Whether you want to make your own fruit snacks, beef jerky or dried herbs, a dehydrator is a great kitchen appliance that’s easy to use. A well-performing dehydrator will remove the moisture from food that makes it stale or prone to spoilage, making it last longer. This allows you to preserve the fresh flavor and nutritional content of fruits, vegetables and meat while reducing your grocery bill and the amount of waste you throw away.
Discover the Best Dehydrator for Your Needs
A good dehydrator will use warm circulating air to remove 70-90% of the food’s moisture, much like the sun or a conventional oven would. This makes it ideal for preserving foods that may otherwise spoil quickly and creates a product with a more intense flavor, as well as a chewy or crunchy texture.
The most common uses for a dehydrator are for vegetables, fruits and meats, but they can be used for a lot more. For example, a chef we spoke to uses his to desiccate vegetable scraps (such as leek tops or mushroom stems) that he then pulverizes to add to salad dressing or soup for a hit of umami.
A dehydrator’s ability to dry food at different temperatures is a critical feature for optimal results. For example, water-dense ingredients such as fruits benefit from being dehydrated at a higher temperature, so they can dry fast and become crisp without losing their sweetness. Vegetables and herbs, on the other hand, need to be dehydrated at a lower temperature so they don’t lose their nutrients. We also look for models that have horizontal air flow, as this eliminates the need to routinely shuffle trays to achieve even drying and prevents clumps of food that don’t dry at all.