How to Dehydrate Banana Chips

Name: How to Dehydrate Banana Chips
Prep time: 15 min
Total time: 735 min
Ingredients: 7 Large Bananas ((cut into 1/4 inch slices)); Fresh Fruit ((fruit pretreatment method))

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How to dehydrate bananas and make healthy snacks at home by drying your favorite fruits. Homemade dried banana chips are very easy to make.

Homemade banana chips in a small serving bowl.

Making dehydrated banana chips at home is a great way to save money and keep a supply of healthy fruit snacks on hand. You can make your own chewy or crunchy banana chips in a dehydrator.

You can make as little or as much of this sweet dried fruit snack that you want or need for your family.

Dehydrated banana chips will last for months in an airtight container. If you can vacuum seal the banana chips they will last at least a year.

Dried banana chips are perfect snacks to make if you like to go camping or hiking. They are easy to make and can be stored in handy individual serving sizes for portable snacks.

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Recipe Ingredients

Bananas: Ripe bananas
Pretreating: Fruit Fresh or lemon juice

How many bananas?

7 to 9 medium to large ripe bananas will make about 1 ½ quarts of dehydrated banana chips.

a bunch of fresh ripe bananas is a white bowl. — **fresh ripe bananas**

Recipe Prep

Set up your dehydrator in a safe area.
You should also wash and dry each dehydrator tray and plastic mesh liner before each use. I filled 6 trays with sliced bananas.
Place a plastic liner on each dehydrator tray and stack the remaining trays nearby, ready to be filled with the banana slices.
In a medium-sized mixing bowl mix the Fruit Fresh with water following the directions on the container.
Or place 3 tablespoons of lemon juice mixed with 3 tablespoons of water in the bowl if using that.
You will need to replenish the Fruit Fresh or lemon juice as you go, depending on how many bananas you will be dehydrating.
Set the bowl aside within reach of your work area.

Let's make banana chips!

Step 1: Peel and gently slice one ripe banana at a time into thin ¼ inch slices with a sharp paring knife.

Immediately drop the banana slices into the bowl of the pretreatment method you are using and swish them around so they are covered on all sides with the liquid.

Step 2: Transfer the pretreated banana slices to a lined dehydrator tray until the tray is full.

Repeat slicing one banana at a time, dipping into the pretreatment method then arranging the slices on the dehydrator tray until you run out of bananas. Do not let the banana pieces touch or they might stick together.

Step 3 : Once all the trays have been filled place the lid on the dehydrator and turn it on.

If using a dehydrator with an adjustable temperature setting set the temperature to 135 F. degrees.

Step 4: Dehydrate the banana chips for 6 to 12 hours at 135 F. Degrees.

Every 3 to 4 hours rotate the dehydrator trays moving the bottom trays to the top of the dehydrator. Check the banana chips to see how dry they are.

Overhead photo of a dehydrator tray filled with the finished banana chips.

The dehydrating time will vary depending on a number of things.

The type of dehydrator you are using, temperature of your home, the type of fruit you are drying and the humidity in the air all play a roll in the time it takes to dehydrate fruit.

Recipe FAQs

How long does it take to dehydrate banana chips?

It takes about 12 to 16 hours to dehydrate banana chips. If the dehydrated banana slices are cut thicker than ¼ inch thick it will take longer.

How ripe should bananas be for dehydrating?

You should use ripe but still firm bananas. If the bananas are not ripe and hard the flavor of the dehydrated banana chips will not be sweet. Taste a piece of the banana and if it has a sweet flavor it will be perfect for dehydrating.

Recipe Expert Tips

Bananas: Use firm but ripe bananas for the best flavor.
Slicing the bananas: Slice the bananas ¼ of an inch thick.
Preventing browning: Use a pretreatment method to prevent the bananas from browning while you are cutting them and loading the trays.
How to keep the banana chips from sticking: Use a plastic liner tray. The banana slices will still stick a little but when you pull them from the flexible liner tray they will not tear or break apart.
How do you know when they are done? Chewy dried banana slices will be slightly sticky but will not feel mushy.
Chewy or crunchy banana chips: You can make chewy or crunchy dried banana chips.
Conditioning dehydrated fruit: It is recommended to condition dehydrated fruit that will be put into long term storage to prevent mold.
Dehydrators: Dehydrators that have a preset temperature without a temperature control run at a higher temperature then dehydrators with a temperature control. You will need to watch the drying banana chips closer if using a dehydrator with out a temperature control dial.

How ripe should bananas be before dehydrating?

Unripe bananas don't taste very good when you eat them. They don't have much flavor and are not sweet.

A perfectly ripe banana is slightly soft, tastes sweet, and smells like a banana. Bananas that are at peak ripeness are the best to dehydrate. You should not dehydrate hard unripe bananas or soft overripe bananas with brown spots.

Tip: Test the banana for ripeness by cutting off a piece and eating it. If it is soft but still firm and has a sweet delicious banana flavor it is at the peak of ripeness.

Overripe bananas are soft and mushy. It is impossible to evenly slice an over-ripened banana. Save those for banana bread or muffins.

How to slice bananas to dehydrate?

How do you like your banana chips? If you like thick and chewy banana chips slice the banana into ¼ inch thick slices.

If you like hard and crunchy banana chips slice the banana into ⅛ inch slices (this is pretty difficult to do) or dehydrate the ¼ inch thick banana chips longer to get that crunchy texture.

Slicing the bananas

Note: Slicing many bananas at once might seem like it would make the process go faster. I have found that the more banana slices you have in the pretreatment bowl the more difficult it is to pick up each individual slice without breaking it.

The banana slices are very fragile and the pretreatment solution makes them slippery to handle. Slice and pretreat one banana at a time and then transfer those banana pieces to the dehydrator tray.

Pretreating banana chips

Pretreating some fruits like bananas help keep them from turning brown when dehydrating.

Pretreat the sliced bananas with lemon juice or a product like Fruit Fresh to prevent the dried banana chip from turning a dark brown to black color during the dehydrating time.

Both pretreatment methods will slightly alter the flavor of the banana chips. I have found that the lemon juice leaves more of a flavor than a citric acid-based pretreatment product like Fruit Fresh.

I would advise dehydrating a small test batch to see if you can detect a change in the flavor of the dried banana chips.

bowl of pretreatment solution for dehydrating. — **Pretreatment solution**

How do you keep banana chips from sticking when dehydrating?

How do you keep banana chips from sticking to the dehydrator tray when drying them?

Banana chips will stick to the dehydrator tray as they are dehydrating. Bananas slices are very sticky and during the dehydrating process, they will stick to the dehydrator tray as the moisture is being removed.

If you want the dehydrated banana chips to stay whole when you remove them from the dehydrator you should line each dehydrator tray with a plastic mesh liner.

Covering each dehydrator tray with a flexible nonstick mesh screen will help keep the chips whole and in one piece when peeling them from the dehydrator tray.

When the banana chips are dried completely and there is no moisture left it is easy to pull each individual chip from the plastic mesh dehydrator tray liner without breaking or tearing them.

You can also bend the flexible trays to help release the fruit before pulling them off.

Checking the banana chips for doneness.

Do you like chewy banana chips or crisp and crunchy banana chips? This will determine how long you need to dry the banana chips. It's important when checking the banana chips that you do not check the chips when they are hot or warm.

You should check the dried chips when they are cool. Remove a tray from the dehydrator and allow it to cool down to room temperature.

Pull a chip off of the drying tray. If the chip tears, the edges stick to the tray or the banana piece feels mushy the banana chip still has some moisture in it.

You will notice that maybe those banana chips were sliced a little thicker. Check a few more chips. If the majority of the chips are done remove the chips that are done from the dehydrator. Place the thicker chips on an empty tray as you find them.

Place the tray back into the dehydrator and dehydrate until completely dry.

An hour longer should do the job unless the chips are very thick.

Conditioning for long term storage

If you plan to store the banana chips for long term you should condition the dehydrated fruit to reduce the chance of mold developing.

This can happen if any moisture was left in any of the fruit pieces if they dehydrated unevenly.

Place the cooled dried banana chips into a glass Mason jar. A glass jar makes it easier to see if moisture forms.

Place the jar in a safe area, out of direct sunlight and every day for 1 week check for moisture on the inside of the jar.

Shake the jar at the same time to move the fruit pieces around. If you spot any moisture on the inside of the jar remove the fruit and dehydrate it again until it is completely dry.

Repeat the conditioning step again.

If no moisture forms on the inside of the jar after one week it is safe to store the jar in the pantry. Or vacuum seal the banana chips in individual serving size bags.

Presto Dehydrator with digital temperature control.

Dehydrators

Dehydrators that have a set temperature run at a higher temperature then dehydrators with a temperature control.

These types of food dehydrators usually dry at a steady 165 F. There are pros and cons to using a dehydrator with a set drying temp.

Dehydrated food in this type of dehydrator will dry much faster. This type of dehydrator is usually cheaper than one with a digital control setting.

If using a dehydrator that does not have a temperature setting the foods you are dehydrating will dry much quicker. You will need to pay closer attention to the dehydrator.

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Dried banana chips scattered on a tan napkin.

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