I have a deep freeze filled with tongues, heart, and liver, wondering what to do with it all. I actually am fine with tongue and heart. Those can slice up into a nice appetizer and be a crowd pleaser. Liver is a little more complicated. I made a lot of liver and onions when I was the dinner chef in a retirement care center. I tried to like liver and just never really developed a taste for that minerally flavor. So, I decided to make jerky. I figured turning liver into an easy to grab snack, might encourage my family to eat it.
I do not have a dehydrator at this time, so I used my oven.
Homemade Grass-fed Beef Liver Jerky with Oven
- 4 lbs grass-fed liver
- 4 tablespoons Salt
- 1 tablespoon black Pepper
- 1 tablespoon Garlic powder
- 4 cups apple cider Vinegar
- 2 tablespoons Hot red pepper flakes
- 1 teaspoon White pepper
- 1 tablespoon Ground ginger
Rinse liver in cold water. Pat dry on paper towel. Slice liver into strips. Place in a pan of water and bring to a boil for three minutes. Remove liver strips. Dry your liver strips with a paper towel again. Lay them on your cutting board and gently pound them with a mallet until just under a quarter inch thickness. Place the strips in a dish like a cake pan. Mix all the other ingredients together and pour over the liver. Marinate in fridge for at least 12 hours, 24 hours is better.
Pull out liver strips and pat dry on paper towels. You don’t want any extra moisture.
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Lay the liver strips on the parchment in a thin layer. Leaf a tiny bit of space between each strip to give it some breathing room.
Preheat your oven on its lost setting. Hopefully this is 170°F, but 200° isn’t the end of the world. Place baking sheet in over on lowest setting for 5-7 hours, depending on temperature and liver thickness. You want it DRY. About half way through the drying time, flip each piece over. If it doesn’t get dry enough in the center, it can go rancid.
Our liver jerky took the full seven hours.
I you suspect your jerky still has too much moisture, you will want to store it in the fridge and eat it within a few weeks.
A word of warning? Dehydrating a food intensifies the flavor. So, if you already don’t really like that food, you probably won’t like it as jerky. I still don’t like liver as jerky, even with all the flavoring added. However, my husband thought it was fine.
If you want, you can leave out the spices and just use the same technique to make it into dog treats.
I have made this recipe several times and we all love it. Thank you for giving me a way to actually enjoy beef liver!
I’m wondering about the boiling? I see some recipes that do and some that don’t. Is it a necessary step? What’s the reasoning?
Otherwise love this recipe, thank you!
hi Teanna,
It is mostly for personal preference. Boiling it or soaking it over night in salt water can pull out some of the blood and bile. Since liver is already a bit funky tasting, some people like to reduce the funk.
Granted, jerky intensifies the flavor of anything, so I am not sure it really makes much difference!
I have even heard of people soaking it in Coca-Cola before making jerky.
-Steph
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