and retains a greater amount of purge.

Sample Cooking Recipes

Below are sample cooking recipes our meat scientists put together. Use these as a starting point and adjust as necessary to get the results you want.

Ground & Formed Jerky, 5mm Thick, Traditional Smoke

Sliced Whole Muscle, 5mm Thick, Traditional Smoke

Ground & Formed Jerky, 5mm Thick, Liquid Smoke

Sliced Whole Muscle, 5MM Thick, Liquid Smoke

Make Better Jerky

Still struggling to improve yields and consistency in your jerky process? Our team is happy to consult with you to help dial in your operation and improve your processes. Simply request a quote today and we’ll get you on the path to making better jerky.

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¹ IRI POS Syndicated Data, MULO+C, 52 weeks ending 5/30/2021

² IRI POS Syndicated Data, MULO+C, 52 weeks ending 6/28/2020