If someone were to suggest beef jerky to you, the first thing that probably comes to mind would be the thin slices of meat that have been completely dried up and can be found in little packages at the grocery store near you. But, homemade jerky is in a league of its own; for one thing, it often has a far more satisfying flavor.

On the other hand, it’s quite unlikely that your kitchen is equipped with the same high-quality tools that are used by beef jerky makers. Because of this, it could seem strange to some people since homemade jerky, in contrast to store-bought jerky, might be oily and greasy.

So why is your beef jerky oily? Your beef jerky may be oily because you’ve used pieces of beef with too much fat or because it hasn’t been dehydrated for long enough.

But, oily jerky does not necessarily have to be bad jerky, and if you are concerned about the oil, it is simple to remove it in some fashion if you so choose. In addition, there is no doubt that there is a way to stop anything like that from occurring again. How? That is what we are going to learn through reading this post!

Why is my beef jerky greasy?

Pieces of lean beef are dried and then reconstituted into a product known as beef jerky. The beef is cooked during this process, and the great majority of its moisture is extracted, which is what gives jerky its well-known inherent capacity to not become rancid without any further care being taken on its part.

Hence, the most typical reason why your jerky is oily is that it has not been subjected to the process of dehydration for a sufficient amount of time.

There’s also the possibility that you used an excessive amount of beef with a high fat content when you made your jerky.

Is beef jerky supposed to be greasy?

Having said that, though, there are some varieties of beef jerky that are purposefully designed to have a greasier texture than others. The reason for this is because the capacity of the jerky to remain edible on its own is no longer necessary in this day and age given that it can be stored in freezers.

Jerky fans may thus afford to leave extra moisture in the jerky while it is being dehydrated, or even use fattier cuts of beef right from the start. Several individuals report that this results in an improvement in the flavor of the jerky.

So, there is no need for you to take care of the jerky if you like it to be oily and wet. But if you find that it is too oily for your taste or if you would prefer that it not be oily at all, you shouldn’t be concerned since there are a few techniques to get rid of the oil.

How do you keep your jerky from sweating?

There are two primary reasons why your jerky is sweating; the one that is much simpler to address is the fact that you did not allow your jerky to cool down to the temperature of the surrounding environment before vacuum sealing the bag.

If that isn’t the reason why your jerky is sweating, then you have a more complicated issue on your hands, which means that your jerky has an excessive amount of moisture and grease.

We’ll get into how to remedy that relatively soon, but before we do, we want to make sure you remember that moist jerky doesn’t have any basic issues that need to be addressed. It may not appear very appetizing, but as long as you like the flavor and keep in mind how to properly preserve the greasy jerky, everything will be OK.

How do you remove fat from beef jerky?

There are two primary approaches that you may use if you are certain that you do not want your jerky to have a greasy texture. The first method, which is also the simplest, is to ensure that you only use very lean cuts of meat while you are preparing it in this manner.

But what if you’ve already created jerky out of the fattier cuts of the meat? You might give the jerky further cycles of dehydration until the fat has been completely removed from it. If the meat you chose did not include an excessive amount of fat, this method should be successful; but, if it did, you will need to accept the fact that the jerky will be greasy.

Summary

It is more common than you would expect for jerky to be oily or greasy, and some individuals really like their jerky to be prepared in this manner. They do this on purpose in order to utilize more of the beef’s fatty portions and to finish the dehydration process sooner than is typical.

If you do not want your jerky to be greasy, simply do the opposite of what you would normally do. First, make sure that you choose beef that is as lean as possible, and then be patient and let it dehydrate for a sufficient amount of time.

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