Updated October 2026

How to Dehydrate Fruit, Vegetables and Herbs

140°F for fruit and vegetables, 95 to 115°F for herbs, an acid dip for fruit and a short blanch for most vegetables.

Set a dehydrator, or an oven that can hold 140°F with the door propped open 2 to 6 inches, to 140°F for fruit and vegetables. Pretreat cut fruit with a 10 minute dip in ascorbic acid, citric acid or lemon juice solution, blanch most vegetables, and dry herbs at 95 to 115°F. These figures come from Colorado State University and Montana State University Extension and the National Center for Home Food Preservation.

What can I dehydrate?

Choose a food for prep, temperature, drying time and the dryness test.

Times are extension estimates. Humidity, slice thickness and your dehydrator change them, so test the food rather than the clock.

Pretreating fruit

Cut light-colored fruit straight into one of these and soak 10 minutes:

• Ascorbic acid: 2½ tablespoons of crystals per quart of cold water
• Citric acid: 1 teaspoon per quart
• Lemon juice: equal parts juice and water
• Sodium metabisulfite: 1 tablespoon per quart, food grade only, and not for anyone with sulfite sensitivity

Colorado State research shows these dips help destroy E. coli O157:H7, Salmonella and Listeria during drying.

Blanching vegetables

Montana State's water blanch times before drying: carrots 3½ minutes, snap beans and peas 2, greens 1½, summer squash 1/2 minute, tomatoes 1 minute to slip the skins. Peppers, onions, cut corn and mushrooms need none.

Sun and oven drying

Sun drying takes several days at 85°F or more with humidity below 60%, so it works in the arid West and rarely in the humid South. Use stainless steel, Teflon-coated fiberglass or plastic screens, not galvanized hardware cloth. Pasteurize sun-dried food in the freezer at 0°F for 48 hours, or in a 160°F oven for 30 minutes. Oven drying takes about twice as long as a dehydrator.

Conditioning and storage

Condition dried fruit for 4 to 10 days in loosely filled jars, shaking daily. Store in airtight jars or freezer bags somewhere cool and dark: fruit keeps 6 to 12 months; vegetables 1 year at 60°F or 6 months at 80°F. Fruit leather keeps a month at room temperature or a year frozen. Vacuum sealing is not a preservation method on its own.

Jerky

Meat must reach 160°F to be safe. Slice it no thicker than 1/4 inch and either boil the strips in their marinade for 5 minutes before drying at 140°F, or heat the dried strips for 10 minutes in a 275°F oven.

Herbs, chiles and tomatoes all peak in late summer in most of the country. More options in our preserving guide.

Sources we checked (October 2026): Colorado State University Extension, Drying Fruits; Montana State University Extension, Drying Vegetables (MontGuide, 2017); National Center for Home Food Preservation: Food Dehydrators, Herbs, Fruit Leathers, Sun Drying, Jerky.

Common questions