How To Make Freeze-Dried Onion Powder From Scratch

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Making freeze-dried onion powder is a simple way to stock your pantry and preserve homegrown or store-bought onions. With a few pounds of fresh onions and a Harvest Right freeze dryer, you can have homemade onion powder to use in your favorite recipes.

Whenever I’m chatting with folks about food preservation, I almost always get the same response: “I wish I had the time to preserve food for my family.”

If you are new to food preservation, it can seem overwhelming and time-consuming. For sure, some forms of food preservation, like canning a year’s worth of tomatoes, take a long time.

But you don’t have to have endless days in the kitchen or a full-blown homestead to enjoy the benefits of a food preservation journey.

Freeze drying is my preferred method for bulk food preservation because it requires almost no hands-on time. For small batches, I prefer lacto-fermented peppers and onions.

Of course, you do have to have a home freeze dryer, which is an investment. But it makes preserving foods like flavorful onions, strawberries, apples, and eggs extremely simple.

Honestly, given the current season my life with a small child and a growing small business, the freeze dryer is the deal breaker between living on a “suburban homestead” or not.

Benefits of Freeze-Dried Onion Powder

• Preserve fresh onions – Making freeze-dried onion powder is a great way to preserve onions from the garden or if you find a great deal on onions at your local grocery store.
• No storage space required – Because it’s powdered, it takes up almost no space in the pantry.
• Secret ingredient – Freeze-dried onion powder is one of my great secret ingredients. A small spoonful packs a ton of flavor. Because it cooks quickly, it adds a lightly caramelized onion flavor to just about any dish.
• No skill required – You don’t need to learn a new skill to make freeze-dried onion powder. Just chop the onions, put them in the machine, and go live the dream!

Video – Freeze Drying vs. Dehydrating

Freeze-Dried vs. Regular Onion Powder

Freeze-dried and regular onion powder can be used in the same way, but they are very different products.

Old-school onion powder (like the kind from the grocery store) is dehydrated onions blended into a powder.

In other words, the onions are slowly cooked at a low temperature until dry. In the process, the onions’ flavor changes, and they lose some of their nutritional composition.

Unlike dehydrating, freeze-dried onions remain in their original state and retain close to 100% of their nutritional composition.

A freeze dryer uses subzero temperatures (around -40° F) and a vacuum chamber to remove approximately 98% of the water from the food (source).

So freeze-dried onion powder is essentially raw onions with the water content removed.

Tips for Making Freeze-Dried Onion Powder

• Learn about freeze drying – If you aren’t familiar with the difference between freeze drying and dehydrating, check out my freeze drying vs. dehydrating video on YouTube.
• Keep it dry – When using for cooking, keep it in a dry location. Use a spoon when adding it to food to prevent steam from rehydrating it.
• Use a food processor – Chopping onions can be tedious, but it only takes a few minutes with a food processor. Also, wear onion goggles if you have them. This recipe is a real tearjerker.
• Use your favorite onion – The benefit of making your own onion powder is that you can use your favorite onion. Vidalia, yellow, white, and red onions are good choices.
• Get prepped – Prepare your supplies in advance. If you have everything prepped and ready to go, the chopping and packaging process will be quick and easy.
• Pre-freeze (optional) – To cut down on how long the freeze dryer runs, you can pre-freeze the minced onions on baking sheets. I don’t have the freezer space for this, so I don’t pre-freeze mine.

Tools You Will Need

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• Harvest Right Freeze Dryer – This is the machine you will use for freeze drying. You will need your own freeze dryer or a friend with a home freeze dryer.
• Knife – Use a sharp knife to roughly chop the onions.
• Cutting board – I like to use an end-grain cutting board so my knives stay sharp.
• Food processor – A 14-cup food processor makes bulk food preservation quick and easy. You can also use a coffee grinder or spice grinder, but the onions will leave flavor behind. Use a grinder dedicated to spices to prevent flavor transfer to your coffee (I’ll pass on the onion coffee).
• Mylar bags (for long-term storage) – If you plan to store your onion powder for over a year, seal it in a mylar bag with an appropriate-sized oxygen absorber.
• Oxygen absorbers (for long-term storage) – Oxygen absorbers preserve the quality of freeze-dried food by preventing spoilage, mold, and other deterioration.
• Glass jars (for short-term storage) – Glass mason jars are great for short-term storage. Make sure you have air-tight lids and a handheld vacuum sealer to go with them.
• Handheld vacuum sealer (for short-term storage) – If you are storing food for a short time, vacuum sealing the jar lid will keep it fresh and allow you to seal and re-seal it.

Ingredients

• Onions – That’s it! For this freeze-dried onion powder recipe, I processed about 10-12 pounds of onions in a medium Harvest Right freeze dryer. I like sweet onions or yellow onions, but you can use any you prefer.

Freeze-Dried Onion Powder Recipe

Get the Freeze Dryer Ready

Remove the trays from the freeze dryer, and turn the machine on. Follow the prompts on your machine to prep the freeze dryer.

Prepare the Onions

While the freeze dryer is cooling, peel and chop the onions into large chunks. Place the roughly chopped onions in a food processor bowl.

Pulse until the onions are chopped into small pieces, but don’t liquify them.

Note: If you don’t have a food processor, you can chop the onions by hand. To cut back on hands-on time, you can freeze dry them as onion slices, but they might take longer to dry.

Freeze Dry the Onions

Transfer the minced onions to the freeze-dryer trays, making sure the onions don’t go above the top edge of the tray.

Place the trays into the freeze dryer. Close and seal the freeze dryer door.

Close the drain valve (it should be perpendicular to the drain line). Hit start.

Let the freeze dryer do its magic!

The dry time depends on the thickness of the onions, the room temperature, and the machine. It can take 24 hours to a few days for the onions to fully dry. If your freeze dryer is in a garage like mine, it can take longer on hot days.

Check for Doneness

Once the freeze dryer has completed the process, check the onions to ensure they are completely dry. When dry, they will resemble onion flakes and have a styrofoam-like texture.

If there is any moisture, return the trays to the machine, select “more dry time,” and add 2 hours. Repeat as needed until the onions are dry.

Powder the Onions

When the onions are done, transfer them to a blender.

Pulse until they turn into a fine powder.

Store them in vacuum-sealed glass jars (short-term storage) or mylar bags with an appropriate-sized oxygen absorber (long-term storage up to 25+ years).

Note: When packing freeze-dried food, don’t dilly dally. The longer it sits out in the open, the more water it will absorb from the air. This happens faster than you’d imagine, so quickly get it in jars or mylar bags.

How To Use Freeze-Dried Onion Powder

• Cooking spice – Use freeze-dried onion powder like any regular seasoning or spice when cooking. It’s one of the most essential ingredients in my kitchen!
• Onion substitute – Freeze-dried onion powder can be used in place of a whole onion. One tablespoon is approximately equivalent to a medium onion.
• Salad dressing – Make your own homemade salad dressings with freeze-dried onion powder and freeze-dried herbs.
• Soup – Add some to cheddar broccoli soup or other soup recipes for extra flavor. Freeze-dried onion powder dissolves quickly, so just toss it right in.
• Dip – Mix some into sour cream or Greek yogurt for a quick and easy veggie or chip dip.
• Favorite recipes – I like to use freeze-dried onion powder in quick recipes like Instant Pot Hawaiian pork tenderloin and homemade sloppy joes.
• Onion salt – Mix a little onion powder with salt for a homemade onion salt.
• Minced onion – You can also skip blending the onions and use them as dried minced onions. This is a great way to add freeze-dried onions to recipes.

How To Store Freeze-Dried Onion Powder

Long-Term Storage

If properly packaged for long-term storage, your onion powder can last up to 25 years. To do this, store it in a Mylar bag with an appropriately sized oxygen absorber.

Always keep your freeze-dried food in a cool, dry place.

Short-Term Storage

Since I have limited pantry space, I always prep my freeze-dried foods for short-term storage.

For daily use and very short-term storage, I use spice jars with an airtight lid (affiliate link) and store it away from the stove, where there is often high humidity.

For storage up to a year, I keep my onion powder in a glass mason jar, vacuum seal the lid, and stow it away in a cool, dry place. Freeze-dried onion powder can stay fresh for up to a year this way.

How To Reconstitute Freeze-Dried Onion Powder

Freeze-dried onion powder is best used as a seasoning and added directly to foods and recipes.

But if you want to use it in place of a whole onion, it’s really easy!

Just mix together equal parts onion powder and water. Allow it sit for about 20 minutes to rehydrate. Then, add it to any recipe or dish.

Frequently Asked Questions

What Type of Onions Can I Use?

Use any kind of onions your heart desires!

Homegrown onions are a great option if you have them. This year, Tropical Storm Debby flooded my garden, and my onions (literally) floated away. So, I freeze-dried store-bought onions.

Also, you can combine onion varieties and create your own unique freeze-dried onion powder recipe.

How long will freeze-dried onion powder last?

If your onion powder is completely dry and stored properly, it can last up to 25 years.

I do not freeze dry food for long-term storage. So I store it in a jar with an airtight lid in a cool, dark, and dry place like my kitchen pantry.

When using it for cooking, don’t hold it over a steaming pot or skillet. The steam from the food will add moisture to the onion powder, reducing its shelf life.

I usually just scoop some out with a spoon and add it to the pot.

How much freeze-dried onion powder equals one onion?

Freeze-dried onion powder is potent. So, a little goes a long way. One tablespoon of onion powder is equivalent to one cup of chopped onions.

Can you make freeze-dried onion powder if you don’t have a freeze dryer?

To make freeze-dried onion powder, you will need a home freeze dryer. But if you don’t have one, you can make dehydrated onion powder. The process is the same, but you use a food dehydrator instead of a freeze dryer (affiliate link).

Here is a quick guide to dehydrated onion powder:

1. Follow the steps to prepare the onions.
2. Line your food dehydrator with fruit leather sheets (this prevents the onions from falling through the trays).
3. Transfer the onions to the dehydrator trays, making sure they are in a single layer.
4. Dehydrate at 150° F until completely dry. When dry, they should not be flexible or malleable. If you try to bend them, they should snap.
5. Process the dry onions in a high-powered blender until powdered.
6. Store in an airtight container.

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If you made freeze-dried onion powder and loved it, leave a comment or review!