Biltong Recipe: How to Make Biltong in a Food Dehydrator

Before you spend 700+ dollars on a biltong maker, you probably already have a much cheaper and more versatile alternative at home: your food dehydrator. You may find instructions on how to make a homemade biltong maker, but if you don’t feel completely safe keeping food near a light bulb in a box, then maybe using your food dehydrator is not only a more economic solution to make biltong, but also a safer one!

How To Make Biltong In A Food Dehydrator

One of the biggest differences between biltong and jerky is the fact that biltong is marinated before it is dried. Which makes step #1:

Creating Your Biltong Marinade

• Take vinegar (start with normal vinegar, and then experiment later with different kinds of vinegar)
• Add in sugar (Again, start with normal sugar, then experiment with brown sugar – and let us know what you thought!)
• Add in 1/2 to 1 teaspoon of Salt and Pepper (based on preference)
• Add in a heaping tablespoon of crushed coriander seeds

Preparing Your Biltong Meat

• We recommend for your first biltong experience to start with London Broil
• While you can absolutely experiment with thicknesses for your biltong jerky, start with biltong that is 1/2 an inch thick
• Cutting off extra fat is a preference
• Add your meat to the marinade, remove the air, make sure the meat is submerged, and refrigerate for 12-24 hours

Dehydrating Your Marinated Biltong

• After you have marinated your biltong meat, it’s now time to use your food dehydrator
• Check the status of the biltong at 8 hours
• You’ll want to set your dehydrator to 140 F (60 C) and dry the meat for about 10 hours
• Some people enjoy their biltong semi-moist on the inside, but we recommend for starters, you aim for dry throughout

We hope you enjoy making biltong – many people say the marinating actually makes the meat taste better than standard jerky! Let us know what you think!