How To: Dehydrate Onions
Onions are the perfect food to dehydrate because they're cheap, last a long time and have an excellent shelf life. They're also versatile enough to be used in everything from soups, stews, casseroles, sauces and even desserts! And… drying them is oh so easy!
Ingredients
- 3 lbs fresh onions
Instructions
- Slice off the stem and root portion of the onion.
- Remove the papery peel. I like to slice right down the peel through a couple of layers of the onion, then peel the cut layers back. This is bar none, the easiest way to peel an onion.
- Wash the onions in cold running water. A quick rinse will be sufficient!
- Cut the onions. It can be helpful to separate the layers of the onions before you send them through a dicer, it helps to keep them from clumping up. The most common sizes for dehydrated onion are 1/4" dice or rings, sliced in strips, or even shredded. Be aware that once dehydrated the onion pieces will shrink.
- Spread the onions in a single layer on your dehydrating tray. Dehydrate onions at 155f for 5-8 hours. This time is variable and depends a lot on the dehydrating environment. Onions are done when they are leathery and crack when bending after they're cooled.
- Allow the onions to cool in the closed dehydrator for 45-60 minutes before transferring to your storage container. Avoid waiting past the time that the onions are cooled to room temperature as they easily reabsorb moisture!
- Over the next week, you must condition your onions. Shake your jars of onions daily and watch for signs of moisture on the sides of the jar. If during the first week you notice condensation or signs of moisture on the jars, the onions must be returned to the dehydrator for a while then once cooled, transferred to jars, and conditioned again.
Notes
converting dehydrated onion to fresh
The general rule of thumb with dehydrated onions is as follows: 1 medium onion = ~ 1 1/2 tablespoons onion powder1 medium onion = ~ 1/3 cup dried minced onions
Batch:
Onions lose a massive amount of weight and volume when dehydrated - for this post specifically, I weighed exactly 3 pounds of onions before peeling and dicing, after dehydrating, I had exactly 4.34 ounces! Generally, if sliced or minced, each pound of onions will give a scant pint of sliced or minced dried onions. If shredded, the dried onions will take up must less room, and I would guess that you'd get 1/3-1/2 of a pint of shredded dehydrated onions per pound of fresh onions.Storage:
Use any clean, dry airtight container. Small containers tend to be best for dehydrated onions. If you've got a massive load of onions, vacuum sealing the dried onion flaked works fantastic! I recommend using a chamber vacuum sealer.