Learn How to Dehydrate Cucumbers For Chips for that extra crispy healthy snack instead of potato chips. Discover the seasoning options and how best you can use a dehydrator to make more flavorful chips.
Dehydrating your cucumbers together with dehydrated broccoli is a great way to store, have more space in the freezer, and an excellent veggie chips snack everyone enjoys.
When I made those delicious cucumber chips recipe the first time, they were gone in about a few seconds. It’s so fun to watch your whole family fighting over the pieces, which otherwise would have never happened with fresh vegetables. The same happened with our oven baked radish chips. Gone in seconds.
Cucumber slices are crunchy, a tiny bit salty, and great as a crispy snack in between meals when looking for something healthier than potato chips.
Dehydrated Food
I am starting to love my dehydrator more and more. You can make many options, vegetables, fruits, proteins, and even snacks.
From fruits, I would suggest that you try and make strawberry chips, powder or blueberries.
As vegetable chips, we love pieces of dehydrated tomatoes, dried broccoli and chicken powder, which I use as protein in my shakes, or onion flakes and powder used in my homemade spice mixes.
Dehydrator Versus Oven-Baked
A dehydrator and an oven-baked method are both excellent, and it depends on what you prefer.
While they both give you crispy chips, with the dehydrator, you do not have to watch and be afraid of burning some.
Which Dehydrator Should I buy?
Even though we all know the Excalibur dehydrator is the best, it is also one of the most expensive. I use a simple dehydrator with round trays, which I bought for a few bucks and works almost the same.
The main issue with the dehydrator is its storage and size. If you are planning to do a lot of dehydrating and have a big house, I will go for the Excalibur. My parents with a big garden have it and it is running almost all the time. But regular brands also work great if you use them only once in a while.
But get one. It is a great investment, and you will not regret it.
Using a Mandolin Versus a Knife
As you see, I have used a meat slicer for cutting my cucumber. Mandolin is another excellent tool to get uniformed slices quickly.
If you do not have any, using a knife works as well. It might take a bit more effort because you have to concentrate and try to cut the same thickness, but in the end, it gets the job done.
Salt and Vinegar Cucumbers
My recipe only involves salt, which also works as a tool to reduce extra moisture. But one of the most popular combinations is salt and vinegar. To make this flavor, follow our steps, and once you salt your slices, sprinkle a bit of vinegar at the same time.
Remember that once the cucumbers are dry, the flavor of salt and vinegar intensifies; therefore, you do not have to overuse any of the ingredients.
How To Make Cucumber Chips In A Food Dehydrator?
Let us dive into the steps to get the best-dehydrated cucumbers one can make. I have also attached video instructions for those who prefer visual explanations.
Kitchen Gadgets:
- Meat slicer or Mandoline
- Dehydrator
Ingredients:
- Cucumbers
- Salt
*Exact measurements are listed in the recipe card below.
FULL INSTRUCTIONS WITH STEPS TO DEHYDRATE CUCUMBERS AND MAKE THE BEST LOW CARB SNACK
First Step: Prepare your Cucumbers
Thoroughly wash and clean your cucumbers. Getting your fresh cucumbers from the farmer’s market would be best as you know that the quality and flavor of the cucumbers you will use will last. I have used English cucumbers for this recipe as they are the largest and make slicing them much faster.
Second Step: Slice
Slice the cucumber using a mandolin slicer, knife, or meat slicer as I did. Try to slice them into approximately 3 millimeters or ⅛ of an inch thick. Thinner slices will dry into paper, thicker pieces will take much longer to dry and might not even fully dry.
Third Step: Flavor and Wait
Place cucumber slices onto your dehydrator tray in a single layer. Sprinkle about a tsp of salt per tray and set it for about 10 to 15 minutes. Salt helps also take out the extra moisture from the cucumbers and will make the drying process much faster.
At this stage, you can add more herbs and spices if you wish.
Fourth Step: Tap Dry and Set for Drying
Gently tap the slices dry with a paper towel to get the excess moisture that has formed from salting the slices. Keep tapping until your paper towel is dry.
Fifth Step: Dehydrate
Place all of the trays onto your dehydrator and cover the lid. If you can, change the temperature setting on your dehydrator, set that to 70 degrees Celsius or 150 degrees Fahrenheit and dehydrate for 8-10 hours, depending on the thickness.
TRICKS AND TIPS:
- Type of cucumbers – as you see, I have used English cucumbers, but any variety would work in this recipe.
- Oven – drying takes about 3-4 hours on low heat.
- Store – pack only when your dehydrated cucumbers have cooled down and are completely dry.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
How to Make Cucumber Powder?
Once you follow our recipe to the end, it is just one extra step to making cucumber powder. All you have to do is place your dry cucumbers into the magic bullet or a coffee grinder and grind them into a smooth, soft powder. Make sure your cucumbers are fully dry. Otherwise, the pieces might stick together, and your mixer will not powder it properly.
How Do I Use Dehydrated Cucumbers?
As I have already mentioned, cucumbers are great as a healthy snack or chips between meals for your kid’s lunch boxes, trips, or camping days.
You can also use them as a topping for your salads, where you crush pieces in your hand and sprinkle them on.
You can also use dry cucumbers as an addition to your soups, stews, or meals, where they will naturally rehydrate and give you additional nutrition and taste.
How To Make Flavored Dehydrated Cucumber Chips?
Apart from the already mentioned salt and vinegar cucumbers, there are so many different flavors and additional ideas for which you can use various herbs and spices.
For those that work the best, place cucumber slices into the bowl and add your choice of spices. Mix thoroughly and then layer onto your dehydrator trays.
- Garlic with dill – garlic powder together with dry dill is a great combination everyone will love
- Spicy nachos – using our enchiladas seasoning
- Asian – mixing slices with oil and Indian spices
- Sweet and Sour – sprinkling balsamic vinegar together with honey
- BBQ – blending sweet paprika powder together with some chili, garlic, onion powder and salt and pepper
Can You Dehydrate Vegetables In An Air Fryer?
Yes, you can dehydrate your veggies in an Air fryer, taking into consideration having gadgets equipped with dehydrating options. Most of the new ones have this option, but if you own an older version of an Air Fryer, the possibility might not be there.
The only difference with Air fryers is that the quantity you can dry at once is smaller than you can have using a dehydrator or oven.
How To Store Dehydrated Cucumbers?
Once your cucumber slices are fully dry and crunchy, store them loosely in an airtight container, food saver container, or mason jar.
You can also use vacuum sealer bags.
Properly dried, you can store them for a very long time. Some I still have from 6 months ago.
The shelf life of any dried food is always over 6-9 months, sometimes even 12 months.
You can rehydrate your cucumbers in lukewarm water for about 15 minutes. Follow by adding them to your meals like you would with regular vegetables.
Other Snacks to Make in Dehydrator
- Raspberry chips
- Pork rinds
- Fruit Roll-ups
- Chicken jerky
- Strawberry chips
- Broccoli chips
- Soaked almonds
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How to Dehydrate Cucumbers for Chips
Equipment
- 1 Meat slicer or Mandoline
Ingredients
- 2 Long Cucumbers
- 2 teaspoons Salt
Instructions
- Thoroughly wash and clean your cucumbers.
- Slice the cucumber using a mandolin slicer, knife, or meat slicer as I did. Try to slice them into approximately 3 millimeters or ⅛ of an inch thick.
- Place cucumber slices onto your dehydrator tray in a single layer. Sprinkle about a tsp of salt per tray and set it for about 10 to 15 minutes.
- Gently tap the slices dry with a paper towel to get the excess moisture that has formed from salting the slices. Keep tapping until your paper towel is dry.
- Place all of the trays onto your dehydrator and cover the lid. If you can, change the temperature setting on your dehydrator, set that to 70 degrees Celsius or 150 degrees Fahrenheit and dehydrate for 8-10 hours, depending on the thickness.
Video
Notes
- Type of cucumbers – as you see, I have used English cucumbers, but any variety would work in this recipe.
- Oven – drying takes about 3-4 hours on low heat.
- Store – pack only when your dehydrated cucumbers have cooled down and are completely dry.
Nutrition
Disclaimer
Please note that nutrient values are estimates only. Variations can occur due to product availability and manner of food preparation. Nutrition may vary based on methods of origin, preparation, freshness of ingredients, and other factors.
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More Recipes using Dehydrator
Jump into making delicious and good-for-you snacks with your dehydrator. You can make sweet fruit treats and crispy vegetable chips that are full of natural flavor. These easy and healthy snacks are perfect for anyone wanting to eat better. Try them and make eating well both simple and tasty.
This recipe is perfect for my kids who loves chips like anything! I served them with tartar sauce and surprisingly it tastes good 🙂
It is my daughters best chips ever.