Dried parsley is super easy to use. It re-hydrates quickly, so just toss directly into any dish. To release the essential oils and get maximum flavour, crush or crumble the parsley just before adding to the dish.Alternates: You can also dry parsley in the microwave, oven or hang to air dry.
Prep Time10 minutesmins
Course: dehydrated foods, herbs
Keyword: dehydrated, dried herbs, drying, herbs
Calories: 21kcal
Author: Getty Stewart
Equipment
dehydrator
Ingredients
1+bunchparsleyflat or curly
Instructions
Wash Parsley: Swish parsley in a bowl of water and remove any blemished or yellow pieces. Repeat until there are no more critters or dirt coming off your parsley.
Dry: Use a salad spinner to dry parsley as much as possible. Or dry by wrapping and dabbing with kitchen towel. Remove as much surface moisture as you can to prevent dark spots and/or mould.
Trim and Remove Large Stems: Remove large stems from parsley. Use your fingers, use kitchen scissors or use a knife to trim tender leaves from tougher stems. You can be as nit picky as you want about how much of the stems you want to remove. Just remember thick stems will take longer to dry than the tender leaves.
DO NOT Chop: Keep leaves as whole as possible throughout the process. The smaller the pieces, the more essential oils will be released into the air and the less flavourful your parsley will be. Remove the stems, but don’t chop the leaves
Spread out on Mesh Tray: Spread parsley leaves evenly on mesh tray in a single layer. Use additional trays if you have a lot of parsley.Cover the top with another mesh liner so dried parsley won’t blow around in your dehydrator.
Set Dehydrator: Set the dehydrator to 95°F or 35°C. See temperatures for common dehydrated food. Depending on how humid it is, it will take about 3 to 5 hours for the parsley to dry.
Check for Dryness: Parsley is done when leaves crinkle and crumble easily. If the leaves are bendable but don’t crumble, dry them longer.
Store Dried Parsley: Let cool completely then place in an air tight container that is just large enough to hold all of your dried parsley. A container with a lot of empty space traps too much air which will reduce the flavour and colour of your parsley more quickly. Read more tips on How to Store Dehydrated Food.DO NOT CRUMBLE! For best flavour, do not crumble and crush dried parsley until ready to use. If you crush it to squeeze into a container, you’ll lose a lot of the aroma and flavour.Store the container in a cool, dry, dark place.
Enjoy Your Dried Parsley: Dried parsley will be safe to eat for many years, but it will lose it’s flavour and colour fairly quickly. You’ll get the best if used within 3-6 months.
Video
Notes
Dried parsley looses flavour quite quickly. By 3 months it will have lost considerable flavour, but look pretty and provide some taste. By 6 months they’re mostly colourful green flakes – they look pretty but the flavour impact is minimal....Add to soups, casseroles, stews, curries, egg or potato dishes. Try 1 Tbsp to start and add more as desired.Use as a garnish – crumble pieces and sprinkle little bits of green on top of drier foods like a bowl of pasta, rice or potatoes.Use in seasoning blends or add to finishing salt.