Dehydrated Strawberries (and What To Do with Dehydrated Strawberry Chips)
I wasn’t planning on making dehydrated strawberry chips today. But there were a bunch of strawberries from last week’s grocery run that hadn’t been eaten. Because it’s hard to get excited about non-local strawberries when there are pounds of Rainier cherries to consume.
So, what do you do when you have a lot of excess fruit that isn’t perfect?
Jam would have been one option. But we don’t need any more strawberry jam. So I decided I wanted to try my hand at dehydrating strawberries.
I only recently discovered how easy it is to hull a strawberry without losing any of the flesh! Hold the strawberry in your left (non-dominant) hand. With your right, pinch the leaves and stem together and twist off (#2). Using a paring knife, insert just the tip (#3) and, always cutting away from you, cut a small, cone shaped segment out of the strawberry (#4).
I have had these handy, stackable racks for a while. They’re great for dehydrating foods in the oven or for cooking bacon (mmmmm bacon).
It’s pretty sad how the dehydrated strawberries get all shriveled up and sad looking, but the dehydrating really concentrates the sweetness and turned our dull strawberries into candy.
FAQs about dehydrated strawberries
Strawberries do well in stand-alone dehydrator, or you can use your oven on a low temperature setting (e.g. 150 degrees F).
No. Lemon juice is primarily used in dehydrating to prevent browning, and there are some who say that it has antimicrobial properties. (Side note: please don’t try to sterilize your needles with lemon juice. It doesn’t work. I promise.)
Eat them plain. Add them to granola or trail mix. Grind super-dry dried strawberries into powder for meringues or macarons.
Depending on how well they’ve been dehydrated, these will keep in a cool location for weeks to months. If they are still somewhat soft, they’ll keep only about a week or so.
Dehydrated strawberry chips
Ingredients
- 1 lb (16 oz/450g) fresh strawberries
- 1 tbsp lemon juice optional
Instructions
- Wash and hull the strawberries, then slice them into 1/4' slices.
- Optional: mix the lemon juice with 1 tbsp of water and dip the strawberry slices into the solution.
- Lay the strawberry slices on a rack or on baking sheets lined with parchment or silicone mats. They can be touching but do not overlap the slices.
- Dehydrate in the oven at 175°F for ~4 hours or until they are the desired consistency. I would recommend turning them over about halfway through, especially if you are drying on baking sheets.
- Cool and then store in an air-free container at cool room temperature.
What next?
If you make these dehydrated strawberry chips, please comment and/or share a pic!
Check out other uglyducklingbakery snacks, including these dehydrated apples. Or maybe you’re looking for other recipes to use up a bounty of strawberries?
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