What are the differences between homemade beef jerky and store-bought beef jerky?
There are a few key differences between DIY and store-bought jerky that you should consider. First of all, you can fully customize homemade beef jerky to fit your tastes and preferences. You can create jerky flavors that you cannot find in the stores when you use different combinations of meats and plant foods.
For example, feel free to substitute the ingredients in this recipe with your favorite nuts and dried fruits. Cherries, cranberries, pecans, and pistachios all sound like great ways to add more flavor to jerky. I have a turkey and apple jerky bar that you may also like (see my Ground Turkey Jerky Recipe).
Second, when you make your own keto-friendly beef jerky, you can create something that fits a variety of medically prescribed diets (not just low carb). If you need low sodium jerky or jerky that is gluten free, you can customize this recipe to meet your needs.
Most store-bought beef jerkys are extremely high in sodium, but it’s easy to cut back on salt when you DIY. For this recipe, just skip the soy sauce and choose a different liver pate recipe than I did. (The bacon in the pate I used in this Epic bar copycat drives the sodium up.)
By the way, you can make this into Paleo beef jerky by swapping the soy sauce for coconut aminos. Paleo is not a formally prescribed medical nutrition therapy but I thought I’d throw that out there.
Third, as mentioned earlier, you may save money when you make your own. Finally, for the environmentally minded, homemade jerky may use less plastic packaging than jerky bought in the store.
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