If you are new to dehydrating techniques, you may be wondering if you can dehydrate all foods. I am here to tell you, you cannot dehydrate every food!
If I have added a food to the do not dehydrate list, it doesn’t meant that it can’t be dehydrated – it means the time, effort, and long-term storage options are not worth doing it. This is for those that are looking to dehydrate to build a PREPared pantry.
One time shots for the fun of it are a completely different idea.
And before we get to the list, I’m sure we’re going to hear a chorus of, “Oh, I dehydrate milk all the time and I’m just fine!” And that’s fine for you and how you choose to provide food for your family. But a general consensus, especially for folks new to the dehydrating method of food preservation for long-term storage is that there are some foods you shouldn’t tackle, and I’m sticking to my story. I want everyone to be safe!
Foods that cannot be dehydrated
Can you dehydrate the foods on this list? Yes.
Do you want to? No.
The foods on this list will not dehydrate well and will leave you disappointed. Each has their own reason for not drying well which I have noted below.
- Avocados – Foods super high in fat don’t dehydrate well at all. They also go rancid very quickly. So just eat it fast instead of trying to make it stick around longer.
- Olives – I’ve actually tried dehydrating olives and it was disappointing to the whole family. We are olive lovers and still were disgusted with the results. They do not do well for long-term storage anyway so not worth the effort.
- Store-bought condiments – There is a technique of taking whatever you can dehydrate and reducing it to its simplest terms to make it easier to store. I can see the appeal in dehydrating a bottle of ketchup, powdering the leather, and having ready-to-serve ketchup available at the drop of a hat in one large container as opposed to 15 bottles sitting on your shelf. However, you really need to look at what is IN the store-bought condiments that will make them not so great to have (sugar, chemicals, fats from oils) that might make them risky to store on the shelf. So these are just good to stay away from. But I’m curious…have any of you tried dehydrating mayo?
- Juices, water, soda – You wouldn’t believe how often “can you dehydrate water” comes up in a google search, or how many times the dehydrated water in a can meme shows up on Facebook groups and forums. But generally, liquid drinks are best canned or jellied for food preservation. Besides being really messy, even if you had a great tray container, the amount of time and effort in dehydrating even the most reduced down to it’s minimum orange juice is best done if made into jams, jellies, fruit leathers, frozen or canned.
- Non-lean meats – They take a long time because fat doesn’t like to be dehydrated, and they can’t be stored for more than a week or two.
- Butter – Butter is largely fat. And with fat comes a whole mess of issues with dehydrating. While some people do dehydrate butter on their own, the safest and fastest method for the home PREPared pantry is to invest in commercially preserved powdered butter. Or learn to use beans as a fat replacement in your baking and cooking.
- Cheese – Yes, you can dehydrate cheese. BUT, and there’s a big but about it. It’s a high fat content food, that tends to go rancid much more quickly, and shouldn’t be used for long-term storage. Better to buy commercially dried cheese to make sure you’re safe.
- Milk – I’m just going to type – read above about dehydrating milk. While you’ll see tutorials out there about doing it, unless you’re doing it with 1% or non-fat milk (which at that point, why bother as there is little to no nutritional value in it any longer, anyway between the ultra-pasteurization and removal of the good fats) why bother. Here’s a powdered whole milk option for you.
Foods I don’t recommend be dehydrated
Don’t try to dehydrate any of these foods at home unless you have studied the proper procedure and storage techniques of each. Most of the foods here can be dehydrated, but are not recommended for long-term storage.
- Meats – You can take lean meats and make beef jerky from them. But home dehydrated jerky is tricky to make safely and does not store for long-term. There are better options like canning and smoking. The key is to use VERY lean meats. Fats go rancid quickly and tend not to dehydrate well. So if you do want to attempt dehydration of meat, remove all fat first.
- Eggs – In general, eggs dehydrate well when you create a slurry. They can be rehydrated for scrambled eggs, but not to replace fresh eggs in most baking/cooking needs. A better option is to purchase commercially dehydrated eggs and store them.
- Nuts – You can dehydrate nuts and store them, but the fat content still makes them a short-term shelf item. You can store nuts long-term for food storage, but simply soaking them to help with their nutritional content, drying them, and then sticking them on shelf for a few years isn’t going to work. There’s a specific process to follow to stay safe.
- Fruit Leathers – Fruit leathers are not for long-term storage. You should never make them using regular white sugar as it can crystallize in the process.
Foods that require special steps to dehydrate
- Leafy Greens – While I don’t follow what I’m about to say here, many consider steaming/blanching dark leafy greens before dehydrating to be more beneficial to getting all of the nutrients from the greens.
- Apples, Bananas and Pears – It’s a great practice to spray a little lemon juice on these before dehydrating to make sure they retain their color before coming fully dehydrated.
- Mushrooms – If you care about having light colored mushrooms as your final product, make sure your mushrooms are dry before dehydrating them. I rinse my mushrooms in water to remove residual growing medium from them, and they tend to be dark upon dehydrating, but we’re okay with that because most of our dehydrated mushrooms end up within a dish or as a mushroom powder, so we don’t care that the final product isn’t a lighter color.
- Blueberries – Dehydrating blueberries is a great idea, but you do need to poke a hole int he blueberry first. Who wants to poke a hole in every blueberry? Not me! Here is a tip – you can place the blueberries in a pot of boiling water for a few seconds which will allow the blueberry to split. Then it is ready to dehydrate.
- Low-acid fruits and vegetables – These foods do better when they are steamed before dehydrating. If you are wondering why, would you want a raw, dehydrated beet? I think not.
I know this list is huge, but I hope it helps someone.
I would also like to thank a reader Owen who graciously left the following comment of his experiences as a Boy Scout leader.
“While a Boy Scout leader, I felt that part of my job was to expose the boys to many things that were not common. As I enjoy cooking, I ended up drying lots of things as experiments.
-Chicken (cooked) jerky, does not re-hydrate well.
-Meatless soups tend to dry well and are easily reconstituted – I would dry 2 cups of soup, and package that as one serving, that worked well.
-Bean soups – some worked, some didn’t, might be how cooked the beans were.
-Split pea soup worked the best.
-Salsa, dries fine, but trying to rehydrate is not worth it, so, as mentioned, avoid the condiments.
-I never tried Mayo, but you can’t even freeze that.
-I love my jerky – very lean meat.
-Watermelon – tastes great, but a nice slice ends up as a thin film.”
If you have any other additions – or have had success dehydrating one of these let me know in the comments.
