We taste-tested 14 brands of beef jerky you’re likely to find at your local supermarket or online. To find the very best one, we sampled each without knowing which brand was which. Our winner is Jack Link’s Original Beef Jerky, but we also crowned four runners-up.
Every time hunger strikes on a road trip, I reach for the beef jerky I keep stashed in my glove compartment. It’s an excellent snack for long drives and camping trips, but also one I’d happily eat daily, whether that’s at my desk, a picnic, or during a movie. The question is: Which brand is worth buying?
To find the very best beef jerky, our editors sampled 14 different brands that you’re likely to find at your local grocery store or online. In addition to traditional beef jerky, we also included biltong, an air-dried, cured meat with South African origins. We emptied each jerky into a bowl, then sampled them in random order without knowing which was which. After snacking our way through many, many pieces of jerky, we tabulated the results and crowned an overall winner, as well as four worthy contenders that we’d be happy to snack on.
Serious Eats / Amanda Suarez
The Criteria
Great beef jerky should, perhaps unsurprisingly, taste like beef. Each piece should be well-seasoned: smoky, peppery, and savory, with just enough sweetness to round it out. It should be nicely chewy but not gristly, and it should not be excessively soft, tender, or wet. As our editorial director, Daniel, wrote passionately on Slack: “There’s nothing wrong with having to chew beef jerky for a while. In fact, that’s part of a true jerky lover’s pleasure: working the dried beef and slowly having it give way and release its flavor over time.”
Though jerky is a convenient snack, it shouldn’t be a quick one. Each piece should be robust and chewy enough to make downing an entire bag in 30 minutes impossible. Soft jerky may be a gas station staple, but true jerky fans know that’s not what good jerky is supposed to be.
Serious Eats / Amanda Suarez
Overall Winner
Jack Link’s Original Beef Jerky
“Good beefy flavor,” wrote Daniel, who also appreciated its chewiness. Our associate culinary editor, Laila, enjoyed its well-balanced profile: smoky, peppery, and savory, with a hint of sweetness. Our senior social media editor, Kelli, liked that the jerky had “some heft to it,” while our associate visuals director, Amanda, enjoyed its “melty mouthfeel.” Meanwhile, our senior editor, Genevieve, wished it were more balanced and less chewy, but appreciated the kick of spice.
Runners-Up
- 365 by Whole Foods Market Beef Jerky
- Country Archer Original Beef Jerky
- Krave Original Beef Jerky, Sea Salt
- Wegman’s Beef Jerky
Though none of the beef jerkies were quite as delicious as our winner, our editors still thought the four runners-up above were solid options.
Best Jerky for Gas Station Lovers: 365 by Whole Foods Market Beef Jerky
This jerky was an instant crowd-pleaser for many of our tasters. “Sweet with a hint of smokiness,” Laila noted. Amanda also enjoyed its soft texture, noting that it reminded her of a classic gas station pick. Genevieve found it “not too sweet, not too salty, nicely balanced,” a Goldilocks pick. Meanwhile, Kelli enjoyed its balanced flavor but thought it couldn’t stand in for jerky: “Honestly, I wouldn’t know this was jerky unless someone told me. This could easily just be a component of a beef dish at a restaurant.” Daniel agreed, adding that it was much too mushy to pass for good jerky.
Best Jerky for People Who Don’t Like to Chew: Country Archer Original Beef Jerky
If you’re not in the mood to chew, reach for Country Archer Original Beef Jerky. “Just a slight chew, no need to tear and gnaw,” noted Kelli. Similarly, Laila wrote, “Softer than expected with a shreddy pull rather than a firm chew.” Daniel liked the texture less: “It’s over-tenderized for me.” While Kelli, Genevieve, and Amanda praised its smoky and salty flavor, Daniel and Laila thought the overall flavor was just “fine.”
Best Jerky for Hardcore Beef Lovers: Krave Original Sea Salt Beef Jerky
Our editors all found something to love about Krave Original Sea Salt Beef Jerky. “Flavor is great, so beefy…clearly some fat in there delivering extra beef flavor,” wrote Daniel, who also praised the “hefty pieces” with a “real dried jerky bite.” Likewise, Laila enjoyed the jerky’s shreddiness, which made it easy to pull apart. Amanda enjoyed the well-balanced flavor, and Genevieve appreciated its “beef-forward” notes.
Best Jerky for Umami Fans: Wegmans Beef Jerky
Wegmans Beef Jerky was another staff favorite. Laila enjoyed the flavor of “mild pepper and soy sauce notes, with a clear umami presence.” Both Genevieve and Kelli found the texture satisfyingly chewy. Amanda, however, thought it had an uneven texture. If texture doesn’t matter to you as much as rich, savory flavors, then this jerky is for you.
Serious Eats / Amanda Suarez
The Contenders
- 365 by Whole Foods Market Beef Jerky, Original
- Ayoba Traditional Beef Biltong
- Country Archer Provisions Original Beef Jerky
- Kirkland Signature Premium Extra Thick Steak Strips
- Epic Beef Bites, Sea Salt & Pepper
- Good & Gather Beef Jerk
- Jack Link’s Original Beef Jerky
- Kalahari Biltong Air Dried Thinly Sliced Beef, Original
- Krave Original Sea Salt Beef Jerky
- Nature’s Promise Organic Beef Jerky
- Righteous Felon O.G. Hickory Beef Jerky
- Snake River Farms Beef Jerky
- Trader Joe’s Beef Jerky, Original
- Wegmans Beef Jerky, Original
Key Takeaways and Conclusion
Each beef jerky we sampled is made with beef, sugar, salt, and a blend of seasonings. Some brands also include soy sauce, beef stock, Worcestershire sauce, garlic powder, onion powder, and celery powder, ingredients likely added to give their products a more complex savoriness that salt may not deliver on its own. One brand uses wagyu, a premium breed of cattle famous for its rich marbled meat. Many brands contain pineapple juice, which has bromelain, an enzyme in pineapple that can break down and tenderize tough proteins.
Our winner, Jack Link’s Original Beef Jerky, contains just eight ingredients: beef, water, sugar, sea salt, yeast extract, flavors, cultured celery extract, and citric acid. Unlike many of the brands we sampled, it does not contain pineapple juice; it’s likely why our editors found it satisfyingly chewy. It also does not contain liquid smoke, an ingredient that can impart an unpleasant artificial flavor when overused (even though liquid smoke is made from real smoke and not artificial). Many brands probably use this ingredient to recreate the flavor profile of beef jerky made the old-fashioned way: by air- or sun-drying and smoking.
Editors who prefer sweet, tender jerky gravitated toward jerky made with pineapple juice. Many of these options, including two of our runners-up—Country Archer and Wegmans—are soft and easy to chew. Those on our team who are self-described jerky purists, including Daniel, gravitated towards brands without pineapple juice, which struck a happy medium: neither too wet and soft, nor too dry and firm.
Our Testing Methodology
All taste tests are conducted with brands completely hidden and without discussion. Tasters taste samples in random order. For example, taster A may taste sample one first, while taster B will taste sample six first. This is to prevent palate fatigue from unfairly giving any one sample an advantage. Tasters are asked to fill out tasting sheets, ranking the samples according to various criteria. All data is tabulated, and results are calculated with no editorial input to provide the most impartial representation of actual results possible.
