What does one do with a bunch of free potatoes that need to be used NOW, no room in the freezer and not a fan of canned potatoes?! Yeah I was stumped too.
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That was until my aunt brought store-bought dehydrated hash browns to our family reunion. Lightbulb moment! I seriously didn’t even know you could buy such a thing and, after tasting them, was amazed at how wonderful they were!
After a quick google search I found that dehydrating hash browns at home should be relatively easy and something I could totally handle. Time to dust off the ol’ dehydrator!
I’ll admit, I haven’t used our dehydrator in an embarrassingly long amount of time. I just kind of… forget that I even have it! It worked perfectly though and I know I’ll be using it more often from here on out.
Steps to Dehydrate Hash Browns
- Wash and peel potatoes.
- Place potatoes in a large pot. Gently boil just until you can pierce potatoes with a fork. Very important to NOT over cook them!!
- Drain and cool completely.
- Grate with a hand grater or attachment on your food processor/mixer. Be careful when hand grating- the potatoes are slippery!
- Load up the dehydrator! I found its best to not use the solid trays as that did not dehydrate as evenly/efficiently as the slotted bottom trays. You can actually fit quite a lot- no need to make a single layer. Don’t pile the potatoes but I found I could get about 5 lbs of shredded potatoes on my four layers!
- Set dehydrator to 135ºF and dehydrate for roughly 8-10 hours. Don’t check on them until around the 8 hour mark. You want to make sure they are fully dehydrated so they do not spoil.
Link to the dehydrator I use: Nesco American Harvest Dehydrator
Once done, choose how you want to store your dehydrated hash browns (I’m using a gallon zipper bag for the time being, I will probably switch to a vacuum seal jar though!). The potatoes can last a few years in dry storage!! Amazing!
How to Re-Hydrate Hash Browns:
- Measure out potatoes. About 1 1/2 cups of dehydrated potatoes is sufficient for my family of 5.
- Pour VERY hot water over potatoes until fully covered.
- Let sit for 15 minutes.
- Drain completely, add oil/butter to a pan and cook to desired doneness.
- Enjoy!
I am super excited that roughly 10 lbs of potatoes now fit in ONE gallon bag! How cool is that?! Time to go find more things to dehydrate!!
Thanks for stopping by the homestead!
Until next time,
Melissa
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