For lovers of healthy food, especially vegetables, dehydrators are a fantastic piece of home preserving equipment to have. If you have an excess of vegetables from your garden, a vegetable dehydrator gives many options to preserve them.
Or, you may just want to make healthy snacks for your family. Ones that don’t have artificial sweeteners, flavors, or other chemicals!
A vegetable dehydrator will work just as well with fresh fruit. In fact, studies have shown that a lot of kids in school do not like fresh fruits at all. However, fruit is necessary to keep us healthy and they cover a key part of nutrition.
To make yummy dry fruit snacks, a home food dehydrator is great. Especially with fruit leather sheets.
Fruit leather sheets allow you to easily make veggie chips, veggie crackers, and fruit roll-ups. Your kids won’t even know they are eating fruit and vegetables if you make these yummy snacks with a vegetable dehydrator!
To make fruit or vegetable chips, vegetable crackers, and fruit roll-ups, you may not need to buy a fruit leather tray. Some vegetable dehydrators come with a specialized tray or fruit leather sheet included.
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Tips in Choosing Vegetable Dehydrators for Veggie Chips, Fruit Roll-ups, and Veggie Crackers
Before buying, you should consult some tips first to get the most from vegetable dehydrators, making it a worthwhile investment.
- There are two basic types: a box dehydrator and a stackable dehydrator. Box types have trays stacked one on top of the other while stackable have trays placed side by side.
- When you buy, make sure to check the trays first if they are sturdy and durable. It will determine how long it can last. Most have thin wire mesh as their tray making them not strong enough to hold heavier foods like veggie burgers or vegetable rolls easily.
- Check the wattage and temperature range. The higher the watts, the faster vegetable dehydrators run and the drier is the food that gets in it. Temperature ranges vary depending on their brand and manufacturer.
- Check if you can set the dehydrator’s timer to automatically stop once finishes the process. This dehydrator accessory is a great addition.
- Always read reviews to know which are reliable, especially when you buy food items in bulk or expensive types of foods. Vegetable dehydrators with good reviews usually have better quality and higher prices so it’s worth the investment.
Our 5 Top Picks for the Best Vegetable Dehydrator
There are lots of vegetable dehydrators available in the market, in fact, most dehydrators will do the job. However, if you are looking for the most convenient way to make healthy snacks at home, here are our top picks.
NESCO Gardenmaster Pro Vegetable Dehydrator
The Nesco FD-1040 Gardenmaster is a fantastic dehydrator for vegetables and fruits that has a great design and incredible functions. It is an electric-powered dehydrator with 1000 watts of current power and can be used for both large and small-scale drying batches.
The package comes with 4 trays, however, you can expand to as many as 20 trays. Note here: You will have to buy extra trays, but they are inexpensive and, our experts believe, well and truly worth it.
To help with the preservation of nutrients, this dehydrator is designed to keep out light. This means there is no “leaching” during the dehydration process. Even with 1000 watts of power, its fan is super quiet, meaning you can run it in the kitchen at any time.
This dehydrator is not only quiet and powerful, it is very customizable. The digital timer allows you to dry dense foods, such as meat, with programmable time up to 48 hours.
Converga-flow drying system gives even heat throughout the unit, so there is no need for tray rotation.
Indeed, this top vegetable dehydrator comes with a fruit roll sheet and clean-a-screen for small veggie and fruit chips or vegetable crackers. They are also ideal for herbs and spices.
This top package also includes a 52-page recipe and instruction book, plus a sample of jerky cure and seasoning.
Presto Dehydro 06301
Presto is a company that is notable for its unique home food dehydrator designs with transparent lids. The Presto 06301 Dehydro is a powerful vegetable dehydrator with 750 watts of power. A digital timer and thermostat with a temperature ranging from 90 to 160 degrees allow you to dry foods easily.
It comes with six trays, however, you can expand the unit to 12 trays. The unique transparent lid allows you to easily monitor the dehydration process.
For easy storage, the trays nest in the base to reduce its height by 40 percent. Conveniently, the power cord is stored in the base as well.
The package conveniently includes 2 fruit roll sheets and 2 non-stick mesh trays. You can easily make fruit roll-ups and dry vegetables for veggie chips and crackers all at the same time.
Another advantage of buying a Presto Dehydro is the digital timer that allows a time range of 30 minutes to 48 hours.
The heating element and fan are located in the base of the unit and the manufacturer states that no tray rotation is required.
Care should be taken when cleaning. The trays are light and may get damaged in a dishwasher, so we suggest the top shelf only, or clean manually for longer life.
Chefman Food Dehydrator Machine
This product from Chefman is an elite machine in the world of food or vegetable dehydrators. It has a working power of 480 watts and can heat up to 158 degrees. Indeed, the design is so adorable that it will look amazing right on your kitchen counter.
A digital control allows you to easily set temperature and a count-down 19.5-hour timer on its touch-screen pad.
It has 6 plastic trays which are sufficient to run any household drying batches. Customers have reviewed that food does not easily stick to the trays which just slide out for cleaning.
An innovative design maximizes airflow to create even drying without tray rotation. The clear door means easy monitoring of the drying process making this a terrific vegetable dehydrator.
The included protective food sheet allows for making fruit roll-ups and small veggie crisps plus veggie crackers.
The Chefman Food Dehydrator Machine is not the biggest in our list of dehydrators for vegetables, but it is super attractive and easy to use. Moreover, it uses advanced safety technology and comes with a 1-year warranty.
Presto Dehydro 06300 Vegetable Dehydrator
Another powerful dehydrator from the Presto range. The Presto Dehydro 06300 is a compact, collapsible, and affordable vegetable dehydrator. Its small size is deceiving as it can occupy up to eight trays.
The package contains 4 trays and additional trays can be purchased at any time. The power cord is stored in the base and the trays nest inside the base for easy storage. This makes it a great fit for smaller spaces such as apartments, units, and RVs.
This next-selling home food dehydrator is super easy to use. Simply plug it in and it will heat to a pre-set temperature of around 165 degrees.
A transparent cover allows you to keep an eye on the drying process. Also, you can wash its trays in the sink or dishwasher for easy cleaning.
Add fruit roll sheets and non-stick mesh screens to make fruit roll-ups, fruit or veggie chips, and veggie crackers. In fact, spend a little more and get the Presto 06300 Dehydro bundle which includes the fruit roll sheets.
So, if you need an affordable, compact, easy-clean, and easy-to-use vegetable dehydrator, this is a perfect product.
A small point to note, this home food dehydrator has one temperature setting and no timer.
Excalibur 9-Tray Vegetable Dehydrator
This Excalibur 600 watt electric dehydrator for vegetables, fruit, and jerky is a top-seller for many stockists. With 15 square feet of drying space, you can easily make healthy vegetable chips and crackers.
This home food dehydrator is perfect for drying fruits and vegetables with a temperature range of 95 to 165 degrees. In fact, the adjustable thermostat is very accurate and allows for faster drying.
It is notable for retaining enzymes and nutrients in fruits and vegetables by drying them slowly under low-intensity heat. Indeed, horizontal parallexx drying and hyper-wave technology allow the circulation of continuous warm air. This means there is no need for tray rotation to ensure even drying.
The 7” fan gives excellent air circulation to run big batches at once. Get prepared on the weekend with snacks for the week ahead.
To make fruit roll-ups or dry herbs and spices, you will need to purchase either fruit leather sheets or silicone sheets separately.
This dehydrator is larger than most others on this list and has a higher price tag.
How to Use a Vegetable Dehydrator to Get the Most Out of Your Produce?
To get the most out of your product using a vegetable dehydrator, here are our tips.
Veggie Chips:
Cut potatoes or vegetables into thin slices and place them on trays. Set the temperature at around 125 degrees and set the timer for 5 hours. Check veggie chips often to make sure the temperature is not too hot so that it starts to cook vegetable chips.
Fruit Roll-ups:
Slice fruit in thin strips and place them on vegetable dehydrators trays making sure each strip comes with a small part of the mesh to hold it. Set temperature at 130 degrees and timer for 8 hours.
Veggie Crackers:
Trays have a non-stick surface so place vegetable crackers on them. Set temperature at 115 degrees and the timer for 8 hours.
In Summary
A vegetable dehydrator is a great way to make healthy snacks for you and your family. Whether you are looking to make vegetable crackers, veggie chips, or even fruit roll-ups a home food dehydrator is a must.
These 5 dehydrators are from reputable brands and have different capacities, features, and technology. They vary greatly in price due to size, convenience, power, and ease of use. Some come in a package with fruit leather sheets included, but with others, you will have to purchase these separately.
Please note, all vegetable dehydrators can be used for drying other products such as jerky, herbs, and spices. For ideas on other foods, you can dehydrate, read our article Dehydrated Foods Are Healthy And Easy To Make.