The Best Sugar-Free Beef Jerkies To Snack on, Reviewed
If you look at the ingredient list of most beef jerkies, you might be surprised to see sugar listed as the second or third ingredient of most options, and that includes flavored jerky, like teriyaki or hickory smoked, as well as organic beef jerky options. In fact, many jerkies even use multiple types of sugar (think regular sugar, brown sugar, molasses, cane sugar, or some combination thereof) and typically feature a lot more of the stuff than salt despite most jerky flavor profiles tending be be salty.
Avoiding excess sugar can improve cardiovascular health, help you lose weight, keep your teeth healthier, and give you more energy during the day and better sleep at night. So must you then give up on your beloved beef jerky? Why of course not, not when so many purveyors of fine jerked meat have dropped the sugar from some of their offerings.
Ah, but what does sugar-free beef jerky taste like? Pretty damn good, if you stick with the brands we tried out and talk about below. Yes, it’s often a bit saltier and a bit drier than what you might be used to, but that doesn’t mean it’s not a great snack — just a bit different. And unlike with other sugar-free products like sodas or gum, there’s not an addition like aspartame, so there are no off flavors. Why, you might even come to prefer sugar-free jerky taste-wise, and health-wise, it’s the way to go.
Here are seven to try.
Country Archer Zero Sugar Spicy Sesame Garlic
There’s so much flavor going on in this jerky that you won’t even have time to miss the sugar. It’s not overly spicy, but the stuff has plenty of zest thanks to other ingredients like apple cider vinegar, ginger root, and organic chickpea miso, just to name a few.
