10 Snacks You Can Make in Your Dehydrator

At-home dehydrating is one of my favorite methods of food preservation. It’s easy, straightforward, and very cheap, and dried foods can last anywhere between a month and a year at room temperature. It’s the perfect way to preserve meat, veggies, fruit, and a lot more…

And maybe best of all, dried foods can be really tasty! Dehydrated foods have a unique texture and a concentrated, intense flavor. All kinds of things can make for delicious ingredients, and lots of the fruits and veggies you already love are perfect snacks when dried.

You can stop spending a fortune on grocery store snacks and eating questionable ultra-processed ingredients with a few delicious dehydrated snack options. I’ll give you 10 of the very best down below so you’ll be ready for your next road trip, hike, or movie night.

Beef Jerky

I think everybody reading saw this one coming! Beef jerky is one of my very favorite things, and hands down my favorite dehydrated snack.

Jerky is protein-packed, satisfying, and is great as a savory treat and also as an emergency ration when times are tough. The only issue with home/dried jerky is its modest shelf life: even when you do everything right, you can”t expect it to last more than two weeks at room temperature.

Unfortunately, every brand you’ll buy in the store must be made by world-class artisans based on the prices I’ve been seeing! You can break the monopoly and stop the financial hemorrhaging by making your own jerky at home in your dehydrator.

Classic beef, chicken, turkey, and even venison are all good options, and there are many dozens of recipes out there for you to enjoy. (Homemade beef jerky also makes a great gift, so keep that in mind.)

Just keep in mind that you can”t just dry meats like you would veggies. You need to cook it first according the recipe you chose to use, and only then dehydrate it. Dehydrators don”t typically reach high enough temperatures to kill the bacteria and pathogens that could spoil the meat later on.

Dried Berries

Another mainstay dehydrated snack: every kind of berry you can think of is suitable for dehydrating, and as far as I’m concerned, they turn even more delectable.

Dehydrated berries will shrink, but the removal of most of the existing moisture concentrates the sugars and other flavors and gives them an entirely new life. Just keep in mind that for some, you need to do an extra step: you need to briefly boil them and then dip them in cold water. This is to break the skin to allow moisutre to escape during drying.

Strawberries, blueberries, cherries, huckleberries, cranberries, and a whole lot more are all good candidates. They are wonderful all on their own, added to salads, or mixed in with other ingredients to make a wholesome and fortifying trail mix. The possibilities are endless with berries!

Banana Chips

Dehydrating bananas at home is a perfect way to extend the shelf life of this tropical—and quickly spoiling—fruit. Sweet and crispy, or sometimes slightly chewy, these are the perfect option for folks trying to cut back on candy but still struggle with a serious sweet tooth.

These banana chips are also highly nutritious. Compared to other forms of processing, dehydration maintains many vitamins and the vast majority of minerals present in the fresh fruit. The biggest loss happens to vitamin C, with others such as the B vitamins being be lost to a lesser degree.

These things are so craveable you’ll need to be careful, though: they are carbohydrate-rich, and it’s easy to plow through an entire container!

This is another easy prep option, as they only need to be cut into medallions about a quarter inch thick or less.

Apple Chips

Besides raisins, which are just dehydrated grapes, the very first dehydrated snack that most people have in life is apple chips. These crispy and slightly chewy apple slivers are intensely sweet and often flavored with cinnamon and other spices to make something truly unique.

You can buy these at just about every grocery store these days, but I’m here to tell you there’s no comparison between them and fresh homemade ones.

For bonus points, get yourself some fresh-picked apples from your backyard or local farmers’ market, then slice them thin before popping them in the dehydrator. Your family will flip over the results!

Cauliflower “Popcorn”

This is another wonderful snack for the carb-conscious, or anyone who wants something sweet or savory and a little bit healthier.

You can take cauliflower florets, cut them into bite-size pieces, blanch and dehydrate them. Doing this turns them into flaky, airy, lightly crispy little morsels that are a pretty good stand-in for popcorn!

But just like actual popcorn, it benefits from some seasoning, and this is where the fun begins…

You can use salt and pepper ahead of time, toss it in some kind of sauce, or add butter to it later when you start snacking. Don’t be afraid to experiment with different combinations!

This stuff keeps pretty well for weeks in an airtight container, and will always be ready when your cravings hit. This is one of my very favorite road trip foods and keeps the temptation of the salty snack aisle at bay when I’m stopping to get gas.

Fruit Leather

If you’ve got kids, you’re probably well acquainted with those roll-up fruit snacks that are so beguilingly good. They’re also so expensive and loaded with ingredients that are downright unpronounceable.

But like so many convenient foods these days, processed, flexible fruit snacks started out as something else, and that something else was fruit leather.

You can puree fruit and add a few other ingredients to help it hold together before popping the mixture in a tray and then dehydrating. When it comes out, the result is something like solidified jelly—and just as good as it sounds.

Chewy, rich, sweet, and a great source of quick energy, this is another wholesome snack that you’ll love and be happy to serve to your family.

Dried Pineapple Rings

Pineapple is one of the sweetest fruits around and always great for snacking. Fruit salad, skewers, salsas, and more—pineapple is a mainstay in my house when it’s in season.

And if you don’t want to switch to the canned or frozen stuff when it is out of season, you can whip up some dried pineapple rings at home. Dried pineapple is so sweet and so satisfying that it almost tastes fake—but it isn’t!

Dried pineapple is an amazing snack, but it’s also great when added to ice cream, cake mixes, and other dishes. I think it’s one of the best fruits for dehydrating, period.

Sweet Potato Chips

In case you didn’t get the picture, I am a chip fanatic. I love crispy, satisfying snacks that you can just binge on. And yes, I know that you really shouldn’t. If you want to cut back on super unhealthy potato chips, try making sweet potato chips in your at-home dehydrator.

They always turn out a little sweet and savory, with a delightful, crisp crunch and subtle chewiness, and they are pretty much the perfect nutritious snack for watching the ball game. They are also perfect for experimenting with different seasonings and flavorings if you want to go beyond just salt and pepper.

Seasoned Chickpeas

Chickpeas are one of the most versatile legumes around. They are a fixture in all sorts of ethnic dishes, both as a side dish on their own and as an ingredient. They are the main ingredient in one of my favorite dips, hummus! And to add to their achievements, they turn out incredibly delicious when dehydrated.

You can treat canned or cooked chickpeas just like cauliflower in terms of preparation: they benefit greatly from different glazes, sauces, and seasonings both before and after the dehydration process.

If you have raw chickpeas, though, you’ll need to first soak them for 8 to 12 hours, then either simmer for an hour or two OR pressure cook them for 30 to 40 minutes.

Once they are dried out, they are dense but crisp, and really stick to your ribs. If you like crackers, pretzels, and other salty snacks that sometimes have a filling, these are a perfect replacement.

Dehydrator No-Bake Cookies

No-bake cookies made in the dehydrator have practically taken over my household. There are lots of different recipes out there, from classics made with peanut butter and chocolate to ones made with other novel nut or seed butters, coconut, and previously dried fruit:

• Dehydrated Cookies Recipe
• Raw Vegan Oatmeal Raisin Cookies and Cookie Dough
• Raw Vegan Oreos

There’s something about dehydrating them that makes them even more flavorful and gives them a unique texture that your guests and friends are sure to comment on. You’ve especially got to try them if you already like traditional no-bakes.

Careful, though: just because these are made in a dehydrator, that doesn’t mean they have the shelf life as the individual foods discussed in the rest of the article.