Making Beef jerky on the Traeger

Meat smoking is all the rage these days, and whether you are an old school wood fire or a Traeger #pellethead like we are,  the process and ceremony of smoking meat is somewhat of an addiction (as we have all witnessed with Joey’s BBQ journey lol!).   So yes, I’ve jumped on the wagon after I bought my husband a Traeger for our anniversary last year and watched from the sidelines while he experimented with briskets, ribs, pork roast, etc.   My first solo experiment was with 5 lbs of bacon…and it was so fabulous that I went out and bought 20 more lbs of pork belly to make a stash!   This week’s experiment was beef jerky.   I wasn’t sure what recipe’s I would like so I tried 2 different ones.   The process was the same just the marinade was different.  The first was a Dr. Pepper/Jalapeno marinade…the second a Terriyaki/Siracha.    At first I thought for sure I was going to love the Terriyaki because it had more ingredients and just seemed more flavorful, but surprisingly everyone liked the Dr. Pepper one.   I think there’s something about the carbonation in the soda that tenderized the meat more.   In any event, it’s an easy process, cut lean meat (I used eye of round but skirt steak or pork tenderloin work well too), marinate 6-24 hrs and depending on the temp your grill smokes at (mine was about 130-140 on smoke) about 4 1/2 hrs on the smoker and done!    Next time I might add some curing salt if I do a big batch so that it will have a longer shelf life.   So go give it a try and enjoy!