Salmon Jerky Recipe

This salmon jerky recipe is salty, smoky, and satisfying. Perfect for on-the-go snacks!

This time of year is perfect for jerky making. Whether it’s because you’re a hunter, and this is when you’re processing your meat, or because you’re a homesteader, and this is when you aren’t processing summer produce, or you just want to make jerky because you can.

We love making deer jerky and find that our deer jerky marinade can be used pretty universally with a variety of meats such as beef and even pork.

Ingredients for making salmon jerky

But while you can use it for salmon, I like to go in a different direction and keep it super simple, keeping the sweetness light and ensuring plenty of liquid smoke.

• Skin-on salmon fillet. Keeping the skin on ensures you’re getting all the nutrition from the omega-three-rich salmon skin, as well as helps keep the jerky from breaking apart (more on that later)
• Soy sauce or liquid aminos – not only does it add flavor, but the salt content acts as a preservative
• Maple syrup for a light, woody sweetness. You can replace wit with honey or brown sugar, or a bit of molasses with sugar.
• Liquid smoke as a flavor enhancer
• Salt and a flavor and preservative
• Black pepper, as another flavor enhancer
• Optional: while I don’t personally use it, a lot of people like to add a bit of lemon juice to their salmon jerky recipe. 

Tips for making perfect salmon jerky

First, always use salmon that has been frozen before making jerky. This helps kill any potential parasites that could be present in the fish. This is especially important if you are not buying sushi-grade fish. Together with marinating and drying, this extra precaution helps make your salmon jerky safe to consume. 

As I mentioned above, it’s a good idea to keep the skin on your salmon, both for nutrition purposes and more practically, because it makes things easier.

Salmon is very tender and likes to fall apart as you handle it.

You can combat this in two ways:

One, cut with the grain. This way, your layers will be long and not as likely to fall apart as you handle them. The drawback is that your jerky will be more challenging to chew when dried.

Alternatively, you can cut it against the grain with the skin still attached. The skin helps hold the flesh together and generally makes handling easier.

Notes on Salmon Jerky

If you’ve made jerky with other meats, this is very similar, but there are some differences in the final product, namely, that salmon is more oily than beef or deer. I find this to be true regardless of whether I’ve perfectly trimmed my beef or not.

For this reason, I like to store it in glass jars rather than plastic as it can make the plastic bag greasy. However, this is probably a moot point if you’re vacuum-sealing it in single-use bags.

The only other jerky with the same oily level I’ve made is bacon jerky.

You probably won’t have luck grinding salmon to use a jerky shooter. Even though it’s oily, it lacks cohesiveness and wants to fall apart too much as you squeeze it out of the jerky press.

How to make salmon jerky

1. Thaw salmon and lay skin-side-down on a cutting board. 
2. Pat salmon dry with paper towels if needed, and make sure all pin bones are removed.
3. Slice into roughly 1/2×1 inch strips against the grain.
   
4. Transfer strips of salmon to a large bowl and set aside.
5. Combine the marinade ingredients (soy sauce, maple syrup, liquid smoke, salt, and pepper) in a bowl and pour over the jerky.
   
6. Gently toss to fully combine.
7. Cover salmon, and refrigerate for several hours, or overnight.
   
8. Remove the salmon from the refrigerator, and drain the marinade
9. Lay marinated salmon strips on dehydrator trays or a wire rack on top of a jelly roll pan or baking sheet (to catch drips)
   
10. Set the dehydrator to 165º, and dehydrate for about 6 hours until the jerky is completely dry
11. Alternatively, heat the oven to the lowest setting, propping the door open if the heat is too high (a lot of ovens don’t go lower than 185º), and dry jerky in the center of the oven on a wire rack with the jelly roll pan underneath to catch the drip. See how to make jerky in the oven here.
12. When the jerky is completely dry, let it cool, then store it in an airtight container out of direct light. Remember that while the meat is preserved, the oil may go rancid (times vary depending on the source). Therefore, I prefer to store my salmon jerky in the refrigerator.
    

More Jerky Recipes for you

• Alligator Jerky Recipe
• Bacon Jerky Recipe
• Teriyaki Deer Jerky
• Pork Jerky Recipe
• Spicy Beef Jerky

 

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