There is no single magic number, and anyone who gives you one to the degree is guessing about your oven. The settings we can be precise about are these: in a dehydrator, 65 degrees for ten to twelve hours; in a domestic oven, its very lowest setting with the door held ajar by a tea towel, which gets you there in a couple of hours; on an AGA, the simmering oven at around 100 degrees, again with a tea towel so the door is closed but not sealed; and in a biltong box, no added heat at all, just room temperature and moving air over several days.
Notice that those temperatures are wildly different and all of them work. That is the real answer to this question, and it is worth understanding why.
Why is there no single correct temperature?
Because drying is a race between two things, and temperature is only one of them. You are trying to get moisture out of the meat faster than anything can take hold in it, and moisture leaves through a combination of warmth and airflow. A cool cabinet with a fan does it slowly over days. A warm oven with the door cracked open does it in a couple of hours. Both end up at the same place: firm, dry beef that bends without snapping.
What you cannot do is turn the heat up and shorten the wait. Past a certain point you stop drying the meat and start cooking it, and if the moisture cannot escape you are steaming it instead. Which is exactly why the tea towel matters more than the dial.
The other reason we hedge: domestic ovens lie. The number on the front is a target, thermostats drift, fan ovens behave differently from conventional ones, and the temperature at the top of the oven is not the temperature at the bottom. Your oven at its lowest setting is not the same as ours, so judge the meat rather than the display.
What temperature should the oven be for biltong?
Set it to its very lowest setting, and check that it is genuinely on and heating rather than just showing a light. Then hang a tea towel between the door and the oven so the door stays ajar.
That tea towel is doing the temperature control that your oven's dial cannot. It drops the temperature a little, and it lets the moist air out instead of trapping it around the meat. At the slightly higher heat of a typical lowest setting, biltong may be done closer to the two hour mark, so check it early on your first batch rather than trusting a timer.
The method in our biltong making kit is built around exactly this: marinate the beef in cider vinegar and the spice blend, hang or lay out the strips, and give it a couple of hours in the oven. No drying box needed.
What about a dehydrator?
This is the one setting we can hand you as a number, because a dehydrator holds a temperature properly and moves air across the trays by design. Follow the recipe as written for the marinade and the slicing, then lay or hang the strips in the dehydrator at 65 degrees for ten to twelve hours, until they are dried right through.
It is much slower than the oven, and it is also almost entirely unattended, which is the trade. A dehydrator is arguably the ideal tool for the job if you happen to own one.
And an AGA or a biltong box?
On an AGA, use the simmering oven, which sits around 100 degrees, with a tea towel between the door and the oven so it is closed but not sealed. It will likely finish faster than a conventional oven, closer to two hours, so check as you go.
A biltong box goes the other way entirely: no heat, just room temperature and a fan keeping air moving past the hanging strips, over days rather than hours. It is the traditional approach, and the long slow dry is part of its appeal. It is also equipment you do not need in order to make biltong, which is why our method does not assume one.
How do you judge it without a thermometer?
By touch, and it is more reliable than any temperature reading. Biltong is done when it is firm and dry to the touch, and at medium it should bend without snapping. Beyond that, how dry you take it is a matter of taste: softer and moister at one end, drier and firmer at the other.
- Too dry or tough? Slice thinner next time, cut across the grain, and reduce the drying time.
- Still too moist or soft? Dry it longer. It should be firm and leathery, not wet, and properly dried meat keeps much better.
- Uneven results? Uneven slices. Popping the beef in the freezer for half an hour before slicing makes thin, even strips far easier to cut.
- Greasy patches? Fat does not dry well, so trim it off and start with the leanest beef you can find.
Once it is dried to your liking, keep it in an airtight container. Well-dried biltong keeps for a couple of weeks, and refrigerating it extends that. A batch that still feels moist will not keep as long, so eat that one sooner.
Is drying at a low temperature safe?
Yes, when you do the rest of it properly: fresh lean beef, sliced thin, marinated as the recipe says and dried thoroughly. In biltong, the salt in the seasoning and the cider vinegar in the marinade are both helping to preserve the meat alongside the drying itself, which is why the vinegar is in there and not just for the flavour. There is no cure in our biltong or jerky kits at all, just the seasonings and the vinegar.
If in doubt at the end, dry it a little longer. Under-dried is the failure mode worth avoiding, and it is completely fixable by putting the strips back for another stretch.
Biltong temperature FAQs
What temperature should biltong be dried at in a dehydrator?
Set the dehydrator to 65 degrees and give the strips ten to twelve hours, until they are dried right through. Lay them on the trays or hang them, following the recipe as written for the marinade and slicing.
What oven setting should I use for biltong?
The very lowest setting your oven has, with a tea towel hung between the door and the oven so the door stays ajar. That lowers the temperature slightly and lets moisture escape, and the batch may be ready closer to the two hour mark.
Can biltong be dried without any heat at all?
Yes, that is what a biltong box does: strips hang at room temperature with a fan moving air past them, drying over several days rather than hours. It takes equipment and patience, and it is not necessary for a good batch.
Why does my oven door need to be open?
To let the moist air out. If the moisture cannot escape you are steaming the meat rather than drying it, and the gap also brings the temperature of a too-hot oven down a little.
How do I know when biltong is dry enough?
It should be firm and dry to the touch and bend without snapping at medium. Drier and firmer or softer and moister is down to taste, and you get there by drying it for longer or stopping sooner.
Fancy trying it with an oven you already own? The biltong kit sits alongside the rest of our meat making kits.
