Dehydrated Strawberry Chips
Dehydrated strawberry chips are a healthy snack with the concentrated sweetness of fresh strawberries. Pack them in lunchboxes or take them to the office for the mid-afternoon munchies.
They’re proof that not everything in life is immoral, illegal, or fattening!
Dehydrating strawberries is one way to preserve the flavor of summer strawberries when you aren’t in the mood for strawberry jam. Though I might also try to convince you to make jam so you can make these homemade strawberry heart pop tarts.
Tips and tricks
I only recently discovered how easy it is to hull a strawberry without losing any of the flesh!
Hold the washed strawberry in your non-dominant hand. That’s the left hand for most people (Panel #1, below). With your right hand, pinch the leaves and stem together and pull and twist them off (Panel #2).
Insert the tip of a paring knife into the strawberry (#3). Rotate the strawberry so you are always cutting away from your left hand, and cut a small, cone shaped segment out of the strawberry (#4).
These handy, stackable racks are great for dehydrating strawberries and other fruits in the oven or for cooking bacon. Mmmm bacon.
It’s unfortunate how the dehydrated strawberries get all shriveled up and sad looking. But the dehydrating process really concentrates the strawberry flavor and gives candy-like sweetness to even the dullest of early season strawberries.
FAQs
Strawberries do well in a 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 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 or strawberry milk.
Depending on how well they’ve been dried, dehydrated strawberries 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.
Related recipes
Check out other uglyducklingbakery snacks, including these dehydrated apples or cherry tomatoes.
Or maybe you are looking for recipes for strawberries and might want to make a smoothie or some strawberry applesauce, a strawberry apple pie, a strawberry gimlet, or heart-shaped strawberry pop tarts?
Or use those strawberries along with all the other summer fruit to make this rainbow fruit tart.
Dehydrated Strawberry Chips
Ingredients
- 1 pound (450 grams) fresh strawberries
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice optional
Instructions
- Wash and hull the strawberries, then slice them into quarter inch slices.1 pound (450 grams) fresh strawberries
- Optional: mix the lemon juice with 1 tablespoon of water and dip the strawberry slices into the solution.1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 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 about 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.
Notes
Nutrition
What’s next
If you make these dehydrated strawberry chips, please leave a comment or rating here. Or share a pic with me on Instagram!
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