How to Dehydrate Onions

Onions - Photo by Flagstaffotos

Dehydrating Onions

Onions are some of the simplest things to dehydrate. They are not finicky at all. However they can smell up your house so bad that it brings tears to your eyes. That is an exaggeration of course but it does smell a little bit.

On top of being easy to dehydrate, You can do so many gosh dern things with thing from making your own Onion Powder to putting them in soups and stews.

The best tip I have on dehydrating onions is to use older ones that have gotten a lot stronger and more pungent. They just taste better that way when they are dehydrated.

How to Dehydrate Onions in a Dehydrator

The first thing you want to do is wash your onions in cold running water to make them clean and help avoid the tears that sometimes come when you mutilate these innocent vegetables with a knife.

After you have washed the onions you will want to peel them and throw away the skins. Then you want to cut off the ends and save them for the next time you make soup broth (if you want).

Then cut them into about 1/2 inch slices or rings. If you are making onion powder with a mortar and pestle system instead of a spice grinder, you might want to cut them a little smaller. Small or really thin raw onion rings dehydrate down into tiny spiderweb like pieces that pulverize easily are great for making onion powder.

Next you will want to arrange the onions onto dehydrating trays. You don't have to worry too much about onions overlapping but I wouldn't pile them up too much either.

Lastly, You need to turn on your Dehydrator to about 125 to 135 degrees. I prefer 135 myself but it varies between dehydrators. Drying should take about four to twelve hours but I average around six. And lastly: Don't forget to rotate your trays every couple hours.

Oven Onion Dehydration

A Couple Words of Caution with Dehydrating Onions.

1. Onions can be poisonous to your pets so you might keep your dehydrator away from Fido or Mittens to avoid damaging their central nervous system.

2. I would also avoid dehydrating anything else (other than garlic) when you are dehydrating onions or you might have onion flavored apples etc.

Related Topics

Dug's Dehydration Guide

How to Dehydrate Leeks

Fresh Leaks - Photo Credit Quadell

How to Dehydrate Leeks

The first thing that you are probably asking yourself is...What the Heck is a Leek and why would I want to dehydrate it. The basic answer that it is a giant green onion with a similar but distinct flavor.

It belongs in the same genus (alum) as garlic and onions. It's also relatives of the Elephant Garlic and the Kurrat. Okay now that we have had a brief introduction to the Leek, lets get to dehydrating them.

The first thing that you should do is cut off the roots and leafy greens outside. You can save the leafy greens by cutting them into 1/4 to 1/2 inch slices to use for broth making. If you don't need to make broth immediately, I would go ahead and freeze the pieces. I haven't tried freezing them just yet but I will tonight and post the results later in the labs. I will update my progress here when the experiment is complete 

Then you should peel off the first layer to get rid of any lingering dirt. Then you will want to line the dehydrator trays with the chopped leaks and dehydrate at around 135 degrees (F). 

Depending on your dehydrator and humidity levels they should be finished drying in 3 to 6 hours. Then cool the dried leeks completely and then store them in air tight containers. Dehydrated leeks  re-hydrate very quickly and don’t require soaking so they are very easy to use for soups and stews.  Just throw in a bunch of leeks to whatever dish that you think could use a little leek flavor.  

Tip: Wet leaks don't like to separate into pieces very well. But they are like onions and they are not very finicky when it comes to dehydration. Just toss them on the sheets haphazardly doing your best to separate them out. As long as they don't pile up too high or overlap too much they will be fine. If you let them dehydrate about an hour, the pieces are much easier to separate. I also recommend rotating the trays about every 2 hours if you can. If you are feeling lazy (like I do sometimes) you can just spin each tray a quarter turn in opposing directions. 

And there you that is everything that I know (so far) about dehydrating leeks.

A Bit More Information on the Leek

Leeks have a mild onion-like taste. In its raw state, the vegetable is crunchy and firm. The edible portions of the leek are the white base of the leaves (above the roots and stem base), the light green parts, and to a lesser extent the dark green parts of the leaves. One of the most popular uses is for adding flavor to stock. - Thanks Wikipedia. You can read more about the Leek on Wikipedia by clicking here. 

Related Topics

The ABCs of Dehydrating
Leek Powder (Coming Soon)

How to Dehydrate Mint in a Dehydrator

Mint Leaves

Dried Peppermint is a common ingredient in tea mixtures. In fact, You can make a simple but tasty tea made of just Fresh or Dried Peppermint leaves steeped in hot water with a little sweetener. Mint will taste the best right before flowering.

Mint leaves from the grocery start going bad almost immediately so my fiance and I  like to have a fresh batch of tea and then we dehydrate the rest. Although we will be experimenting with freezing it soon and we will post the results. 

Wash the mint stems in cold water because warm or hot water can wash away the oils of mint. Without the essential oils the leaf will just taste like a weed with no flavor.

Then separate out any dead or sickly leaves. Drain and then dab them dry. Then set your dehydrator to its lowest setting which needs to be below below 100 degrees (F). I have had my best results around 65-85 degrees (F).

Sorry my dehydrator doesn't have an exact thermostat. It only has the marquee temperatures marked on it. But I'd say it will dehydrate the best within that range.

Make sure the leaves are completely dry and brittle, or they may mold after you place them in storage. Do not store in paper bags or containers, as they absorb the herbs oils.

When the leaves are dry and brittle, remove them from the stems and store in an airtight container, in a location that's out of the light.

You can also use the traditional paper bag method hanging them in a paper bag by the stems in a warm but well-ventilated area. The paper bag catches any leaves that fall off. Air drying is more difficult in humid areas and you might need in a dehydrator. 

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The ABCs of Dehydrating

The Impossible's Guide on How to Dehydrate Almost Anything

This is my Guide to Dehydrating almost anything but it is a work in progres. I am hoping to compile everything that I know or find out about dehydrating into a comprehensive resource that everyone can use. I am hoping to make into the best, all-inclusive resource for my fellow Dehydrators on the web. But I will be happy if it is just useful to someone (other than me) lol.

B

Blueberries (Frozen)

C

Celery Leaves

L

Leeks

M

Mint


O


Onions


P

Pineapple