The demand for processed meat products is increasing globally due to the rapid urbanization, improving living standards and changing life styles of the people. Processed meat products provide tasty and convenience foods to the meat consumers. The shelf life of meat products is limited to enzymatic and microbiological spoilages. Their high perishability causes their storage and marketing, demanding considerable amount of energy input, with regard to refrigeration and freezing, which is costly and inadequate in India and other developing countries. Dependence on cold chain for marketing resulted in slower growth of processed meat sectors in various countries. Therefore, development of technologies for production of low-cost, safe and acceptable shelf stable dehydrated meat products which can be stored / marketed without refrigeration facility is need of the hour. The review is intended to provide an overview of the present status of the dehydrated meat products as well as the effect of drying on physico-chemical, microbiological and sensory properties of dehydrated meat products.