Nutrition
| Per 100 g | Per 1 oz (28 g) | |
|---|---|---|
| Energy | 365 kcal | 103 kcal |
| Protein | 53 g | 15 g |
| Fat | 6.1 g | 1.7 g |
| saturated | 1.6 g | 0.5 g |
| Carbohydrate | 20.3 g | 5.8 g |
| sugars | 19.3 g | 5.5 g |
| Fibre | 0.2 g | 0.1 g |
| Sodium | 353 mg | 100 mg |
Estimated from the ingredients, for the finished dried product. Actual values vary with the produce you use and how far you dry it.
Ingredients
- 2.6 kg boneless, skinless chicken breasts, trimmed of all visible fat
- 1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
- 1 cup distilled white vinegar
- 1 cup pineapple juice
- 1/4 cup powdered dehydrated onions
- 16 fresh garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
- 1/4 cup soy sauce
Instructions
- Chicken breast is the leanest thing you can make jerky from and the least forgiving. Take off every trace of fat and every strand of gristle; what is left should be plain white muscle.
- Firm the breasts in the freezer before slicing. A raw chicken breast is soft enough to deform under a knife, and a strip that varies in thickness is a strip that dries unevenly.
- Cut at 6 mm, working across the breast. Keep a separate board for this and wash everything it touches — raw poultry is the one ingredient in this catalogue that has to be handled that way.
- Stir the brown sugar into the vinegar and pineapple juice until it has dissolved, then add the powdered onion, crushed garlic and soy. The sugar is what balances the vinegar; left as grains it never gets the chance.
- Coat the strips and leave them covered in the fridge overnight. Pineapple juice carries an enzyme that breaks protein down, so this is not a marinade to leave for two days — the meat goes woolly.
- Drain the strips well and spread them out with space around each one. Any sugar syrup left clinging will scorch and stick.
- Dehydrate at 71 °C for 7 hours, and do not be tempted to drop the temperature for a softer result. With poultry the setting is doing food-safety work.
- A finished strip bends and does not snap, and cutting one open shows the same matt white all the way through. Anything glossy or translucent in the middle is not done.
- Cool the batch fully, then seal it. Chicken jerky is drier and leaner than beef and keeps well in a jar for a month, but it also picks moisture back up quickly, so it wants a tight lid.
