Best food dehydrators of 2022 tried and tested

Just in time for sofa snacking season, the chef-approved kitchen gadget to curb food waste once and for all

nless you’re a professional chef, you may not have heard of a food dehydrator before, but these smart contraptions for our kitchens are fast gaining momentum with at-home cooks.

Easy to use and efficient on energy – no bad thing during a cost-of-living crisis, eh? – they come in the form of neat and tidy boxes (mostly) installed with fans (sometimes two) that dry food out by circulating air at a very low temperature.

Why would you want to do such a thing? There are many benefits, as it turns out, from using up a surplus of fruits, vegetables and herbs in a storable format that increases their shelf-live, to enhancing their flavours and textures, and locking in their nutrients.

What’s more, dehydrated foods that are homemade tend to make for healthier snacks than shop-bought versions – think beef jerky, apple chips, vegetable crisps, dried mango and pet treats – typically comprising one whole dried ingredient with no additives or calorie-laden extras.

Oliver Gladwin, executive chef of the Local & Wild Group of restaurants (including The Shed, The Black Lamb and Sussex in London), says: “Dehydration is a wonderful way to preserve and concentrate flavours of ingredients. You don’t necessarily need a purpose-built food dehydrator, either – a fan oven can work just as well, or even a table in the sun.

My favourite items to dehydrate are pork skin or tapioca crackers that quadrupole in size once dried. A more simple use would be to dry out meadowsweet, a wild field blossom that has the aroma of almonds, then dry-blitz with sugar for a very special local and wild ingredient for you larder all year."

Perfect for those who buy in bulk or are looking to preserve their produce when it’s at its peak, a food dehydrator may just be the secret ingredient your kitchen has been missing, offering a more controlled environment and a greater surface area than old-fashioned methods (and really, who wants to hang out strips of beef to dry in the sun?!).

Just in time for snacking on the sofa season, we’ve rounded-up the best food dehydrators money can buy, rated not just for style and size, but ease of use, too.

Because some things should just be simple.

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Hey, good-looking! While competitor machines risk clashing with the aesthetics of beautiful kitchens, there’s no chance of that with the Tanami from BioChef, a feast for the eyes with a sleek and stylish design to complement even the most contemporary space. It comprises six trays, for sectioning-off and batch-drying foods, as well as a 72-hour timer and intuitive touchscreen controls. Display it with pride.

With an informative and thorough instruction manual for newbies – trust us, they don’t all come with one, and theirs also includes recipe ideas – this digital food dehydrator from electriQ has six shelves with optimum space thanks to a square design rather than round. Horizontal airflow means even drying across every shelf while a transparent door enables you to easily monitor progress. Better still, it comes ready-built, unlike most dehydrators that you need to assemble yourself.

Combining the functionality of an air-fryer with the tech of a dehydrator, this glossy grey number from Ninja is a steal at just £99, offering unrivalled versatility in the market.

Despite its neat proportions, it has a surprisingly capacity of 3.8g, complete with easy-to-use touch controls and a simple timer.

But the best bit? A simple flick of the switch is all it takes to go from air-frying to dehydrating. Great for small-space living.

A brilliant buy for beginners, this budget dehydrator from Lakeland comprises just four trays and a cylindrical design for a small footprint on your kitchen counter, with an intuitive control panel and four temperatures for pure simplicity. There’s a 12-hour timer, too, meaning you can dry your spoils overnight as you sleep and wake up to a veritable smorgasbord of ready-to-go snacks come morning.

Cylindrical, square – or rectangular? This dehydrator stands out in the market as it’s the latter, meaning it can be stored and displayed easily in regular drawers and kitchens. It comprises six spacious trays that accommodate large quantities and wide varieties of food, but the great thing about the design is that each can be stacked at different heights, allowing you to dry food of different thicknesses. A 48-hour timer and thermostat range of 40-70°C wraps up a neat little package.

While the nine-tray version might be a bit much for home use, the five-tray Excalibur Stackable Food Dehydrator is just right for domestic kitchens, neat and tidy in form but boasting enough capacity to dry food in large batches.

Our pick for those whose who take their dehydrating seriously, the energy-efficient model features drawers that pull out rather than removable trays, making checking on progress a doddle.

This budget buy from high-street retailer Robert Dyas is an absolute bargain. It features five detachable layers that can be used for dehydrating a variety of different foods at once while an adjustable temperature and a 48-hour timer help to dry everything to your exacting tastes. Its dimensions are tiny, too, so it can be discreetly stored when not in used or tucked away in a corner when it is.

Don’t have all the time in the world to dry food? Who does?

The BioChef Savana has got you covered with not one but two fans and three drying modes – including ‘fast’ – to accelerate the dehydration process and deliver you dried snacks in a flash. ‘Regular’ does what it says on the tin while ‘warm’ automatically activates to keep everything in an optimum dehydrated state.

Customise with six, nine or 12 trays according to your needs.

It’s the transparent door we’re loving on this dehydrator as it allows you to quickly and easily check-in on your dried treats. Inside, hot air is forced horizontally across six easy-to-clean trays and converges on the core for speedy drying, while the thermostat can be adjusted from 35° right up to 70°C. A top pick for your tabletop.

Let’s face it: the design of some food dehydrators leaves a lot to be desired. Which is why we like this one from Kwasyo – it comes in contemporary stainless steel and looks a lot like a microwave. Meaning it will blend in, rather than stand out, in most kitchens. Aesthetics aside, it’s got six trays, it heats quickly and quietly (not a given), has a 24-hour timer and features overheat protection to avoid burning.