Dehydrating Vegetables for Snacks

Man oh man do I have the hardest time eating my veggies. For some reason, I just only want to eat carbs, fruit included, and a little bit of protein. Like if I could live off of carbs I would be ok with that lol.

Now, we all know that we shouldn’t do that… I mean it really isn’t good for you, so we have to come up with clever ways to eat our protein and veggies. One of those ways for me is dehydrating. Now, I know that dehydrating veggies makes the veggies have less nutrients than raw veggies; however, it is better than no veggies right? Am I right or am I right?

I also love dehydrated veggies for an easy on the go snack and a lightweight hiking snack. They are seriously perfect for those occassions especially when you know that you won’t have access to any veggies.

Definitely check out my Dehydrated recipes here if you are struggling with getting yours to be flavorful. I only post my successful recipes so you are almost guaranteed to like them.

What is even better is I have started my own garden this year and I was over ran with some veggies. Dehydrating is the perfect way to preserve some of those excess veggies that you have from your garden!

Ok, enough chit chat. Lets talk about how to dehydrate veggies an the key is how to make them nice and crispy.

How to prep your veggies for dehydrating:

Pick your veggies of choice
Rinse and Scrub
- This is very important. You want to make sure to get off any dirt and nasty things from the grocery store
Dry
- Once you have rinsed them just let them dry, or dry them with a towel yourself
Thinly slice with a knife or a mandolin
- I prefer a Mandolin as you will want your slices to be even. This way they will dry evenly when you put them into the dehydrator
- Slice thinly. 1/8 to a 1/4 inch thick.
- I have linked my favorites below.
Season how you wish. Use a recipe that is going to make the flavor pop!

Here are some things you will need to dehydrate your veggies:

How to Dehydrate Fruits and Vegetables with a Dehydrator:

First you need to make sure that you find a recipe and follow it to the T. Once you have prepped your veggies you are at the easy part. All you are going to need to do is plug in your dehydrator and then turn the dial to the correct temp depending on what you are dehydrating. Then wait the appropriate amount of time and BOOM! There you have it, dehydrated veggies right at your fingertips!

The hard part is figuring out how to get them nice and crispy. There are two tips that I have for you.

The first is to ensure that you are slicing your veggies incredibly thin. That is why I use a mandolin. This way you can get a very thin even cut on all your veggies.

The second is to ensure that you leave the veggies in the dehydrator for a long enough time. People tend to take their veggies off too soon. I typically put mine in the dehydrator right before I go to bed. This way they have a solid 8 hours to dehydrate. When you wake up check them to see if they are still wet. If so, you will need to continue to dehydrate.

Pro Tip:

Your veggies are not going to be crispy until you let them cool. So don’t think that they need to be crispy when they are hot.

Pro Tip #2:

You are going to want to remove your veggies from the dehydrator as soon as they are done. Do not let them cool on the dehydrator trays. If you do this, they will ultimately get stuck and you will end up with tiny chips or even powder. Then to clean the trays is just a nightmare so definitely remove all your veggies from the tray while they are hot.

Here are the Dehydrators that I find amazing:

Some Of My Favorite Veggies to Dehydrate

Snap Peas
Carrots
Zucchini
Squash
Beets
Sweet Potatoes
Red Potatoes
Cauliflower

And there you have it my friends! A simple guide on dehydrating vegetables for snacks. The dehydrating part is pretty simple, but the flavor part is the hard part. Make sure to check out all my dehydrated recipes here.

If you have any tips or tricks on dehydrating leave a comment below. We are all learning and would love to hear what you have learned along the way!

Wishing you nothing but delicious healthy food!

Bess

Looking for more delicious backpacking recipes or recipes for your next adventure? Check these out:

Featured