Dehydrating food instructions and recipes

Years ago, I witnessed an older Greek woman tending raisins drying on her sunny rooftop on the island of Crete. It seemed a timeless moment as I watched her wooden pitchfork gently turn the deep purple fruit, as generations had likely done before her.

Long before refrigeration, canning, or even salting and curing, people relied on the sun and wind to preserve the harvest, turning vibrant summer bounty into shelf-stable staples. Today, the practice continues as a smart, food-saving method for gardeners and cooks alike and a simple, hands-off kitchen technique. Drying summer produce is an ancient practice that still has a place in our very modern American life, even for beginners.

What is dehydration?

Dehydration is the process of reducing the moisture that allows bacteria to thrive, allowing for longer shelf life. While dehydration is achieved by low levels of heat, the food is not cooked. Rather, it is dried. According to the University of Georgia Cooperative Extension Service, “Drying prevents the growth of bacteria, yeast and mold by removing moisture.”

Cuisines all over the world employ dehydration as a preservation technique: dried mango in Southeast Asia, French herbes de Provence, Polish forest mushrooms, Mexican chiles and Italy’s sundried tomatoes are just a few.

Why dehydrate?

Dehydrating prevents food waste, preserves your herb garden and makes tasty afternoon snacks. You can go all in and hoard for the winter, and you can also small-batch dehydrate, too. If you are interested in simple food preservation, dehydrating is a place to start.

As with canning and preserving, there can be a beginner’s compulsion to overachieve and sign up to dehydrate 50 pounds of tomatoes or enough vegetables for soup to last until the fall of civilization. It doesn’t have to be that way. Think of dehydrating as one more element in your sustainable living, eco-friendly, money-saving chef’s tool kit. If I buy grapes, and they start to shrivel, I toss them onto a rack over a baking sheet in a low oven overnight and make raisins.

Homemade dehydrated foods are less expensive than their store-bought counterparts and can be better for you. Store-bought fruit leathers are often made with high-fructose corn syrup, palm oil and food dyes. But homemade fruit leather can be as simple as dehydrated pureed fruit. Apple chips are great as a snack, and you can make them for a fraction of the cost of store-bought ones.

Dehydrated foods are also ideal for hiking and camping because they weigh much less than their non-dried counterparts and do not require refrigeration. Our furry friends can have all-natural treats, too. Homemade dehydrated sweet potato treats cost pennies in comparison to the price of factory-produced dog biscuits.

What equipment is needed to dehydrate?

For beginners and pros alike, a dehydrator is the simplest tool. You can also use a low oven, preferably one with a convection setting that keeps the air circulating. Some air fryers now include a dehydrating option.

Food dehydrator: A food dehydrator is a small electrical appliance equipped with fans and vents that is designed for efficiently drying food indoors. Dehydrators are equipped with metal or plastic mesh racks, called trays, that allow the air to flow freely. (Somewhat confusingly, the solid nonstick silicone baking pan used for preparing fruit leather is also called a tray.) Small plastic food dehydrators with limited features start around $40 and larger ones can cost hundreds, depending on the features. You can find a very solid and affordable dehydrator with a fair amount of space for just under $200.

The ideal dehydrator’s temperature range is 105-165 degrees. This ensures a low enough temperature to preserve the active enzymes in fruits and vegetables and a high enough temperature to safely dry meats for jerky.

Oven drying: Don’t want to invest in a dehydrator? Use your oven set at its lowest setting, preferably 135 degrees for fruit and 125 degrees for vegetables. If your oven does not go this low, then your food will cook instead of dry. Place a thermometer in the oven to check the temperature. Some gas ovens are naturally that low simply with the heat of the pilot light.

Place the oven racks 2-3 inches apart for the best air circulation. Drying trays should be narrow enough to clear the sides of the oven and should be 3-4 inches shorter than the oven from front to back. You can use a cooling rack placed on top of rimmed baking sheets.

For air circulation, you can leave the oven door cracked open a few inches. (I’ve placed a spoon in the door to keep it cracked open.) Caution: This is not a safe practice for a home with small children or pets.

Where can I find more information?

Any time you are working with food, you need to follow scientifically sound food safety guidelines. While dehydration can be very safe, bacteria and foodborne illnesses are nothing to fool around with. The National Center for Home Food Preservation at the University of Georgia is one of the premier sources of information for all means of food preservation, including drying.

You can also use the instruction manual that comes with your dehydrator. Many of the DIY articles I researched for this story instructed the reader to “follow the manufacturer’s instructions.”

How is food pretreated or prepared before dehydration?

Pretreating fruits and vegetables is not essential and is more of an aesthetic consideration, certainly for small-batch dehydrating meant for short-term consumption. Many fruits will oxidize during the drying process, and fruits that have turned a brownish color are safe to eat. The recipes in this beginner’s guide do not require pretreating.

For dehydrated foods meant for longer term room-temperature storage there are two methods of pretreatment: dipping and blanching. Dipping includes pretreating fruits with ascorbic acid, also known as Vitamin C, citric acid, fruit juice dip, honey dip and food-safe sodium bisulfite.

Blanching can be done in boiling water or steam. Blanching deactivates enzymes, can prevent changes in color, flavor, texture and nutrient content during drying and storage. This process also cracks the skin and allows the moisture to more readily escape. For more information about blanching and dipping, consult the National Center for Home Preservation.

How do I dehydrate fruits?

Drying fruit is one of the easiest dehydration techniques. Choose fresh, fully ripened fruit; discard any with soft spots or bruising. Uniformly slice the fruit no more than 1/4-inch thick. Arrange the fruit in a single layer on drying trays.

Stir or turn large pieces every 3 to 4 hours to ensure even drying. It can also be helpful to rotate the trays 180 degrees occasionally through the drying cycle.

Drying times vary according to the humidity in the air and the moisture content of the food. It can take 6-15 hours to dry apple slices, for example. And each time you dehydrate apples, the time can be can be different. How can you anticipate how much time the process will take? Well, you can’t. So check the moisture content at 3 hours, then again after a few more.

Dried fruit should be leathery and pliable. To test foods for dryness, remove a few pieces and let them cool to room temperature. (When warm, pliable fruit can seem moister than they are.) Squeeze a handful; if no moisture is left on your hand and pieces spring apart when released, they are dry and ready for conditioning if desired. (See “How do I store and use dried fruits and vegetables?” below.)

Fruit leather is ready for consumption or storage when it is shiny and no longer sticky to the touch.

How do I dehydrate vegetables?

First wash your vegetables, then peel and slice, if necessary. For long-term storage, many vegetables such as carrots, peas, broccoli and green beans require blanching before drying to preserve their color and flavor. However, simple recipes like zucchini chips or dried tomatoes, onions, peppers and mushrooms do not.

Arrange vegetable pieces in a single layer on dehydrator trays and dry at 125 to 135 degrees until they are pliable, but not moist. Stir or turn large pieces every 3-4 hours to ensure even drying. It can be helpful to rotate the trays 180 degrees occasionally during the drying cycle, starting after about 1 1/2 hours.

How do I dehydrate herbs?

To dehydrate herbs, you can use a food dehydrator, an oven or even air-dry them. Herbs with large leaves and sturdy stems, such as basil, sage and parsley are best dried with the leaves removed. Smaller leaf herbs such as thyme and rosemary can be dried on their stems. When preparing for storage, simply pull the dried leaves from the stems and discard the stems.

Set a dehydrator to 95 to 115 degrees and arrange the herbs in a single layer without allowing them to touch or overlap on the trays.

If using an oven, set it to the lowest temperature possible (ideally below 180 degrees) and prop the door open slightly.

For air drying, tie the herbs in small bunches and hang them in a cool, dry, dark place, or lay them in a single layer on a screen or paper towels until dry and brittle to the touch, 1 to 2 days.

How do I store and use dried fruits and vegetables?

Conditioning is a method used to evenly distribute the minimal residual moisture throughout all pieces of dehydrated produce, reducing the chance of spoilage. It is an important process for all fruits and vegetables that are intended to be kept at room temperature. If you are making Spiced Zucchini Chips or Dehydrated Grape Tomatoes to consume immediately, there’s no need to condition them. But if you are preparing food to store for future use, then conditioning is imperative.

First, allow the dried fruits or vegetables to cool completely on their trays after dehydration. Place the cooled, dried food loosely into a clean, dry and airtight glass jar or plastic container, filling it about two-thirds full. Seal the container and let it sit in a cool, dry place. Shake or stir the contents daily for 7-10 days.

During the conditioning period, regularly check for any signs of condensation or moisture. If condensation appears, it indicates that the food is not yet dry enough. It should be returned to the dehydrator for further drying, then reconditioned. Reconditioning means starting the conditioning process all over again, placing the dehydrated food in a jar and watching to ensure there is no moisture present for a second time. If at any point mold or mildew appears, then the food should be discarded.

Once conditioning is complete, the dried food can be labeled, dated and packaged in airtight containers and stored in a cool, dark and dry place for 6-12 months.

How do I reconstitute dehydrated food?

Dried vegetables, unless prepared for chips, should be reconstituted. Dehydrated vegetables are best used as ingredients for soups, casseroles, sauces and stews.

The easiest method for rehydrating vegetables is to use boiling water or stock. One cup of dried vegetables rehydrates to about 2 cups; soaking times vary by vegetable type.

Not all dehydrated foods require reconstitution. Pieces of dried fruits can be eaten as is or reconstituted; fruit leathers can be eaten as is and require no rehydration.

Recipes

These simple beginner recipes for dehydrated fruits, vegetables and an herb blend require no special chemicals or compounds. It’s as simple as setting the temperature and allowing enough time to dehydrate. They are just what you need to start dehydrating and preserving.

Credit: Virginia Willis

Credit: Virginia Willis

Dehydrated Grape Tomatoes

2 dry pints grape or cherry tomatoes, halved

Set the dehydrator or oven to 125 degrees. Arrange the halved grape tomatoes on the dehydrator trays with the skin side down to prevent sticking.
Dry until the tomatoes feel dry and leathery, and not sticky, squishy, or moist, 6-12 hours.

Makes 1 cup.

Per 2-tablespoon serving, about 5-6 tomatoes: 17 calories (percent of calories from fat, 3), 1 gram protein, 3 grams carbohydrates, 2 grams total sugars, 1 gram fiber, trace total fat (trace saturated fat), no cholesterol, no sodium.

Credit: Virginia Willis

Mango Aleppo Fruit Leather

Nearly any fruit that can be pureed smoothly can be made into fruit leather. The resulting liquid-to-fiber ratio is what determines how long it takes to dehydrate.

If you don’t have a rimmed, solid-bottom dehydrator tray, you can spoon your puree onto a silicone baking mat placed on top of a mesh dehydrator tray. Simply spoon the puree in a square shape and use an offset spatula to achieve the appropriate thicknesses.

2 mangoes
1/2 teaspoon chile flakes, such as Aleppo pepper
Pinch kosher salt

Peel and dice the mangoes. Puree in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the S-blade attachment until very smooth. (You should have 1 1/2 cups puree.) Add chile flakes and salt. Scrape the sides and pulse to combine. The mixture should be very, very smooth.
Pour the puree into a rimmed dehydrator tray with a solid bottom. Using an offset spatula, spread the fruit puree rim to rim, creating a smooth, flat surface. Then, smooth the center of the puree toward the edges just slightly, resulting in the edges being slightly thicker than the center. (The edges start to dry first and can crack.)
Set the dehydrator or set your oven to 135 degrees. Dry until the leather feels dry and leathery, and not sticky, squishy, or moist, 6 to 12 hours. The time will depend on the type of fruit you’re using and the thickness of your leather. Check the fruit occasionally. In the beginning, if the fruit puree splits or cracks, remove it from the oven and press it back together.
Store fruit leather, rolled up and placed in a sealable container at room temperature for up to 1 month, refrigerated up to 6 months and frozen up to 1 year.

Makes 12 servings.

Per serving: 12 calories (percent of calories from fat, 5), trace protein, 3 grams carbohydrates, 3 grams total sugars, trace fiber, trace total fat (trace saturated fat), no cholesterol, 6 milligrams sodium.

Credit: Virginia Willis

Italian Herb Seasoning Blend

Herbs with large leaves and sturdy stems, such as basil, sage and parsley are best dried with the leaves removed. Smaller leaf herbs such as thyme and rosemary can be dried on their stems. When preparing for blending, simply pull the dried leaves from the stems and discard the stems.

Use this dried Italian Seasoning Blend to add flavor to pasta, sauces, soups and roasted vegetables. It is also great for roasting meats such as beef, chicken, pork and lamb.

1 cup dried basil leaves
1/2 cup dried oregano leaves
1/2 cup dried rosemary leaves
1/2 cup dried sage leaves
1/4 cup dried thyme leaves

Combine the dried herbs in a bowl. If you prefer larger pieces, do not crush the herbs. To make a blend with smaller pieces, simply crumble the dried leaves to the desired consistency.
Store in an airtight container for up to 6 months.

Makes about 1 cup.

Per teaspoon: 7 calories (percent of calories from fat, 2), trace protein, 1 gram carbohydrates, trace total sugars, 1 gram fiber, trace total fat (no saturated fat), no cholesterol, 1 milligram sodium.

Credit: Virginia Willis

Spiced Zucchini Chips

3 medium zucchini
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
Pinch of coarse kosher salt
Pinch of freshly ground pepper

Wash and dry the zucchini. Slice into 1/8-inch-thick slices, preferably on a mandolin.
Place slices on the dehydrator trays and dehydrate at 125 degrees.
Dry until brittle and crisp, 7 to 11 hours.
Combine with garlic powder and cayenne pepper. Season with salt and pepper.
Store in an airtight container for up to 6 months.

Makes 2 cups.

Per 1/4-cup serving: 14 calories (percent of calories from fat, 9), 1 gram protein, 2 grams carbohydrates, 2 grams total sugars, 1 gram fiber, trace total fat (trace saturated fat), no cholesterol, 15 milligrams sodium.

Credit: Virginia Willis

Sweet Potato Dog Treats

3 sweet potatoes

Wash and dry the sweet potatoes. Slice into 1/4-inch thick slices. Place on the dehydrator trays and dehydrate at 125 degrees.
Dry approximately 6 to 8 hours to make treats with a chewy texture. For crunchier treats, dehydrate longer until they reach the desired consistency.

Makes about 30 pieces.

Per piece: 14 calories (percent of calories from fat, 1), trace protein, 3 grams carbohydrates, 1 gram total sugars, trace fiber, trace total fat (trace saturated fat), no cholesterol, 7 milligrams sodium.

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