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Preserve The Harvest: How to Dehydrate Vegetables

June 24, 2010 (UPDATED: December 21, 2020) by Katie Kimball @ Kitchen Stewardship® 12 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links which won’t change your price but will share some commission.

It’s just as easy to dehydrate vegetables as it is to make steamed vegetables or roast veggies. Read on to find out how I make sure to use all of my dehydrated vegetables. 

How to dehydrate veggies, dehydrated vegetables in jar

Dehydrating Vegetables

This is hardly even worth a blog post.

Dehydrating veggies, at least the ones I’ve attempted, is so simple:

  1. Wash
  2. Cut in even pieces
  3. Dehydrate
  4. Store

The hardest part about dehydrating veggies, for me, is figuring out how to use them and then remembering to do it. I’m a big fan of making veggie chips, which are like a healthier version of potato chips, crispy and salty and full of nutrients. They make a great snack.

I most often dehydrate peppers, zucchini, tomatoes, and greens because those are the items that (1) I really wanted to have on hand all year (2) are plentiful at the Farmer’s Market and (3) wouldn’t fit in my freezer.

RELATED: How To Preserve Apples & Healthy Food Stockpile Options -The Best Vegetables to Stockpile

dehydrated vegetables

Why Dehydrate Peppers at Home?

I stock my freezer with so many things: u-pick berries, chicken stock from bones, grassfed meat, crispy nuts, and yes, Farmer’s Market peppers. I’d never have enough room to store all that I wanted to preserve when organic, local peppers are 3/$1 instead of pesticide-laden peppers from Mexico for $2.99/lb. on sale in the middle of winter. (Peppers are on the Dirty Dozen list, you know.)

I dried both sliced and diced peppers last year, although now that I’ve used them this winter I would only dry diced. It’s very easy to throw dried peppers into soups and chilis, but I wouldn’t want to use rehydrated sliced peppers in a stir-fry or for fajitas. Frozen sliced peppers are perfect for those uses!

The Many Uses of Dehydrated Tomatoes

I slice and dry Romas until they are completely crispy. Some I store as is, and I toss them into chili and used them, rehydrated, on pizza for a bit of a fake-out sun-dried tomato imitation.

I also have powdered the dried tomatoes in my blender…which, as usual, was more complicated than it sounded. I thought I’d never get rid of some of the big chunks of tomato! I didn’t have a high powered blender when I did this, but I bet if I tried it with my Blendtec it would work better. You can make your own canned tomato paste and sauce with the powder as follows:

  • paste – 1:1 powder to water
  • sauce – 1:3 powder to water
  • soup – 1 part powder 1 part water and 2 parts cream

I’ve also just dumped some powder into my chili when it looked like it needed a little boost. This is a really, really nice way to avoid the BPA in canned tomato products without having to can (or cook) anything.

Ready to start dehydrating? Download my guide to dehydrating all sorts of fruits and veggies!
Printable guide to dehydrating fruits and veggies

Dried Zucchini To Use All Year Long

Some folks munch on dried zucchini like chips, but I’m not a huge fan. I tend to toss zucchini into about anything liquid, like soup, chili or even burritos. It’s one of the foods I freeze regularly as well. I would recommend slicing each round in half, as the rehydrated pieces are a bit more chewy, so smaller is better. Here’s a post with more detailed instructions on how to dehydrate zucchini and then how to use it up once it’s dehydrated.

Dried Greens Sneak in Anywhere

Greens are plentiful and inexpensive at the farmers market almost all year round, depending on where you live. I like to dehydrate and then make green powder to toss into smoothies, soups, and anywhere I think I can hide a bit of extra nutrition.

How to Use Dried Vegetables

If you’re putting dried veggies into a soup or chili that will cook a while (at least an hour?), you’re pretty safe just tossing them in. The texture will be best, however, if you follow these directions:

  • Place the dried food into a bowl
  • Pour boiling water over the dried food (best to add water to food, not food to water)
  • Allow to rehydrate until plumped up, between 10-60 minutes, depending on the thickness of the food and the purpose you need it for.

This tomato “leather” recipe that Lenetta sent me is on my “do this someday” list:

1 medium onion, 1 green pepper, 1 garlic clove per 3 cups of diced, unpeeled tomatoes. Whirl onion, pepper, garlic in blender until fine, add tomatoes and blend until smooth. Add other seasonings as desired. Pour puree ¼” deep and dehydrate. Puree leather with water and seasoning to make a superb tomato sauce. In the fruit section, it notes 5 parts water to 1 part leather in a blender for a beverage, I’d guess similar proportions (or maybe 4 parts water so it’s a bit thicker?)

What vegetables are plentiful at your Farmer’s Market? Dehydrate them so they’ll last you all year!
How to dehydrate veggies

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Filed Under: How-to Tutorials, Real Food Preparedness, Real Food Roadmap Tagged With: dehydrator, evergreen, peppers, preserving vegetables, tomatoes, vegetables, zucchini

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About Katie Kimball @ Kitchen Stewardship®

Katie Kimball, CSME is a trusted educator and author of 8 real food cookbooks. She is passionate about researching natural remedies and making healthy cooking easier for busy families. She’s been featured on media outlets like ABC, NBC and First for Women magazine as well as contributing regularly on the FOX Network.

See more of Katie Kimball, CSME in the Media.

Over the last 10 years, Katie has spoken prolifically at conferences, online summits and podcasts and become a trusted authority and advocate for children’s health.

Busy moms look to this certified educator for honest, in-depth natural product reviews and thorough research. She often partners with health experts and medical practitioners to deliver the most current information to the Kitchen Stewardship® community.

In 2016 she created the #1 bestselling online kids cooking course, Kids Cook Real Food, helping thousands of families around the world learn to cook.

Certified Stress Mastery Educator BadgeA mom of 4 kids from Michigan, she is a Certified Stress Mastery Educator and member of the American Institute of Stress.

See all blog posts by Katie Kimball.

12 Bites of Conversation So Far

  1. becky says

    September 15, 2013 at 2:18 am

    Canning dehydrated toms in evoo and the liquid turned green? Is this bcuz it was in the refridge? Thanks

    Reply
    • Katie Kimball @ Kitchen Stewardship says

      September 15, 2013 at 9:09 pm

      Becky,
      Sorry, I’ve never tried this, so I can’t even guess – although some good EVOO does look green in the fridge. ??? Katie

      Reply
  2. Tammy says

    January 24, 2013 at 11:12 am

    Hi, I was wondering if anyone had dried the following: SHREDDED carrots,green peppers, onions. My reason for asking is I want to make homemade “instant chicken vegetable noodle soup” to send to our girls in college that will be preservative free. To be spooned from the container put into a cup with water and heated in the microwave. Being away from home when your sick is no fun, so a cup of homemade chicken soup whether its in the mind or the soup itself may help.

    Reply
    • Katie Kimball @ Kitchen Stewardship says

      March 11, 2013 at 2:16 am

      Tammy,
      Should work fine! I dried shredded beets, and I actually ate them like potato chips. Yum!

      (Sorry your comment got buried and lost for so long!)
      🙂 katie

      Reply
  3. Lori says

    November 5, 2011 at 1:39 am

    I dried tomatoes as well this year. The other day I was putting some sandwiches together and was trying to think of something I had on hand to add some life to the sandwiches…I remembered my tomatoes. Needless to say, my two quart jars won’t last long. Note to self: for 2012 garden produce, dry more tomatoes.

    Reply
  4. Ginger says

    June 27, 2010 at 10:35 am

    I’m in a co-op of friends that order from Just Tomatoes (http://www.justtomatoes.com/) on occasion and they sell a cookbook on full of recipes using dry veggies & fruit, so you may want to check that out for more ways to use your dehydrated stuff.

    Reply
  5. Primal Toad says

    June 24, 2010 at 8:06 pm

    I love dried fruit and don’t see why I would not loved dried veggies, especially tomatoes. Joyful Abode just did a post on this as well. You both are inspiring me to give dried veggies a try. I will have to look into it more and take action asap!

    Thanks!
    .-= Primal Toad´s last blog ..June Chicago Trip: Severe Storms (Tornado?) & Barefoot Golf =-.

    Reply
  6. Amy says

    June 24, 2010 at 3:38 pm

    Last year, I dehydrated cucumbers. I do not care to eat them as chips; but they were great to throw into marinades and such. We enjoyed that. Funny, I forgot that I have them most of the time.

    Thank you for the tomato ratios. This sounds perfect for my family!

    Loved this post!
    .-= Amy´s last blog ..Farm Shots by Bug =-.

    Reply
  7. Greta @ Mom Living Healthy says

    June 24, 2010 at 2:33 pm

    I really haven’t dehydrated a whole lot of anything before. My husband just got a dehydrator because he likes to make beef jerky, so he’s done that a few times now. I’d like to dehydrate tomatoes though, especially if I can make sauce and paste as you suggest. Thanks for the informative post.
    .-= Greta @ Mom Living Healthy´s last blog ..This Week’s Menu Plan =-.

    Reply
  8. Erin says

    June 24, 2010 at 2:04 pm

    Ideas for fake sun-dried tomatoes:
    soups (yummy tomato basil)
    ontop salads
    baked in bread (I really want to make tomato basil bread-see a theme here…lol)
    mashed potatos
    on cottage cheese (though I like my cottage cheese plain, I know some like to add fruit or veggies to it)
    in chili
    made into salsa
    used in rice dishes

    these are all on the top of my head. I am new to this so some of these ideas might not be that good…

    Reply
  9. michelle in Colorado says

    June 24, 2010 at 12:31 pm

    On the tomatoes I marinate them overnight in some balsamic vinegar and then dry them to a crisp. They tend to get eaten out of hand when dry. Doing this helps when the tomatoes do not have much flavor.

    I also break them up and add them to rice as it cooks as well as bread. It is really good in risotto.

    My sister uses them in her herbed cheeses.

    Reply
  10. Shannon says

    June 24, 2010 at 7:37 am

    I haven’t started dehydrating vegetables, but herbs from our garden.

    Last year I lacto-fermented and dehydrated as much as possible. We still have tomatoes that I need to use up. I did peppers, corn (grain), zucchini, and eggplant. This year I plan to do a mirepoix (carrots, onions, celery), LOTS of peppers, and anything else I can get my hands on :).

    thanks for tips on using up my tomatoes!
    .-= Shannon´s last blog ..Early Summer Menu Plan and Food Roots Anyone? =-.

    Reply

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