Strawberries are a healthy and delicious snack filled with vitamin A, vitamin C, and healthy carbohydrates. In this guide, we show how simple it is to turn your fresh strawberries into a delicious dried treat that’s easy to store.

By drying strawberries, you can enjoy them long after they are out of season. There are many ways to dehydrate strawberries for delicious recipes, but the most straightforward way is using an air fryer oven.

Why Strawberries?

Strawberries are a great fruit to dehydrate because they are packed with flavour. They’re also easy to find when they’re in season and are surprisingly affordable. It’s easy to buy too many strawberries, so if you’re looking for a way to use them before they go bad, drying or dehydrating them is a good option.

Would You Be Able to Dehydrate Organic Food in an Air Fryer?

Indeed, you can. Using an air fryer is one of the easiest ways to dehydrate strawberries, but you must use an air fryer that can do a variety of temperatures. if your air fryer doesn’t have low-temperature settings, you won’t be able to use it to dehydrate.

So, what temperature do you need your air fryer to be? The best temperature for dehydrating organic products (including dried strawberries) is 180-200 degrees F.

What You Want for Dried Strawberries in Air Fryer

Air Fryer Broiler

A broiler is great for making air fryer strawberries and other fruits because there are multiple racks, so you can fit a lot of strawberries in it. You can do a small amount or a large group of dried organic products at the same time.

Storage

If you have a lot of dried fruit, you need somewhere to keep them. Using an airtight container is ideal. Freezer bags or sandwich bags are fine as long as they have a freshness seal that keeps the air out. You may also consider using a plastic storage container or even a mason jar if you want something with more structure so the strawberries don’t get crushed.

Strawberries

Fresh strawberries are preferred for dehydrating instead of frozen, but you can use frozen if that is all you have on hand. It’s also a good idea to prepare whatever strawberries you’re using by slicing them into smaller pieces. More on this later. While you can dehydrate whole strawberries, strawberry slices usually deliver better results.

Stevia

Dried strawberries with Stevia is a delicious snack. It provides a little extra sweetness to them as they’re drying. When they’re done, you can serve the strawberries with a sprinkle of Stevia in a bowl or on a plate or add some to the bag or jar you’re storing them in and shake gently to cover.

How To Get Ready Dried Strawberries for Dehydrating?

The method involved with preparing your new strawberries is a simple one.

Use a clean chopping board and a sharp knife to cut your strawberries into medium-sized or thin slices. You don’t want them too thin, but you don’t want them too thick, either.

Get rid of any strawberries that are rotten or have soft or brown spots. If you have fresh strawberries and a few of them have mold or have gone mushy, inspect the rest of the container carefully before using them.

How To Dehydrate Strawberries in an Air Fryer

1. Start by preheating the air fryer to the lowest temperature for 5 minutes. This is often between 180 and 200 degrees F.
2. Wash the strawberries and remove the stems. Cut them into thin cuts around 1/8 of an inch thick. Dry them with a paper towel.
3. Place the cut strawberries on parchment paper or a baking sheet inside the air fryer and cook at 180 to 200 degrees F for 60 minutes, flipping them over after 30 minutes. Repeat as necessary.
4. Remove them from the air fryer when the surface of the dehydrated strawberries looks like calfskin.
5. You’re done! You can eat them right out of the bowl, or combine them with trail mix, granola, or even low-fat ice cream for a healthy snack.

Additional notes

• If your air fryer only goes to 200 degrees F, you may not need to cook them for the full hour. Make a point to check them around the 45-minute mark.
• Make sure you cut your strawberries as evenly as possible. The more uniform the slices are, the better your results will be because everything will dry evenly.
• Don’t overload your air fryer. It’s better to split them into two batches than to try to cram too many strawberries onto the tray.

How Long to Dehydrate Strawberries?

Source: Pixabay

Generally, it takes about 5 hours to finish a batch of dried strawberries. Flip them every half hour and check them every hour so you know when they are done. Depending on how thick your slices were and what temperature your air fryer is, the overall cook time will vary. The total time will increase if you are using whole strawberries.

How Long Does Dehydrated Fruit Keep?

How long dried strawberries keep depends on where you store them. If you keep them in a cool, dark place, they can last up to a year. If you keep them in a bag on your kitchen counter, they’re likely only to last about 90 days.

What Else Can You Dehydrate?

There are a lot of dehydrated foods you can make. Strawberries are particularly simple, though, because you just have to slice them up and put them in the air fryer.

Once you get the hang of drying foods in your air fryer, the sky’s the limit. You can dehydrate vegetables, spices, and blossoms, as well as different foods, like marshmallows, potatoes, and meat jerky.

Start with berries and other fresh fruits to get the hang of the process, then move on to more difficult things, like jerkies and herbs.

If you don’t have an air fryer but know that you need one to use for your strawberries, check out our list of best food dehydrators for more info. That said, if air frying isn’t your cup of tea, then you can try some regular frying with the best deep fryers as well.