Freeze-Dried Onion Powder

5 from 1 vote

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.

Prep Time20

Cook Time1

Total Time1 20

Course: Food Preservation

Cuisine: American

Servings: batch

Calories: 1814kcal

Author: Rebecca Warfield

Ingredients

10-12 lbs Onions I used 10-12 pounds for a medium Harvest Right freeze dryer.

Instructions

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.

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.

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.
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).

Notes

Batch size depends on the size of your freeze dryer and how many onions you use.
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.
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.

Nutrition