Easy Dehydrator Zucchini Chips

This time of year we have oodles of zucchini coming in. And to be honest, as much as I love the yummy green produce, I do eventually have my fill. So, then comes the fun part of trying to find some creative ways to not let our bounty go to waste. One way I like to preserve our crop of zucchini is to dehydrate them into chips. 

Now I must admit, most folks in our family do not care for the zucchini chips, but it's worth the effort to dehydrate them for those of us who do. It really isn't that complicated, it just takes some time. While we do not use our dehydrator as much as I had hoped, I am grateful we have it in times like these. I just hate being wasteful with our God-given harvest and even though I don't mind giving some of it away; ,I'd much prefer to preserve it in such a fashion that we can enjoy it during the off season.

We have the nine tray Excalibur dehydrator. It was one of those many pricy homesteading investments that have been well worth it. I don't really have any experience with any other dehydrator, but I can attest to the fact that the Excalibur is a phenomenal dehydrator and never gives us a bit of trouble. We actually keep it out year round on a table which holds our manual grain mill and Berkey water purifier (two more homesteading investments that I LOVE!). 

When it comes to large scale gardening and homesteading, I'm a firm believer it's hugely important to budget for tools which make the many tasks required easier and more efficient. We have made so many homesteading purchases over the years only to regret it because we didn't jump in with both feet. Going the cheap route does not always pay off!! Thankfully, we did not make that mistake when purchasing our dehydrator, I know we've had it for at least 7 years and it's still going strong with decent amount of use. I'm sure there are other quality dehydrators out there, but the Excalibur is the only one I can officially brag about ~ and they don't give me a dime to say so!

Easy Sea Salt & Garlic Zucchini Chips (Dehydrator version)

Ingredients

1. Zucchini thinly sliced
2. Sea Salt
3. Powdered Garlic

Directions

1. Place thinly sliced zucchini on dehydrating trays, making sure not to overlap
2. Sprinkle with sea salt and garlic powder (you may want to do this over a pan to prevent the spices from going every where)
3. Place dehydrator trays into dehydrator
4. Set dehydrator to 125 - 155 degrees (It is my experience that every dehydrator is different, but when I am wanting to make 'crispy' dehydrated foods I always use a much hotter setting and on my dehydrator I set it to 150 degrees for these zucchini chips)
5. Set timer for 12-24 hours (I check mine after 12 hours, but it typically takes 24 to get that crispy texture I prefer for my zucchini chips)
6. Once chips are your preferred texture store them in glass jars or ziplock bags

During the summer harvest season our dehydrator could easily run around the clock, but for safety concerns (not that we've ever had reasons to be concerned it's just I have an unusually weird fear of fires) we turn it off when we go to bed and just turn it back on when we wake up. We have never had any problems with the food we have been dehydrating by turning the dehydrator off and then back on.  

As for tastes and texture, I don't want to fool you that these will be the same as your store-bought potato chips ~ sorry y'all but they won't be. BUT, they will be an awesome tasty healthy alternative for when you get a hankering for something salty. When it comes to homesteading and growing your own food it's all about not wasting and acquiring a palette for foods you may not have otherwise enjoyed. Eating the food God made is about as close as we will get for the way He intended life to be, and nowadays we have awesome methods and tools to make that food unique and tasty. To me these easy sea salt & garlic zucchini chips are the perfect step in the right direction to avoiding overly-processed junk food AND to use up the summer surplus of zucchini.

With Love & Hope,

Jennifer