How to Dehydrate Carrots – Dehydrating Carrots, A Step-by-Step Guide

This is our step-by-step guide on how to dehydrate carrots. Actually, we’re dehydrating canned carrots today. Dehydrating canned carrots is real easy to do and great to have on hand for any number of recipes found here.

Dehydrating canned carrots is a simple process that can help make your homemade dehydrated camping meals even more enjoyable by adding even more variety and options.

By dehydrating canned carrots, they become lighter, and take up less space. More importantly, dehydrated, canned carrots make them rehydrate and cook much faster in our dehydrated camping meal recipes.

Today, we’re not dehydrating canned carrots to make them last longer in the pantry. We are purposely drying carrots for our homemade dehydrated camping meals. Every one of the cans we purchased for this project had a “Best By” date of November 2025. Which is just over 2 years in the future when we’re writing this post.

Even if you’ve never dehydrated anything before, don’t worry; dehydrating canned carrots is a simple process that anyone can do with just a few basic tools that we will discuss here.

So, whether you’re a seasoned backpacker or just looking to up your camping meal game or stock your preparedness pantry with flavorful options, read on for our comprehensive guide.

So let’s get started dehydrating carrots.

Table of Contents

• How to Dehydrate Carrots
  • Reconstituting Dehydrating Canned Carrots
  • Reconstituting Dehydrating Frozen Carrots
• Supplies Needed for Dehydrating Carrots
• Step 1. Process the Canned Carrots for Dehydrating
• Step 2. Preparing the Dehydrator for Dehydrating Carrots
• Step 3. Dehydrating the Canned Carrots
• Step 4. When are the Dehydrated Carrots Done
• Step 5. Equalizing and Conditioning of the Dehydrated Carrots
• Step 6. Storing Dehydrated Carrots
• Hydration
• Weights, Measures, and Serving Sizes
• Insider Tips
• Conclusion

How to Dehydrate Carrots

First, we should talk about dehydrating canned carrots versus dehydrating frozen carrots. What makes one better than the other, and why?

Our primary consideration is the rehydration time; how long does it take for the dehydrated carrots to absorb enough water to become soft enough to eat?

Reconstituting Dehydrating Canned Carrots

Canned carrots have been cooked. The advantage of using canned carrots in our Dehydrator Chef homemade dehydrated camping meal recipes is that they will quickly reconstitute at the same rate as other ingredients, typically around 15 minutes.

When vegetables are subjected to heat during the cooking process, the pectin in their cell walls starts to break down. This breakdown of pectin causes the bonds between the cells to weaken, resulting in the softening of vegetables. As the pectin molecules break apart, water is released, further contributing to the soft texture.

The breakdown of the pectin enables cooked and dehydrated vegetables, like carrots, to reconstitute much faster than their uncooked counterparts.

Reconstituting Dehydrating Frozen Carrots

Frozen Carrots may have been blanched prior to freezing. They have not been cooked. Sure, we can successfully dehydrate frozen carrots. However, reconstituting dehydrated frozen carrots into an edible state can take 30 to 45 minutes, or even longer.

For efficiency when were in the field or on the trail, we stick with dehydrating canned carrots.

Supplies Needed for Dehydrating Carrots

You need a good quality food dehydrator to dehydrate canned carrots. We use the Nesco FD-75A, and you can check out our food dehydrator guide here and why we think Nesco offers the best bang for the buck. We believe this is the best food dehydrator for our long-term food storage needs.

• Several cans of sliced carrots
• Colander
• Food dehydrator, with removable fruit roll sheet inserts for the dehydrator trays
• Wide-mouth canning funnel
• Canning jars

For planning purposes, one 14.5-ounce can of drained sliced carrots will fill one of the Nesco FD-75A dehydrator trays with a removable fruit roll sheet insert. And the four 14.5-ounce cans of dehydrated sliced carrots we are processing today will mostly fill up a single one-pint (16 ounces) canning jar.

Step 1. Process the Canned Carrots for Dehydrating

Open the can of carrots and empty the contents into a colander. We’ll need to rinse away the salty canning liquid.

We’re also inspecting the carrots for anything that shouldn’t be there. The carrots are machine sliced, so we’re on the lookout to remove the woody stem top parts.

Larger carrot slices will need to be processed further into smaller pieces for faster dehydration and, more importantly, faster reconstitution.  Aim for no larger than a finger width.

Step 2. Preparing the Dehydrator for Dehydrating Carrots

We will use the removable fruit roll sheet inserts on our Nesco FD-75A food dehydrator. They have over 3000 customer reviews with an average rating of 4.6 stars out of 5 which is evidence of a great product; check them out here.

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

One 14.5-ounce can will fill one of my Nesco FD-75A dehydrator trays with the removable fruit roll sheet insert.

Step 3. Dehydrating the Canned Carrots

For canned carrots, set the dehydrator temperature to 135 °F / 57 °C. I find that 18 to 24 hours is about the right amount of time.

Use drying times only as a guide. Of course, drying times are variable and dependent on the ambient temperature and humidity, how many, and how crowded you fill your dehydrator trays.

Step 4. When are the Dehydrated Carrots Done

The dehydrating carrots will tend to shrink up, shrivel, and wrinkle. If not, just let it all go for another couple of hours and check again. They should be hard and wrinkled when done.

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.

With experience, you’ll develop an eye for this, but until it develops, just check all of the trays for dryness.

Step 5. Equalizing and Conditioning of the Dehydrated Carrots

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 ambient 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, loosely pack the dehydrated carrots into a clean, dry, insect-proof, and air-tight storage container. We mostly use pint-size canning jars for conditioning. Since the canning jars are clear, it’s easy to see what’s inside. The four cans of sliced carrots mostly fill a single one-pint canning jar.

A quality stainless steel or plastic canning 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 here on Amazon.

When the dehydrated carrots are removed from the dehydrator, the remaining moisture may not be distributed equally among the pieces because of their location and position in the dehydrator. Equalizing and conditioning is a process 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 dried carrots equalize and condition in the storage container for 7 to 10 days.

Every day check the jar for moisture and roll the contents of the jar around and note any clumping or sticking. If seen, put the contents back on the dehydrator for several more hours.

In the unlikely event you notice any mold at all, even the smallest bit, throw it all out. What you see are the mold spores finally blooming enough to make them visible. But there are more, even tinier mold spores in the rest of your jar that make your dehydrated food inedible. Toss it out and start another batch.

Step 6. Storing Dehydrated Carrots

Use an appropriately sized canning jar for storage. The dehydrated carrots might keep up to 12 months or longer. Exactly how long depends on how well you dehydrate the canned carrots and your pantry storage conditions.

We’ll use a food-safe desiccant packet for moisture control because we live in a fairly humid area. For our pint-size or quart-size mason jars, we’ll use a single food safe 5-gram desiccant packet. The desiccant packets will absorb any moisture and extend the shelf life of the dehydrated rice.

We use these inexpensive food-safe desiccant packets, which are available from Amazon. These 5-gram packets have well 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 has lasted quite a while because they can be recharged and reused multiple times. Other food-safe sizes are available.

Lastly, I’ll attach or include a short note describing the jar contents and the date the product was dehydrated. The note also lets me know where to go in my dehydrator logbook if I want to make another note or two.

The Colorado State University, Drying Vegetables publication, part of their Food and Nutrition Series, says that properly stored dried vegetables will keep well for 6 to 12 months. Check it out here at National Center for Home Food Preservation website.

Hydration

Hydrate the dried carrots using roughly a 3-to-1 or 4-to-1 ratio of dehydrated rice to boiled water. Plan on at least 15 to 20 minutes to fully hydrate.

Weights, Measures, and Serving Sizes

This information is summarized from the notes in our dehydrator logbook we keep on most of our food dehydration efforts.

The 14.5-ounce (411 grams) can of sliced carrots Nutrition Fact label shows about 3.5 servings at 1/2 cup (120 grams).  We’re making the assumption that this includes the canning liquid from our independent measurements using an inexpensive digital kitchen scale.

Measured out the 1/2 cup of cold-water rinsed sliced carrots. The weight was 89 grams. We then dried the measured amount on a separate tray.

The dehydrator start time was 11:00, thermostat temperature was set to 135 °F / 57 °C.

Removed from the dehydrator at 0630 the following morning.

The entire can of sliced carrots, dehydrated, now weighed 24 grams and 1/4 cup by volume.

The reserved 1/2 cup of drained sliced carrots, now dehydrated, weighed 8 grams.

Insider Tips

Besides the homemade dehydrated recipes found here on this website, add dehydrated carrots to any of your favorite freeze-dried food pouches for a bit more bulk, nutrients, fiber, and calories. I don’t know about you, but with some of those store-bought freeze-dried meals, I am still hungry. I need a bit more to fill me up.

Just be sure to compensate by adding additional boiled water in roughly a 4-to-1 ratio of added dehydrated carrots to boiling water to the freeze-dried meal and allow enough time for adequate hydration.

Practice at home making dehydrated camping meals using the very same gear used in the field. We practice reinforcing the skills we have learned. Practice makes perfect.

Practicing your skills at home, even just one time, will help you dial in the process before getting on the trial or in the field where it matters most.

Conclusion

Dehydrating carrots is an excellent way to prepare or supplement your camping or emergency food needs. With this comprehensive guide, you can easily dehydrate canned carrots using the basic tools we have talked about here. Follow these simple steps, and you will have a versatile food source that will last for a long time properly stored in the pantry.