The ultimate guide to dehydrated onions in the air fryer. If you want to dry onions and have a dehydrator setting on your air fryer, then this is for you.
We are using the Ninja Foodi dehydrator setting to transform slices of onion into dehydrated onion and then using the Ninja Blender to turn the onion into dried onion powder.
Table of Contents
Dehydrated Onions
How many times do you see a recipe for dried onion and garlic? I know I do all the time. Its like the two of them are meant to be added to so many different recipes.
Well, we showed you yesterday how to make dehydrated garlic, but what we didn’t tell you, is that we use the same container to keep our dried onion.
That why I can shake up the jar once I have dehydrated both, and then they are ready for whenever a recipe calls for dried onion and garlic.
Our dried onion and garlic is also part of our dehydrator week we are having and follows on from how to dehydrate marshmallows and below you will find even more dehydrated air fryer recipes.
Check out dehydrated peaches, dehydrated raspberries, dehydrated blueberries, dehydrated watermelon, dehydrated strawberries, dehydrated bananas and of course we have many more.
We loved the idea, that we could use our air fryer we a dehydrator. And you could too if you have an air fryer that has a temperature of 55c/130f.
Though today is all about dehydrated onion. Getting a typical onion from your pantry, slicing it up and loading it up onto the shelves of your dehydrator accessory. Or if using an air fryer oven, simply fill up the shelves!
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Can You Dehydrate Onions?
Yes, you can dehydrate onions and I highly recommend doing so. And OMG it’s a total money and time saver too.
Just think of all those times when a recipe calls for half an onion, or even a quarter of an onion.
Or those times when onions just don’t get used as you just don’t have a recipe that calls for one.
By dehydrating onion, you can batch a couple of onions, load them into a jar once dried and you have a massive supply that will last you ages.
And because dried onion keeps well, you can even take it with you when cooking on a road trip.
Is Dehydrated Onion The Same As Dried Onion?
Yes, it is. When you dehydrate onion, you are drying it out and once the Ninja Foodi beeps you have perfect dried onion slices.
You can use it in recipes that call for dried onion or use it as a regular onion replacement.
Though, what I prefer to do is blend it that way you have homemade onion powder.
Are Dehydrated Onions Good?
Yes, they are. They are still full of flavour and ideal for loading into all kinds of recipes. I particularly love them for sprinkling over food in the air fryer, or when I am pressure cooking a soup or stew.
How Long Will Dehydrated Onions Last?
Dried onions will last a couple of years if they are kept in an airtight container (like this one) in a cool pantry.
However, I find that with cooking from scratch most days, that my dried onions will last about a month.
Then when a month comes around, I make another batch of homemade onion powder.
How Do I Dehydrate Onions In Air Fryer?
The first time I dehydrated in an air fryer was with the Power Air Fryer Oven (I had this one) and you could load the shelves with sliced onion.
But now I have the Ninja Foodi I use the Ninja Foodi dehydrator accessory. (more about it here) Of course, you don’t have to, but when you do it allows you to dehydrate quite a lot of sliced onion at the same time. Because it is a stackable unit that turns your ninja foodi into a classic dehydrator machine.
Then you simply place the Ninja Foodi (with the air fryer lid) on the dehydrate setting and you have transformed your Ninja into a dehydrator.
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Dried Onion Ingredients
Onion – I used one large onion. That one onion made enough onion powder to last us for ages. You can also do a big batch and do each batch straight after the previous if you want a lot of dry onion.
Dehydrator – We also used my stackable dehydrator that I bought specifically for the Ninja Foodi. If you are dehydrating onion with an air fryer, I recommend something similar. I love this one because it allows you to have several racks of onion slices dehydrating at once.
Then for the kitchen gadgets that we have used in this dehydrating onions air fryer recipe it has just been our Ninja Foodi. We have this one and its wonderful for many types of recipes including dehydrating.
Plus, we recommend you head over to our air fryer recipes category as we have more than 500 tried and tested air fryer recipes and have been air frying for 10 years. And nearly all are suitable for the Ninja Foodi air fryer setting.
How To Dehydrate Onions?
- Slice. Peel, and slice your onion. Aim for medium slices that are not too thick so will dehydrate well.
- Load. Add your sliced onion to your dehydrator shelves. Start at the bottom, clipping on each shelf as it fills up.
- Load. Then add your stackable dehydrator into the Ninja Foodi and place the air fryer lid down.
- Cook. Set the temperature to 55c/130f and the function to dehydrator and then dry your onion for 6 hours or until fully dried.
- Finish. Then once the dehydrator is done, remove the dry onion and load into an airtight container. Keep in the cupboard for 1-2 years.
- Optional. Or move the dry onion from the Ninja Foodi into a blender and pulse to make onion powder.
And I am sure you can see now how easy it is to dry onions and why you should be doing it too!
How Long Does It Take To Dehydrate Onions?
Dehydrated chopped onions is a little longer compared to some other dehydrated foods. But the dried onions are well worth the 6 hours that they take.
You can then make them into onion powder.
What You Need To Dehydrate In A Ninja Foodi?
In a traditional dehydrator you have a lot of shelves that you can fill with food you want to dry. Of course a Ninja Foodi is one big pot so how do you do it? You buy the Ninja Foodi dehydrator accessory and it is a stack of shelves just like a traditional dehydrator and can store a lot on it and then place it inside of your Ninja Foodi cooking pot.
Onion To Onion Powder
I don’t know about you, but I want to make onion powder out of my dehydrated onion slices.
To do this, simply load the dehydrated onions into a blender and pulse until smooth. Or you can slightly pulse and then you can have some big bits and onion powder for various dishes.
Dehydrating Onion Tips & Tricks
- Opt for medium slices of onion and then cut each slice into thirds. This will speed up the process of drying onion.
- Check your onion at the halfway point. You can then see if any are stuck to the dehydrator or if any have stuck to one another or got too close.
- You can do as many onion slices that will fit in your dehydrator.
- We found that one onion made about 3 tablespoons of dried onion.
- You can store both dried garlic and dried onions together in the same container. We do this all the time.
- We recommend using this dehydrator for easy stacking in your Ninja Foodi. We are amazed when we use this how much onion will fit in the Ninja.
More Dehydrator Air Fryer Recipes
- Dehydrated Lemons
- Dehydrated Limes
- Dehydrated Oranges
- Dehydrated Cherries
- Dehydrated Bananas
- Dehydrated Pears
Your dehydrated onion recipe is below, note you can print it out with or without photos, adjust servings, or click between metric and imperial depending on where you are in the world.
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Dehydrated Onions In Air Fryer
Ingredients
- 1 Large Onion
Kitchen Gadgets
Instructions
- Peel your onion. Slice your onion into medium to small slices.
- Get out your dehydrator accessory and load up the shelves with sliced onion. Start at the bottom and work your way up and clip each shelf into place as you do it.
- Once the dehydrator is full then load into the Ninja Foodi. Place the air fryer lid down on the Ninja Foodi and set it to the dehydrator setting.
- Dehydrate for 6 hours at 55c/130f or until the onion is fully hard and breaks when you apply force.
- Then load into an airtight plastic container such as a plastic mason jar and store in a cool place for 1-2 years.
- Or optional – load into a blender and pulse until it makes onion powder.
Notes
Nutrition
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Will you be writing about how to dehydrate mushrooms?