Pemmican Recipe
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This traditional
It is one of my easy keto recipes that is a long-lasting option for backpacking, hiking, camping and other forms of travel because it won’t spoil, smush or spill. It is also part of my collection of 100% zero carb carnivore diet recipes!
Table of Contents (click to view)
How to Make Pemmican
Simply put, you make
The final combination is long-lasting, nonperishable food.
Traditionally, Native Americans and American fur traders sun-dried the meat and pounded it into a fine powder. Fortunately for us, a blender or food processor can do the job to the same extent but with much less effort on our part.
Ingredients for Pemmican
It doesn’t take much for a good batch of
- Meat, dried and ground
- Salt
- Optional herbs and spices
- Tallow (render beef tallow at home or buy online)
Beef meat and beef tallow are the most common choices, but elk, venison, bison, lamb, and mutton are other options.
I have another recipe that adds organ meat to pemmican for a nutritional boost.
Instructions for Pemmican
Measure equal parts of meat and fat by weight. We will use 454 g (1 pound) each of meat and tallow in this recipe.
Begin to melt the tallow in an oven-safe container or double boiler over medium-low heat.
Combine the meat, salt, and optional herbs and spices in a bowl.
Check the tallow is not too hot before pouring over the dry material. Combine well.
There should be just enough tallow to moisten all the meat but not make puddles. If the mixture is too crumbly, add more tallow.
Transfer into an 8×8-inch baking dish to set. Then, score into squares and store in an airtight container.
Rolling the mixture in your hands like a meatball and forming small balls is possible.
Silicon chocolate or soap molds and standard or mini muffin-size pans are also useful for forming uniform-shaped pieces.
Would you prefer to purchase
Save the hassle of making pemmican yourself and buy it online from Steadfast Provisions. Their bars are made with ingredients sourced from family-owned grass-fed beef ranches in Oregon, USA.
Use the coupon code PRIMALEDGEHEALTH for 5% off the entire order.
This is the ultimate nutrient-dense adventure or survival food, reliable anytime, anywhere.
- Great taste
- Shelf-stable, grass-fed ingredients
- Convenient portions
- Travel-friendly nutrient-dense food
Make Pemmican with Ground Beef
Ground beef is always in my freezer because I make a lot of carnivore ground beef recipes. I also like using it for
You probably have never had to think about how to make dry, ground meat before. It is understandingly perplexing.
I approach this by taking ground beef and drying it in a food dehydrator.
If you don’t have a dehydrator, dry the meat in an oven. Arrange the meat in an even layer on a cookie sheet and dry at the lowest temperature (155°F / 70°C). Once the top is dry to the touch, flip over to expose the second side.
Tips for drying meat
Ground beef is a suitable choice for
- Six pounds of fresh meat makes one pound of dry meat powder.
- Use raw meat. Nothing is cooked before drying.
- Powderize with a blender, food processor, or mortar and pestle.
If you choose sirloin or something similar, cut it into thin slices and dry it in a food dehydrator or oven.
The meat dries in about 12 hours in a food dehydrator, flipping once halfway through the time. Oven-dried meat will take less time, about 2 hours per side. Keep an eye on it and adjust as needed.
Is pemmican keto?
Pemmican is approved for the keto diet. It is a low-carb, high-fat food. Each serving is 50% tallow and 50% meat by weight.
Pemmican will last indefinitely if made correctly. Tallow is shelf-stable at room temperature. There is no risk of spoilage because all water content is removed from the fat and meat. This is an excellent survival food and for backpacking trips, as well as hiking and camping. Pack it in your bag with the best water bottle and you’ll be good to go.
Pemmican macros
This recipe can be divided into 8, 16, or 32 servings, depending on what is most helpful for you.
With 16 servings, each piece is 50 grams.
There are 388 calories per piece, with 28 g of fat and 34 g of protein. This is almost a 1:1 ratio of fat to protein.
Carbs are negligible here, coming only from the small amount of added herbs and spices.
If you desire more fat, increase the ratio accordingly. Once the meat reaches its saturation point, the tallow will settle on the top of the
Carnivore pemmican recipe
Make a zero fiber, zero carb
Follow the same recipe below, but don’t add any herbs or spice seasonings.
Take a flip through The
How do you make pemmican taste good?
The value of adding optional herbs and spices is to allow for a variety of flavors and enhance the taste and texture. All types of seasoning blends work well in
I favor Mesquite Seasoning because it is a robust combination of paprika, onion, garlic, cumin, mesquite, chili pepper, and other flavors. Herbs De Provence is another favorite of mine.
Any seasoning that pairs well with meat will make the
Some blends to try are
- Mesquite Seasoning
- Herbs de Provence
- Garlic or Lemon Pepper
- Cajun Seasoning
- Italian Seasoning
- Grilling Herbs
- Mexican Seasoning
You can find all these and more at my favorite place for organic herbs, teas, and essential oils, Mountain Rose Herbs. Read my Mountain Rose Herbs review of their product, quality control, and sustainable business practices to learn why I highly recommend them.
Dried fruit and honey are sometimes used to sweeten
Pemmican Recipe
Ingredients
- 454 grams dry, ground meat
- 1 tablespoon salt
- 2 tablespoons herbs and spices optional
- 454 grams beef tallow melted
Instructions
- Melt the tallow in an oven-safe container or double boiler over medium-low heat. At 350 °F/175° C, it takes about 10 minutes in the oven454 grams beef tallow
- Combine the meat, salt, and optional herbs and spices in a bowl.454 grams dry, ground meat, 1 tablespoon salt, 2 tablespoons herbs and spices
- Once the tallow is melted, but not too hot, pour over the dry material and combine well. There should be just enough tallow to moisten all the meat but not make puddles. If the fat does not completely incorporate the dry meat, add a little more. Mix well.
- Transfer into an 8×8-inch baking dish to set. Then score into squares and store in an airtight container.
Notes
Nutrition & Macros
To obtain the most accurate representation of the nutritional information in a given recipe, please calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients and amounts used, using your preferred nutrition calculator. Under no circumstances shall the this website and the author be responsible for any loss or damage resulting for your reliance on the given nutritional information.
Recommended Products
Save the hassle of making pemmican yourself and buy it online from Steadfast Provisions. Their bars are made with ingredients sourced from family-owned grass-fed beef ranches in Oregon, USA.
Use the coupon code PRIMALEDGEHEALTH for 5% off the entire order.
This is the ultimate nutrient-dense adventure or survival food, reliable anytime, anywhere.
- Great taste
- Shelf-stable, grass-fed ingredients
- Convenient portions
- Travel-friendly nutrient-dense food
As featured in 12 Pemmican Recipes: Legendary Keto Survival Food
Check out Healthy Snack Recipes for Weight Loss for more keto-friendly snack recipes.
Thank you for posting this recipe. I have been contemplating doing a four or five day hike in Peru to the famous ruins. I hesitated because I would be joining a group led hike. They cook for you, all three meals a day, but it is very carb heavy. I was trying to figure out a way to do this and still be carnivore. I was concerned about stomach upset if I had to eat what they cooked. Tummy upset on a trail with limited bathroom options is a bad idea! This looks like it would really work! Thank again for the posting.
Taking that hike with an upset stomach would not be fun! We know many people who use pemmican for long-hikes and hunting trips with only good benefits. I hope it helps you! Think of us in Ecuador! We are just a few hours north of the Peruvian border 🙂
Ah, the color of the bar is incredible – makes you want to make it as soon as possible. I just can’t wait!
I hope you do! It’s a very cool food to know about.
Love this idea, thank you!
I hope it comes in handy for you one day. Thanks for stopping by Tawnie.
I loved the flavors in this bar! The pictures of the chef were a great touch 😉
Haha, glad you enjoyed them! She’s a mini me for sure!
Hi I’m making a batch now, what temperature do you set your dehydrator? Also why is there no worry about food borne illness since the meat is raw?
Hi Chris, I use the meat setting which is 155F/68C. Dehydrating the meat removes the water content and preserves the meat so it is safe to eat. I hope your batch comes out well!
Is the tallow hydrogenated or non-hydrogenated?
Tallow is non-hydrogenated animal fat.
I love the idea of making this. It seems fairly easy and a great way to make something to take backpacking that we know exactly what it is in it. Thanks!
Our friends bring it on sheep hunts and they say it is better than any other option. Very lightweight and calorically dense.
This will be a great food to bring for camping trips. Will definitely be giving this a try.
It’s a very utilitarian survival food! Enjoy 🙂
So are there 16 total servings at 50g each? It says ‘8 servings’ at the top of the recipe, then 50g per serving in the nutritional info.
Thank you for pointing this out Paul. I’ve updated the recipe post and recipe card to make it more clear.
Cool, thanks that makes more sense. One other thing though – if there’s 28g fat and 34g protein wouldn’t the serving be 62g? I’m making a bunch of this stuff right now so I’m just trying to make sure I got the numbers right.
Want to make this dish for backwoods canoeing trips. Thanks. I’m looking forward to it!
It would be great for canoeing especially because the boat could tip and the pemmican will survive 😉 It’s virtually water proof. Have a good trip!
How about a fruit based pemmican for all us fruitarians huh, are you fruit(r)acist not adding that?! Jokes aside having had fruitarianism kill my teeth, now mostly carnivorous, looking to my local nature not that much animal fat is available calorie wise in the wild(i prefer wild foods), however berries moreso, so im thinking like 50/50 berries to meat with maybe a…. 10-20 of that 50 meat being fat, mirroring what i could actually forage and hunt here in midsweden over a year… any references to books or resources on these subjects? Looking for all and any information regarding pemmican making and actual native diets of different climates, preferably wild ones. I google on, peace be with you all!
I’ve never added fruit to the pemmican. It would just take a bit of experimentation to discover the ratios you enjoy. I have added honey (which is amazing). I always use 50/50 fat/dry meat by weight and add in enough honey to taste while also keeping an eye on the texture. Don’t want it to get too sticky. I find with this recipe, it’s really a process rather than an exact science.
Andreas
Have a read of Arctic explorer and anthropologist Vilhjamur Stefansson’s great book, The Fat of the Land, which has several chapters on the history of pemmican and why it has to have at least 50% animal fat to be the nutritional powerhouse it is. The book is free to read and download on several sites including zerocarbzen.com
I want to clarify something that may be confusing to people. At top of recipe it says to use 400gm tallow and 400gm dried meat for 8 servings, which comes to 100gm per serving. However in the nutrition box at the bottom of recipe it states serving size at 50gm. Each serving contains 50% tallow and 50% meat so a single serving contains 25gm of each which is approx 489 kcal (225 kcal tallow + 264 kcal 90/10 ground beef). Therefore 1 lb of pemmican provides approx 4,430 kcal (1 lb = 453gm). I can’t think of anything that comes close to the nutrition and caloric density of pemmican, especially as a long term survival food. Please correct me if I’m wrong. I use a 6:1 ratio of raw meat to dried meat for calculation.
Thanks for this clarification Robert! It can get a little confusing with all the metrics of measurment involved. You are correct to use a 6:1 ratio.
What do you recommend as the best way to grind the dried meat into a powder?
Blender for sure. I’ve also learned to dry ground meat rather than strips of meat. I think it is even easier to powderize.
My son is leaving to walk the AT next week. Saw this and plan to make some to send with his other packages going out. You say is good for at least two weeks. If we ship in air tight packaging, week it be good for a little longer?
So cool! Yes – in an airtight container = longer storage. I’ve stored pemmican for a long time… two months I think was the longest. It usually gets eaten up pretty quick. You should be good! My favorite is eating it with avocado and sauerkraut. Hard cheeses and canned sardines are also great foods for long backpack trips. I hope he has a great time!
How much Pemmican is needed per day to sustain an adult in moderate activity?
Depends 😉
Sounds great! Working on my first batch.. Wondering what temp I should set the dehydrated at for drying raw ground beef and organ meat?
I set mine at the meat setting, 155 F/68 C
This recipe looks great for my husband who travels a lot. My question is, do I cook the meat then dry it? Or dry it raw?
Thanks, love your recipes!
We put in the dehydrator raw ,no need to precook it
Looking for keto recipes for hiking foods suitable for multi-day hikes. This looks great!
Pemmican would surely be a good choice. We’d love to hear how it works for you.