How To Dehydrate Parsley
How To Dehydrate Parsley using the fresh parsley you have grown or bought at the farmers market or grocery store. Fill your spice cabinet and save money at the same time with Food Dehydrator recipes.
Making your own dried herbs at home in a food dehydrator is a great way to fill your spice cabinet and save money at the same time. Have you seen the prices of dried herbs lately?
You can buy one herb plant for less than a bottle of a favorite dried herb and that herb plant will give you fresh herbs to use in your cooking.
And during that same time period you are picking fresh herbs to use in the kitchen you can harvest and dehydrate the herb and stock the spice cabinet for an entire year.
Start the herb by seed and grow more than one plant and you can stock your pantry and a couple of friends and families spice cabinet for a year.
That is a huge savings!
When to pick herbs to dry
If you are planning on drying some of the herbs you have been growing in your garden this year you should know that there is a right time to pick or harvest the herbs for the best flavor.
Fresh herbs should be picked or harvested mid-morning when the herb oils are at their peak.
You should always pick fresh herb when the morning dew has dried off the herbs but before the sun has reached its peak at noon.
Dehydrating Herbs
Do you love the idea of saving money? Do you love using fresh herbs in your cooking?
Herbs are one of the easiest plants to grow from seed. You can buy a pack of seeds and grown many herb plants for about a dollar or two.
Parsley is one of the easiest herbs to grow from seed or starter plant and makes a wonderful container plant if you do not have a garden of your own.
You can grow all of your favorite cooking herbs in containers, which is what I do.
You can buy one herb plant like parsley for under $4 and dry the herbs for all your cooking needs for an entire year.
How To Dehydrate Herbs in a Food Dehydrator
Preserving herbs by hot air drying in a dehydrator is very easy to do. Herbs are one of the easiest food you can preserve with a food dehydrator. All you need to do is harvest or buy the fresh herbs. Wash them to remove any dirt. Load the dehydrator and let the appliance do the work.
Items Needed
- fresh parsley
- Food Dehydrator
- Colander or another way to rinse the fresh parsley. I like to use my salad spinner.
- lint free flour sack towels to dry the wet parsley
- container to store the dried parsley
Prep
- Fresh Parsley: Pick the fresh parsley early in the morning to preserve the herbs flavors and bright green color. Or buy 2 or 3 large bunches of fresh parsley at the grocery store or farmers market.
- Rinse: Rinse the parsley under cold running water to remove any dirt or bugs.
- Dry: Shake as much water from the wet herb as possible. Or use a salad spinner.
- Drain: Drain the fresh parsley on a lint-free towel if not using a salad spinner. I like to use flour sack towels. I buy them in bulk. They come in handy in the kitchen for so many uses.
- Trim: Trim the long stems from the parsley leaving a short piece of stem and the leaves intact.
Step by Step Directions
- Step 1: Clean the parsley: Wash the fresh parsley well and pinch off the long thick stems.
- Step 2: Load the dehydrator: Line your dehydrator trays with fine mesh tray liners. This will keep the parsley from falling through the slots in the trays as it dries and shrinks. Fill as many dehydrator trays with parsley as you have fresh parsley to dry.
Dehydrating Pro Tips
Dehydrator temperatures: Turn the dehydrator to 95 degrees Fahrenheit or the herb setting if your dehydrator has one. If using a dehydrator that does not have a temperature setting skip this. SEE NOTES
- Step 3: Dehydrating the parsley: Depending on the temperature of your dehydrator and the ambient temperature and conditions of your home the parsley can take up to 8 hours to completely dry. When the parsley is completely dry it should be crisp to the touch.
- Step 4: Cool the dried parsley: Turn the dehydrator off and allow the dried parsley to cool completely before striping the leaves from the stems and storing.
Step 5: Crush the dried herb: Place the cool and dried parsley leaves into a large bowl. Use your hands to gently crush the dried herb.
As the leaves break into smaller pieces you can run them between your hands to reduce them to a smaller size until the crushed parsley is to your liking. Remove any pieces of the dried stems you find.
Dehydrating Pro Tip
Once the parsley is dried all you need to do is crush the leaves and place the dried herb in an air tight container for storage.
How to store dehydrated parsley
Like all dried herbs dehydrated parsley is best stored in a glass or plastic container in a dark cabinet to help it retain its freshness and bright green color.
I’m in the process of doing a spice cabinet make over and I am using these mini storage jars from Ball for all my dried herbs.
As I harvest and dry my fresh parsley I fill a large mason jar and once the jar is filled I vacuum seal the jar using my FoodSaver vacuum sealer and a jar sealer.
What you see below is the parsley I harvest and dried this spring and summer from one parsley plant I have growing in a pot. I’ve also harvested and dehydrated rosemary from the one plant I am growing.
I fill the small mini storage jars to keep in my spice cabinet and the rest of the dried parsley gets vacuum sealed so it will last for years if I needed it to.
Recommended Products
This post contains affiliate links. I earn from qualifying purchases.
- Presto digital food dehydrator
- dehydrator mesh liner trays
- glass herb & spice jars
- Herb & Spice Wall Art
- Herb Garden 5 Pack Kitchen Set
FAQ to keep in mind
All herbs should be dried at 95 degrees Fahrenheit.
Dried parsley will last 2 to 3 years if stored in a dried dark cabinet. If you vacuum seal the dried parsley it can last many more years when stored properly.
Dehydrated parsley should be stored in an air tight container in a cool dark cabinet.
More Dehydrator Recipes
You can find all my dehydrator recipes on my new Food Dehydrator Recipe page.
Dehydrating Pro Tips
- When to pick fresh herbs: Always pick herbs early in the morning before the sun is high.
Email questions or recipe requests to flouronmyface@gmail.com. Follow me on Pinterest, YouTube, Instagram and Facebook.
How To Dehydrate Parsley
Ingredients
- 3 large bunches fresh Parsley
- water
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Instructions
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Wash the fresh parsley well under cold water, pinch off the long thick stems.
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Dry the parsley well by shaking the water from the herb and blotting with a lint free cloth towel. Or use a salad spinner to remove all of the water from the parsley leaves.
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Place the parsley on a dehydrator tray that has been lined with fine mesh tray liners. This will keep the parsley from falling through the slots in the trays as it dried. Fill as many trays with parsley as you have fresh herbs to dry. Parsley and other herbs can be packed together closer when dehydrating than fruits and vegetables.
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Turn the dehydrator to 95 F. degrees Fahrenheit if your dehydrator has a temperature control. If using a dehydrator that does not have a temperature setting skip this step. SEE NOTES
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Depending on the temperature of the dehydrator and the ambient temperature and conditions of your home the parsley can take 1 to 8 hours to completely dry. When the parsley is completely dry it should be crispy to the touch.
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Turn the dehydrator off and allow the dried parsley to completely cool on the drying racks before crushing and storing.
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Strip the dried parsley leaves from any stems. Place the dried parsley leaves into a large bowl. Use your hands to gently crush the dried parsley leaves. As the leaves break into smaller pieces you can rub them between your hands to reduce them to a smaller size until the crushed parsley is to your liking. Remove any pieces of dried stems you find.
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Store the dehydrated parsley in air tight containers. Use as needed.
Video
Recipe Expert Tips
- Dehydrator with no temperature control: If you are using a dehydrator that does not have a temperature control and runs at one set temperature you will need to keep a close eye on the parsley as it is drying. The parsley may be done drying in as little as 1 or 2 hours.
