Can I Dehydrate Food Without A Dehydrator?

“I’ve got a summer garden overflowing with peaches and tomatoes, and I want to preserve them by dehydrating. But I don’t have a dehydrator, and I’ve heard it’s still possible to dry foods without one. What’s the best way to do this in my home kitchen? Also, I live in Portland where the weather can be pretty humid, and I’m worried that might be an issue. What can I do?” Thanks, Sarah, Portland, USA.

Can You Dehydrate Food Without A Dehydrator?

Yes, Sarah, you absolutely can dehydrate food without a fancy dehydrator! And the best part? You probably already have most of the tools you need. It’s all about using the right methods that work with your kitchen setup. I totally get you with the humid Portland weather, but don’t worry—I’ve got tips that’ll help you out.

Let’s explore some of the easy and homemade ways to dry out those peaches and tomatoes with no dehydrator in sight.

Why Dehydrate Food?

Before jumping into the techniques, let’s quickly chat about why we’re dehydrating in the first place. When you remove the moisture from food, it extends the life of your harvest without needing to freeze or can everything. Dried foods are also super handy if you love snacking on fruit leathers or adding dried veggies to soups or stews. Plus, they take up much less space than storing jars or freezing your entire crop.

Method 1: Oven Dehydrating

If you’ve got an oven, you’re already halfway there to becoming a dehydrating pro! Using your oven is one of the simplest ways to mimic what a dehydrator does. It does take some patience, though—this isn’t a quick fix, but it’s totally worth it.

How to Dry Foods in the Oven:

Here’s the super basic steps: slice, spread, bake. But let’s break it down a bit more:

• Prepare Your Produce: First off, slice your fruits or veggies thinly. The thinner, the faster they’ll dry. For peaches or tomatoes, I’d aim for about 1/4 inch slices.
• Setting up the Oven: Set your oven to a low temperature—usually the lowest it can go, which is around 140°F-170°F (60°C-75°C). If you can’t go that low, you might need to crack the oven door open a little to keep the air flowing. Keep an eye on the temperature; if it gets too hot, you could end up with roasted food instead of dried.
• Spread Them Out: Use parchment paper or a silicone mat on a baking sheet, and lay your slices out in a single layer. They need space for the air to circulate, so make sure they’re not overlapping.
• Dry Time: Check every few hours—a good rule of thumb is to expect 6-12 hours, depending on what you’re drying and your oven’s temperature. Rotate your trays midway to ensure even drying.

Keep in mind, Sarah, tomatoes tend to take longer than fruits like peaches. And if Portland’s being especially humid, you might need to let them go a little longer.

Pro Tip:

If your oven has a convection setting, use it! That fan helps air circulate, which is key for drying evenly. Just like in a dehydrator!

Method 2: Air Drying

Air drying works wonderfully for some produce types—mostly herbs, mushrooms, peppers, or smaller thin items—because they dry quickly without additional equipment. But, I’ll be honest, in wetter places like Portland, air-drying outside might not be the smoothest option during humid days.

Best Conditions for Air-Drying

• Low Humidity: You need a dry, breezy spot. If your kitchen tends to get humid (as it might during some seasons in Portland), you may get better results using an indoor setup near a dehumidifier or a fan.
• No Direct Sunlight: While warmth helps, direct sun can overheat the food and change the flavor, especially for herbs and fruits.
• Thin Cuts or Small Items: For this method to work well, stick to thin slices or smaller items so they’ll dry faster.

How to Air Dry Produce:

• String It Up: Hang items like herbs or peppers on strings in a drafty location, like a garage or basement.
• Lay Out: If you’re air drying things like tomatoes or fruits, place them on racks with plenty of airflow around them. You can cover them with a thin, lightweight cloth to keep insects or dust away.
• Patience Required: Depending on what you’re drying, the process can take several days to even weeks. So plan ahead!

One small hack for you, Sarah—using a fan in your kitchen can even speed up air drying a bit. It’s not as effective as a temperature-controlled environment, but on drier days, it can work wonders!

Method 3: Sun Drying (When It’s Dry Outsides)

If you’re blessed with some dry, sunny weather during the summer months, sun drying is an option to consider for fruits and tomatoes. Just know that in places like Portland, this might be more difficult to pull off unless the forecast is showing you a stretch of several dry days in a row.

How to Sun Dry Food Outdoors:

The key to sun drying, of course, is sunshine but also airflow. Here’s how you can do it:

• Set Up Trays: Lay your sliced food on mesh trays or racks raised off the ground or table to allow airflow on all sides.
• Use a Cover: A fine mesh or cheesecloth will keep insects and critters at bay. But be sure your food isn’t “sealed off” from the air entirely, as air circulation is a must.
• Sunniest Place: Set your trays in the sunniest, warmest area you have. You may want to move them during the day to follow the sun, but make sure where they’re located doesn’t trap in too much heat or humidity.
• Timing: Sun drying can take 2-5 days, depending on your weather and produce type.

If you’re short on reliable sunny weather, Sarah, you can start the drying outside and finish in the oven. A little hack that I’ve used in years where backyard drying wasn’t possible the whole way through.

Troubleshooting Common Dehydrating Problems

Here are some challenges that might pop up when drying foods without a dehydrator, particularly in humid climates like yours, Sarah.

1. Food Isn’t Drying Evenly

If you notice some pieces of food are still moist while others are drying out nicely, it’s usually an issue with air circulation. In the oven, make sure you’re not overcrowding your trays, and if you’re air drying, get that fan going. Give a gentle shuffle to your racks or trays to let any stagnant air escape.

2. Food Swells Back Up After Sealing

This one is super frustrating! You do all this work, pop your dried fruit into a jar or bag, and then they soften again. It probably means there was still moisture in there when you stored them. Before sealing your jars or bags, give your dried food the “snap test”—break open a piece and if it’s bendy or sticky, it probably isn’t fully dry.

Let them dry a little longer before sealing. Peaches, especially, need to be completely dry to avoid this.

3. Foods Taste “Weird” or are Discolored

This can happen if the food dries too slowly or unevenly. One quick fix is to pre-treat your fruits (peaches work great) by dipping them in lemon juice or citric acid before drying. It keeps them from oxidizing, so they’ll stay bright and fresh instead of turning brown. Also, watch your oven temperature—if it’s too high, some foods can “cook” instead of just drying.

4. Sticky Fruits Sticking to the Tray

Those juicy peaches can be tricky. You can avoid this by using parchment paper or silicone mats before laying down the fruit. If they’re still a bit sticky when done, don’t worry—just let them completely cool down before peeling them off the tray. Another trick is to very lightly oil your trays beforehand, though I don’t usually bother.

The Best Produce to Dry Without a Dehydrator

Some foods are just easier to dry than others, especially when you don’t have specialized equipment. Here’s what to focus on, based on what you might have in your garden.

• Herbs: The simplest! I hang bundles of thyme, basil, rosemary, or oregano in a cool, dry spot in my home.
• Tomatoes: These do best in the oven or sun, and they can be stored as chewy dried slices or rehydrated for soups.
• Peaches and Other Fruits: Oven drying works perfectly for stone fruits. You can also make fruit leathers if you mash them up first and spread them out thin on a tray.
• Peppers: These are great for air drying or sun-drying if you slice them thinly (or leave them whole if they’re smaller).

Final Thoughts…

Thanks for sending in your question, Sarah! Hopefully, this has helped you see that with a little creativity, no dehydrator is needed to savor those garden tomatoes and juicy peaches year-round. Don’t worry too much about the Portland humidity—you’ve got options to make it work. And next time there’s a surprise sunny stretch, maybe give sun drying a shot too!