Pepperoni Jerky - dehydrated pepperoni slices - is a convenient & tasty snack to bring camping. Here's how I make pepperoni more shelf stable.

One thing that gets difficult on camping trips - for me - is trying to keep a supply of road trip friendly, low carb snacks.

My husband isn’t on a keto diet, so he can have every manner of delicious snack he can think of.

Me? I’m a lot more limited by my need to stick to a low carb diet.

Sure, I have plenty of options for great keto snack ideas in general... but the “road trip friendly” can be more limiting.

Recently, I started making what just may be the perfect snack for my needs: dehydrated keto pepperoni chips.

This crispy pepperoni chips recipe picks up where my Pepperoni Chips Recipe leaves off:

Where that keto friendly snack is meant to be served fresh and hot, this pepperoni crisps recipe takes it a step further: After rendering the fat out through baking, the pepperoni slices are dehydrated:

3 pieces of pepperoni. The one on the left is fresh, the middle one baked, and the one on the right is baked and dehydrated. — Fresh Pepperoni, Baked Pepperoni, and Dehydrated Baked Pepperoni.

This extra step makes for low carb pepperoni chips - which are basically zero carbs and absolutely fine for a keto diet - that are crunchy, and even more road trip friendly.

Dehydrating renders them into something more akin to a pepperoni jerky: crunchy snacks that are shelf stable!

It’s the perfect keto snack to toss in plastic baggies for road trips - and camping in general.

It’s also a great low carb snack to keep me on track when my husband whips out every type of potato chip I can think of... and Cheezies... and Masala Munch... and...

Yeah. Having crispy chips of my own on hand, make the whole thing far more tolerable!

Anyway, let me show you how to make this tasty keto snack!

Ingredients

... Well, I guess I mean “Ingredient”, anyway. This tasty snack needs only one ingredient, and you can easily find it in any grocery store:

Pepperoni

You can use any kind of pepperoni you like to snack on, and there are a lot of pepperoni brands to choose from.

The type of pepperoni - especially with regards to its fat content and moisture content - will just have a bit of an effect on your cooking time, that’s about it.

You can use pepperoni sold in the fridge, the more shelf stable varieties, mini pepperoni... you can even buy a log of pepperoni and slice it yourself!

Just aim to keep every slice of pepperoni at a uniform thickness, for the best results!

Supplies and Equipment

Beyond the pepperoni, you will need

At least 1 Large Baking Sheet
Parchment Paper
Paper Towels
Food Dehydrator

How to Make Pepperoni Jerky

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

Preheat oven to 350F, line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.

Arrange pepperoni slices in a single layer - with no overlapping - on the baking sheet.

Bake pepperoni for 8-10 minutes, or until fairly dry with a LOT of fat rendered out. The cooking time will depend on the size and thickness of your sliced pepperoni.

Blot pepperoni with paper towels, removing as much excess grease as possible.

Note: I’ll usually do this in a few passes - one or two rounds of blotting the excess oil while still in the pan. After that, laying the blotted pepperoni out between layers of paper towels, then blotting with another layer of paper towel.

For best results, you want to get as much oil out as possible - both in rendering, and blotting every little bit of oil you can.

Transfer blotted pepperoni slices to a food dehydrator, arranging them in a single layer on the dehydrating trays.

Dehydrate for about 4 hours, or until dried out to a good texture.

Allow to cool top room temperature, then transfer to an airtight container - I use Ziplock baggies - for storage.

Note: The shelf life of these will depend on the pepperoni you start with, and how much fat you can render out and blot off. The less fat remaining, the longer the shelf life.

If you want to be really careful, you can store them in the fridge or freezer until use. I recommend letting them warm to room temperature before serving, for the best taste and texture.

More Homemade Jerky Recipes

Are you someone who loves to bring jerky on road trips, hiking trails, and when camping? Me too! 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
Homemade Salmon 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

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5 from 1 vote

Easy Pepperoni Jerky [Dehydrated Pepperoni Slices]

Pepperoni Jerky - dehydrated pepperoni slices - is a convenient & tasty snack to bring camping. Here's how I make pepperoni more shelf stable.

Prep Time5

Cook Time4 10

Total Time4 15

Course: Appetizer, Snack

Cuisine: American, Italian

Diet: Diabetic, Gluten Free, Low Lactose

Servings: Servings

Calories: 143kcal

Equipment

1 Large Baking Sheet
Parchment Paper
Paper Towels
Food Dehydrator

Ingredients

6 oz Pepperoni Slices You can use as many as you like, the pack I use is 6 oz, and I need to specify amounts for the nutrition calculations!
More Pepperoni! The software doesn't like having a single ingredient. That said, more is definitely better, in this case!

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350F, line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
Arrange pepperoni slices in a single layer - with no overlapping - on the baking sheet.
Bake pepperoni for 8-10 minutes, or until fairly dry with a LOT of fat rendered out.
Blot pepperoni with paper towels, removing as much excess grease as possible.
Note: I’ll usually do this in a few passes - one or two rounds of blotting in the pan.
After that, laying the blotted pepperoni out on a layer of paper towels and blotting with another layer of paper towel.
Transfer blotted pepperoni slices to a food dehydrator, arranging them in a single layer on the dehydrating trays.
Dehydrate for about 4 hours, or until dried out to a good texture.
Allow to cool, then transfer to airtight baggies for storage.

Notes

The shelf life of these will depend on the pepperoni you start with, and how much fat you can render out and blot off. The less fat remaining, the longer the shelf life.

If you want to be really careful, you can store them in the fridge or freezer until use. I recommend letting them warm to room temperature before serving, for the best taste and texture.

Also note: The nutritional information with regards to fat is WAY off. The software doesn't take into account the fact that most of the fat is rendered, blotted off, and discarded. As such, the nutritional values for fat and calories shown are MUCH higher than in reality!

Nutrition

Pepperoni Jerky