Sunday Stove

The Best Food Dehydrators for Jerky

Beef or venison jerky that dries evenly from the top tray to the bottom, finished with a short bake in a 275°F oven.

By Nell Harlan · Updated Oct 19, 202642 dehydrators compared

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Jerky strips on the top shelf dry at the same pace as the ones near the bottom in the Cosori Premium, and that's why it's the dehydrator to get. Its fan sits at the back and pushes warm air straight across six steel shelves, and it heats to 165°F, enough for jerky with room to spare. It costs about $147, and its trays take up to 7.7 pounds of food at once.

The round Snackmaster is the cheaper way in at about $81, and it takes extra trays later if jerky turns into a habit. For a deer going into the freezer this fall, the ten-tray Excalibur holds more than twice what the Cosori does. Whichever you pick, plan on heating the strips to 160°F, before drying or after it (strips no thicker than 1/4 inch get 10 minutes in a 275°F oven once they're dry). The details are under How to choose.

Our picks

Best overallCosori Premium Food DehydratorCheck price on Amazon
Best under $100Nesco Snackmaster Pro FD-75ACheck price on Amazon
Best for big batchesExcalibur Performance Series 10-TrayCheck price on Amazon
Most power for the priceLEM MightyBite 6-Tray DehydratorCheck price on Amazon
Best under $50Cosori Compact Food DehydratorCheck price on Amazon

At a glance

  1. 1.Cosori Premium Food Dehydratorabout $147
    Best for
    Most jerky makers
    Max heat
    165°F
    Trays
    6 trays, 6.5 sq ft
    Warranty
    2 years, registered
  2. 2.Nesco Snackmaster Pro FD-75Aabout $81
    Best for
    A first dehydrator that can grow
    Max heat
    160°F
    Trays
    5 trays, up to 12
    Warranty
    1 year
  3. 3.Excalibur Performance Series 10-Trayabout $380
    Best for
    Deer season and big batches
    Max heat
    165°F
    Trays
    10 trays, 16 sq ft
    Warranty
    3 years
  4. 4.LEM MightyBite 6-Tray Dehydratorabout $140
    Best for
    First-timers who want every step spelled out
    Max heat
    167°F
    Trays
    6 trays, 7 sq ft
    Warranty
    2 years
  5. 5.Cosori Compact Food Dehydratorabout $50
    Best for
    Small kitchens, small batches
    Max heat
    165°F
    Trays
    5 trays
    Warranty
    2 years, registered

The 5 dehydrators, ranked

1 · Best overall
Cosori Premium Food Dehydrator

Cosori Premium Food Dehydrator

Six stainless trays, and all six go in the dishwasher.

$159.99as of 5:17 AM ET
Check price on Amazon
Buy it if

You make jerky every few weeks, a few pounds at a time, and you'd like to load it, close the door and walk away.

Skip it if

A whole deer goes into jerky at once in your house. Six shelves would mean batch after batch, so look at the Excalibur.

Even from top to bottom

Backpackingchef, a trail-cooking site, ran this exact model with sauce spread on all six trays (135°F, eleven and a half hours), and every tray came out at the same 39 grams without being moved once.

You set the temperature one degree at a time on a touch panel, from 95°F to 165°F, and the timer runs up to 48 hours before the machine turns itself off. The steel case gets hot to the touch above 145°F, the back panel most of all, so give it a few inches of space and set it on a surface that can take the heat. Register it with Cosori and the warranty runs two years.

What owners report

The quiet is what owners bring up first, four of them on a single store page, and it has been measured at about 46 decibels. Deer meat goes through one owner's machine and about 4 1/2 pounds of beef per batch through another's, while a third simply calls it an easy jerky maker. Small pieces are its weak spot: they stick to the wire shelves or drop between them, two owners say, and the mesh screen in the box doesn't cover the whole tray.

Flaws but not dealbreakers
  • Pressing Stop to check on things wipes the timer back to zero.
  • Only one mesh screen and one fruit sheet come in the box. For ground-meat jerky or small bits, buy a few more. Extra sheets also take the pulp from a slow juicer, which dries into crackers.
On the counter

13.4 inches wide, 17.8 deep and 12.4 tall. The door swings open at the front, so leave room for it.

600 wattsRear fan48-hour timerUnder 48 dB
2
Nesco Snackmaster Pro FD-75A
Best under $100

Nesco Snackmaster Pro FD-75A

About $81, with a sample of jerky seasoning in the box.

about $81Check price on Amazon
Buy it if

You're making your first batches, you want to stay under $100, and you'd rather add trays before deer season than buy a bigger machine.

Skip it if

You want it to switch itself off. There's no timer and no power switch: it runs until you pull the plug.

Read the full write-up

This is the classic round jerky dehydrator, with the fan and the 600-watt heater in the lid, blowing down through five stacked trays. Nesco sells extra ones, and the stack goes up to twelve. It's made in the USA; only the motor unit comes from China, Nesco says.

At full heat it can run a little under the mark on its dial. One owner's probe read 152°F with the knob turned to 160°F, which is still hot enough to dry strips you've heated first. The strips nearest the fan finish first, and a longtime owner who has made jerky in hers since 2012 swaps the top trays with the bottom ones partway through.

The trays and the base go on the top rack of the dishwasher. If you're after ground-meat jerky, I'd buy the bundle that comes with Nesco's Jerky Works gun.

Flaws but not dealbreakers
  • You'll hear the fan, a steady hum.
  • To check the middle trays, you lift off the ones above them.
  • The warranty is one year.
600 wattsTop fan13.5 in round traysMade in USA
3
Excalibur Performance Series 10-Tray
Best for big batches

Excalibur Performance Series 10-Tray

Sixteen square feet of drying space on ten steel trays.

$379.99as of 5:17 AM ETCheck price on Amazon
Buy it if

You hunt, or you buy brisket flats by the case, and you want one load instead of three.

Skip it if

It would have to live on your counter. It's big and heavy, so plan on a shelf in the pantry or the garage.

Read the full write-up

Ten stainless shelves slide in behind a door that drops down and tucks under the machine, and an 800-watt heater blows air across them at anything from 85°F to 165°F, for up to 80 hours. Taste of Home made it its pick for big batches, and jerky took 4 hours there at 155°F.

Excalibur's own jerky method is short: lean meat with all the fat trimmed, strips about an inch wide, 155°F for 4 to 6 hours, and blot off the fat as it beads up. The manual also suggests turning the trays halfway through, even though the listing says you don't have to. I'd do it for the first few batches and see.

Excalibur backs it with a three-year warranty. If $50 matters more to you than steel shelves, the Select Series 10-tray is the same size and power with chrome trays and a 60-hour timer.

Flaws but not dealbreakers
  • The most expensive one here, by a lot.
  • Wash the trays by hand. Excalibur's manual says yes and no to the dishwasher on the same page.
Size

20.7 inches deep, 17.3 wide and 15.75 tall, and about 27 pounds.

800 wattsStainless trays80-hour timerDrop-down door
4
LEM MightyBite 6-Tray Dehydrator
Most power for the price

LEM MightyBite 6-Tray Dehydrator

An 800-watt heater behind a rear fan, for about $140.

$139.99as of 5:17 AM ETCheck price on Amazon
Buy it if

You're new to jerky and like having every step written down, from the cure to the last check.

Skip it if

You want to set the heat to the exact degree. This one moves in 2-degree steps.

Read the full write-up

The manual is the reason I'd hand this one to a beginner. It asks for curing salt, sends the meat into the oven until an instant-read thermometer says 160°F (165°F for poultry), and only then into the dehydrator, held at 145°F to 158°F. Flip the strips after 2 hours and start checking at 3 to 4. Beef and venison take about 3 to 4 hours at 145°F to 150°F.

The six trays are big, 14.65 by 11.7 inches with quarter-inch holes, and they go in the dishwasher along with the drip tray. The timer runs up to 24 hours.

Fill out the warranty card and mail it in with your receipt. That's what gets you two years instead of 90 days.

Flaws but not dealbreakers
  • Nothing comes in the box but the trays and the drip tray. Seasoning and cure are extra.
  • If one side dries faster, LEM's fix is turning the trays around, so look in at the halfway mark.
Size

19.1 inches deep, 14.2 wide, 11.7 tall, and 15.6 pounds. A 10-tray version sells for about $35 more.

800 wattsRear fan24-hour timerSee-through door
5
Cosori Compact Food Dehydrator
Best under $50

Cosori Compact Food Dehydrator

About $50, and it still heats to 165°F.

$49.99as of 5:17 AM ETCheck price on Amazon
Buy it if

You live in an apartment, you make a pound or two of jerky at a time, and the machine has to go back in a cupboard afterward.

Skip it if

You're feeding a hunting camp. Each tray holds about a pound.

Read the full write-up

It's 12 by 12 inches and 9 tall, five plastic trays stacked on a 350-watt base, and you twist the trays to set them farther apart when the strips are thick. The temperature moves a degree at a time, the timer runs to 48 hours, and the trays go on the top rack of the dishwasher.

There's an air opening in the middle of the base that isn't covered, so pat the marinade off the strips before they go in, or it drips down there. If it ever overheats, it shuts off for good and you call Cosori. The warranty runs two years once you register it.

Flaws but not dealbreakers
  • 350 watts, the least power here.
  • Marinade that dries on overnight is stubborn. Soak the trays for ten minutes in hot soapy water first.
350 wattsAdjustable tray height48-hour timer12 x 12 x 9 in

Who this is for

Anyone who wants to make jerky more than a couple of times a year. If it's once a year, try your oven first: Ohio State says to keep it between 145°F and 170°F, and you already have one.

How to choose

Fan in the back, or on top

A fan at the back blows across every shelf, so the shelves dry evenly without much fuss. Round stacked models blow down from the lid or up from the base, and you'll be swapping trays partway through. They cost less and can grow, though.

Size it to your batches

Six trays suit a few pounds of jerky every few weeks. A whole deer, or a case of brisket, calls for ten.

A timer saves you a 2 a.m. alarm

Jerky takes hours, and an automatic shutoff means you can go to bed with a batch still drying.

Plan on heating the meat

Ohio State University Extension says the USDA Meat and Poultry Hotline recommends heating the strips to an internal 160°F (165°F for poultry) before drying, as the safest option, and that heating them after drying also works. The National Center for Home Food Preservation gives two ways to do it: boil the strips in their marinade in a heavy saucepan for 5 minutes, then drain and dry them, or put the finished jerky (no thicker than 1/4 inch) in a 275°F oven for 10 minutes, laid flat on a rimmed sheet pan so the drips stay off the oven floor. LEM, which sells jerky seasoning and cure, says most dehydrators don't reach those temperatures on their own, so its manual has you use the oven first. The dehydrator itself needs to reach at least 145°F, Ohio State says, and all five here go higher: 160°F for the Nesco, 165°F for both Cosoris and the Excalibur, 167°F for the LEM. Excalibur says its 155°F setting brings the meat to 160°F, and Nesco's manual only asks you to cook pork and poultry first, not beef. I'd heat it first with any of them.

What I'd skip

MEAT! Your Maker 10-Tray

It's Outdoor Life's favorite for jerky (venison and apples done in 4 hours 15 minutes at 149°F), though heavy and bulky. MEAT! sells a 10-tray on its own site for about $340, not on Amazon. The MEAT! dehydrator you'll find on Amazon is a 6-tray at about $360, more than the Cosori Premium costs for the same number of trays.

Nesco Gardenmaster Digital Pro FD-1040

Treeline Review's top pick, with 1,000 watts in the lid and a digital thermostat up to 160°F. It's loud, though, and at about $112 for the bundles on Amazon I'd move up to the Cosori Premium.

Magic Mill Pro 7-Tray

Stainless inside and out, a rear fan, and a top setting that Magic Mill puts at 176°F, for about $150. It's less proven than the Cosori Premium, which costs the same.

Hamilton Beach Digital Food Dehydrator

About $60 for five stacked trays, a timer, and a top of 160°F with the heat coming from the base. The Cosori Compact costs less and goes to 165°F.

Presto Dehydro

About $55, but you can't adjust the temperature. Not what I'd buy for jerky.

How I picked

Reaches 160°F or moreAdjustable temperatureFive to ten trays$50 to $380Warranty from 1 to 3 yearsSold on Amazon US

These five came out of 42 dehydrators, from $50 stackers to a $380 ten-tray cabinet. The sauce run on the Cosori comes from Backpackingchef, a trail-cooking site, and the jerky advice follows the USDA, Ohio State University Extension and the National Center for Home Food Preservation. Prices are Amazon's on October 9, 2026.

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Common questions

What temperature should I set my dehydrator to for jerky?

Between 145°F and 158°F, once the meat has been heated to 160°F. LEM dries at 145°F to 158°F and Excalibur at 155°F.

How long does it take to make jerky in a dehydrator?

LEM puts beef at 3 to 4 hours at 145°F to 150°F, and Excalibur says 4 to 6 hours at 155°F. The National Center for Home Food Preservation's own method dries at 140°F, and strips that weren't heated in their marinade can take 10 to 24 hours that way. It's done when a cooled piece cracks as you bend it but doesn't snap in two.

Do I need to flip jerky in a dehydrator?

LEM says to flip the strips after 2 hours, which is also a good moment to blot off any fat.

Do home dehydrators use a lot of electricity?

Less than you might think. These five run from 350 to 800 watts, so even a 600-watt machine on full power for a 6-hour batch uses at most 3.6 kilowatt-hours.

How long does homemade jerky keep?

Two weeks at room temperature in a sealed container, or three to six months in the fridge, says Ohio State University Extension. Freeze it if you want it to last longer.

The verdict

The Cosori Premium, or the Excalibur for a deer

Beef jerky for the house: the Cosori Premium, about $147. A whole season's venison: the Excalibur, whose ten trays are worth the extra money.

Check price on Amazon$159.99 as of 5:17 AM ET

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