Dehydrated Strawberries
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These dehydrated strawberries are a delicious, portable snack. Dried strawberries are great to make when you have an abundance of fresh berries.
Dried fruit is a good snack to keep on hand. When your sweet tooth hits, this is a healthier alternative to candy or other processed sweets.
When you find strawberries on sale during peak season, or your garden gives you lots of berries at once, these dehydrated strawberries are a great way to preserve them. They can be made easily in the oven or dehydrator. Dried strawberries are a delicious portable snack with a great texture and flavor.
These dried berries taste best using fresh, ripe strawberries. The results will be tart if the berries aren’t very ripe.
Step by Step Instructions for How to Dehydrate Strawberries in the Oven
Step 1: Prepare the Strawberries
For oven dried strawberries, slice the berries about ¼ inch thick. I like to use this strawberry huller to remove the leaves and hull from the top of each strawberry. You can also cut the stems off the berries if you don’t have a huller.
Step 2: Place berries on parchment-lined trays
Place the strawberries in a single layer on two parchment-lined baking sheets. The slices should be uniform in thickness, but if you end up with some thicker slices, put them on the outside of the cookie sheet, with thinner slices in the middle.
Step 3: Dehydrate the strawberries in the oven
Cook the berries in a 175 degree oven for about 3 hours, or until most of the water is dried out. Strawberries have a lot of moisture in them, and the cook time can vary quite a bit. For crispy dried strawberry chips, you’ll need to leave them in the oven for closer to 4 hours.
Step by Step Instructions for Dried Strawberries in a Food Dehydrator
Step 1: Prepare the Strawberries
Slice the strawberries 1/4 inch thick. They should be a fairly uniform thickness so they’ll dehydrate evenly.
Step 2: Place the sliced strawberries in the dehydrator
To make dried strawberries using a dehydrator, place the sliced strawberries in a single layer on the dehydrator trays. Set the machine to 135 degrees, and run it for 5 to 8 hours for chewy dried strawberries, or 8 to 15 hours for crisp strawberry chips.
I use the Excalibur 5 tray dehydrator. The instruction manual for the machine says it takes 7 to 15 hours to dehydrate berries, but my batch was done in 5 hours. Keep an eye on them, and take them out when they’re done to your liking.
Regardless of how many strawberries you’re drying, keep all 5 trays in the dehydrator. The machine is designed to work with all the trays or none of the trays inserted.
Tips and Frequently Asked Questions
This recipe calls for 1½ pounds of fresh strawberries. This quantity fits well on two baking sheets. You can use any amount of strawberries that you have on hand, though.
The drying time will vary quite a bit depending on what method you use as well as how much moisture is in your batch of berries. The oven method generally takes about 3 hours, and the dehydrator method can take between 5 and 15 hours. The best approach is to keep an eye on them while they’re dehydrating, and remove them from the heat source when they’ve reached the consistency you want.
Serve these dehydrated strawberries on top of oatmeal or granola, add them to trail mix, or eat them on their own for a healthy snack. You can even grind them into strawberry powder if they’re crispy. The powder can be added to milk or smoothies for a quick burst of flavor.
Try my dehydrated banana chips for another healthy dried fruit recipe.
Dehydrated Strawberries
Ingredients
- 1 ½ lbs ripe strawberries, sliced (about 6 cups unsliced)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 175 degrees, and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Thinly slice the strawberries about ¼ inch thick, and arrange them in a single layer on the baking sheets. The slices should be uniform in thickness, but if you end up with some thicker slices, put them on the outside of the cookie sheet, with thinner slices in the middle.
- Bake the strawberries in the oven for about 3 hours, or until they’re dehydrated but not rock solid. Rotate the trays halfway through the bake time (after 1½ hours) for even dehydrating. (Alternately, dehydrate the berries in a dehydrator for 5 to 15 hours.)
- Carefully remove the strawberry chips from the baking sheets by gently peeling them off. Transfer them to a cooling rack, and let them cool completely before storing. (You may find that some of the strawberry pieces are dehydrated, while others still have quite a bit of moisture left in them. Remove the pieces that are done, and keep checking on the rest of the batch in the oven every ten minutes until they’re all ready. It may take up to an extra hour for the largest pieces to be done.)
- Storage: These dried strawberries can be stored in the pantry in an airtight container at room temperature for at least two weeks. If they're completed dried out, they'll have a longer shelf life and can be stored for a long time. (Yields 1 1/3 cups)
Notes
Nutrition
Price Breakdown
I usually buy strawberries when they’re on sale for $2 per pound. At that price, this recipe costs $3 to make, or $.75 per ⅓ cup serving. Try these dry strawberries for a fun, tasty snack.
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Can I put dehydrated strawberries in a jar and can them, using a canner, so they can stay longer
Good question! I’m not sure – I haven’t tried that.
I use dried strawberries and apples in with my herbal tea blend and make cold brew. It makes a nice refreshing drink that needs no sweetener. Great in the summer heat.