How to Dehydrate Canned Beans – Dehydrating Canned Beans, A Step-by-Step Guide

Step 1. Process for Dehydrating Canned Beans

Open your can of beans and dump the contents into a colander.  We’ll need to rinse away all the thick and starchy liquid and salt from the beans so we can dehydrate them.

Step 2. Prepare the Dehydrator to Dehydrate Canned Beans

We are using removable fruit roll sheet inserts on our Nesco FD-61 food dehydrator trays for dehydrating canned beans. 

Evenly spread and layer the beans over the fruit roll sheet inserts. Spread them out for better airflow and faster dehydration.  If it’s too crowded prepare another tray.

We will use these removable Nesco fruit roll sheet inserts on our food dehydrator for today’s project.  They have over 3000 customer reviews with an average rating of 4.5 stars out of 5, which is evidence of a great product. Check out other Nesco food dehydrator products here.

The Nesco 13.5-inch round dehydrator tray has close to 119 square inches or .8 square feet of surface area for drying.

One can of rinsed beans will easily fill one Nesco 13.5-inch round dehydrator tray with a fruit roll sheet.

Step 3. Dehydrating Canned Beans

Set the drying temperature to 160 °F / 71 °C for 2 hours, then dial it back to 135 °F / 57 °C to speed up dehydration. Canned beans will dehydrate in approximately 6 to 8 hours, depending upon the ambient temperature and humidity and how crowded the trays are filled. Remember to use drying times as a guide.

Step 4. When are the Dehydrated Canned Beans Done

Start checking for doneness in 6 hours.  Canned beans take 6 to 8 hours to dehydrate at 135 °F / 57 °C depending on ambient temperatures and humidity and how crowded you fill your trays. 

They will be crunchy if tasted and will easily break into a powder if crushed between your fingertips when finished dehydrating.

Drying times will vary depending on your dehydrator. Refer to your dehydrator owner’s manual for recommended temperatures and times for dehydrating specific foods. Remember to use drying times as a guide.

You’ll notice that the skin will break or split from the beans shrinking as they dry. This is expected.

Step 5. Equalizing and Conditioning the Dehydrated Beans

When the dehydrated beans are removed from the dehydrator, any remaining moisture in the dried beans may not be distributed equally because of their size or their location and position in the dehydrator. Equalizing and conditioning is a procedure for freshly dehydrated foods that ensures any residual moisture remaining in any piece is spread or equalized among all the other pieces in the batch. Let the dehydrated beans equalize and condition in the canning jar for 7 to 10 days. 

We always recommend letting food items cool completely after they have finished dehydrating and before packing them into an airtight storage container for equalizing and conditioning. Warm food may cause sweating which could provide enough moisture for mold to grow.

It does not take long for dehydrated food items to start hydrating from naturally occurring household humidity.  Do not leave dehydrated food items exposed to the elements any longer than necessary because of the increased risk of mold growth.

After a short cooling period, pack the dehydrated beans into clean, dry, insect-proof containers with tight-fitting lids. We’ll use pint- and quart-size canning jars for this task. Fill the jars at most 2/3 to 3/4 full, leaving some headspace.

Headspace is the distance between the food surface and the lid’s underside. Its purpose is to provide ample space for the dehydrated food product to slide and tumble when shaken and rotated to expose any evidence of clumping or sticking.

A quality stainless steel or plastic canning jar funnel makes the messy job of getting dehydrated foods off the dehydrator tray removable inserts and into the canning jars an easy task. Take a minute or two and check them out on Amazon.

Every day, check the jar for moisture. Roll the jar contents around and note any clumping or sticking. If seen, put the contents back on the dehydrator for several more hours. Since canning jars are clear, it’s easy to see what’s inside.

Step 6. Storing the Dehydrated Beans

In the equalizing and conditioning phase in Step 5, we left some headspace so we could easily inspect the dehydrated beans. Now that we are in the storage phase, we can pack the dried beans into clean, dry, and insect-proof containers as tightly as possible without crushing.  Note that dried beans can be easily crushed into small bits.

We continue to use clear canning jars with tight-fitting lids as storage containers. They are transparent, making it easy to see the contents. We’re also adding moisture-absorbing desiccant packets. I don’t use a desiccant packet for moisture control during the equalizing and conditioning phase in Step 5. Doing so might mask moisture issues should the food items not be adequately dried.

We use these inexpensive food-safe desiccant packets, which are available from Amazon. These 5-gram packets have over 5000 of mostly 4- and 5-star customer reviews, with an average of 4.7 stars out of 5.  Our bag of 60 desiccant packets will last quite a while because they can be recharged and reused multiple times. Other food-safe sizes are available.

Do not leave your dehydrated food items exposed and unprotected any longer than necessary for the task at hand. It does not take long for dehydrated food items to naturally start hydrating from ambient household humidity.  As such, this will increase the risk of mold growth.

Lastly, attach or include a short note describing the contents and the date the product was dehydrated. The note also informs us where to go in the dehydrator logbook to make another note.