Maple Salmon Jerky

Beyond being a convenient and delicious snack for those long drive days on the road trip, jerky was a fantastic, nutrient-dense snack for us to bring out on the hiking trails on our camping trips this summer. It was a nice, low carb, “clean”, and delicious alternative to protein bars.

Knowing how much we’d be going though, I came up with all kinds of great options to keep it interesting.

Personally, I love basically everything about homemade jerky, and can’t see ever buying retail again. These tasty treats are super easy to make, and a great way to avoid any undesirable ingredients you may be looking to avoid.

Need it gluten free? Use GF ingredients - you’ve got control over any cross contamination, and know it’s safe! Can’t have nightshades? Leave em out. Avoiding artificial colors is easy, too!

When it comes to wild salmon jerky, there are additional benefits.

The omega-3 fatty acids alone have a host of benefits, not the least of which is being great for brain health.

Always a good thing - and a small part of the reason we eat so much salmon in general!

It’s also a good-to-great source of various types of vitamin b.

A 3.5 oz serving of wild salmon provides more than 100% f the daily recommended amount of Vitamin B12, as well as pretty hefty amounts of Niacin (63%), Vitamin B6 (56%), Riboflavin (38%), Pantothenic acid (38%), and Thiamine (23%), along with a decent hit of Folic acid, at 7% of the daily recommended value.

Anyway, beyond the health benefits, it just tastes great! If you’re a fan of salmon and jerky - separately - you should definitely try combining them!

Let’s look at how to do it:

Equipment

There are two specialized pieces of equipment that I use for making jerky, beyond basics like spoons, bowls, and measuring cups... but you’ll only need one of them for this recipe:

A Food Dehydrator

While you can apparently make salmon jerky in a regular home oven, I’m not a fan of running one for hours on end.

I’ve had food dehydrators before - the basic kinds with no time or temperature controls, - and I’d always been too nervous to try making jerky in them. I need more control over - and knowledge of - the drying process, when meat is concerned.

I’ve since upgraded to a Cosori 6 Tray Food Dehydrator, and LOVE it.

It was only like $200 Canadian, and it’s paid for itself MANY times over, between all the Maple Cinnamon Apple Chips and jerkies I’ve been making!

Think of it this way - The same size of beef jerky that I tend to make goes for about $4 in a gas station. I get about 10-15 strips out of a batch - let’s average that out to 12.

That’s $48 worth of jerky, for $8 or less. Make 5 batches, that’s your $200 in savings!

... and that’s not even looking at a specialty jerky, like salmon jerky. The retail price on that is always much higher than beef jerky.

Anyway, we’re using a dehydrator a LOT more, now that we have a nice one. Having the control over the temperature really opens up the possibilities.

Ingredients

This recipe uses a few easy to find, natural ingredients, and a couple of more specialty ones. I have some ingredient notes for you:

Salmon

When making jerkies - or anything that you want a long life out of - it’s especially important to use high-quality ingredients.

I’ll usually buy fresh salmon fillets - Atlantic Salmon usually, now... Alaskan Salmon when I was in the USA.

Wild-caught salmon is usually best, but if wild caught isn’t available, you can usually get some decent farmed salmon - just check reviews whenever possible.

Salmon is easiest to cut when partially frozen, so keep that in mind when buying.

I like to buy fresh and freeze it for a few minutes before slicing - I just find it easier to time freezing from raw, rather than thawing a frozen salmon portion to the *perfect* time to cut it.

That said, feel free to use fresh or frozen, as long as it’s good quality!

Maple Syrup

I use a bit of Pure Maple Syrup in this recipe, as I love the way maple tastes with salmon.

Aim for the darkest maple syrup you can get - it has a great taste, more concentrated than other grades.

Please, please don’t substitute pancake or corn syrup, it is NOT the same thing.

If maple syrup isn’t your thing, you can use the same amount of brown sugar (packed!), or birch syrup instead.

Soy Sauce, or Soy-Adjacent Sauce

I developed this recipe using Coconut Aminos, which is what I use for myself - it’s gluten free and paleo/AIP friendly.

Tamari is another gluten free option (USUALLY GF, anyway!), or you could use plain old Soy Sauce.

I do find regular soy sauce to be saltier than Coconut Aminos, though. For best results, I recommend using low sodium soy sauce, if possible - otherwise, you might want to cut back the salt (regular, NOT the curing salt) amount. You don’t want TOO much salt!

Whichever you use, it brings some umami - savory flavor - to the salmon jerky.

Liquid Smoke

I used to hate the flavour of Liquid Smoke - and anything that used it for an artificial smoke flavour - but making jerky DEFINITELY made a believer of me.

A little - I use Hickory Flavoured Liquid Smoke - goes a long way to making any homemade jerky taste like jerky .

Prague Powder

Prague Powder is one of a few different curing salts out on the market, and is basically the gold standard for making any kind of jerky.

I use Prague Powder #1 Cure, same as I use for my Montreal Smoked Meat Recipe, Back Bacon Recipe, Homemade Corned Beef Recipe, and Peameal Bacon Recipe.

It’s a bright pink curing salt that’s a mixture of salt and sodium nitrite. It’s commonly used in cured meats, and is what gives the jerky its characteristic red colour.

Beyond appearance, it also contributes to giving dehydrated meat that iconic jerky flavor, AND helps ensure that your jerky will be safe to eat for a long time. It prevents the growth of bacteria, during and after the drying process.

Chemical hampering of bacteria growth is not the only way to extend the shelf life - more on that in the recipe itself - but between the food safety, the flavour, and the colour... I always use it when making jerky.

Just note two things:

1. Prague Powder is NOT the same thing as Himalayan pink salt!

2. Prague cure is only to be used in small amounts for curing meats, and should never be consumed as-is. The measurements are important - if you want a saltier jerky, add some regular salt, rather than increasing the curing salt.

Everything Else

Rounding out this recipe, you will need:

Garlic Powder
Onion Powder
Lemon Juice
Salt

... that’s it - mostly really simple ingredients!

That said, feel free to play with the seasonings to come up with your own original salmon jerky flavors!

Want a bit of hot sauce? Add it to the marinade! Want to toss some sesame seeds in? Go for it.

Pretty much anything you like with baked salmon will work with this recipe - just try to avoid adding fatty / oily ingredients.

How to Make Salmon Jerky

The full recipe is in the printable recipe card at the end of this post, here is the pictorial walk through:

Prepare and Marinate the Salmon

Cut 2 or 3 squares of parchment paper slightly smaller than your dehydrator racks, set aside. (Note: I forgot to use parchment for this batch - it sticks to the wire rack if you don’t use parchment for the first few hours!).

If your salmon is frozen, allow it to thaw slightly. If your salmon is fresh, put it in the freezer for an hour or so. Partially frozen salmon is a LOT easier to cut, than fresh or fully-frozen salmon is!

You can leave the salmon skin on if you like, I prefer to cut it off before preparing the salmon pieces.

Remove any pin bones present - if applicable - before cutting the salmon into long pieces.

Using a very sharp knife, carefully slice your salmon into ¼" thick strips, against the “grain” of the salmon. Aim for uniform thickness across all your strips of salmon, as best you can.

Blot the surface of the salmon with paper towels if there’s excess moisture present, then gently place the salmon slices in a medium Ziplock bag.

Allow to marinate in the fridge for 4-6 hours - no longer.

Make the Salmon Jerky

After marinating, drain the salmon strips in a colander. If you’d like, you can blot extra moisture - I don’t, as that’s wiping away flavour!

Line your dehydrator trays with the cut parchment paper. Lay your salmon strips out onto them - in a single layer -leaving some space in between each piece.

Dehydrate in a food dehydrator at 150 F for 7-9 hours.

Return to the dehydrator and continue dehydrating at 150 F for another 5-7 hours.

Storage

Allow homemade salmon jerky to cool COMPLETELY to room temperature before packaging.

Salmon jerky will keep at room temperature (in a cool dark place) for a week so, or a few weeks in the fridge.

If sealed into an airtight container WITHOUT OXYGEN, it should theoretically be good for a month or so in a cool dark place, a couple months in the fridge, and 6 months or so in the freezer.

Once you open your vacuum sealed bag of salmon jerky, it should be eaten within a couple days - or a week, if put in the fridge after opening.

More Homemade Jerky Recipes

Are you someone who loves a tasty, unique, gourmet jerky? Here are some of my go-to recipes for homemade jerkies!

Basic Ground Beef Jerky
Blueberry Bison Jerky
Buffalo Wing Chicken Jerky
Chipotle Chicken Jerky
Ginger Beef Jerky
Ground Venison Jerky
Honey Garlic Chicken Jerky
Jalapeno Chicken Jerky
Jerk Chicken Jerky
Lingonberry Elk Jerky
Mango Habanero Chicken Jerky
Mushroom Jerky, 2 Ways
Pumpkin Spice Chicken Jerky
Rosemary & Blueberry Beef Jerky
Shawarma Chicken Jerky
Spicy Garlic Chicken Jerky
Spicy Orange Chicken Jerky
Sriracha Chicken Jerky
Tofu Jerky, 2 Ways
Pepperoni Jerky