Homemade Pepperoni Recipe

Name: Homemade Pepperoni Recipe
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 8 h
Total time: 8 h 20 min
Yield: 2 rolls
Cuisine: Keto
Ingredients: 2 teaspoons ground black pepper or 3peppercorns*; 2 teaspoons fennel seeds; 1 teaspoon dried red pepper or 1of dried pepper flakes; 2 teaspoons mustard seed; 1 teaspoon garlic powder; 2 teaspoons salt; 2 pounds very lean beef; 2 1/2 teaspoons liquid smoke; 2 teaspoons honey

Preservative Free, Paleo, and Affordable with a Whole30 update

If you’re looking for a simple, preservative-free recipe for homemade sausage that tastes a lot like pepperoni this Homemade Pepperoni Recipe may be JUST the recipe for you.

Bonus?

It’s Clean Eating friendly, Paleo, Gluten-Free, and Allergy Friendly. And I’ve even added some notes about Whole30 as well.

This Homemade Pepperoni Recipe is Keto, Low Carb, Paleo Gluten Free, Preservative Free and Clean Eating and I've even added some notes about Whole30 as well. #whole30 #paleo #lowcarb #homemadepepperoni #pepperonirecipe #pepperoni #howtomakepepperoni

Why Make Homemade Pepperoni?

I’ve meant to make homemade beef pepperoni for quite a while. Why am I making my homemade pepperoni? While we generally enjoy store-bought pepperoni I wanted to know if I could make some using beef because we have a couple of hundred pounds of it in the freezer.

I also wanted to make some without nitrites, a preservative in many modern cured meats. I always love a good challenge, and this one was tasty as well.

Old Fashioned Sausages

My mother used to prepare little beef/moose summer sausages every fall and then smoke them in the smoker. All winter long we would have sliced sausage to eat along with smoked salmon, crackers, and cheese if we happened to get company we’re always prepared.

That sausage also made its way into sandwiches which were particularly tasty and had a pleasant texture, definitely a change from store-bought lunch meat.

While mixing up the meat, I noticed two things

the beef and spices smelled quite a bit like the sausages my mother used to make
it also really did smell like pepperoni you buy from the store

I let the meat cure for two days, then rolled them into two sausages and baked them for 8 hours in a 200˚ oven.

While they don’t taste exactly like the sausages my mother used to make, they are incredibly close, and perhaps the only difference is hers were smoked and mine are baked with smoke flavor added

Uncured Pepperoni for Whole30 or Paleo Pepperoni

This is an Uncured pepperoni, no pink salts, no preservatives of any kind, so you know you should store it in the refrigerator or freezer and just pull out what you need.

If you are on Whole30 simply leave out the sugar or honey, it will change the taste, BUT it will still be awesome.

To replace the liquid smoke use real smoked salt OR smoked paprika OR smoke it in a small smoker. Any of those options will make a smoky sausage without the use of liquid smoke.

If you’re worried about the liquid replacement, then add an equal amount of water. The version listed below is already Paleo so have fun!

Spicy Pepperoni

And of course, you know I made a Spicy Homemade Pepperoni version for my husband. It’s excellent but hot, but I guess that’s the point though.

The nice thing about making it yourself is you can easily modify the heat. But he likes it hot, so I make it for him.

If you like my Homemade Pepperoni Recipes you might like these other recipes as well:

Easy Homemade Ground Beef Jerky

Spicy Hot Homemade Pepperoni

Rose Hip Ketchup

Homemade Sriracha

Bacon Cheeseburger Meatloaf