I've made jerky only once so far, and it wasn't exactly a success. I tried rabbit as it's already lean, but the flavoring recipe wasn't the best. Just haven't gotten around to trying again.

I don't care for black pepper which seems to be the main ingredient in commercial jerky, which is why I want to make my own. Salty is good, peppery isn't.

An alternative to jerky is Epic bars. The pork versions are 0 carb, the chicken is 1g, but pretty spicy.

I am currently making some venison jerky. All I use is ground venison and salt and put it in my dehydrator. You could flavor it any way you want but I'm fine with just plain venison and salt. Venison also is a low fat meat. US Wellness Meats sells plain beef jerky (beef and sea salt)

Jean

Just a wild suggestion, try BILTONG, this is our locally dried meat. Just dried meat. Maybe you will find something.

I'd love to try it, but if I remember correctly, it has to be dried hanging in a special box - which I don't have. Or can it be made lying flat in a dehydrator? I know of someone online who has done it with ribeye sliced thin. Since she wasn't saving it for later, she left the fat on.

Come to think of it, if you freeze the jerky, you could leave the fat on it. That would be tasty!

I have a "jerky gun" that forms ground meat into strips. I don't like pepper or fake "smoke" flavouring/chemicals or waiting a long time for soggy meat to dry out thoroughly, so I just mix whatever dry herbs & spices I'm in the mood for + salt and sometimes a tsp or two of Worcestershire sauce into the ground meat and shoot the strips onto my dehydrator trays. You can choose seasonings based on Mexican, Italian, Indian, or whatever recipes you like. I use a total of 1-2 Tbsp of dried herbs & spices per pound of ground meat.

That sounds absolutely amazing. So so jealous.

This must be an old thread because I saw i was still a perky jerky fan when I posted. They added more sugar to an already sugary jerky, so I ditched them.
I'm now an epic bar fan all the way.

I also occasionally but the VT farms sticks, which are 1g each. I love the ancho turkey and the honey mustard, which surprisingly is just 1 carb.

I'll have to look for those. Thanks for the tip!

It's not zero carb, but Troyer brand it's by far the lowest I've found. 2 carbs per serving and 0 sugar. It also happens to be the most delicious jerky I've ever had. They don't sell it many places, but there's a gas station in my small hometown that has it. Otherwise, they do sell it online. It's expensive, but worth it. Because of the price, I only eat it for an on the go snack or sneak into the movie theatre and the like. 😉 troyerscountrymarket.com

I have seen them in whole foods, as well as the organic/health food aisle of Giant. They are almost always on sale for 4 for $5, which I think is a pretty good deal

I just choose not to sweat the few carbs in the jerky and beef sticks I snack on. I seldom if ever have more than 1 serving in a day (4 beef sticks, 3 total grams carbos), and after the strict induction period 3 grams of carbs should not push you out of the zone.

But as others have said, making jerky is relatively easy, and made easier if you spend around $100 for a jerky drier (using the oven to dry is a pain). By beef on sale, slice thin, put on low/no carb coating/marinade, dry, store in refrigerator/freezer.

Mission Meats graze sticks original, can be gotten via amazon. Paleo friendly, no crap added, 1 gm carb per 1 oz. stick.
I've also used Nick's Sticks grass fed plain beef in the past.

I am in the UK and I noticed that Pepperami have brought out a beef Pepperami and it's really low in carbs

I'm going to have to take back my recommendation of Epic meat bars. The Uncured Bacon now has sugar in it & went from 0 carbs to 7. The Pulled Pork is still 2, & at least one other - which is OK - but the rest are 7 & above.

They're still good for those who aren't very lc, but not for me. And besides, they put black pepper in most of them - not my favorite flavor.

After I decided I wanted to use jerky a lot, I read up on and and invested in a dehydrator. It's not hard to make, and you control what the marinade is (so you control the sugar...or no sugar!). It's cheaper than buying jerky (not hugely cheaper, but cheaper). I was surprised at what a pound of beef shrank down into when it became jerky! I'm still experimenting with recipes, but I'm pretty happy with what I make. I'm not playing around with a lot of different meats...just sticking mainly to beef.