If you’re lucky enough to have an overabundance of fruit, veggies, or meat, you also have a problem. How to preserve this bounty? Refrigeration may only keep the stuff fresh for a few days. Freezing? Maybe a few months—less if your power happens to go out.Dehydrationis the best way to store food for the long-term. We scoured our favorite homesteading sites to find the best recipes for the foods you’re most likely to want to preserve.
Got a great recipe you love?
Share it in the comments!
What you dehydrate may depend on what you harvest. But, if you’re up for experimenting, we’ve got suggestions for the best foods to dehydrate. These foods are the ones that make it through the process looking and tasting the most delicious—and are way better than store-bought alternatives.
✔ = Insteading picks for the best foods to dehydrate
⚠ = Foods that you can dehydrate but they may not turn out great.
Fruit
Veggies
Meat
Herbs
Other
✔ = Insteading picks for the best foods to dehydrate
⚠ = Foods that you can dehydrate but they may not turn out great.
How To Dehydrate Food: The Basics
- Always dehydrate food at the point when it would be most tasty to eat. If you wouldn’t eat a vegetable raw, or a fruit before it ripened, don’t dehydrate it that way. So (most) vegetables should be cooked before you dehydrate them. Fruits should be dehydrated at peak ripeness.
- Dehydrating itself is easy. It’s the prep work that’s a bear—all that slicing and peeling and cooking. It takes lots of time, lots of space, and can be very messy. So before you prep, clear stuff out (especially anything that might stain), and draft a helper. Some parts of the process are so simple, even a toddler can help.
- For basic dehydration,a $50 starter dehydrator like thiswill be effective. (If it’s hot enough where you live, your patio table will be effective.) But, if you really want to get serious, or are dehydrating massive batches, just about every homesteader recommends buying theExcalibur 9-Tray Deluxe Dehydrator. They say it regulates heat well, handles heavy batches, and lasts year after year.
Dehydrator Recipes For Fruit
Apricots
This short-season fruit dries into sweet, tasty chips. You will have a lot of work pitting and slicing the apricots before you can dehydrate them.
Dehydrating apricots recipe and photo《忍受特恩布尔一家》
Tips for Dehydrating Apricots
- Feeling ambitious? Check out this recipe forApricot-Coconut Roll Ups.
- To save time and the possibility of a trip to the ER,brush up on your apricot-pitting skills.
Apples
Dehydrating apples brings out their natural sweetness. Done right, they’ll have a nice texture that’s both crispy and chewy.
Dehydrating apples recipe and photovia Self Reliant School.
Tips for Dehydrating Apples
- To make slicing faster, especially if you have a large batch,use an old-fashioned apple corer/peeler.
- If you don’t want the apples to oxidize in the dehydrator (that is, turn brown),soak in a bowl of water with 1/4 cup lemon juice.
- You can also do thisin a regular oven, orsuspended on string or dowels over a wood-burning stove,orin a solar oven.
- Eat as snacks, orfry them up to make pie filling.
Bananas
Bananas about to go brown? Dehydrate them and dump them in plastic bags for tasty snacks.Recipevia The Prairie Homestead.
Tips for Dehydrating Bananas
- To make slicing easier,chill the bananas before slicing.
- If you slice horizontally, use an egg slicer.
- They tend to stick to the tray. To loosen them,smack the tray hard on the counter after they cool.
Blueberries
在U-Pick餐厅吃过头了吗?不要让你的冰箱超负荷,把蓝莓晾干,从你的储藏室里拿出来当零食吃。
Dehydrating blueberries recipe and photo通过Whole-Fed家园。
Tips for Dehydrating Blueberries
- To keep the skin from puffing out during drying,blanch the berries first.
- Or, if you don’t mind a little puffing,cutting the blueberries in half可以帮助他们干得更均匀。
- After drying,pack them into smaller jars for easy snacking.
Cantaloupe
People who don’t like cantaloupe because it’s messy to eat will love it dried. Cut in 1/2 inch or 1/4 inch slices, it dries down to a snackable chip.
Dehydrating cantaloupe recipe and photovia Brooklyn Farm Girl.
Tips for Dehydrating Cantaloupe
- Cantaloupe has a lot of moisture, so it takes a while to dehydrate.大约18个小时。
- For the sweetest flavor,make sure all the green parts near the rind are removed.
Cherries
洗净,挖坑,然后干燥。就是这么简单。等等,坑的部分。给很多樱桃去核需要很长时间,而且会弄得一团糟。当然,这是一个周末的项目。
Dehydrating cherries recipevia Self-Reliant School, including awesome action shots of a six-in-one cherry pitter.
Tips for Dehydrating
- If you don’t have a cherry pitter,try one of these options.
Cranberries
When you dehydrate cranberries you have to cook them first (some of them burst when you do), you’ll probably want to sweeten them, and it’s very easy to accidentally over-dry them. Also, you aren’t likely to find them in batches large enough to dehydrate—unless you live in Wisconsin, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Oregon, or Washington,the only five U.S. states where cranberries are commercially produced. But, if you do, here’s aDehydrating cranberries recipevia Modern Survival Blog.
Tips for Dehydrating Cranberries
- For a tasty addition to pancakes or baked goods (or, if your cranberries get too dry),crush them into powder.
- Or cook them down, similar to how you’d make cranberry sauce, anddry them into cranberry fruit leather.
Figs
我已经链接了一个食谱,但这不能更简单了——你只需要把茎切掉,四分之一或两半,然后脱水。
Dehydrating figs recipevia A Modern Homestead.
Tips for Dehydrating
- For best flavor,only dehydrate figs when they are perfectly ripe. This will probably mean dehydrating in batches over a few days.
Grapes (Raisins!)
Another very simple dehydration job, just wash, maybe cut, then dry. Your final product will depend on how sweet your original grapes were.
Dehydrating grapes recipevia Simple Homestead Living.
Tips for Dehydrating Grapes
- To save time—lots of it—cut the grapes in half before dehydrating them.
Mangoes
Here at Insteading HQ in Seattle, we can only dream of having a problem like too many fresh mangoes. But for you lucky folks in Hawai’i or Florida, your mango glut demands action. Dehydration to the rescue—and doing it with mango couldn’t be simpler, once you figure out how to cut around the dang pit.
Dehydrating mangoes recipeby Self-Reliant School.
Tips for Dehydrating Mangoes
- BackpackingChef.comrecommends 1/8-inch slices.
Oranges
Dehydrated oranges look gorgeous once dehydrated, and you can use them a few ways—as a way to punch up tea, as a snack, even as decoration. Also, kids will eat ’em like popcorn—crisp and bright orange, they look like candy.
脱水橙子食谱和图片由Grace Garden和Homestead提供。Originally found at gracegardenandhomestead.com/dehydrating-oranges/
Tips for Dehydrating Oranges
- For tasty flakes you can sprinkle in while baking (or in cocktails), crush some of the dried oranges into flakes.
- To make slicing go faster,use a mandolin.
- To remove any pesticides or other stuff the oranges may have on their surface,wash them lightly first.
Have your own favorite dehydrator recipe? Share it in the comments and we’ll add it to the post.
Papaya
Dried papaya makes a sweet treat—if you ever get your hands on enough ripe papaya that you’d want to dry it.
Dehydrating papaya recipevia NouveauRaw.
Tips for Dehydrating Papaya
- Scrape out the seeds before drying and dry them separately,they have a peppery flavor.
Peaches
脱水桃子需要多花点功夫——你必须先把桃子焯一下水,然后去皮再切片。用花式桃子会让事情进行得更快一些,因为你不需要像用粘石桃子那样绕着果核切开。
Dehydrating peaches recipe and photo通过Joybilee农场。
Tips for Dehydrating Peaches
- Use fresh, firm peaches.Unripe ones won’t taste sweet, mushy ones will disintegrate on the dehydrator tray.
- The peach slices will be slightly pliable after drying, butwill dry out completely when they cool.
- After drying,you can bake them into cakes.
Pears
Like apples, they are simple to dry. Homesteader after homesteader reports that dried pears disappear quick, since they taste so good. The only trick is that you must dehydrate them at the peak of ripeness, which for pears is usually only about 18 hours long. Pears must be cored and then sliced—the thickness depends on preference, so if you’re a first-timer try a few different thicknesses.
Dehydrating pears recipe and photo通过Joybilee农场。
Tips for Dehydrating Pears
- If you want to amp up the sweetness a bit, here’sa simple recipe for honey and vanillade dry pears.
- If you want the pears to stay white (rather than oxidize and turn brown),wash in a lemon juice solution.
Plums (Prunes!)
脱水李子有一个特别的名字——梅干!李子是最容易脱水的水果,因为它的成熟时间很短,而且似乎是一下子成熟的。
Dehydrating plums recipevia An Oregon Cottage.
Tips for Dehydrating
- To help the plums dry faster,turn them inside out.
Pineapple
如果你买了比你需要的更多的菠萝,把剩下的菠萝脱水会给你带来环保点数和一份甜点。
Dehydrating pineapple recipe and photovia Pantry Paratus.
Tips for Dehydrating Pineapple
- 不浪费!The skin you chop off can bescraped for juice or fed to chickens.
- If you find it on sale, you can alsodry canned pineapple.
- To make dehydration faster,cut pineapple rings into smaller pieces.
Raspberries
Most places, raspberry season is maddeningly short. Dehydrating them is one way (along with freezing and turning into jam) to make the season last. Problem is, only very perfectly ripe raspberries dehydrate well. If you do find yourself with a glut, dehydrated raspberries are easy, tasty snacks, or can be reconstituted for making baked goods.
Dehydrating raspberries recipevia Mom With A Prep.
Tips for Dehydrating Raspberries
- For extra protection from any bacteria or insects, you canfreeze the berries for a couple of weeks after you dehydrate them.
Strawberries
The flavor of fresh, hand-picked strawberries lasts what—a day or two? Out of 365? Doesn’t seem fair. Spend one of those days dehydrating a big batch and you can make the season last.
Dehydrating strawberries recipe and photo via Grace Garden and Homestead. Originally found at gracegardenandhomestead.com/how-to-dry-strawberries/
Tips for Dehydrating Strawberries
- 你得把绿色的顶部剪掉。把这些喂你的鸡。
- To save time, have your kids help you lay the slices out on trays.
- To keep them from spoiling,store them in the freezer.
Watermelon
Really? Yep…dehydration turns watermelon slices into a sweet candy, almost like taffy.
Dehydrating watermelon recipe and photoby LearnToPreserve.
Tips for Dehydrating Watermelon
- 为了看起来不一样,把果皮留着。
- For easier cutting,slice the pieces while the melon’s still attached to the rind.
- 脱水后,用羊皮纸包好以免粘在一起。
Dehydrator Recipes for Vegetables
Asparagus
You’ll be using less of the asparagus if you dry it—only the tips dehydrate very well.
Dehydrating asparagus recipevia Preparedness Mama.
Tips for Dehydrating
- Put similar-size pieces on the same tray; thin pieces will dry faster than thick ones and it’s easier to remove them if they are all together.
Carrots
You’ll need to blanch carrots before dehydrating them. Once dried, you won’t ever want to just toss them into salad, they need to be reconstituted first by soaking in boiling water.
Dehydrating carrots recipe通过Taylor-Made牧场。
Tips for Dehydrating Carrots
- To help the carrots retain their color,dunk in ice water after blanching.
- To make a time-saving soup starter,dehydrate onions and celery too and mix.
Cauliflower
If you likecauliflowerriced as a healthier substitute for mashed potatoes, think about making a big batch and drying it. You can add to soups or casseroles after reconstituting.
Dehydrating cauliflower recipevia Cradle Rocking Mama.
Tips for Dehydrating Cauliflower
- Blanch the cauliflower first if you want it to stay white.
Celery
Soup-makers, sit up. Dehydrating celery is your ticket to more kitchen space, and faster, tastier, less-expensive soup. If you can find a good deal on celery, buy lots and dry it out.
Whenever you need to make soup, you can use the dehydrated slices rather than buying more stalks (most of which you probably won’t use anyway).
Dehydrating celery recipe and photo via Simply Healthy Home. Originally found at simplyhealthyhome.com/dehydrating-celery/
Tips for Dehydrating Celery
- To make sure all the moisture is gone,leave the celery on the trays an extra day to air-dry.
- If you have a lot of celery to dry,wash them in a large travel cooler.
- Dried, powdered celery willgive more flavor depth to homemade rubs and spice mixes.
Eggplant
Moussaka, eggplant parmigiana, and other eggplant casseroles can be made just as easily—and much faster—with dehydrated eggplant. If you love eggplant this is worth doing. Dehydrating them is similar to dehydrating apples, you may want to spritz them with lemon juice to prevent discoloration.
Dehydrating eggplant recipevia Enjoy Your Garden Bounty Year Round.
Tips for Dehydrating Eggplant
- You can marinate and season the eggplant before dehydratingto make Eggplant Bacon.
Garlic
如果你会做饭,如果你能买到新鲜的大蒜,大蒜很容易就会成为你的个人脱水清单上的第一项。你必须先去皮,这很棘手,而且有点乱,但如果你用大蒜烹饪,就像是一次去皮,而不是每次都去皮。
Dehydrating garlic recipevia Mother Earth News.
Tips for Dehydrating Garlic
- Those flakes really do look amazing, but here’sinstructions for making dried garlic powder.
Ginger
如果你在家里用姜,你就知道准备的时候浪费了多少——姜皮、难剥的碎姜、脆皮保鲜盒后面忘记放的姜片……脱水可以消除这些浪费。果皮可以晒干并磨成粉末。即将变质的好肉块,可以晾干后再补水煮。
Dehydrating ginger recipe and photovia Hello Creative Family.
Tips for Dehydrating Ginger
- If you find you don’t have time to dehydrate,store ginger in the freezer.
- For less waste,peel ginger with a spoon.
Green Beans
四季豆必须在脱水前煮熟,否则你会保留生豆的味道——谁想要这样?四季豆的酥脆程度很难达到合适的水平,而且它们的重组效果也不太好。不过,如果你有很多,这比喂鸡要好。
Dehydrating green beans recipe and photovia The Blog of Trail Cooking.
Tips for Dehydrating Green Beans
- To save time,have your kids help you snap the beansbefore blanching. They don’t have to be precise; it doesn’t really matter how long the pieces are.
- To make dehydration go faster,steam-blanch the beans rather than blanching them in water. The green beans will absorb less water this way.
Kale
羽衣甘蓝是一个很好的脱水入门项目——它的叶子不会粘在一起,而且很容易看出它们什么时候干了。你可以把它们当零食,加汤,甚至磨成碎末。你需要先把茎上的叶子撕掉。
Dehydrating kale recipe and photoby Old Fashioned Families.
Tips for Dehydrating Kale
- Save the stalks tomake kale juice, add to smoothies, or toss to the chickens.
- For a veggie seasoning powder,crush the kale with a pestle once it’s dry.
- Want a little more flavor with your dried kale? Mix them in a sauce before they dry to makeCheese Kale Chips.
Mushrooms (Morels, Chanterelle)
Mushrooms are a popular dehydration target becausedehydration improves their flavor. Chefs use dehydrated mushrooms to add intense mushroom flavor to soups and stews—fresh mushrooms might add flavor, but would also release lots of water, thinning everything out. Mushrooms are also relatively easy to dehydrate.
Dehydrating mushrooms recipeand photo via Mom with a Prep.
Tips for Dehydrating Mushrooms
- If you’re using your dehydrator for something else, you candry mushrooms in the sun.
- How to tell when they are done? Theyshould feel like leather-既不软,也不脆。
- Morel mushrooms—one of the most popular types of mushroom to dehydrate—are known as Molly Moochers or hickory chickens in the Ozarks. This is not a tip I just thought it was cool.
Okra
It’s a very good candidate for dehydrating if you grow it, since it grows so fast—as a greenhorn from my home state found out inthis funny story from the blogger Bacon and Eggs. He, and others, recommend seasoning the okra before dehydration.
Dehydrating okra recipevia Countrified Hicks.
Tips for Dehydrating Okra
- You can turn dried okrainto these funky Santa ornaments.
Onions
The joy of dehydrated onions is a little different from our other top foods. It’s less about making a tasty snack and more about saving time (and tears) in the kitchen. With a big batch of dried onions to add to soups or stews, you can get onion flavor without time-consuming, eye-irritating chopping.
Dehydrating onions recipevia Grow A Good Life.
Tips for Dehydrating
- To make your onions go further,use the stems and skin to make powder, and the white innards for rings.
- To save time cooking all year,make an onion seasoning salt.
- Dried onions are terrific in practically anything you’d make,but especially in dips.
Peppers
The process for drying peppers is the same whether they’re mild bell peppers or insane ghost peppers. Either way you end up with dry skins you can reconstitute quickly and add to any food that needs a little extra flavor.
Dehydrating peppers recipevia Grow Forage Cook Ferment.
Tips for Dehydrating Peppers
- The smell can be overpowering, so you might want to run a cord out of the house andput your dehydrator on the porch.
- The more of the membrane you leave on the pepper,一旦干燥就会越热.
- If the peppers dry out too much, just grind theminto a spice powder.
Have your own favorite dehydrator recipe? Share it in the comments and we’ll add it to the post.
Potatoes (Brown/Gold)
Dehydrating potatoes is a slightly different process—you cook them first, then cut into small pieces and dehydrate. Once dry you can drop them into soups or stews, they reconstitute beautifully.
Dehydrating potatoes recipe每月100美元。
Tips for Dehydrating Potatoes
- Cook and mash them first, thendehydrate and crush to a powder for homemade potato flakes.
- Potatoes you’ve stored for awhile will dehydrate faster, sincethey lose moisture during storage.
- If it’s hot enough, you can actuallydo the dehydration outside.
Tomatoes
The tomato crop can come at you fast. With your dehydrator you can make your own sun-dried tomatoes to enjoy on pasta and in salads all-year.
Dehydrating tomatoes recipe and photovia The Prairie Homestead.
Tips for Dehydrating Tomatoes
- Use meaty tomatoes, like plum or Roma varieties. Fat, watery varieties like beefsteak can dehydrate down to nothing.Cherry tomatoes work well too.
- To keep the dried tomatoes from sticking together, make sure they don’t overlap on your trays.
- You can also turn tomatoes into paste andmake tomato leather.
Zucchini
You can save a lot of your giant zucchini crop by dehydrating it. Zucchini takes well to different seasonings, you can turn them into candy, or season them with Italian flavors to toss in soups and sauces all year.
Dehydrating zucchini recipe and photo通过Whole-Fed家园。
Tips for Dehydrating Zucchini
- 为了使磨碎过程更快,使用食品加工机而不是盒式磨碎机。
- Zucchini harvested before they form seeds脱水会更好。
Here’s a unique idea forcandied dehydrated zucchini(using Kool-Aid!)
Corn
Corn can be dried two different ways. Left on the cob to dry out—that can be used for popcorn or ground into corn meal. Or, cook the corn, remove the kernels, and dry those to rehydrate later in soups.
Dehydrating corn recipeand some terrific tips via Self Reliant School.
Pumpkin Seeds
If you love roasted pumpkin seeds as a snack, you could dehydrate them too—they’ll last longer. Consider this if you’re doing a massive pumpkin carving party.
Dehydrating pumpkin seeds recipevia Lil Raisin Acres.
Dehydrator Recipes For Meat
Beef
Dehydrated beef = beef jerky! You can make beef jerky one of two ways:
- Slice pieces of beef, season, and dry it.
- Season ground beef, then shoot it through ajerky gun, which presses it into flat strips to go in the dehydrator.
这是个人喜好的问题。如果你喜欢更硬的牛肉干,你会喜欢各种各样的牛肉条。如果预算是你的主要考虑,使用绞碎的牛肉会更便宜。如果你自己收割牛肉,这可能取决于你的切割方式。不管怎样,一旦你开始做牛肉干,你会发现自己掉进了一个兔子洞,尝试所有可能的口味和风格。
Recipe for dehydrating beef strips and photovia Mama’s Homestead.
Recipe for dehydrating ground beef and photovia Common Sense Homesteading.
Tips for Dehydrating Beef
- That marinade you love on steak will be even more intense if you make it with jerky.
- Bend jerky to see if it’s done.If it bends and starts to tear slightly,它所做的。
- When making jerky with beef strips,slice against the grain for more tender jerky.
- The University of Wisconsinrecommendsthat once you have finished drying the jerky, you heat it in cookie sheets in a 275 F oven for 10 minutes. Their study found that this final step was the most effective in destroying dangerous bacteria.
Chicken
Chicken jerky is less popular than beef jerky for the same reason most people will choose a rib-eye over chicken breast—on its own, chicken doesn’t have that much flavor. That doesn’t mean you can’t add your own! Probably a good idea to marinate or season chicken before dehydrating, with whatever flavors you enjoy on chicken already.
The second issue with dehydrating chicken is food safety. The FDArecommends heating chicken to 165 F before drying it-基本上,先烹饪。这是一些非常干的牛肉干。I recommend readingthis post by Modern Survival Blog,它提出了一个平衡的观点和一些坚实的指示。对于担心食品安全或免疫系统薄弱的人来说,让鸡肉脱水可能不是一个好主意。For the rest of you, read on!
Dehydrating chicken recipe and photovia Modern Survival Blog.
Tips for Dehydrating Chicken
- One blogger, who prefers to use cooked chicken, discovered thatpressure-cooked chicken makes the least-dry jerky.
- The thinner the chicken, the quicker it will dehydrate, sousing sliced chicken from the deli works well. (Although, it’s expensive).
- If you’re starting with whole chickens, or your own, you can alsodehydrate chicken organs.
Salmon
用烟熏鲑鱼晒干三文鱼——这只是这种富含维生素的鱼的一种脱水方法。如果你使用脱水器,你无法复制烟味,但另一方面,用腌料你可以引入任何你喜欢的味道。
Dehydrating salmon recipe and photo通过大胆。
Tips for Dehydrating Salmon
- 为了让三文鱼更容易切成薄片,在切片前把它放入冰箱30分钟。
- You can alsodehydrate canned or smoked salmon.
Deer/Venison
As with beef, venison jerky can be made from strips of the meat, or ground and reformed. As it’s leaner than beef, it’s also tougher—so those who really like a jerky they can gnaw on will prefer venison.
脱水鹿肉食谱via North West Edible Life.
Tips for Dehydrating Venison
- To make sure you’ve destroyed as much bacteria as possible,heat the jerky after drying in a 275 F oven for 10 minutes.
- Any meat that may have been contaminated during the dressing process, or by the location of the animal’s wound,should be fully cooked rather than used for jerky.
Dehydrator Recipes For Herbs
Basil
You don’t need a dehydrator to dry herbs like basil—you can do itoutside(the best option if you have large bunches of basil), orin the oven, or evenjust on your kitchen counter. The reason to do it in a food dehydrator is that you’ll have much more control over the temperature and better consistency than you will with any of those other methods.
Dehydrating basil recipe and photo经由五指湖的家。
Tips for Dehydrating Basil
- Usually, basil is dried on the lowest setting, since the leaves are so fragile.
Parsley
Herbs dry down to nearly nothing, but if you have a bumper crop drying them will save you money. The blogger A Matter of Preparedness estimated her savings from drying parsley at 87% over store-bought.
Dehydrating parsley recipevia A Matter of Preparedness.
Tips for Dehydrating Parsley
- You don’t need to worry about overlapping the herbs like you do with thicker vegetables and fruits. They will dry just fine, even if they are in a couple of layers.
- Other herbs to dry:Cilantro,Chives.
Other Foods You Can Dehydrate
Some other foods that don’t really fit into the “harvest” category can also be dehydrated.
Cheese
Cheese behaves just like veggies and fruit when dehydrated, it gets crunchy and the flavor’s slightly more intense. If that sounds good to you, give it a whirl.
Dehydrating cheese recipe通过Joybilee农场。
Chili
Backpackers and backcountry people dry their own chili. It’s cheaper than buying commercially-made dried foods, and tastes better too. For the rest of us, freezing extra batches of chili is a better idea.
Dehydrating chili recipeand tips via Backpacking Chef.
Marshmallows
Leftover marshmallows get stale and gross. Dehydrate them and they become crunchy little snacks.
Dehydrating marshmallows recipevia Mom with a Prep.
Eggs
脱水鸡蛋最受准备者和硬核土食者的欢迎。
Dehydrating eggs recipevia Backcountry Paleo.
Kane Jamisonsays
Awesome list! We’re making the nutritional yeast cheesy kale chips now!