We make and eat a lot of venison jerky. It’s our go-to snack for deer stands, duck blinds, turkey hunts, and road trips. But every now and then, we go to the jerky cupboard only to find it empty. Sure, we can spend all day drying out some new jerky in the smoker or dehydrator, but sometimes you need a batch of jerky fast. Enter the air fryer. From start to finish, you can use one to make a batch of jerky in about an hour, or sometimes even less if you slice your venison extra thin.

What happens when you need jerky in a hurry but you realize your are out? Try the air fryer.

Sure, for best flavor, you still need to marinate the jerky overnight before drying, but say you come in from an evening hunt and go to refill the jerky pocket of your backpack (everyone has one of those, right?) and you realize you are slap out. Mix up this quick marinade, refrigerate the meat overnight, then get up an hour or so before you have to head out and put it in the air fryer. You can even go back to bed and catch a few more minutes of shuteye if you want. It’s pretty much a hands-off recipe.

Use this basic marinade recipe or your own favorite.

You can dry the jerky directly on the bottom of your air fryer basket; it will get plenty of air flow around and through the bottom vents, but you can do an even bigger batch if you suspend the jerky from wood or metal skewers. Every air fryer model is going to be different; some have a recessed shelf around the top that is perfect for wooden skewers cut to length. Mine doesn’t, but I’ve found that I can insert flat metal kabab skewers on top of the basket and still shut the air fryer. This method has an additional benefit in the metal skewers slightly venting the basket, allowing the jerky to dry even faster.

Suspending the jerky from skewers allows you to fit more into the small air fryer basket and speeds the drying process.

The marinade for this doesn’t matter. Just use your favorite flavors. A good basic is ¼ cup each of soy sauce, teriyaki sauce, hot sauce, Worcestershire sauce, and honey or brown sugar. To that, add a teaspoon each of black pepper, garlic powder, and onion powder. If you plan to store the jerky unfrozen for more than a few days, you can add just under a half teaspoon of Instacure #1 per two pounds of meat. The rate is a level teaspoon for 5 pounds and you don’t need to add any extra.

Simply slice the venison into thin strips, a quarter inch or less is perfect, add it to a 1 gallon zip style bag and pour in the marinade ingredients. Work the meat around with your hands (outside of the bag) to fully mix the marinade ingredients and evenly coat the meat. From there it goes in the refrigerator overnight.

Slice the venison into thin strips before marinating.

Once you are ready to cook, remove the jerky from the bag, draining off extra marinade. I like to pat the jerky slightly dry with paper towels. From there, thread the meat onto metal or wooden skewers, making sure you have a bit of air space between each piece of jerky for good air flow.

Set your air fryer at 190 degrees for 1 hour. If your jerky is less than ¼ inch thick, start checking for doneness after 45 minutes.

For thin strips, start checking for doneness after about 45 minutes while thicker strips may take a few additional minutes.

If it is ¼ inch or slightly over, check it after 1 hour. If it isn’t fully dry, let it go for an additional 15 minutes and check again.

Air fry until the venison is dried to your desired doneness. I like a bit of bend left in mine.

Is this an efficient way to make a large batch of jerky? Not really, as a big dehydrator or your smoker will hold a lot more meat. But it is a great way to make a small batch in a hurry if you ever find yourself in need.