How to Dehydrate Salsa

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This is our step-by-step guide on how to dehydrate salsa. It’s really easy to do. We’ll add or substitute in salsa to many of our day-to-day meals, so it just makes good sense to dehydrate what you use and have it on hand when at the campsite or in the field. It also quickly hydrates if you follow our method below.

Shown above are eight grams of dehydrated salsa flakes. We’ll break up the larger flakes into smaller pieces as we build out our homemade dehydrated camping meals. Smaller flakes will reconstitute much faster.

We prefer to dehydrate things in bulk. So we’ll maximize the capacity of our food dehydrator, which is expandable up to 12 trays, or about 10 square feet of surface area. So just add a jar or two when dehydrating like ingredients.

Dehydrated salsa is a great substitution for any recipe that calls for a can of diced tomatoes, including any of the recipes here on the Dehydrator Chef website.

So, let’s get started dehydrating some salsa.

Choose a good-quality brand-name salsa. We prefer the Pace brand of chunky salsa. We’ll stock up when it’s on sale. It’s not too thick and not too watery. Overly thick sauces require thinning. However, defining what is overly thick depends on the experience with your dehydrator.

Depending on your recipe, a dehydrated chunky salsa could substitute for an equal quantity of diced tomatoes.

For planning purposes, one 16-ounce jar of thick and chunky salsa will easily fill one Nesco 13.5-inch round dehydrator tray.

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

All you need to dehydrate these foods is a good quality food dehydrator. We use the Nesco food dehydrators. You can check out our food dehydrator guide to learn 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.

Today we are dehydrating these 2 jars of good quality salsa. Salsa is one of the best foods to dehydrate for long-term storage since it can be used for so many things.

Supplies Needed to Dehydrate Salsa

Several jars of a good name-brand salsa
Food dehydrator, with removable fruit roll sheet inserts, one for each tray
Common kitchen tools, including cutting boards, jar opener, spatula, etc.
Clear canning jars with tight-fitting lids
Wide-mouth canning jar funnel
Labeling materials
Desiccant packets (optional)

Step 1. Process the Salsa for Dehydrating

We plan our dehydrator project and try to fill as many trays as practical with similar foods and drying times. Today, we are adding several 16-ounce jars of Pace brand chunky salsa to our project.

Other than opening the jars. there isn’t much to processing salsa for dehydration. However, if you want to add additional spices or something else to take it up a flavor notch or two, this is the time to do it. For example, add in some extra cilantro, minced pickled peppers, pickled cut okra, etc.

Step 2. Preparing the Dehydrator to Dehydrate Salsa

We know from experience that a 16-ounce jar of Pace brand salsa 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 16-ounce jar of Pace Chunky Salsa thinly layered onto a fruit roll sheet using a spatula. Salsa is a popular condiment and one of the best foods to dehydrate for long-term storage. Dehydrate what you normally eat.

Just empty the contents of the jar onto the fruit roll sheet. Then use a spatula to scoop and scrape out every bit of remaining content from the jar. Add any extra ingredients, such as cilantro or minced pickled peppers, or pickled cut okra.

A close-up view of the chunky salsa that we are going to dry today. We used a spatula to help spread it around the fruit roll sheet and get it into a thin layer for the best dehydration results.

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.

We will use these removable Nesco fruit roll sheet inserts on our Nesco FD-61 for the dehydrating salsa 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.

Step 3. Dehydrating Salsa

Salsa has quite a bit of moisture to evaporate before it’s dry enough for long-term storage. So dehydrate the salsa at a drying temperature of 160 °F / 71 °C. Plan on 12 to 24 hours 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 dehydrate salsa for long-term storage.

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.

High summertime heat and humidity can lengthen the dehydration times, potentially doubling the times found here and in your owner’s manual.

Step 4. When is the Dehydrated Salsa Done

After 20 to 24 hours, the salsa should be fully dehydrated. If not, let it go another several hours and check again.

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.

Warm salsa “fruit leather” still in the food dehydrator will feel somewhat pliable, and you may believe it needs more drying time. Just unplug the dehydrator and let everything cool down.

Wait 10 or 15 minutes, and then check again to be sure. As the salsa cools, it will stiffen considerably. The dehydrated salsa should easily crack into pieces if you try bending it. It should be brittle when done.

Back on to the dehydrator for several more hours. As I was tearing the leather into small pieces, I found a few tacky areas. So it all goes back onto the dehydrator for several more hours at 160 °F / 71 °C. Dehydrated salsa is done when its brittle and easily snaps in half when bent, much like a potato chip.

Once finished, break the dehydrated salsa into smaller dime or nickel-sized pieces for ease of storage and doling out into meal packets.

Step 5. Equalizing and Conditioning Dehydrated Salsa

When the dehydrated salsa 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 salsa pieces equalize and condition in the storage container 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 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 salsa pieces into a clean, dry, insect-proof, and air-tight storage container. We use pint- or quart-size canning jars for conditioning. Since the canning jars are clear, it’s easy to see what’s inside.

A wide-mouth canning jar funnel is handy for the task of getting dehydrated food from the trays into the canning jars with minimal spillage. It’s not a necessity, but having one does make the job easier and faster. Need one, check them out on Amazon.

We have put all of the salsa pieces into this one-quart canning jar. We’ll let it sit for 7 to 10 days so any remaining moisture will distribute among the rest of the contents. We also check the jar for any signs of mold, though, properly dried, it’s unlikely we’ll see any.

For this project, we dehydrated two 16-ounce jars of salsa. The dried contents fit into a single 1-quart-size canning jar that was just cleaned and dried. Leave headspace in your jars: don’t overfill them.

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 Salsa

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

These are two dehydrated 16-ounce jars of Pace Chunky Salsa. It all fits nicely into a one-quart clear canning jar. Dehydrated salsa is one of the best foods you can dehydrate for long-term storage. We have added a 5-gram desiccant packet for moisture control and to help extend the shelf life. Properly stored, this jar would last at least 12 months. But we’ll use it all long before then.

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.

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 adding dried salsa chips in homemade dehydrated camping food recipes, they should be broken down into much smaller pieces for better hydration results.

Many folks have asked about size, and how small should the dehydrated food pieces be so it all reconstitutes quickly. We’re here to help! We picked up a small brass ruler that fits nicely on our smaller MSR Alpine stainless steel camping plate. The larger salsa pieces should easily break down into smaller-sized flakes when done. There should be no tacky pieces. Most of the salsa flakes are less than 1/2 inch at the widest point.

Hydrate the dried salsa pieces using a 3- or 4-to-1 ratio of dehydrated product to boiled water. As a single ingredient, dehydrated salsa sauce doesn’t take long to rehydrate.

We reconstituted 1 tablespoon of dehydrated salsa flakes with 2 tablespoons of room-temperature water. In other words a 2-to-1 ratio of water to salsa flakes as a starting point. It looks and smells like it’s fresh from the jar. I should have made more.

If you’re supplementing store-bought freeze-dried meals as we do, just add a tad bit more boiling water to the food pouch. Use the same 1-to-1 ratio of dehydrated salsa 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 from a 16-ounce jar of Pace Chunky Salsa, medium heat.

Pace Chunky Salsa, 16 ounces / 453 grams / 14 servings	Weight at Step 1	Weight at Step 6
Jar contents 14 servings*	456 grams	54 grams
Jar contents 1 serving*	33 grams	4 grams

*Note: The nutrition label indicates that the 16-ounce jar contains approximately 14 servings of 2 tablespoons each.

Dehydrated Salsa Nutrition

Insider Tips

Swap out equal amounts of dehydrated salsa in place of other dehydrated tomato products to take the meal up a flavor notch or two.

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.

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