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When you think about dehydrating your vegetables, you may think it is necessary to go on a hiking trip, ensuring you have healthy snacks on hand. However, if you go to your local grocery shop, you will see plenty of fruit leathers and veggie chips or dried-out vegetables. They do make excellent snacks. However, you can also use dehydrated vegetables in various recipes.
There are so many great recipes that involve you using dehydrated vegetables. You can either get them at supermarkets or invest in a dehydrator so you can dry your veggies out. You can also dehydrate your veggies in the oven as well if you choose to do so. If you want to use the dehydrator, these machines are not hard to use, and they are not costly. Therefore, it is a worthwhile investment when you want to add dehydrated vegetables to your meals. Let’s go over some excellent recipes right now.
Zucchini Chips
If you crave potato chips, but you don’t want to give in to the guilt, you can find a happy medium. That is by enjoying some zucchini chips. You can enjoy the crunchiness and flavor without ruminating about how weak you are that you gave into that temptation of eating those unhealthy potato chips after. All you need to do is run to the supermarket and grab a zucchini (or several if you are having company over). Grab some herbs and spices, as well as olive oil.
Chop your zucchini in thick or thin slices as that is entirely up to you. In a bowl, mix the olive oil with spices together. Then you will either put the pieces on the tray to place into the dehydrator and ensure that you follow the instructions on how to use the machine. Bear in mind, using the dehydrator can take eight hours or longer, so you are better off making zucchini chips in it if you want to make them for a later day. Not when you are in the middle of a chips craving. If that is the case, you want to dehydrate them in the oven as it only takes two hours.
Take a baking sheet and put a sheet of parchment paper on it. Put the zucchini slices on there and place them tightly together so they can dry adequately. Preheat the oven to 225 degrees Fahrenheit or 107.2 Celcius. In the meantime, take paper towel pieces and press on the slices to remove any water not to become soggy. Then take a brush and dip it into the oil, so you cover the zucchini slices on both sides. Please place it in the oven, monitor them baking, and then you have your delicious snack and enjoy it!
Carrot Ribbons
If you want to make another crunchy vegetable snack, you can make carrot ribbons, which means you will dehydrate sliced and shaved carrots. All you need are a group of long carrots and ginger spice. Do not get baby carrots as you cannot peel them. Those are the only ingredients you need to make this snack. You can either dehydrate them in a dehydrator and follow the instructions and eat them at a later time since it will take at least eight hours. Or, you can dehydrate them in the oven in three hours if you want to eat them today.
All you need to do is to slice the carrots vertically with a Y-shaped peeler, so you turn them into ribbons. Peel in one direction and stop when you are in the middle of the carrot or become too small to peel. Place them on the cookie sheet with parchment paper over it, and set it aside. Preheat the oven to 170 degrees Fahrenheit or 76.6 Celcius, and as it’s preheating, go back to the sliced carrots and sprinkle some ginger spice on them. It is okay if they overlap, as they will curl as you heat them. Place the sheet in the oven, and it will take three hours to bake. Mix the carrots every half hour as they cook. After three hours in the oven, you have your dehydrated carrot snack. The snack is rich in beta carotene, fiber, low fat, and high in taste! Enjoy it.
Dehydrated Veggie Wraps
If you are looking to eat a quick meal with vegetable wraps, you will love the dehydrated veggie wraps. The recipe involves more ingredients and work than the two recipes for snacks above. You will need:
- Two cups of grated carrots
- Two cups of water
- One cup of flax meal
- One tablespoon of cumin
- One to two tablespoons of tamari
- One teaspoon of cumin
The first thing to do is to take a piece of paper towel and press them hard over your carrots, so you remove any moisture. Then place your ingredients in a blender and put it at the highest speed until you find that it results in a pancake batter consistency. Then put the batter on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Then preheat the oven to 115 degrees Fahrenheit or 46 degrees Celcius. It will take around three and a half hours to dehydrate, and you will want to keep an eye on it to ensure it is firm. Once you see that the wrap is tight, you can peel it off and cut it with a pizza cutter. You have your wraps, and you can put your desired insides, whether meat, vegetables, or both, and enjoy lunch. If you have leftovers, place them in a ziplock bag and put them in the fridge. You will want to use it within 48 hours maximum.
Conclusion
If you are looking to make delicious snacks without going over your calorie limit, you can make potato chip replicas by dehydrating vegetables‘. It is straightforward to do as you can use a dehydrator, but it does take almost half of a day to use, or you can dehydrate vegetables in the oven. Dehydrating vegetables in the oven is the preferred option for when you want to have snacks while craving them. However, for making snacks to have over the next several days or weeks, you can use the dehydrator for that so you can pick it up and enjoy it as you please when you have a craving at a later date!
