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The best dehydrators and how to use them

By Natalie Hardwick – Editor, bbcgoodfood.com

Want to invest in a specialist machine for drying out fruit, veg and herbs? Heavy-duty dehydrators are easy and efficient to use, but which model is right for your kitchen?

Dehydrators are a real investment purchase. Large in size, they require plenty of space for storage and, as a hefty piece of sophisticated electronic kit, they often carry a price tag to match.

But they’re not just for banana chips and dried mushrooms – dehydrators can be used to make jerky, fruit leather and vegetable chips. As they lock in nutritional benefits, they’re an invaluable piece of kit for people following a raw food diet, plus if you’re a slave to snacks, they offer the opportunity to make healthier versions of crisps and sweets.

Read on to discover our favourite dehydrators – and for over 200 buyer’s guides, visit our product review section to read reviews of everything from smoothie makers to juicers.

Stockli dehydrator with stainless steel trays

Best mid-range dehydrator

Stockli’s stackable layers are made from stainless steel mesh, meaning dried ingredients are easy to remove. Still, the jury’s out on whether plastic or metal is the better material for the trays as, if you time your session correctly, the ingredients should be easily removable regardless. The machine is easy to use and simple to clean, plus it’s nice and compact, so has a smaller worktop footprint.

Excalibur four-tray dehydrator

Best blowout dehydrator

This energy-efficient machine uses a drawer function rather than a stack, making it easier to check on the progress of the dehydration. It’s a good choice for smaller kitchens, as it’s quite compact, but for those who take snacking very seriously or who want to dry food in large batches, this model is also available to buy with a bumper nine drawers.

What is a food dehydrator?

Electronic dehydrators preserve fresh fruit, vegetables, herbs and meat by removing their moisture content. They work by circulating warm air around stacked trays made from slatted plastic or metal gauze, allowing water to evaporate evenly and simultaneously.

As no cooking is required, all flavour and nutrition is locked in – in some cases the flavour is intensified – and the end result has a much longer shelf life than the fresh ingredient.

What can I use a dehydrator for?

You can place most fruit and vegetables in a dehydrator, although you may get optimum results by soaking fruit or blanching vegetables for a few minutes before laying them out in slices in an even spread.

You can also dry herbs and make fruit leather by laying puréed fruit onto the tray before peeling it off and cutting it into strips.

If you’re very ambitious you could try making your own meat jerky by dehydrating strips of beef flavoured with a dash of soy or Worcestershire sauce.

How do I use a dehydrator?

The first stage of using a dehydrator is to prep your ingredients. Fruit and veg needs to be chopped thinly and evenly, so that all the slices dry at the same rate. Blanch vegetables for a couple of minutes, and try soaking fruit in juice for a minute or two, first.

Then, lay out the ingredients in a single layer with no overlapping, before setting your temperature and timer. Once completely dried out, leave them in the dehydrator until fully cool, then store the chips somewhere airtight, ready to snack upon or, if you’re using mushrooms for instance, rehydrate with boiling water for cooking.

All dehydrators will come with an instruction manual with specific timings for individual ingredients, but be aware that it can take up to 38 hours to dehydrate certain water-dense ingredients like peppers, apricots and grapes.

Depending on the make and model of your dehydrator, temperature setting and atmospheric conditions, strawberries take between eight and 26 hours, bananas eight to 38 hours and mushrooms six to 14 hours for a 250W, five-layer dehydrator.

Make sure you check the instructions for your particular model as the wattage, shape and temperature can wildly vary.

This review was last updated in December 2019. If you have any questions, suggestions for future reviews or spot anything that has changed in price or availability please get in touch at goodfoodwebsite@immediate.co.uk.

If you’re a fan of health gadgets, read our spiralizer rundown and visit our reviews section for more equipment expertise.

Do you own a dehydrator? Leave a comment below…