There are many methods you can use for dried, or dehydrated peppers. A commercial dehydrator, or the oven, your grill, even your air fryer can be used for dried peppers.
If you have ever had a garden, or planted peppers, you know that at the end of the season, you usually end up with a bazillion peppers. Although we love our Pickled Peppers and Candied Jalapenos, there are only so many canned peppers that one family can eat throughout the year, even when you consider giving a bunch of them as gifts.
What types of chiles to dry
Many types of peppers will dry well. This is only a partial list. The hotter the fresh pepper is the hotter the dried chile pepper will be.
- pasilla
- ancho
- guajillos
- poblanos
- chiles de árbol
- New Mexico chiles
- jalapeños
- chipotle (red, ripe jalapeños)
- cayenne
- habanero
How to use the dry peppers
A great way to utilize the excess of peppers that you have, is to dry, or dehydrate them. You can store them for years, really, if you vacuum pack them. Then you can rehydrate them for this delicious Homemade Enchilada Sauce, it is authentic!
Another wonderful use for dehydrated peppers is Chili Powders and red pepper flakes, recipe to follow soon.
Other uses for dried peppers include, hot sauces, salsas, chili pastes, or soups and stews. Chilies are essential for Mexican dishes, like Moles, or Enchiladas!
Peppers, in most forms, make a wonderful edible gift for the holidays, or any other special occasion. A hostess gift, perhaps. Who wouldn’t want to get a gift of candied jalapenos or homemade chili peppers?
The next thing that I love about drying the peppers, is that it gives me the opportunity to have a hands off method of preserving my peppers. This is especially useful in September or October, when I have the end of the season picking. I have so many things that need to be preseved, at the same time.
Drying a huge batch of peppers, allows me the time to use different methods of preserving, such as; making tomato sauce, or canning the tomatoes or peppers, even, freezing tomatoes and zucchini, when I’m short on time.
The Health Benefits of Dried Peppers
The other wonderful benefit of peppers is that they contain a chemical called capsaicin. Capsaicin has multiple benefits, including;
- The capsaicin in peppers can aid in digestion
- Peppers are high in fiber and nutrients, including; vitamins C, K, B6, and A, and low in calories.
- Peppers are shown to have anti- carcinogenic properties.
- They have been shown to have analgesic proporties (good for relieving pain), as well.
- Believe it, or not, they can help prevent stomach ulcers.
…… Among other things. See this Healthline article, for a full list.
How to Make Dried Peppers
- Cut off any bad spots or obvious blemishes. In your oven on it’s lowest setting. It will take 8-10 hours, depending on the temperature and size of peppers.
Place peppers on racks that are placed over baking sheets to improve air circulation around them. You can also leave the oven door cracked to increase airflow. - On your grill on very low, and over indirect heat. (the opposite side that the burner is on.)
- In a commercial food dehydrator. Place cleaned peppers on the trays in a single layer. I find this is the slowest method. It took me 3-4 days to dry the peppers whole. If you choose this method, definitely cut the peppers in half or slice them.
- Air drying them will work if you live in a very dry climate, think California or Arizona, you can dry them outside, in a sunny location, but protect them from any chance rain, or dew, at night. That option is not an option, where I live.
- In your air fryer, set heat to the lowest setting, mine is warm, less than 250°F. Place peppers on air fryer basket and air fry for 20-40 minutes, depending on the size of the peppers and the lowest temperature setting of your brand of air fryer.
Once chiles are dry, you can store them whole or place them in a spice grinder or food processor to grind them into chile powders and flakes.
How to store them
To package the peppers, place them into quart or half gallon glass jars, vacuum package them, or place them in storage bags. They can be frozen to prolong freshness.
So, that is how easy it is to make dried peppers! I can’t wait for pepper season again! I so miss my garden in the winter! How about you? Do you love to have a garden and enjoy all of the fresh fruits and vegetables?
Due to my background in horticulture, I had several readers request a tutorial on Vegetable Gardening. So if you have interest in the subject, these posts are packed full of information about how to get that big harvest by the end of the season! Don’t miss my How to Start a Garden Series! The first part is Planning Your Garden! Second is Preparing the Garden Site. The third is Choosing Plants and Planting Your Garden. The fourth is Garden Maintenance, and the last is Harvesting a Garden and Preserving the Harvest, this post has over 100 FREE recipes for preserving your harvest!
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Enjoy! And have fun cooking!
Xoxo,
Dried Peppers – 4 easy methods
Ingredients
- hot peppers
Instructions
- You can dehydrate hot peppers in 4 different appliances. Oven, grill, air fryer, and commercial dehydrator. If you live in a climate with low humidity, you can even do it outside in the sun.
- If you cut the peppers in half, laterally, they will take less time to dry. I opted to do a large batch whole, so they would be nicer for gifting.
- Place peppers on a rack, small enough so that the peppers don’t fall through. You can place a baking sheet with sides underneath, especially, if drying in the oven or air fryer.
- Turn your appliance to a low setting, My oven, that temperature is 170°F. My air fryer is approximately 160°F. Try to keep you grill around 150°F. Most commercially available dehydrators are set to a higher setting.
- Since there are so many variables, such as temperature and size/ thickness of the pepper you are drying, it is hard to give you a time. If you cut them in half they will take considerably less time. Most of whole peppers were done in 8-10 hours, with the exception of the dehydrator, which took many days. The halved peppers only took about 5 hours in the oven. They should be very dry. You will be able to feel if there is any moisture in a pepper when you squeeze it.
See all of my favorite tools and gift ideas on my New Amazon Store!Check out Binky’s Amazon Store!Video
Notes
- chili powder
- hot sauce
- chili paste
- enchilada sauce
- chilie
- mole
- soup
- stew
Nutrition
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Originally posted 12/27/18
Rahul
This article has so much amazing information. Today I learned so many things in this blog post. Keep doing your awesome work
Beth Neels
Thanks Rahul! I appreciate that and glad it helped.
Dianna
How do you rehydrate them when you use them later
Beth Neels
Sorry for the late response. Just soak them in water for about 30 minutes and then use them in your recipes.
Jerry
I’ve used your method with the oven and my chilly powder came out great. Thanks for the info. Gave some whole chilly peppers to my sister and she took a short cut and used the microwave. Big mistake. Walked into her kitchen and felt like I was just pepper sprayed. Was hours before she could use her kitchen again. Lol.
Beth Neels
Oh, my word! That capsacin can be really bad! I’m glad it worked for you in the oven! Thanks for trying the recipe!
Kim
Jerry Thanks for the microwave tip.
Beth Neels
Yes, definitely a good tip!
mary whaley
If you store them in jars do you have to vacuum seal the Jars
Beth Neels
No. If they are fully dry, you don’t have to vacuum seal them! Thanks for checking out the recipe Mary!
Jacqueline Debono
I’ve dried tomatoes in my oven but never peppers! I am definitely going to try it this year! Such a great idea!
Beth Neels
Thank you Jacqueline! It is so easy! Good luck with your garden!
Laura
Such an easy process it is – now that I have ready your post! I often use dried peppers for my sauces and pastes, so this is such a relief to know there are so many ways to dry peppers at home. Thank you for sharing.
Beth Neels
Thank you Laura! I’m glad you found it helpful!
lynda mallas
Thank you for explaining different ways to dehydrate. A new at this.🙂
Beth Neels
You’re welcome Lynda! I hope it’s helpful!
Beth Neels
You are very welcome Lynda! Thanks for checking out the recipe!
bonnie
Yeah don’t bother trying the oven method. Followed instructions exactly, 10 hours in still soft and not dry.
Ruined many pounds of peppers.
Beth Neels
Did you halve the peppers? As stated in the recipe, many factors contribute to the length of time it takes to dry peppers. The size of the pepper, the oven temperature, the moisture content of the peppers themselves… and many others. If they are not totally dry, just keep them going until they are. The peppers are not ruined by any means. As I also said the dehydrators took several days until they were dry.
Julie @ Running in a Skirt
I’ve always been curious about how to do this! Thanks for breaking it down. Peppers make food so much tastier in my opinion!
Beth Neels
Oh, for sure! They add just the right spice! Thank you Julie!
Elaine Benoit
I wish I had a pepper patch. I have to live vicariously through you though. Great instructions and I can just imagine what I’d put these in!!
Beth Neels
You have to come and visit me! I share well! Thanks Elaine!
Linda
Can u dry bell peppers
Beth Neels
Sure. You can dry bell peppers to use in soups, stews, sauces, etc. Thanks for checking out the recipe Linda!
Michelle
I love how you offer so much information about the various ways to dry peppers. Your posts are always so informative. I would never have thought of using the grill and indirect heat. Great idea! I love spicy enchiladas too. I’ll check out your recipe for it.
Beth Neels
Thank you so Michelle! I am so glad that they are helpful to you!
Claudia Canu
One more great idea here on your blog! Just a quick question, how long would they last if you store them in a jar?
Beth Neels
They really last indefinitely. They may lose a bit of flavor after a couple of years, but they last a very long time! Thank you Claudia!
Toni
I love this! They are all so easy to make!
Beth Neels
They are super easy and very useful! Thanks for stopping by Toni!
Colleen
Like you, I have a ton of peppers at the end of the growing season, and I usually hang them to dry naturally, but I love your idea to use the air fryer and can’t wait to try it!
Beth Neels
It is a lot faster than waiting for them air dry. It is very humid where I am, as well, so I will occasionally run in to a bit of mold before they are totally dry! Thanks Colleen!
Dannii
I love adding some chopped dried chilli to a stew – it adds so much flavour.
Beth Neels
They certainly do! They add tons of flavor to lots of dishes! Thanks for stopping by, Dannii!
Sara Welch
I’ve never thought of drying peppers as a gift! That’s a great idea for anyone who loves to make salsa too! Thanks for the recipe!
Beth Neels
Thank you Sara! It’s a great way to store the summer’s bounty!
Chichi
Thank you. I really enjoyed this. I would like to contact you privately for a question I want to ask you privately. Please what mail can I contact you on . Looking forward to hearing from you. Thank you
Binky
You can use the contact form. Or email [email protected]. There is a link in the main menu! Thanks!
April
I can’t wait until this summer to give this a try! I always have so many peppers that I am always looking for ways to preserve them! Thanks for the tip!
Binky
I know, it’s crazy how many peppers I have at the end of the season! Thanks for stopping by April!