Let me begin by saying that I’ve been able to create some amazing snacks using the air fryer and nothing else. Ever since I got the air fryer, I’ve been experimenting with its functions to master them.
With a little bit (not so little) of tweaking, I got the machine to produce the results I was looking for. The latest technique added to my arsenal is dehydrating, which I’ll talk about today.
The process of dehydrating food looks a little bit like this
- You blow warm air (somewhere between 125 and 200 degrees) at fruits, vegetables, herbs, or beef strips.
- You only want to dry it out, not cook it.
- The warm air has to circulate in and out of the air fryer in order to remove the warm moist air (Usually, air fryers only circulate air within the air fryer when cooking).
So, what did I come up with when I tried achieving this in the air fryer? Did it work? Can you dehydrate food in an air fryer?
You can dehydrate in an air fryer as long as the air fryer has a dehydration setting or if the temperature can go lower than 123°F. For the best results, use a mandolin to make sure all the slices are equally thin, place them in a single layer, and set the air fryer to the lowest temperature possible if it doesn’t have a dehydration setting.
While I believe most air fryers are capable of doing the same fundamental things, I believe some air fryers produce better results than others.
Now, part of the results can be blamed or credited to the appliance and part of them on the method used by the chef.
Continue reading to learn more about the process of dehydrating in an air fryer to get the best results but also about the different air fryers and which ones we’ve used successfully.
How To Dehydrate In An Air Fryer
In order for our food to dehydrate without cooking it, we’ll need to adjust the air fryer to much lower temperatures than it usually runs at. I would never pass 200 degrees when dehydrating. In fact, 200 can be a bit too high in some cases, depending on what you are dehydrating.
I recommend keeping the air fryer at around 125-150 degrees Fahrenheit when dehydrating. Make adjustments from there if needed. Most air fryers with a dehydration option are already set to the proper temperature.
The next thing to consider is the size of the banana bits, beef strips, apple slices, or whatever it may be. The goal is to get all the moisture out of the food to make it as crispy as possible.
With a batch of 20 unevenly sliced pieces of apple, the results will vary from one slice to another.
Unless you consider yourself a master of knives and precision, I would hand over the responsibility of making slices to a tool, preferably a mandolin.
The mandolin can slice the perfect slices over and over again. This way, your food will be thin enough for it to dehydrate easily and every single piece will be as dehydrated as the other.
No matter how thin the slices are, they should not be stacked upon each other when dehydrating. Instead, place them next to each other but make sure they don’t touch or overlap in order for every piece to dehydrate properly.
If the air circulating in the air fryer can’t reach the apple or banana from every angle, the fruit may dehydrate unevenly. Give each piece its own space.
Cooking times also vary depending on what you are cooking. Some foods require 12 hours to dehydrate properly while others can get there in 6.
If you lack expertise in the area of dehydration, turn to any of these to find the right amount of time for the food you are dehydrating.
- Reading the air fryer manual and trusting the dehydration setting
- Following recipes online
- Experimenting (trial and error).
What’s The Difference Between An Air Fryer And A Dehydrator
The dehydrator is used to remove the water content in our food to hinder the development of bacteria or fungus in the food. The function of removing water from food can be used for other purposes too, such as making dry snacks and müesli.
How Do Dehydrators Work?
Dehydrators operate at very low temperatures for an extended period of time. Few other appliances are programmed to operate at such low temperatures.
Mostly because low temperatures don’t cook food, which would be a counterproductive feature to have on an appliance made to bake food, for instance.
Dehydrators have a heating element that regulates the temperature throughout the entire session. The dehydrator’s fan circulates the heated air throughout the mesh-patterned layers to ensure that every single piece of food is being dehydrated from all angles.
Dehydrators often have 2 or 3 levels where food can be placed. The levels are, as mentioned above, trays with mesh patterns that allow the heated air to circulate throughout the entire cavity of the dehydrator.
During the 4-12 hour-long session, the heat will cause moisture to escape from the food and then ventilate it.
This gradual process takes time and it’s not guaranteed to succeed. Time and temperature must be tampered with until the sweet spot for that specific ingredient has been found.
Read: Can You Dehydrate Multiple Foods at Once?
How Do Air Fryers Work?
The air fryer, on the other hand, is a machine that cooks food by circulating hot air using a fan. The air fryer is capable of giving food a crispy exterior much like a deep fryer but without using oil, making it a much healthier choice compared to a deep fryer.
Well, that doesn’t sound completely different from the dehydrator, you may think. Well, the key element in the sentence above is the word “cooks”. Dehydrators don’t cook, they dehydrate. Therefore, it’s obvious that air fryers are capable of operating at higher temperatures.
The air fryer is constructed with a mesh patterned basket to ensure that the heated air can circulate and cook food from all angles.
This same concept has been used for the dehydrator. The air fryer is considered a mini oven, capable of reaching cooking temperatures rather quickly because of how little it is.
This separates the air fryer and the dehydrator a lot. One is very quick while the other takes ages.
The crispy outer layer produced on dehydrated food comes from the lack of moisture, while the crisp surface of an air-fried item comes from both the moisture being drawn from the item, but also because of something called The Maillard effect.
It’s a reaction that takes place when amino acids and certain carbohydrates are exposed to heat. The reaction causes visual changes such as browning of the food but also changes in taste and smell.
So what’s the difference between these two? (In the aspect of dehydration)
- Firstly, the air fryer offers less capacity than the dehydrator but has more functions.
- Not every single air fryer is capable of dehydrating food the way a dehydrator does. Air fryer models that have a dehydration program will deliver the same results as a dehydrator.
- The dehydrator only dehydrates while the air fryer can bake, roast, grill, heat, dehydrate, and more.
Air Fryers That Are Good At Dehydrating Food
Instead of getting a dehydrator, you might as well get a multi-use air fryer, capable of doing a bunch of different things, one of them being dehydrating.
While the air fryer may offer less overall cooking space than the dehydrator, most air fryers have accessories that solve that problem easily for no more than 15 dollars. However, don’t go thinking that any air fryer can dehydrate successfully, because that’s not the case.
In order for an air fryer to dehydrate food, it’s important the the air fryer either has the ability to run a dehydration cycle or capable of going as low as 123°F or lower. Anything above 123 degrees will cook the food rather than dehydrating it.
Secondly, you need to make sure that the air fryer has a proper way of ventilating steam. If the steam, created by moisture leaving the food, isn’t able to escape the air fryer’s cavity, it will turn to condensation inside the air fryer.
This condensation can then be absorbed by the dehydrated food once again. While this isn’t easy to test, it’s something you should consider researching.
It’s preferable if your air fryer has additional cooking accessories for the food to placed on. The default basket is great and all, but there are cooking racks or trays that may be better suited for dehydrating.
With that said, I do think the basket is enough is the air fryer is large enough. Therefore, make sure to purchase an air fryer that’s larger than the average. I’d suggest a 5 quart air fryer or more.
The last thing doesn’t have to be a problem but it’s worth mentioning as some people would consider it a deal breaker – the time the air fryer can run in one single cycle. Usually, air fryer programs run for 10-25 minutes.
When dehydrating, 10-25 minutes isn’t enough. You’ll most likely want the unit to run for an hour or so. If the unit can’t be set to run for an hour you will have to run two 30 minute programs or three 20 minute programs, for instance.
This is a minor bump if you ask me.
I have two personal favorites that have done their job of dehydrating and then some. You can’t go wrong with any of these, however, if you are on a tight budget, go with the Ninja, and if you have a little extra to spend, pick the Power Air Fryer.
The Ninja Air Fryer
The Ninja air fryer is very popular online, which can be seen by the number of great reviews. Being a kitchen nerd, I have a bunch of appliances at home. Some installed, some stored and some forgotten.
The ninja air fryer has yet to be replaced because of how versatile it is. It delivers a package of great function and performance for a very affordable price.
I have other air fryers that do some things better but they are twice as expensive and the results are far from twice as good. Here’s what I like about it.
- It offers a bunch of functions including dehydration
- It has a multi-layered rack which gives you more space for dehydration and cooking.
- It has a wide temperature range, giving me (the kitchen nerd) a lot of options to play with.
- It’s easy to clean
- It cooks very fast.
The Power Air Fryer
The Power air fryer is a little more expensive than the Ninja air fryer but has a wider selection of programs and functions, which justifies the higher price.
The power air fryer has 10 functions (one being dehydration) whereas the Ninja only has 4. Four functions are probably enough for most people that purchase an air fryer, however, having more functions may be beneficial for some.
The power air fryer is easy to use and produces very tasty results. I’m a big fan of it. Here’s what I like about it:
- It has many functions and programs
- It has a rotisserie setting which I love
- It is spacious enough to cook for an entire family
- It has three levels of cooking surfaces. This is great because you want to avoid stacking food at all costs when dehydrating.
- It is easy to clean
- The unit came with 3 racks, an oil drip tray, 10 skewers, a rotating rotisserie, a mesh basket, and a couple of recipe books.
Other Ways to Dehydrate Food
Dehydrating food isn’t a modern thing by any stretch of the imagination. In fact, it’s a method of preserving food that’s been around for ages. The core element of dehydrating is to remove moisture from food to make it difficult for bacteria to survive there.
This effect can, of course, be achieved through various different methods. In our day and age, it’s common to use appliances designed to do the job, while our ancestors used methods based on what mother nature was providing.
It’s important to note that the methods from the past are still being used by people all over the world. You may have heard or tried some of them.
Air Drying
Air drying is a method of removing moisture from food by placing the food in a well-ventilated room, hidden from sunlight and wind. It can take anywhere from a couple of days to weeks for some items to be completely dehydrated using this method.
It’s commonly used for herbs and mushrooms.
Sun Drying
Sun-drying is a method of dehydrating food that uses the heat provided by the sun. Foods are left in an area where they’re exposed to the sun for a certain period of time. During this time, the food is turned over several times to ensure that the sun hits it from all angles.
As the sun’s rays hit the food, the moisture will slowly start to vaporize, drying the food. It’s important to protect sun-drying food from things that shouldn’t end up in your food, as it will be left outside in the sun.
This method of dehydrating food is commonly used for herbs, fruits, and vegetables.
Smoking
I’m sure most of you have either heard of or eaten something that’s been smoked. It’s a method that’s popular when it comes to meat, but not as much for fruits, vegetables, mushrooms, herbs, and other greens.
Smoking is a way of dehydrating food by exposing it to smoke. This method is quicker than the other methods, which is why it’s perfect for perishable foods like meat.
Leaving meat in the sun or in an attic for a couple of weeks would promote the growth of bacteria to the point where there would be more bacteria than meat left. Therefore, this traditional method is best when dehydrating meat.
Oven Drying
Different versions of the oven have been around since 29000 BC, but I still consider this a modern method of dehydrating food because I’m talking about the modern oven and all of its features.
While the oven is quite large and can hold multiple trays at the same time, it’s still a very time-consuming method. An oven doesn’t blast heated air at the dehydrating food as an air fryer does, this increases the time it takes to dehydrate the food.
When drying food in an oven, set it the 140 degrees Fahrenheit or the Keep Warm setting. Place the food slices in a single layer on an oven tray inside the oven. It’s important to leave the oven door 2-3 inches and aim a fan towards the opening to help circulate the air inside the oven.
There’s going to be a fine line between cooking and dehydrating here, and you don’t want to pass that line as it will produce completely different results.
Microwave Drying
Yes, drying in a microwave is possible. This is the method I used to dehydrate herbs before I started dehydrating them in the air fryer. If you ask me, they’re both viable options.
While the microwave is a very quick method of dehydrating, it can sometimes turn out to be too intense for the food to handle.
This method works for herbs, as I said. Place the herbs on a paper towel and then cover them with yet another paper towel. Run them for a couple of minutes somewhere between the high-to-highest setting.
Continue doing this until the herbs are as dry as you want them to be. Shorten the cycles the closer you get. You don’t want to run a 2-3 minute cycle if the end result you’re looking for is right around the corner. Doing so can ruin the herbs instead.