How to Dehydrate Enchilada Sauce

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This is our step-by-step guide on how to dehydrate enchilada sauce. Dehydrating enchilada sauce is real easy to do. It also quickly hydrates if you follow our Dehydrator Chef methods.

We’re going to dehydrate the easy-to-find canned enchilada sauce from your local grocer’s international food aisle. Look for brands without any added oils, we use the Pace brand for that reason. There might be other brands, but this is what we have.

This is 15 grams of dehydrated enchilada sauce, which is approximately one-half of a 10.5-ounce can that we started with. So this is about 1 cup of sauce that has been dehydrated, or four 1/4 cup servings. A 1/4 cup serving isn’t very much.

Feel free to swap this dehydrated enchilada sauce for any of your other camping recipes. It’s some seriously good stuff to take your meals up a notch or two.

So, let’s get started dehydrating enchilada sauce.

How to Dehydrate Enchilada Sauce
Supplies Needed for Dehydrating Enchilada Sauce
Step 1. Process the Enchilada Sauce for Dehydrating
Step 2. Preparing to Dehydrate Enchilada Sauce
Step 3. Dehydrating Enchilada Sauce
Step 4. When is the Dehydrated Enchilada Sauce Done
Step 5. Equalizing and Conditioning of the Dehydrated Enchilada Sauce
Step 6. Storing Dehydrated Enchilada Sauce
Hydration
Weights, Measures, and Serving Sizes
Dehydrated Enchilada Sauce Nutrition
Insider Tips

Choose a good-quality brand-name enchilada sauce. Read the food label, and look for a brand without oil as an ingredient. We use the Pace brand for that reason. No oil means it will last longer in the dehydrated food pantry.

For today’s dehydrator project, we have six 10.5-ounce cans of Pace red enchilada sauce. We’re running low and need to restock our supply. Enchilada sauce is a great addition or substitution ingredient to take any of your dehydrated camping food recipes up a flavor notch or two. These six 10.5-ounce cans will fill up two 1-quart canning jars with sufficient headspace needed for later steps in today’s project.

For planning purposes, one 10.5-ounce can of enchilada sauce will easily fill one of my Nesco 13.5-inch round dehydrator trays with a fruit roll sheet. The Nesco companion fruit roll sheets feature a no-spill lip. With reasonable balance, you can get the fully loaded dehydrator tray from the kitchen workspace to the dehydrator with no loss of product.

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

We use the Nesco food dehydrators. You can check out our food dehydrator guide and learn why we think Nesco offers the best bang for the buck.

Supplies Needed for Dehydrating Enchilada Sauce

Food dehydrator
Removable fruit roll sheet inserts, one for each dehydrator tray
Common kitchen tools, including cutting boards, can openers, spatula, etc.
Wide-mouth canning jar funnel
Clear canning jars with tight-fitting lids
Desiccant packets (optional)

Step 1. Process the Enchilada Sauce for Dehydrating

We plan our dehydrator projects and try to fill as many trays as practical with similar foods and drying times. Today, we are drying six 10.5-ounce cans of a quality name-brand enchilada sauce, which will require six trays.

Other than opening the cans, there isn’t much in the way of processing enchilada sauce for dehydration.

Step 2. Preparing to Dehydrate Enchilada Sauce

We know from experience that a 10.5-ounce can of enchilada sauce is the right amount to fill one of our Nesco 13.5-inch round dehydrator trays with a removable fruit roll sheet insert.

This is one 10.5-ounce can of enchilada sauce on the fruit roll sheet. You don’t want much more than this. Otherwise, you risk spilling some as you move the filled tray from your workspace to the food dehydrator.

Empty the can’s contents onto the fruit roll sheet. Use a spatula to scoop and scrape out every bit of contents remaining in the can, then smooth it all out for even drying.

The enchilada sauce layer will be somewhere between 1/16 and 3/16 of an inch thick on our 13.5-inch round trays. The 10.5-ounce can is just enough to fill the fruit roll sheet insert without overflowing the edges.

A close-up of the processed enchilada sauce on the fruit roll sheet. The no-spill lip feature of the sheet helps control any spillage as we carry the tray from the workspace to the dehydrator.

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.

These inexpensive Nesco 13.5-inch fruit roll sheet inserts come in 2 to a pack. You’re going to need one for each dehydrator tray and maybe a few extra. They are perfect for making fruit rolls, drying sauces & soups, and catching drips to make cleanup easy. The no-spill lip allows you to dry liquids and semi-liquids like fruits, sauces, soups, and gelatins. They do stain when drying tomato products, but no worries.

Step 3. Dehydrating Enchilada Sauce

The enchilada sauce has quite a bit of moisture to evaporate, so we’ll dehydrate it at a drying temperature of 160 °F / 71 °C. Plan 24 hours or more of drying time. Of course, it’s all dependent on your food dehydrator, the ambient temperature and humidity, and your dehydrator capacity. Remember to use drying times as a guide.

We have set the dehydrator temperature control to 160 °F / 71 °C to dry today’s project, enchilada sauce.

With some dehydrators, rotating the trays helps to speed up the overall drying time. For example, move the top trays to the bottom and the bottom trays to the top. Keep this in mind when dehydrating sauces.

The enchilada sauce is almost halfway through the dehydration step. The next step is to peel up the sauce, flip it over, and dry it until done. The leather will likely tear into pieces, which is okay. Preparation is key when dehydrating food for long-term storage.

The enchilada sauce will thicken and set and set up in six to eight hours. Peel up the sauce from the fruit roll sheet and flip it over so the bottom is on the top and vice versa. This step will accelerate the overall drying time of the enchilada “leather” and promote more even drying. This step will likely be done in pieces as the “leather” will tend to tear apart.

Step 4. When is the Dehydrated Enchilada Sauce Done

After 24 hours, maybe more, of total dehydrating time, the enchilada sauce should be fully dehydrated. If not, let it go another several hours and check again.

This dehydrated enchilada sauce is done. Midway through the drying process, we peeled up the drying sauce and flipped it over. When we did, we also tore it into pieces since it was also tearing. When it’s done, the dried enchilada sauce should snap into pieces, much like a potato chip.

Warm enchilada sauce “leather” still in the food dehydrator will feel somewhat pliable, and you may believe they need more drying time. Just unplug the dehydrator and let everything cool down. Wait 15 or so minutes, and then check again to be sure. As the enchilada sauce cools, it will stiffen considerably. When done, the dehydrated enchilada sauce should easily crack into pieces when bent, just like potato chips.

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.

Here’s a close-up of the dried enchilada pieces. They’ve cooled sufficiently, so the next step is to put them in a canning jar for the equalizing and conditioning step.

Once finished, break the dehydrated enchilada sauce into smaller dime or nickel-sized pieces for ease of storage and retrieval from the canning jar.

Step 5. Equalizing and Conditioning of the Dehydrated Enchilada Sauce

When the dehydrated enchilada sauce is removed from the dehydrator and broken into smaller pieces, the remaining moisture may not be distributed equally. 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 pieces equalize and condition in the storage container for 7 to 10 days.

We’re equalizing and conditioning the dehydrated enchilada sauce. We labeled the canning jars to identify the contents and the date it was dehydrated. Dried enchilada sauce looks very similar to other dehydrated tomato sauce products. The date helps with the rotation schedule. A first-in, first-out rotation helps us to use items that have been on the shelf the longest, so we’re using the oldest food first. This method helps us maintain the integrity of dehydrated products.

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 product into a clean, dry, insect-proof, and air-tight storage container. We use quart-size canning jars for conditioning. Since the canning jars are clear, it’s easy to see what’s inside.

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.

For this project, we had 2 of the quart-size canning jars that were just cleaned and dried. Leave some room, known as headspace, in your jars so you can shake and roll the contents around.

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.

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.

If 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 Enchilada Sauce

Use an appropriately sized canning jar for storage. The dehydrated enchilada should keep for at least 12 months. Exactly how long depends on how well you dehydrate the product and your pantry storage conditions. It is likely that your dehydrated enchilada sauce won’t last that long. It’s good stuff and you will add it to everything.

The dehydrated enchilada sauce is ready for long-term pantry storage. Properly prepared and stored, it should last for at least a year. However, if you’re rotating your supplies, it won’t last that long. Enchilada sauce is one of the best foods to dehydrate for long-term storage when making homemade dehydrated camping meals.

We’ll also 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.

These food-safe 5-gram desiccant packets will absorb moisture from small enclosed spaces, such as our canning jars. Use one packet for a pint, quart, or half-gallon size canning jar with a tight-fitting lid. They come sealed in a heavy-duty reusable zip-top bag to protect the desiccant packs from moisture before use. The orange indicators will turn dark green when they need to be recharged or replaced. They can be easily recharged either in a microwave or oven.

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.

Lastly, I’ll attach or include a short note describing the jar contents and the date the product was dehydrated. The label identifies the canning jar contents, and the date helps with the rotation schedule. A first-in, first-out rotation helps us to use items that have been on the shelf the longest, so we’re using the oldest food first. This method helps us maintain the integrity of dehydrated products. The note also lets me know where to go in my dehydrator logbook if I want to make another note or two.

Hydration

When including dried enchilada sauce chips in homemade dehydrated camping food recipes, they should be crushed down into much smaller pieces for better hydration results. Think of peppercorn-sized pieces or smaller.

Optionally, powder the dehydrated enchilada sauce chips using a spice grinder.

This is 10 grams of the dried enchilada sauce that we have crushed into smaller peppercorn-sized pieces. Dehydrated enchilada sauce flakes will reconstitute into a chunky salsa-like consistency and not back to a sauce like we started with. The smaller enchilada sauce flakes are what we want when making our homemade dehydrated camping meals.

Dehydrated enchilada chips will reconstitute into a chunky salsa-like consistency, not a smooth sauce fresh from the can as we started with.

Dried enchilada sauce hydrates equally well in room temperature or boiled water.

Hydrate the dried enchilada sauce using a 2- or 3-to-1 ratio of dehydrated product to water. Enough to cover the ingredient, plus a tiny bit extra. As a single ingredient, dehydrated enchilada sauce doesn’t take long to rehydrate.

The 10 grams of dehydrated enchilada sauce have been mixed with two tablespoons of room-temperature water, about 25 grams. Ten grams is a bit more than one serving. Because dried enchilada sauce does not reconstitute into a sauce, we want smaller pieces that will mix and disperse among other ingredients in our homemade dehydrated camping meal recipes.

If you’re supplementing store-bought freeze-dried meals as we often do, just add a tad bit more boiling water to the food pouch. Use the same 2- or 3-to-1 ratio of dehydrated enchilada sauce chips to water and account for the extra time.

Weights, Measures, and Serving Sizes

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

A 10.5-ounce can, about 3.5 servings, of Pace enchilada sauce, will dehydrate down to 32 grams, or about 7 grams per serving.

Dehydrated Enchilada Sauce Nutrition

Insider Tips

In addition to the dehydrated meal recipes on this website, you can add dehydrated enchilada sauce to any of your favorite freeze-dried food pouches for a bit more flavor. I don’t know about you, but some of those store-bought freeze-dried meal need to be doctored up flavor wise.

Just be sure to compensate by adding additional boiled water in roughly a 2 2- or 3-to-1 ratio of dehydrated product to boiling water to the freeze-dried meal and allow enough time for adequate hydration.

Practice these Dehydrator Chef homemade dehydrated camping meal recipes at home several times with the very same outdoor kitchen gear used in the field or at the campsite. This approach lets you practice your skills so you know what to expect and where to adapt.

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