Haven’t you heard? Sweet potatoes are the new black. Every restaurant I drive by now I see signs for new sweet potato fries. I’m glad the world is finally realizing how awesome sweet potatoes are!
Since I’ve been on a dehydrating kick and the potatoes I dehydrated turned out so great, the next logical step was dehydrating sweet potatoes. Now’s the time to stock up on sweet potatoes because there are always crazy sales right around Thanksgiving. Then you can dry them and have them on hand to throw in soups and stews. Perfect for these dreary cold winter days ahead.
Start by washing and peeling your sweet potatoes. The number of potatoes you use depends on how many trays you have on your dehydrator. I can fit about 1-2 potatoes per tray depending on how big your trays/potatoes are.
Then I use a mandolin slicer to slice the sweet potatoes about a 1/4 inch thick.
Place the sweet potato slices in an ice water bath while you bring water to a boil in a large pot {a blanching pot if you have one}. After the water has reached a rolling boil, remove the sweet potatoes from the ice water and place in the boiling water for about 5 minutes {set ice water aside for later}. Remove from boiling water and immediately run cold water over them while draining in a colander to stop the cooking process. Add lemon juice to your ice water bath {I used a little under a cup} and place the sweet potatoes back in to cool completely.
Drain and then carefully place the sweet potato slices on the dehydrator trays or shelves. Make sure the edges of your sweet potatoes do not touch. Set dehydrator to 125 degrees and dry until crisp {about 10-12 hours}. Canning jars work great to store them in, but any airtight container would work.
Need a slicer? Amazon has the Progressive International HGT-11 Folding Mandolin Slicer on sale right now.
Rosaleen says
Hi, Mavis and Crew-
Most of my dehydrating is targeted to meals that I need only to add hot water to while camping or backpacking. If you make a big batch of mashed sweet potatoes, try dehydrating leftovers as a leather that can be pulsed into a powder (or not) for later use. My family ate rehydrated sauash and sweet potatoes this way, never noticing any difference from fresh.
Mavis Butterfield says
Thanks!!
Karin says
FYI, most dogs LOVE to chew on dehydrated sweet potatoes. They are crazy expensive to buy, so I have been making my own.
Kara says
Hi Karin,
Sorry for the question, but I’m new to dehydrators (it actually just arrived today). My dogs would love that, however I have no idea what time, thickness and temp. If you could help that would be great.
Thank you
Wendy says
Thats why I am doing it!
Kristine H says
Sometimes my dog likes the sweet potato chips I make in my dehydrator and other times she doesn’t. Would it work to partially cook the sweet potatoe first to bring out the sweetness and then dehydrate?
Trish says
I microwave my sweet potato slices until they are tender before dehydrating. My dogs would not eat them if I didn’t microwave them. They also looked like the store bought ones once partially cooked.
Pegz says
The instructions say to par boil so yes I believe it would work
Beverly says
How do you make them? I bought some for my dog and you are correct, they are pricey.
Tristan says
I was wondering how long the sweet potato chips would last before expiring? I’m going on a camping trip and would love to make some to take with me, however the camping trip is two weeks and I don’t want them to go bad.
Mavis Butterfield says
Mine have been stored about 6 months now and they are still great.
Rosaleen says
Tristan-
Are you planning on taking sweet potato chips to eat from the bag or sweet potato dehydrated slices to cook in camp? Some people like to eat raw sweet potatoes. I’ve never tried them, nor tried eating dehydrated slices. Mavis’ recipe is targeted for later cooking, as I read it. Sweet potato chips usually are fried, but could be baked. Google baked sweet potato chip recipes if this is what you want . By my experience with food dehydrated for camping/backpacking two weeks is totally fine.
David says
Why do you need to blanch them?
I tried without blanching and they crisped much more quickly and tasted OK.
Rosaleen says
David-
In general, foods that will be stored for several months should be blanched to stop enzymes in them from causing some deterioration. At least, that is what my manuals say. This goes for either dehydration or freezing for storage. If the food is cooked or will not be stored for long you can skip this step.
David says
I have now tried dehydrating both ways; with and without blanching. I think you’re dead right when you say above that blanching is fine if you are preserving for cooking them later. The blanched slices retained their colour nicely but were too chewy to ever be used as human snacks. The dogs however LOVED them.
The unblanched slices looked pale and a lot less appetising but made very morish snacks. Relatively quickly too (less than 2 hours). I just hope I’m not losing any nutrients by not blanching them as I will definitely be making them again for snacks.
John C Laumer says
I’ve been experimenting with drying as many veggie types as I can and am pleased to report that the absolute best outcome was with beets (red or striped or orange made not a difference), and beets have a fairly similar texture and moisture and sugar content as sweetie taters. Blanche or no blanch made little diffence.
I’m calling bull-hocky on the enzymes theory, which is likely a myth made up by an attention starved dietician or ‘food scientist’ employed by a multi-national food distributor which wants you to buy their processed version. If you drive moisture content to under a few percent – leave them in the dehydrator for 20 to 24 hours and they are hard as rocks, is what I do – there is no way an organic chemical reaction is going to proceed very far in that Pyramid-in-the-desert like condition; and bio-decay will be extremely slow as well. I kept a batch of dried beet slices in a tightly sealed jar out of the sunlight for two years and the borscht made with it was wonderful. JL
wendy rice says
Well, I am one of those apparently “attention starved” dietiitian’s that teaches classes on food safety and food preservation.
What I typically recommend for fruits is pretreat (blanching not necessary) to prevent darkening and speed drying process. Then dehydrate until dry though pliable. Fruit can be dehydrated using outdoors, dehydrator or oven.
For vegetables (can only use dehydrator or oven) . Since John dehydrates to the point that there is virtually no water activity left, it matters not whether he chooses to blanch. The purpose of blanching is to slow or stop enzyme activity causing changes in flavor, texture, color. It also relaxes tissues so pieces dry faster, helps protect vitamins and color and reduce time needed to refresh before cooking.
Blanch or not…you decide.
After dehydrating anything, however, conditioning is recommended to be sure moisture content is minimal and even . This amounts to putting the product in a glass closed jar for a week before storing, shake the jar every day or two to evenly distribute and inspect that there is no water droplets on inside of jar.
Rosaleen says
Hey, Wendy-Thanks for the clarification!
Kelly says
Could I please get your borscht recipe? kweissk@yahoo.com
freedomslastcall says
Thanks for the info. I am drying mine without blanching. We will see how long they are good for. I am sealing them in canning jars. I am making mine now, and want to use them for fried sweet potatoes at a later date. The dehydrated potatoes make the best fried potatoes, so I am hoping the sweet potatoes will work the same.
Geraldine says
I have never used a dehydrater before now.. I tryed to dry pears, they tasted very good for a couple of days in a mason jar.. After a week or so I wented some for a snack.. They smelled like whiskey.. Had to throw them away.. Today I tried to dry sweet potatoes.. They were tough as leather.. What am I doing wrong ??
Kathy says
You can’t put them in a jar with no air because without air if there is any moisture in the potato, it will mold. Try a plastic container with air holes or a plastic bag with a couple of holes poked in it.
tibbs says
Once foods are dehydrated, it must be kept in a container where no additional air can get in to prevent moisture in the air from being re-absorbed back into the dehydrated food. Doing this will allow the dehydrated foods to last longer with less likely quality degradation. Dehydration is intended as a long term food preservation method. Maintaining the low moisture content is Paramount in preserving the food item. Putting dehydrated foods into a container with holes in it defeats the purpose of dehydration by allowing moisture in the air to enter into the perforated container and being absorbed into the food greatly shortening it’s lifespan and possibly creating food safety issues. This has been my experience in over 40 years of food dehydration preservation.
Deb says
I use glass jars, but I use the canning lids with a few holes poked in the top for air.
Wendy rice says
If you have dehydrated and removed over 90% of moisture and conditioned your vegetable, even holes in lid is counter productive. Less air less moisture is your goal. I have used glass jars w lids and also done vacuum pack. Works very well.
Rosaleen says
My guess is the pears started to ferment. Maybe they weren’t dry enough. Not sure what you mean about the sweets being leathery. Is this before rehydrating? If so, that is probably OK.
Barbara says
I’m late to this party, but have a dehydrater and want to start doing kale and some other root veggies for snacking. I read above where someone dehydrated mashed sweet potatos, then powdered them – how do you do that?? I would love to try it. I’m hoping in a week or two to do a “pantry purge” and get rid of the bad (read: processed) stuff, or most of it. If I could save potatoes or sweet potatoes this way, and rehydrate them later, it would be so great!
Also, is there a website or info on rehydrating, like water to powder ratio?
Thanks much in advance!
Barbara
Pat says
I make sweet potato and winter squash powder for re-hydration. I can fit 4 or 5 butter nut squash in a one quart canning jar in powder form. Cook your sweet potato until soft by roasting or boiling. Let cool, cut open and take meat,put in a blender with enough chicken broth or the water they were cooked in to make a puree. Pour on teflon dehydrator trays to about potato chip thickness and dry until completely crisp. Snap into pieces small enough to fit in a food processor, coffee grinder type machine. It will turn to powder. Vacuum seal in a canning jar or plastic vacuum seal bag. To re-hydrate add 2c boiling water to 1/2c of powder.
R says
What is the purpose of adding water right before dehydrating?
Peter says
Looking at the directions, it’s to smooth and thin the vegetable enough to make a puree that smooths enough to spread thin to dehydrate into the leather you’re going for.
Cindy Hatcher says
Can I do plain potatoes this way? I have been wanting to try it, but am reluctant to make an inedible product that will have to be thrown away. Thank you!
Mavis says
Absolutely. I do it all the time and use them for soups in the winter!
Ben says
Blanching is meant to deactivate the enzymes on the vegetables. By soaking the potatoes in ice water, blanching, and then putting them back into the same ice water, you are re-contaminating them. I’m not understanding why you would want/need to ice them before blanching anyways, that would just take longer to bring them up to temp.
Dehydrating them to a crisp and properly storing them should prevent anything from happening, but you may consider skipping the initial ice bath.
Blanch->Ice bath to stop the cooking->Dehydrate->Enjoy!
Chris ramey says
I want to make the sweet potatoes as a jerky for my dogs as a replacement for raw hide chews. Do I follow the same instructions? Thank you
Mavis Butterfield says
Hi Chris, here is the link to the recipe I used: https://www.onehundreddollarsamonth.com/homemade-sweet-potato-dog-chews/
Morgan says
That vegetable peeler is adorable!! Can I ask where you got it? Excellent tutorial, by the way.
Mavis Butterfield says
Amazon. Here is the link: https://amzn.to/2NpcqAI
Louise says
Can you dry can dehydrated foods
Burt Burrell says
There is no need to “dry can” dehydrated foods. Canning is a method of preserving food, generally for up to a year. Dehydrating is another method of preserving food, generally for 5-15 years. “Dry canning” usually brings the temperature up to 200-300 degrees or more. This not only destroys wanted enzymes in the food, it also deteriorates other nutritional values the food may have. It is not only overkill, it is a waste of time and food quality. Dehydrated food should be stored in air and moisture tight containers. The most common for long-term storage are glass jars and Mylar pouches. Both can be sealed and may include either oxygen or moisture absorbers. I store in glass jars that have been vacuumed sealed and do not use the absorbers. For ALL of us, there is some trial and error. My suggestion is to find someone(s) in your area who dehydrates and learn from them. there are many good (also bad) sources on the internet. Selfreliantschool.com is one of many sources. There are some very good books available too if you do a quick search for them.