Yesterday I took Nate (the king of jerky) along with me to shop for Jack Link's jerky at Walmart. We went to one of those Walmart Supercenters and MAN, that place was huge! It had a produce section and everything. Talk about your one-stop shopping; That neighborhood is totally spoiled. They can get everything from peaches to fish bait at one store. Anyway, Jerky is the go-to snack in our household. We actually make our own sometimes with a dehydrator and spices like teriyaki, Tabasco and black pepper. We love jerky so much, we even use it in recipes to spice up soups and to top salads, baked potatoes and omelets!
Jack Link's is our favorite jerky because it's extremely flavorful and not too expensive. It comes in flavors like sweet & hot (my personal favorite), teriyaki, jalapeño, hickory, sweet & spicy thai, barbecue and more. A lot of people don't think of jerky as a healthy snack, but it is actually extremely low in fat and carbs and very high in protein.
For most recipes that we use beef jerky in, we chop it up into extremely small pieces and use it in place of bacon bits. It works well baked into corn bread, mixed in pasta salad, whipped into dip and sprinkled over everything from eggs to green beans. These “jerky bits” are an easy way to add flavor to just about any dish, since jerky is heavily spiced. You can also incorporate it into any slow-cooking soup and it will actually rehydrate! Since the jerky softens back up when added to liquid in soup, you can chop it into rather large pieces as opposed to dicing it finely.
Great ideas and I have 125 Slim Jims I won that are too hot to eat. Now I know what to do with them.
I had come across this page because i suddenly had the mind-blowing Idea… to add Jerky to dried beans. My family does a lot of old southern cooking in which smoked meat flavors everything… I don’t buy smoked meat. I rarely buy meat… save the occasional sale on Jerky. As I was noshing away this morning i had the thought to add it to dried beans that I re-hydrate in the slow cooker can be seasoned with Jerky… So I wondered if I was alone in this thought process and here I am! I never thought to replace bacon bits though… hmm… Good post!
I love beef jerky and never attempted to make it at home. You just inspired me.