China Ships Dehyrated Beef to Us to Rehydrate and Sale

I recently came across a jar of dehydrated chicken strips from a batch made several years ago. I sampled it, and am happy to report they were delicious! Proof that shelf life tin can be long, if dehydrated and stored properly (details beneath).

Here's how I brand dehydrated chicken strips:

UPDATED (Safety Guidelines)

Tip: The dehydrator that we utilise is the Excalibur. It will reach the proper temperature for doing this. Many others will not.

Excalibur Food Dehydrator
(view on amzn)

How I Make Dehydrated Chicken Strips

Use Craven Breast

It's amend to utilize chicken breast rather than nighttime meat. That'south considering the dark meat has more fat in it and will spoil more than quickly than the breast meat.

I recently used chicken breast that was even so 'on the os' (because information technology was on sale). I but sliced the meat off the bone with a abrupt pocketknife.

Having a very abrupt pocketknife is important!

Trim All Fat

Of import! The next stride is to trim away all skin and fat from the meat. Why? Because the fatty will get rancid over fourth dimension if you get out it on. Fifty-fifty afterward dehydrating the chicken.

As you can see in the picture show, I just used a cut board, a sharp knife, and kept a basin nearby to throw in the fatty pieces of meat.

I discarded the skin merely saved the fatty pieces of trimmed chicken to melt them separately for immediate consumption by our mini-Dachshund ;) – less waste that way…

Slice Thin 1/4 Inch Strips

I sliced the meat into strips about 1/4-inch thick. If you cut with the grain, the result will be a slightly more than chewy meat. If y'all cut across the grain, the dehydrated outcome will snap easier into minor pieces. Information technology depends what y'all desire.

Tip: If you partially freeze the chicken, information technology is easier to cut the strips to a consistent thickness because information technology's firmer.

Dehydrator Temperature

I and then placed the chicken strips on my dehydrator trays and set the dehydrator temperature to information technology'due south max setting, 165 degrees-F. Lesser temperatures will not be safe. Not all dehydrators can do this.

Prophylactic Guideline Update

Get-go, I've done it this way for awhile without outcome. That is, placing raw chicken strips on trays and dehydrating at the highest temperature setting (165 degrees-F) until done. HOWEVER, some dehydrators don't get hot plenty for meats. Additionally, the USDA has released guidelines for safety in this regard. Hither's the nowadays recommendation:

"Steam or roast meat to 160 °F and poultry to 165 °F equally measured with a food thermometer earlier dehydrating it."

Safety concerns related to E. coli O157:H7 are minimized if the chicken is precooked to 165 °F prior to drying.

Therefore I recommend placing your cut chicken strips in a appropriate blistering pan. Set oven temperature to a depression setting so every bit not to "cook". You simply want to heat the strips up up to at least 165 °F. Then, an oven temp of say, 275 °F (time volition vary depending on your oven and strip thickness). Go ahead and estrus the chicken and periodically check internal meat temperature with a quick-read thermometer until at least 165 °F.

Then you can place on dehydrator trays:

How Long To Dehydrate Chicken

Dehydrate the chicken strips until they at least reach a leathery consistency. Personally I similar to dry them longer until they're very crisp. This way they're drier and they volition final longer.

The dehydrate time will vary quite widely, depending on thickness of the chicken strips, your environmental weather condition, the dehydrator itself, temperature, and how dry that you lot desire them. This could vary anywhere from vi to 12 hours!

Plan on starting this procedure in the forenoon then that you won't run out of fourth dimension before having to call it a night and go to bed…

After the chicken strips have finished dehydrating, I break them up into smaller pieces. This fashion they fit into canning jars which I sealed with a vacuum sealer 'jar sealer' zipper.

How Long Does Dehydrated Chicken Terminal?

Predicting how long dehydrated foods volition terminal is non exact. Why? Considering there are lots of variables including the terminal moisture content, storage temperature, method, oxygen content and more than…

TIP: Shelf life will be significantly longer if foods are dehydrated to crisp and brittle. When they "snap" while breaking. With that said, somewhere between being somewhat pliable and crisp is a preferred doneness for some.

We often shop our diverse dwelling dehydrated foods in canning jars. We vacuum seal them with a Jar Sealer attachment, an accessory for vacuum sealers having an external hose port.

Jar Sealer Kit

Vacuum sealed profoundly enhances the shelf life!
Food Saver Vacuum Sealer
(view on amzn)

[ Read: Things You Can Seal With A Vacuum Sealer ]

Here'due south a picture of a 'canning jar' filled with dehydrated craven strips:

[ Read: four Factors That Affect Dehydrated Nutrient Shelf Life ]

I cannot advise an accurate number for shelf life. I tin tell you that I've eaten well dehydrated chicken strips several years after (stored in vacuum sealed jar in a cool, night environs). Merely yours might just concluding ii months. It's going to depend.

The thing is, It's difficult to exam the actual shelf life considering these things disappear (consumed!) sooner rather than afterwards…

[ Read: Safe Hasty In A Home Dehydrator ]

[ Read: NESCO Dehydrator | A Great Economical Pick ]

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Source: https://modernsurvivalblog.com/survival-kitchen/dehydrate-chicken-strips/

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