Best Way to Dehydrate Sweet Potatoes

Dehydrated sweet potatoes can be a great snack and a convenient ingredient for all your recipes – one with a supremely long shelf life. Not for nothing, dehydrating your sweet potatoes is a great way to keep them from sprouting and going bad during typical room temperature storage.

If you’ve got a food dehydrator or an oven, you’ll be happy to learn that processing your own dehydrated sweet potatoes is really quite easy. A lot easier than you think, I promise! Keep reading, and I’ll tell you everything you need to know to do it yourself.

Supplies and Kitchen Tools

• Sweet Potatoes: This recipe starts with fresh sweet potatoes, of course! You can use any variety you prefer, big or small, but they must be fresh, wholesome, and in good shape. Don’t waste your time or risk your batch trying to process sweet potatoes that are too far gone or obviously bad.
• Food Dehydrator or Oven: It’s possible to dehydrate sweet potatoes in a countertop food dehydrator or in your oven. A food dehydrator is more straightforward, easier, and more reliable, but an oven can work. I’ve done both.
• Baking Sheet (if using oven): A food dehydrator will come with its own trays, but if you want to try this recipe using your oven, you’ll need a baking sheet. Use the largest one you have that will fit in the oven.
• Parchment Paper (if using oven): Likewise, if you’re going the oven route, you’ll need parchment paper to line your baking sheet with.
• Oven Thermometer (if using oven): I know that pretty much every oven these days has built-in temperature control and monitoring, but that won’t work for our purposes. You’ll need to clip in an oven thermometer to monitor the actual temperature in the compartment since we will be keeping the door cracked slightly open for the duration. This will be the only way to get a reliable temperature reading.
• Mandoline Slicer (recommended): I highly recommend you invest in a mandoline slicer for this. Sweet potatoes are tough—notoriously tough—and even a very sharp knife can struggle to get through them. Precise sizing of slices or other pieces is important for getting good results when dehydrating, and a mandoline makes that effortless.
• Safety Glove: This piece of safety equipment is technically optional for this recipe if you’re very, very careful, but I wouldn’t risk it. Wear a cut-resistant safety glove when you are slicing your sweet potatoes using the mandoline above. If you screw up and aren’t wearing it, you could easily slice off the end of a fingertip!
• Knife/Peeler: You’ll need to peel the sweet potatoes before you slice them. A veggie peeler makes this easy, but you can use a paring knife if you prefer and don’t mind putting in a little more time.
• Cutting Board: Self-explanatory.
• Pot or Saucepan: You’ll need a large pot or saucepan to blanch the sweet potato pieces. Blanching is an important step for getting really good results, so don’t skip it.
• Large Mixing Bowl: The other critical part of the blanching process is the ice water bath to stop the potato pieces from overcooking. Grab a large mixing bowl—any kind of material will do—for the job.
• Ice: And a whole lot of it for the ice bath! The colder you can make the water and the quicker you can quench the sweet potato pieces, the better the finished product will be.
• Slotted Spoon: For stirring and transferring the sweet potato pieces during blanching.
• Airtight Food Storage Container: Your dehydrated sweet potato pieces will last for quite a while at room temperature, but only if they are kept in an airtight container. Again, you can use any material you prefer, but I would recommend glass or plastic. Ensure that any container you pick has a really good seal!

And that’s all you need. In the next section, I will walk you through the food dehydrator method for drying out these sweet potatoes step by step. Even if you are going the oven route, make sure you read this section over because the early steps apply to both methods.

Dehydrating Sweet Potatoes in a Food Dehydrator, Step by Step

Step 1: Wash sweet potatoes. The very first thing you need to do is wash the produce in cool water. Give them a scrub with a soft veggie brush or a clean rag.

Yes, you should do this even though you’re going to peel them in just a minute. It really does help to cut down on food contamination.

Step 2: Peel and slice. Transfer the sweet potatoes to your cutting board and grab your peeler or paring knife. Cut away all of the skin and discard. If any of your otherwise fresh and healthy sweet potatoes have a small bad spot, you can just cut it away rather than throw the whole potato away.

Then grab your mandoline slicer and slice each of the potatoes into uniform rounds anywhere from 3/16 inch to 1/4 inch thick. If you want to make potato chips for snacking, slice them 1/8 inch thick.

Step 3: Heat water in saucepan or pot, prepare ice bath. Leave the sweet potato slices aside for a moment and fill your saucepan or pot and large mixing bowl with water. Use filtered water if you can. Make sure to leave a little bit of room for displacement in both cases, especially in your ice water bath since you’ll be adding ice.

Set the pot on the stove and turn up the heat to bring it to a boil. Add lots of ice to your bowl of water and give it a stir to lower the temperature as quickly as possible.

Step 4: Boil sweet potato pieces for 3-4 minutes. Carefully drop the potato pieces into the pot or saucepan once it reaches a rolling boil. Let them boil for 3 to 4 minutes but no longer. Go with four minutes for thicker pieces and right at 3 minutes for thinner pieces like 1/8-inch slices.

Step 5: Quench sweet potato pieces in ice water. As soon as the time is up on the boiling process, cut the heat and use your slotted spoon to carefully move the sweet potato pieces to the ice water bath as quickly as possible (to stop the cooking process). Stir the water gently when they are all added.

Let them cool in the water for about a minute.

Step 6: Remove pieces, drain well, pat dry. After a minute in the ice water, use a spoon to remove the sweet potato pieces, drain them well, then set them aside on a clean kitchen towel or a few folded paper towels. Gently pat them dry with the same. You want to get rid of as much moisture as possible here, so be thorough.

Step 7: Load pieces on dehydrator trays. Now load all of your sweet potato slices on the dehydrator trays.

Make sure you only have a single layer with no pieces touching or overlapping. If they are, it will interfere with the drying process, and that will greatly increase the chances of spoilage in storage! Check everything over, and once the spacing is correct, move on.

Step 8: Set dehydrator to 125°F / 50°C. Let it warm up completely.

Step 9: Load trays, process until done. Load your trays into the food dehydrator once it has reached the required temperature. You’ll need to leave them in here for anywhere from 8 to 12 hours depending on the thickness of your slices.

Consult the manual on your specific dehydrator; some advise that you rotate the individual trays or change the stack order inside the unit periodically during the dehydration process.

Take care of this on an as-needed basis, but if you don’t have to do anything like that with your model, you can basically set it and forget it for now.

Step 10: Test pieces for doneness. Check on your slices around the 8-hour mark. You want to pull out one piece and check it for doneness. It should look darker, shriveled, and almost leathery.

The pieces are done when they break cleanly and aren’t chewy or flexible. If you drop one onto your countertop, it should clatter or plink; these tests will let you know that the required amount of moisture has been removed. If the pieces aren’t done, check on them every 30 minutes to an hour, based on how close they look, until they are.

Step 11: Remove trays, allow to cool. Once the sweet potato pieces are fully dried, turn off the dehydrator, and either open the door or remove the trays and set them aside on a rack to cool.

We don’t want to store the newly dehydrated potato slices straight away because they are still warm, and that will cause condensation. Condensation is ruinous! Give the pieces about an hour to fully cool down to room temperature.

Step 12: Put pieces in airtight container. Once cool, pop the sweet potato slices into a food storage container of your choice. Make sure it is very clean and has an excellent, airtight seal.

Step 13: Store in cool, dark place. Always store dehydrated food, including these sweet potatoes, in a dark, cool place that is preferably 50°F or cooler. You should also strive for a spot that is protected from hot or cold temperature fluctuations, which will reduce shelf life.

Step 14: All done! And with that, you are finished. You made delicious, clean, and nutritious dehydrated sweet potatoes at home. These dehydrated pieces will last anywhere from 3 to 6 months in typical storage conditions depending on the quality of your container.

You can get a year out of them if you keep them very cool, temperature-stable, and stash them in a vacuum-seal or Mylar food storage bag.

Dehydrating Potatoes in The Oven

Most of the steps for making dehydrated sweet potatoes in your oven as opposed to your food dehydrator are exactly the same, with a few key differences.

Step 1: Wash, peel, and prep sweet potatoes as above. Get your potatoes scrubbed, peeled, and cut to size as described in steps 1 through 3 of the previous section.

Step 2: Blanch sweet potatoes. Blanch the potatoes as instructed in steps four and five of the previous section. Remember to let them boil for 4 minutes for thicker pieces, or right at 3 minutes for thin pieces. As soon as the time has elapsed, get the pieces into the ice water bath as soon as possible. Leave them there for a minute.

Step 3: Drain and pat pieces dry. Once the sweet potato pieces have chilled for a minute in the ice water bath, remove them, drain well, and pat them dry on a clean kitchen towel or folded paper towels.

Step 4: Install thermometer, set oven to 145°F / 62°C. Open your oven, clip in the oven thermometer on the rack, and then set the oven to 145°F. Note that most consumer-grade ovens will not go this low. In such a case, set the temperature as low as possible and leave the oven door open slightly to let most of the heat out.

Watch the thermometer as the oven preheats. If it is too cool, turn the heat up until it hovers right around the 145° mark. If it’s too hot and on the lowest temperature setting possible, open the door wider to let more heat out. Play around with it until you get the temperature just right.

Step 5: Line baking sheet with parchment paper, layer sweet potato slices. With the oven preheated, line your baking sheet with a single sheet of parchment paper. Now load your dried sweet potato pieces in a single layer, making sure that none of the pieces are overlapping or touching. If they are, this will mess up the dehydration process and probably result in spoilage.

Step 6: Load baking sheet into oven. Pop the baking sheet into the oven on the center rack.

Step 7: Keep door cracked, monitor progress, and adjust. If your oven cannot be set at the required temperature detailed above, you must keep the door open to regulate the heat. Check on the thermometer regularly, opening or closing the door slightly as needed to regulate the temperature in the oven. As long as it is within 150°F and 125°F, you should be okay.

Expect the process to take between 8 and 12 hours. Check on your sweet potatoes regularly for progress!

Step 8: Test sweet potatoes for doneness. Once these sweet potatoes are shriveled up and leathery-looking, pull one out and test it. It should break cleanly without bending. If the pieces bend, they aren’t dry enough. Keep on processing and keep checking!

Step 9: Remove baking sheet, set aside to cool. Once the sweet potatoes are done, turn off the oven and carefully remove the baking sheet, setting it aside to cool. Give it about an hour. Once the pieces are back at room temperature, they are ready to store.

Step 10: Store sweet potato pieces in container. Your chosen container must be absolutely clean and have a good airtight seal.

Step 11: Store and done! Stash your container of dehydrated sweet potatoes in a cool, dark place, preferably 50°F or colder. Protect it from light and temperature swings, and your sweet potatoes will last anywhere from 3 to 6 months with excellent quality. A very good container like a Mylar bag, vacuum-sealed food storage bag, or similar can give you up to a year of shelf life.

Rehydrating Your Sweet Potatoes

Rehydrating potatoes is a cinch. How you proceed depends on how you’re using them. If you’re adding them to a soup, stew, casserole, or similar dish, just toss them in as they will rehydrate and cook during normal preparation.

If you want to rehydrate them separately for whatever reason, drop the slices or other pieces into a large saucepan and pour boiling water over them, just enough to cover. Watch for them to plump up and soften. Add a little more boiling water as needed.

Alternately, you can drop them in a pan of simmering water and keep them at a simmer until they cook to your desired consistency.

Recipe Notes

• You can shred or cube sweet potatoes prior to dehydration if desired. If you’re going with shreds for hash, you don’t need to blanch them. Cubes should be no bigger than a quarter-inch square and blanched for 4 minutes prior to chilling.
• Sweet potato chips make a delicious, healthy snack. Prepare as described above, and slice as thin as you can—an eighth of an inch or a little thinner. You may opt to leave the skin on if you like the flavor. When they are ready to go into the dehydrator, gently brush them with an oil of your choice, season with your preferred seasonings, and then dehydrate as normal. Eat within a couple of weeks!
• You can make sweet potato flour by running your dehydrated pieces through a food mill or food processor until it has reached a powdery consistency. Store as detailed above. It’s perfect for making instant mashed sweet potatoes, thickening soups, pancakes, and a lot more!