About Portillo's Artisan Jerky
Forget the Chicago hot-dog chain; this Portillo's is a border-town jerky maker, and the two have nothing to do with each other. Portillo's Artisan Jerky is based in El Paso, Texas, on George Dieter Drive on the city's east side. The brand describes what it makes as carne seca, the thin, dried beef of northern Mexico, rather than conventional American jerky. Its home base is El Barril Snack Bar, which bills itself as the home of Portillo's Artisan Beef Jerky and serves it alongside clamatos and beer. The brand sells the same bags online through its own site in small, medium and large sizes, plus a sampler of every flavor. The site describes the product as 100% beef, sliced by hand, seasoned and inspected piece by piece, and made in El Paso.
What makes Portillo's Artisan Jerky different
The ingredient lists are about as short as jerky gets. The brand's Original flavor lists a single ingredient beyond the beef: salt. Salt and Pepper and Lemon Pepper each list exactly what their names say, Jalapeño adds spices and fresh jalapeños, and Todo Terreno builds on seasoned salt, spices and a blend of chiles. There is no marinade, sweetener or smoke flavoring anywhere on the site. The other signature is what rides along in the bag: every pouch ships with a packet of Valentina Mexican hot sauce and the brand's own special sauce, because carne seca in El Paso is meant to be doused, not eaten dry. The site does not publish heat ratings or name the cut of beef it uses.
Portillo's Artisan Jerky flavors we carry
Everything here is thin-cut El Paso beef carne seca in the 1.6-ounce medium bag. If you want the beef to do the talking, start with the salt-only Original or the pepper-forward beef jerky styles, where cracked pepper or lemon pepper is the whole seasoning. For heat, the brand leans on real chiles rather than extracts: the jalapeño beef jerky lists fresh jalapeños, and Todo Terreno, the name means "all terrain," brings a blend of chiles that El Barril's own menu calls the spiciest it offers. If you shop by heat level, browse our wider spicy beef jerky and original beef jerky collections alongside it, or see the full beef jerky range. Everything currently in stock is in the grid above.
Who it's for
This is jerky for people who find most jerky too sweet and too thick. You get a thin, dry, salt-and-chile style built to be finished with hot sauce and a squeeze of lime, and it is at home in a michelada or clamato as much as on its own. Heat runs from none in Original to fresh jalapeños and a chile blend in the hotter two, with no heat scale published. The posted ingredient lists name no common allergens, but the included Valentina and special-sauce packets are not itemized on the site, so read the bag if you have a sensitivity.
JerkyBrands is an independent retailer; the Portillo's Artisan Jerky name and logo are trademarks of their owner.
