Dehydrated bell peppers is a fun ingredient to add to dehydrated backpacking meals. I started to dehydrate them when I made deconstructed stuffed peppers, the first dehydrated meal I created. The peppers add color, flavor, and a bit of chew to dehydrated meals.
What do you need to do to prepare bell peppers for dehydrating?
- Wash the peppers with water and remove any visible dirt.
- Cut to size. Depending on your use, they can be cut in ½ to 1-inch pieces. Remember, they will shrink some when dehydrating so don’t go too small. If the pepper is a feature, such as in deconstructed stuffed peppers, cut a larger piece.
- Place cut bell pepper pieces on a dehydrator tray with the skin side down. This will prevent them from sticking to the dehydrator tray.
To pre-cook or not to pre-cook the bell peppers…that is the question.
The bell peppers will dehydrate just fine without precooking them.
If you choose to cook them, put the bell peppers into a pan with a small amount of water and lightly steam them, while stirring them as the water evaporates. Cooking the peppers can help to bring out the sweetness and tenderize them. I started doing this when I made western scrambled eggs because I was cooking the onions with the green peppers before dehydrating.
If you choose to pre-cook your bell peppers, do not use oil, especially if you plan to store them. The peppers will become rancid in 4-6 months due to the oil.
How long will it take to dehydrate bell peppers?
Dehydrate at a temperature of 130 to 135 degrees F.
It will take about 6-8 hours to dehydrate the mini peppers. The green peppers will take about 10-12 hours to dehydrate. The red, orange, and yellow bell peppers will take about 12-14 hour to dehydrate.
What can affect the dehydration time?
- Pepper Type: regular bell peppers will take longer to dehydrate than the mini peppers.
- Size: bigger pieces will take longer to dehydrate than smaller pieces. Thicker pieces will take longer than thinner pieces, especially the pieces that include the rib part of the regular bell pepper.
- Sugar content: Red, yellow, and orange peppers may take longer to dehydrate than green peppers since the colored peppers have more sugars in them.
- Spacing: crowding your peppers or stacking them limits the air flow.
- Humidity: the higher the humidity, the longer it will take to dehydrate the peppers.
How do you know if they are dried enough?
Touch the bell pepper pieces see if they feel dried or still feel damp or sticky. Take a larger piece or a piece with a rib out of the dehydrator and let it sit on the counter to cool for about 10 minutes. If the pieces still feel wet, damp or sticky after cooling off, the bell peppers need to dehydrate longer.
How should you store the dehydrated bell peppers?
Dehydrated bell peppers should be stored in a cool, dry and dark area. They should last for up to six months, if stored properly. As time goes on, the dehydrated bell peppers will oxidize and lose some of the bright color. You may not notice a flavor difference immediately. Eventually the oxidization can affect the flavor.
What can you do with dehydrated bell peppers?
- Include them in light weight dehydrated meals for the trail
- Deconstructed Stuffed Peppers (use a mix of colored plus green bell peppers)
- Buffalo Chicken Mac and Cheese (use mini peppers)
- Western Scrambled eggs (use green peppers)
- Snack on them. They might be a bit chewy, but the flavor will be concentrated and tasty.