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Let’s face it; if you have nothing but beans and rice in your prepper pantry, things are going to get pretty boring! I like adding some spice to my long term food storage, and jalapenos are one great way to do that. In this article I show you how to dehydrate jalapenos.
How to Dehydrate Jalapenos
First, let’s talk about what you’ll need:
- Fresh jalapenos, washed (3-4 jalapenos per dehydrator tray)
- Knife
- Cutting board
- Gloves – not required, but you may regret it if you don’t use them!
- Dehydrator
Preparing Jalapenos for Dehydrating
You’ll start off by cutting off both ends of the jalapeno. Technically, you can leave on the bottom end if you’d like, but definitely cut off the stem end.
If you don’t want the heat, you can also cut out the seeds and membrane. I decided to leave them in because I can always remove the seeds after drying.
Cutting the Jalapenos
There are a few ways to cut your jalapenos.
You can cut them in half or in 4ths.
I chose to slice mine in slices that were approximate 1/4″ thick.
Loading the Dehydrator Trays
I started with 13 large jalapenos, and I had 6 dehydrator trays. I started off by putting 2 jalapenos on each of the first 5 trays. As you can see, there is plenty of room to space out the jalapenos.
I put 3 jalapenos on the top tray, since on my dehydrator, the top tray is closest to the heat source. As you can see, I had plenty of room for 3 jalapenos on a tray.
Dehydrating Jalapenos
I set my dehydrator at 125 degrees, and then ran it overnight.
Here’s what they looked like, after 9 hours of dehydrating:
I mentioned that I decided to leave the seeds and membranes in because you can always remove them before using.
Now let’s look at how many dehydrated jalapenos I ended up with from 1.5 lbs of fresh jalapenos. As you can see from this photo, I ended up with approximately 1 cup of jalapenos.
How to Use Dehydrated Jalapenos
It’s really easy to use dehydrated jalapenos. I like to toss them into a pot of beans or soup as I’m cooking. There’s no need to rehydrate them ahead of time when adding to something soupy. Just toss them in and cook them with the other ingredients.
I also like to grind dehydrated jalapenos into a powder and put them into ranch dressing to make a jalapeno ranch dressing or dip. One thing I haven’t tried yet, but plan to is making jalapeno salt. I’ll powder some jalapenos and then blend the powdered jalapeno with salt.
Related Articles
If you enjoyed this article, you may also enjoy these articles:
- How to Dehydrate Tomatillos
- How to Dehydrate Taco Sauce
- How to Dehydrate Refried Beans
- Nesco Dehydrator Review
- How to Dehydrate Garlic and Make Garlic Powder
- How to Dehydrate Onions
Here are some of my favorite dehydrating tools
Thank you for reading this article. I hope you found it helpful as you strive to stock your pantry with delicious home-dehydrated food! Here are some tools that I use that I’m hoping you’ll also find helpful. These are affiliate links, so if you do decide to use any of them, I’ll earn a commission. Please know that these are the tools that I recommend and believe in 100%!
The Nesco FD-75A Snackmaster Pro Food Dehydrator was my first dehydrator, and still one of my favorites. I actually have two of them! If I was only going to buy one dehydrator and was on a strict budget, this would be it. I love it because it’s very reasonably priced, and is expandable up to 12 trays. I recommend starting with the basic system that comes with 5 trays. Then expand by buying additional trays, fruit leather sheets, and mesh screens.
The Cosori Premium Dehydrator is my most recent dehydrator purchase. In many respects, it’s superior to the Nesco since it is constructed with stainless steel, which is always a winner. I love the ease of use, and how precise it is when it comes to setting the temperature. It’s also versatile in that you can remove some of the racks. This makes it possible to use it for more than just dehydrating. As an example, you can use the Cosori dehydrator to make yogurt, something you definitely can’t do with any of the stackable dehydrators.
Nesco FD-1018A Gardenmaster Pro Food Dehydrator – I’ve had my eye on this dehydrator for a LONG time. I don’t have space for another dehydrator, so I’m just waiting for one of my dehydrators to die so I can buy this one! What I really love about this dehydrator is that it expands to up to 30 (yes, 30!) trays. At 1,000 watts, it’s more powerful than the two dehydrators listed above. If you only have the means to buy one dehydrator, and have limited space to dehydrate, I recommend this one since you can dehydrate a huge amount of food at a time.
The FoodSaver Vacuum Sealing Machine is a great way to preserve the food you’ve dehydrated. The machine I use is no longer available. I chose this one because it’s a great price and includes a port that makes it possible to use the accessory kit linked to below. Since I store all my dehydrated food in mason jars, the jar sealer attachments are a must. But with this device, you can also use food storage bags if you’re short on mason jars, or prefer to seal you dehydrated food in bags.
The FoodSaver Handheld Cordless Food Vacuum Sealer is a great option for those with limited space. I keep mine charged up in my kitchen, so I can easily reseal jars every time I use some of my dehydrated food. While I still love my larger FoodSaver, from a convenience perspective, this one can’t be beat.
The FoodSaver Accessory Kit is a must if, like me, you store dehydrated food in mason jars. You can use this kit with either of the vacuum sealers linked to above. If you can’t get the one I linked to on Amazon, check out this selection of options available on Walmart.
