Machaca is a traditionally dried meat from northern Mexico, usually spiced beef or pork, that is rehydrated and used in local cooking there and in the southwestern United States. As Serious Eats describes it, slices or strips of beef are typically seasoned with ingredients like salt and garlic, then dried in the desert sun until the meat looks and tastes like jerky. What makes it machaca is the next step: the dried meat is pounded or crushed until it breaks into small, fluffy pieces.

Those shreds can be folded into scrambled eggs for machacado con huevos, simmered in a braise, or cooked with tomatoes and onions as a burrito filling. In parts of the Southwest and Sonora, carne seca is another name for machaca. We also wrote a guide to carne seca, the dried beef this dish often starts from.

Before it's pounded, machaca can look and taste like jerky. The difference is what happens next, and how people eat it. Jerky is typically a ready-to-eat snack, sold in strips or slabs and eaten out of the bag. Machaca is dried meat that is shredded into fluffy pieces and usually cooked into a meal.

That doesn't make one better than the other. It just means they belong in different kitchens. If you want something to grab and go, jerky is the snack we actually make. If you came here looking for machaca to cook with eggs or tuck into a burrito, we don't sell that, and we won't pretend a bag of jerky is the same thing.

For a dried beef snack, start with our Beef Jerky collection. For the dried beef behind many machaca dishes, see our carne seca guide.

Soft and Tender Fajita is made with lime juice, tamari, cilantro, and paprika. Green Chile is a New Mexican favorite with fire-roasted green chiles. Tequila Lime is made with real tequila and lime, and Sweet Chipotle Adobo is a sweet and spicy All-Natural flavor. For a drier, tougher chew, see Old Fashioned Style Beef Jerky. You can also browse all of our beef jerky, plus All-Natural and Soft and Tender styles.