Dehydrator recipes
 

I am looking for recipes using veggies/fruit. We have had our dehydrator for 3 years and have only made turkey jerky. Would like to use it more if I can find some great recipes. :)

We tried the banana chips, they were so hard we couldn't eat them. LOL
They turned brown even though we had dipped them in lemon juice and honey.

I have the best thing ever - you wash apples really good, cut them into thin slices; you can leave the stem and seeds and they fall out when dried. Then mix sugar with a small amount of cinnamon and after cutting the slices, dip into sugar mixture and put on the dehydrator. I always spray my racks with a little Pam before placing the apples as it makes clean up a little easier and the apples don't stick. You leave them on about 12 hours or so, I suppose it depends a little on your dehydrator but you can check them after 10 or so hours. They are the best snack ever!! I have used several different types of apples and don't notice a big difference.

Dry the banana slices and use them to make banana bread. Mix equal amounts of applesauce and yogurt, drop by spoon full on sheets/plastic wrap to make 'candy blobs' for kids.
I just made sweet potato chips to replace regular chips. Slice very thin, in bowl add a small amount of olive oil, toss to coat, lay on parchment paper lined cookie sheets, sprinkle with coarse salt/spices. Bake in oven until they start to turn light brown. Then place all in food dryer and dry until very dry. These things are great and a lot did not even make it to the cooling rack.
The potatoes muse be baked/cooked before drying for them to be edible with dips/ketchup. I made some raw chips that ended up as doggie treats because I could not eat them.
Shred cabbage and dry, add to soups
make matchsticks/shreds of zucchini, measure out 2 cups shreds per layer, dry, use to make zuke bread or add to soups.
I make Greek yogurt for my 2 furries, 1 gallon makes about 18, 1/2 pint jars, they seal when cool and are stored in the spare fridge.
I recently made hamburger 'rocks', cook burger, drain off fat--rinse-rinse-rinse until all fat is gone dry until gravel. Then I vacuum sealed the rocks in 1/2 pint jars for storage. Use in stews, chili and goulash.
Lots more ideas if you do a search online. Also check into backpacking recipes to create a whole meal in zipper bags for traveling/camping.

Check out this site. They have tons of free recipes and videos as to how to dehydrate. I've learned so much.
http://www.dehydrate2store.com/recipes/

I just got a dehydrator, cannot wait to try some of these recipes. Take care.

we did onions
cut them up in small pieces and they were like the dry ones you buy
we ended up with 12 quart jars full
we had to put then out in a shed because they smelled really strong

I dry apples with it. I usually use Fuji apples.
Skin and core the apple, cut the apple in halves, and slice (not too thin, not too thick), about 1/4 inch (?).
Put the slices in a large enough bowl of cold water with lemon juice (I never measure, but maybe 1/4 cup per bowl (?). you don't want it to be too sour either, just enough to help the apples not turn brown. Even if it does turn brown before you dry it, it will be OK.
I have a jar with confectioner sugar pre-mixed with ground cinnamon. I don't measure either, I just look at the color, it looks like very very light color of hot chocolate mix. After you experiment, add more (or less) cinnamon to your liking.
After the apple slices sit in the water for a few minutes, drain well. Sprinkle a couple of teasspoon of the sugar mixture on to the apple slices. Toss to mix well.
Arrange on the trays, dry at 125 degrees for about 8 hours.
I have also dried persimmons (both the fuyu, before the squirrel discovered my tree, and the other kind). Do the same thing, minus the cinnamon sugar combination). They are both delicious!

I dried mushrooms by just slicing and arranging on rack and sweet potatoes. Would like to know the jerky if you can pm

We got a dehydrator this summer, and I found that pears work really well. We have a pear tree that produces barrels of Bartlett pears. I kept them inside for a few days to soften up a bit, but they really were still pretty firm. Used an apple corer to get the center out, then sliced about 3/8 inch thick and soaked them in water with "Fruit-Fresh" for 5 minutes to keep them from browning. Then dried them. They came out really sweet.

I did a bunch of apples the same way, but didn't like them as well as the pears.

Last Christmas I dried round slices of oranges and glued a little cinnamon stick and some tiny pinecones on the top for tree decorations. They were very cute. My friend dries apples with cinnamon and sugar for snacks.

I dried tomatoes and green peppers this year. Ran out of canning jars and money, didn't want to waste. Next year I will be planting a whole lot more tomatoes. I have 3 people who can't get enough of the dried tomatoes. They taste like candy and I like them even though I'm not a tomato eater. The peppers are nice to add to dishes or on top of pizza. I love dried tomatoes on pizza, but can't keep them for myself, lol.
Brenda in MI

love banana chips. dip in lemon juice first. sweet

I was told that if you rinse onions with boiling water it lessons the heat and the smell...havent tried it tho..

We make raisins every year from the Manukka grapes we grow. Washed, then dried the grapes. They take a long time... sometimes 18 hours but they are worth it. We use raisins all year long in our hot cereal. Trial and error will help with timing. You want to make sure you don't let them dry out too hard.

Also, we sliced cantaloupe this past fall and dried it. It was yummy. Just make sure you don't over dry it. We will doing this again next fall.

Thank you for the link. Have saved it to read later.

I bought a dehydrator that was practically brand new at a yard sale, but it did not have manual with it, so I just Google things that I am interested in dehydrating. I have done a lot of apples and bananas. Last summer we had a lot of tomatoes, so I dried them--they are wonderful. Just slice small pieces and you can use your own judgement on most things as to how much time it takes. I would like to try cranberries next.

Thanks for the link to Dehydrate2Store. I spent over 2 hours on the site and learned so much about dehydrating, not to mention using my pressure cooker to cook whole pumpkins or butternut squash. I loved the tip about dehydrating apple peelings and grinding into powder for tea. I'm not fond of canning and and after checking out the site, I'm going to focus on using that garage-sale-find dehydrator.

Cranraisins are great in oatmeal. I planned to get a dehydrator. All the suggestions are great for future use.

Dehydrators are the best things ever!!! I make my yogurt in mine, plus jerky, dry almost any veggie & fruit!!! Also, fruit leathers. Dry tomatos then grind up for instant tomato sauce!! Mushooms, onions, peppers can also be dried. I live in the country & if I run out of something in the cupboard, I just go to my dried stash & usually find what I need!! I would really hate to be without my dehydrator!

Our favorite is dried cherry tomatoes. Slice in half, sprinkle w/combination of oregano, parsley, basil, tarragon etc. to your taste(I don't measure and has a different flavor every year!) - spread in single layer w/ cut sides up on racks, dry 'til crispy. Friends love to get a jelly jar of them during the year. Great to eat right out of the jar as snacks, put in salads, use in marinades etc. They don't rehydrate but soften up if cooked in sauces.

Dried cherry tomatoes sound delicious Quilt Lady! Thanks.

Several of you mentioned that you make yogurt in yours. What are some of your recipes? My dehydrater doesn't have space for cups or jar so probably can't make yogurt in mine.