I once bought a dehydrator at a garage sale and it sat in my hallway closet for about 6 months before I finally put it to some use to make this duck jerky recipe. Let me tell you, it was delicious!
Jerky is one of those snacks that you only buy on roadtrips or special occasions. Why? Well….it’s usually pricey and most people would rather grab a $2 bag of chips instead. The problem with that is jerky has a WAY better nutrition value and will keep you full for longer.
If only there was a way that you could make your own jerky at home…..for cheaper than what you could buy in the store? Oh wait….there is!!
Reader…please meet one of the most useful tools in the kitchen: the dehydrator. Now, I know there are definitely better dehydrators out there (and by better I mean more efficient) but they usually have a heftier price tag. I happened to stumble upon this NESCO dehydrator at a local garage sale for $40 (which at the time I thought was too expensive to be spending at a garage sale) but I knew I would put it to good use.
Here in Louisiana we have a lot of duck hunters. My husband is a huge duck hunter. He absolutely loves it. Over the past couple of years, we’ve cooked everything from basic grilled duck to duck bombs (swoon my favorite). We are always looking for new recipes to try so we whipped out one of our cookbooks and came across a duck jerky recipe. “Mmm, now that sounds good”. So after doing some additional research on the Tube (aka YouTube), we decided to give it go.
I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as we did!
Duck Jerky
Equipment
- 1 Dehydrator
Ingredients
- 8 duck breasts Make sure no skin or fat attached
- 1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
- 1/3 cup worcestershire
- 1/4 cup liquid smoke
- 2 tbsp sea salt
- 1 tbsp black pepper
- 1 tsp cayenne
- 1 tbsp garlic powder
- 1 tbsp red chili flakes
Instructions
- Mix apple cider vinegar, worcestershire, liquidsmoke, salt, pepper, cayenne, garlic powder, and red chili flakes in a bowl.
- Add your sliced duck breasts to the bowl of marinade
- Cover and place in the fridge for 24-48 hours
- After marinating for 24-48 hours, take your duck slices out of the marinade and place on a paper towel to eliminate some of the juices.
- Add duck slices to dehydrator – make sure to space them out and do not overcrowd the trays
- Dehydrate for 4-6 hours at 160 degrees F
- Store in the fridge in a sealed container for up to 2 weeks or vacuum seal and keep in the freezer for up to a year
After I take the jerky out of the dehydrator, I place it on a paper towel and pat it down to make sure it’s as dry as possible. Then into storage it goes. As I said in the recipe above, you can store it in the fridge in a sealed container for up to 2 weeks or in the freezer for up to 1 year. I personally like to vacuum seal everything and stick in the freezer.
Tip: You can tell when they’re finished because they aren’t squishy when poked. You want them to feel tough – like the beef jerky you get from the store.
How easy is that!!
Now I’m dreaming of all the things I can dehydrate – herbs, fruit, vegetables, beef, salmon…. the list goes on and on.
Am I a homesteader yet?!
Cheers
**P.S. The feature image was taken by an awesome photographer: Alex Bayev
Check out his website at https://bayevskitchen.com