 

How To Make Biltong At Home

 Share  Tweet  Pin  Mail  SMS

An easy recipe and directions for making

delicious South African Biltong at home.
The high quality organic biltong in this article was made at home and took about 15 minutes
of preparation time  and cost less than $15! Ideally you will have a biltong machine that you
can hang the biltong in. Read here on how to make your own biltong machine.

A dehydrator can also be used if you have one with a low-temperature setting. Read here for
a comparison of biltong made in a biltong box vs a dehydrator.  We have also reviewed and
rated a selection of dehydrators. 

Directions for making your own biltong

Ingredients:
– 2 lbs good beef cut (or venison if you have available)
– White distilled vinegar
– Worcestershire Sauce (optional)
– 2 tablespoons coarse sea salt (more or less to personal taste)
– 2 tablespoon ground black pepper (more or less to personal
taste)
– 4 tablespoons of ground coriander powder
– 1/4 cup of whole coriander seeds (these will be roasted in a pan
Biltong Recipe Info Graphic
then crushed and applied just before drying and also after cutting
the nished biltong)
– 2 tablespoons of raw brown sugar (optional)
– other optional ingredients: paprika, cayenne pepper or peri-peri spice (for spicier biltong –
not much needed..), crushed dry garlic, any other herbs and spices that you want to
experiment with.

Alternatively, you can just buy pre-made Biltong spice seasoning directly on Amazon.

Start with a cut of good beef that is suitable for making biltong. We recommend cuts including
bottom round (called silverside in South Africa) and sirloin. We have used approx. 2 lbs of
sirloin in this example. You can do as much as 5 lbs or more if you have a larger biltong box or
dehydrator.

The recipe is easily scaled for a larger batch. I believe that good cuts of beef, all-natural (raised
without antibiotics or added hormones, non GMOs) – even better all grass-fed – makes the
tastiest biltong, “bleddie lekker” as a South African would say! See this article for more
information on what beef cuts and grades to use to make biltong. 
1. Cut the beef into at strips of about 1 inch deep by 2 inches wide. Cut the strips with the
grain and if possible (and desired) leave a thin strip of the fat on one side. The fat will dry out
nicely and add to the taste.

Note – if you like larger pieces of biltong you can do leave the cuts up to 4 inches wide by 1
inch deep.

2. Mix 3/4 white vinegar and 1/4 Worcestershire Sauce into a large at dish deep enough to
cover the meat strips. Lay the strips in the vinegar mix for 2-4 hours to absorb and begin the
curing process.

When nished this initial curing remove the strips and squeeze and pat dry. You can keep the
vinegar/water mix for rinsing the strips later (see below).

3. Mix the spices (excluding the ground coriander seeds) and layer onto the bottom of a dish
or plastic container that is large enough to lay the meat at. Stack the spiced strips on top of
each other with a layer of spices in between each.  

Press spices into the strips. Set aside to cure for 6 – 24 hours. The longer you leave it the
more the meat will absorb the salt, pepper, coriander – i.e. if you prefer a more natural taste
then leave the meat in the spices for less time.  We left this batch for approx. 6 hours.
4. Remove the spiced strips from the dish and rinse in the vinegar/water mix from 2 above.
Most of the spices on the outside of the meat should rinse o . Squeeze or pat dry.  Leave
more or less of the spices to your taste.
5. OPTIONAL – add cracked coriander seeds. We believe this makes the best, most authentic
biltong but is certainly not necessary. Lay the meat down and apply the coarse ground
coriander seeds to the outside of the meat in su cient quantity to stick to the strips.

If you slightly roast the coriander seeds in a pan before crushing them this releases the
additional avor of the seeds. You can also put the seeds into the microwave for 20-30
seconds to cook them slightly.

Crush the seeds into halves or quarters in a small mortar bowl so you end up with pieces that
will stick nicely to the meat. Alternatively, you can put the seeds in a pepper or spice grinder
that is set to grind very coarse.

6. Apply hooks to one end of the strips. We have just bent open metal paper clips for the
hooks but you can also buy a pack of 10 professional stainless steel butcher hooks for less
than $10. Hang in your biltong box or dehydrator.

Depending on the thickness of the biltong, drying method, climate, and taste preference it
should take from 3-6 days for the biltong to be ready for eating. During this time you can
gently pinch the pieces to check for dryness and/or cut o pieces to sample to check for
readiness.
7.  Remove from your Biltong box once done to your liking.  This “small” batch I removed after
3 days and was slightly wet inside. Store biltong in the fridge, especially in warm climates.
 Never store in a plastic bag unless vacuum sealed. Refer to this article for more information
on proper storage of biltong. 

This batch of biltong cost less

than $15 to make and the total
actual preparation time (i.e. other
than drying time) was only 20
minutes

How to make Biltong

Sticks (Stokkies or
Snap-Sticks)
An alternative to making larger
pieces of biltong that need to be
sliced (as described in the article
above), biltong snap sticks
(biltong stokkies) are quicker to
make and very convenient for
taking with you to sports events,
traveling, gol ng, etc.

The meat is cut into thinner strips and you do not need to soak in vinegar or brine in the
spices for as long as the larger pieces. In addition, the drying time is signi cantly less and
these are very suitable for drying in a dehydrator or even very low-temperature oven with the
 door cracked
a few inches.

Steps to make
biltong snap
sticks

Cut the
strips
into
about
a 1/2
inch
wide,
soak in
vinegar
/Worce
stershi
re for
about
an hour, squeeze dry and brine in your salt/pepper/coriander/sugar spice mix
for about 4 hours or longer).

Rinse some of the spices o then place the meat into your biltong box or
dehydrator.

You can also use your oven, set at the lowest temperature (usually around 170
degrees Fahrenheit) with the door cracked open an inch to allow air ow.

The biltong sticks take less time to dry so check their progress at regular
intervals and take the sticks out when they are dry (can bend but not break – i.e.
not too brittle).

We use an Excalibur dehydrator at a low-temperature setting of 130. Depending

on the width of the sticks it takes from 6-12 hours. Using your oven can be as
quick as 4 hours.

A nice option if you like spicy food is to make chili bites / snapsticks (AKA peri-peri biltong
stokkies). See this article for more details on making chili bites / snapsticks.

Categories: All About Biltong

Tags: biltong, dry wors, healthy, jerky, make at home, organic, paleo, recipe, south african
Previous Post
 The Best Dehydrator For Making Jerky And
Biltong

8 responses