Food Dehydrator Recipes

As the summer comes to an end, I know it's time to go back-to-school shopping for the kids. We go out and buy a lot of stuff like clothes and school supplies, but I don't have to spend a lot on healthy snacks. Since we buy our fruit in bulk, we always have a lot at the house. Instead of letting them spoil, we dehydrate whatever we can't finish fresh.

Dried Peach Wedges

Who doesn't love peaches? We usually go through a few boxes of peaches that we get at Costco, but sometimes we actually have too much. Instead of canning, we dehydrate. It's something the kids can help me with. I'll slice, and they place them on the dehydrator for me.

They're easy to do. First, cut them in half and peel. Then take the seed out and quarter. Some fruits will discolor when exposed to air. To prevent this, dip the fruit in ascorbic acid. If you don't have that available, you can use lime juice. Depending on your dehydrator and the size of the wedges, you'll dry for 6 to 20 hours at 135 degrees. You'll know when they're done by ripping on in half. There should be no moisture left.

Homemade Raisins

Ever made raisins at home? It's a fun and easy recipe to do and kids love to see the before and after.

All you need to do put your washed grapes in the dehydrator at 135 degrees and wait. It'll be faster if you cut the grapes in half first. You'll be surprised that homemade raisins taste a little different (and better) than the store-bought variety.

Fruit Leathers

Who doesn't like fruit leathers (or fruit rollups)? They're sweet like candy and toy-like in how fun they are to eat. Make them at home, and you have natural fruit leathers without added sugar.

There are two main ways to prepare these delicious snacks. You can either start by cooking the fruit or start raw. Then, you blend the fruit (add water if needed) until it's a smooth puree. Then, mix in a little lemon/lime juice or ascorbic acid and a bit of cinnamon. If your dehydrator came with fruit leather trays, use them. If not, you'll need non-stick dehydrator sheets, such as the Excalibur Teflex/Paraflex sheets. Simply pour the fruit puree in and dry. Set it at 140 and dry for 6-8 hours. When ready, peel it from the trays, place it on wax paper (or plastic wrap), and roll it up.

Banana Chips

Bananas are an important part of our food supply because we use them in so many recipes. We have regular and green smoothies every day and dropping a banana in there gives them a satisfying, thick consistency. We rarely have leftover bananas so we set a few aside for making banana chips. These are are good substitute for popcorn when watching a movie at home (or to sneak into the movie theater). After slicing and dipping in ascorbic acid, we just lay the banana slices on the dehydrator trays and dry. I like to go 150 degrees and do it overnight, and wake up to the smell of dried bananas.

Our Dehydrator

The food dehydrator we have at home is the Excalibur 3926t. It's big and efficient. Unlike the round dehydrators, this is a box style dryer with the heat and fan in the rear instead of the bottom. This makes drying faster and allows me to dry a variety of things at the same time without worrying about flavor mixing. Flavor mixing is more common in the food dehydrators that force air through the trays instead of across.

My only complaint about the Excalibur is the noise. It's not the quietest appliance we have in the kitchen. But, since dehydrating food is a "set it and forget it" activity, it doesn't bother the family much.

This model has a timer, so we let it run and shut off on its own. It run at a low temperature, but for safety, we never turn it on without somebody at home, just in case. It also has an adjustable thermostat so it's suitable for any kind of drying.