Best Electric Food Dehydrators for Home Use (2021 Update): Feed Your Family Right!

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A good food dehydrator is a kitchen tool you’ll use all year round. But you have to pick the right one; otherwise, it might find itself pushed to the back of a pantry or shoved in a cupboard. The best dehydrator is the one that best fits your budget and can meet your dehydrating demands, from drying herbs and making fruit leather to making beef jerky, prove bread, and more.

As someone who loves to dry food, both for making snacks and to preserve my garden bounty, I know exactly what to look for in an electric food dehydrator. So to help you find the right one for your needs, we reviewed over 60 of the most top-rated food dehydrators (and put the best contenders through real-life testing). We looked at things like capacity, functions, and ease of use to separate the good from the bad.

In the end, we’ve come up with five units that are worthy of being called the best food dehydrators for home use. And of them all, the COSORI CP267-FD takes the top spot at the best dehydrator — it’s truly the total package. Keep reading to learn more about our top picks as well as how to decide which is best for yourself.

1. COSORI CP267-FD — Best Dehydrator for Setting and Forgetting

Offers loads of features but not lots of confusing buttons

The COSORI CP267-FD is at the top of our list of the best food dehydrators for home use because it has lots of premium features, but it won’t confuse you with tons of buttons and settings. As a matter of fact, it only has four buttons — it doesn’t get much easier than that.

Three of the machine’s buttons are dedicated to its temperature control and timer features. These are must-have options if you don’t want to babysit your food. Simply add your fruits, veggies, or meats, pick the right temperature, set the timer, and walk away. When the timer goes off, the machine automatically shuts down so as not to overdry your snacks.

Unlike a tray dehydrator, the CP267-FD has six shelves that you slide in and out rather than stack. Between the two designs, we prefer shelves because it’s easier to check your food.

Another huge benefit is that you can leave out shelves to dehydrate larger food items. We made faux sun-dried tomatoes using whole tomatoes and just three trays, and they came out perfectly.

This countertop dehydrator’s mesh shelves are made of stainless steel, and they felt substantial — we have no doubt they’ll last for years. They’re also dishwasher-safe, so that’s a win for easy cleanup. Also included with this package is a fruit roll sheet.

This is a solid tray for dehydrating foods that are more liquid in nature. We tested it to make powdered milk, and it worked flawlessly.

While this electric food dehydrator has lots of room (just over six square feet) for drying all kinds of foods, a limitation with this style of dehydrator is that you can’t expand its capacity.

We had five pounds of beef to dehydrate, (we were making beef jerky for dog treats) and we could only fit about four and a half pounds — having the ability to add one or two more shelves would have been great.

2. Hamilton Beach 32100A — Best Dehydrator for Maximizing Counter Space

Countertop dehydrator that doesn’t take up too much room

Many stacking food dehydrators are round, but not the Hamilton Beach 32100A. This unit features a rectangular shape that makes better use of counter space — when we were testing it, we just stuck it in a corner and let it do its thing.

It has five stacking trays, and while it does also have the center void for airflow like all stacking units, we found it was smaller than most. This means more room for dehydrating foods. During one test, we were able to dehydrate several sliced sweet potatoes with no issues. (By the way, they came out amazing. Our pups loved them and voted this unit as the best dehydrator for dog treats.)

Along with the trays, you also get a mesh insert for dehydrating smaller foods and a solid insert for fruit rolls and liquids. The mesh insert worked well for containing both chopped basil and blueberries, while the solid sheet provided a perfect base for making fruit leather.

Even though this electric food dehydrator has BPA-free plastic trays, the warming unit/control panel is made of metal.

We thought it was a strange meshing of worlds and we don’t quite care for the aesthetic, but I’ll forgive the questionable looks because this machine comes with both a timer and temperature controls. This is impressive to see considering the dehydrator’s lower price point.

With the dehydrator’s timer, you can leave foods to dry for up to 48 hours — the unit shuts off by itself at the end of the countdown. The temperature range control lets you set the perfect temperature for jerky, dried fruit, and more, in 5 degree increments from 100 to 160 degrees Fahrenheit. I checked the temperature several times using a remote thermometer while making apple crisps, and it was always right where it should be.

3. Presto Dehydro 06300 — Best Dehydrator for Smaller Budgets

Affordably priced dehydrator with a small footprint that’s perfect for beginners

The Presto Dehydro 06300 is on our list of the best food dehydrators on the market because it’s the perfect size and price for those who are new to drying food. This compact unit offers four food trays so that you can dry up a batch of jerky or a few pieces of fruit.

If you need more room, you can purchase up to four additional trays to expand the unit to a reasonably large capacity.

The Dehydro electric food dehydrator has trays made of plastic, but we didn’t mind it because it really helped with keeping food from sticking. They’re also dishwasher safe, so we didn’t have to worry about scrubbing remnants after a batch of yummy beef jerky.

As the Dehydro electric food dehydrator is an entry-level unit, you won’t find many of the features that more expensive options offer. For example, there’s no adjustable thermostat — there’s not even an on/off button. The dehydrator turns on and off as you plug and unplug it. 

You also won’t find a timer with the Dehydro electric food dehydrator. But again, at its price point, these aren’t things I’d expect.

The Dehydro electric food dehydrator does dry at a steady temperature of 165 degrees Fahrenheit, so it’s safe for meat. And because it has a stacking design with the heater at the bottom, you can still dry out more delicate foods (like herbs) by placing them on a higher tray, further away from the heat source.

In addition to its simplicity and low price, we also really liked how easy it is to store this machine. Its trays nest to take up less room, and the cord wraps up under the base to stay out of the way.

4. Nesco JerkyXpress FD-28JX — Best Dehydrator for Making Jerky

Comes with extras for making the tastiest dried meat

After extensive testing, we can say with confidence that the Nesco JerkyXpress FD-28JX is one of the best dehydrators for jerky. Not only does it have a classic design that allows for even air flow, the food dryer even comes with a jerky gun, seasoning, curing samples, and a recipe book to help you make the tastiest jerky around.

This Nesco dehydrator comes with four plastic trays, but it’s expandable to seven so you can make up to seven pounds of jerky in one go. We tried it, and it really could handle all that beef — our jaws are still sore from all the chewing.

Best of all, the openings on the mesh aren’t too big, so you can make jerky using ground meat without worrying about it falling through, which is perfect for making tearable beef jerky for dogs.

Because the unit’s made of plastic, it has a smaller price tag than premium models, like stainless steel dehydrators. While we don’t love the cheap look of white plastic, this thing is well-made and should last for years.

Another thing to be aware of is that this food dehydrator has no temperature range – just one temperature setting. If you’re using it for jerky as it’s been designed, this isn’t a big deal. However, it also doesn’t have a timer or auto-shutoff, so you’ll have to keep track of time on your own and make sure you’re around when it’s time to turn off the machine.

If you like to set it and forget it, this isn’t the best food dehydrator for you.

One thing we were concerned about with this machine was whether we would need to rotate the trays to make sure that the jerky near the heater didn’t overdry.

We were pleasantly surprised to find that this tray food dehydrator has Fan-Flow technology that really worked. While the jerky on top was a bit drier, the whole batch was pretty consistent in texture.

5. Excalibur 2900ECB — Best Dehydrator for the Biggest Jobs

With a capacity of 15 square feet, this home food dehydrator can dry it all

Just because you’re in the market for a home food dehydrator doesn’t mean you won’t have jobs that are big enough to feed a small village. Whether you’re a gardener with extensive crops, a smart shopper who loves saving money, or a snacker who can’t get enough of the good stuff, the Excalibur 2900ECB with it’s rear mounted fan and heating element, can handle whatever job you throw at it.

It has an amazing 15 square foot capacity and offers nine trays so you can dry all the fruits, veggies, herbs, and meats you want. And if you have larger food to dehydrate, just remove some of the shelves until you can accommodate it.

By taking out every other shelf, we were able to dry extra-chunky pineapple, huge broccoli florets, and thick slices of sweet potato for the dog with . 

Because it’s a shelf dehydrator, this 9 tray machine circulates hot air from the rear mounted fan and heating element to ensure even drying — this means you don’t have to bother with rotating the trays. We did one huge batch of apple slices using every tray, and each piece dried just as well as the others, so the hot air did move around well.

As you’d expect from a substantial 9 tray food dehydrator, it has an adjustable temperature control, so you can pick the right temperature settings, from 105 to 165 degrees Fahrenheit. This means you can use it to dry herbs, jerky, and everything in between. At this price point, we would’ve appreciated a stainless steel body and maybe a glass door, but actually, the black, BPA-free body actually looks pretty good.

One thing we were quite surprised to see lacking from this food dehydrator from Excalibur (quite a famous name in the food drying world) is a timer. Considering it’s suitable for drying all kinds of foods, including those that could take 12+ hours, we expected to see an auto-shutoff feature so we wouldn’t have to wake up in the middle of the night or head back into the house to turn it off.

This is by far the best dehydrator if you need a large capacity.

Yes, it takes up a lot of counter space but it has a lot of drying space that lets you cram a lot of beef jerky, fruit leather, or other food stuffs in the dehydrator. Excalibur make a very solid workhorse of a dehydrator that’s easy to clean and that I’m confident about drying a lot of meat in. Plus, the adjustable thermostat lets you dehydrate practically anything without overdrying it.

What We Looked For in the Best Food Dehydrators for Home Use

As we use our own food dehydrators on a weekly basis to make healthy snacks and preserve goodies from the garden so we can use them for months to come, we know all about which features matter and which just aren’t that important. We also know that price doesn’t always equal quality.

During our testing and reviews, we looked at a wide variety of criteria — we wanted to make sure we picked the best food dehydrators for users from all walks of life, from beginners to seasoned vets. To make it on the list, these dehydrators had to be:

• Affordable. Some are definitely pricier than others, but they’re all in the typical price range for home users.
• Roomy. No one’s interested in dehydrating a couple of fruits or a pound of beef, so we looked for units with lots of room.
• Easy to use. Figuring out how to work your machine shouldn’t take as long as the actual drying process.
• Safe. You can trust these dehydrators to run for hours with no issues and reach temperatures that are high enough to kill bacteria.

How to Choose the Right Food Dehydrator for Home Use

We think that the COSORI CP267-FD is the best dehydrator for home use, but is it right for you? Here are some of the things you need to consider when shopping for your own machine. 

Budget

Deciding on how much to spend on a home dehydrator depends on how often you plan to use it. If you’re new to the world of dehydrating or know that you won’t use your unit too much, it’s reasonable to purchase one of the lower-priced dehydrators on the market – an entry-level machine that doesn’t have lots of bells and whistles.

On the other hand, if you live for jerky or are serious about making your own snacks, it makes sense to spend more for a dehydrator that has advanced features.

Ease of Use

No matter how often you use a dehydrator, you don’t want to waste time pressing buttons and hoping you’ve hit the right combination. Choose a unit that offers straight-forward operation. Some of the machines on our list have advanced features like temperature control and timers, but it only takes seconds to fire them up.

Features

To figure out which features you should worry about, think about how you’ll use your food dehydrator. For example, if you’re just drying herbs, you probably don’t need a model with auto-shutoff because you’ll be done in just an hour or two.

On the other hand, if you plan to use your dehydrator for beef jerky, you’ll run your machine all day and maybe into the night. A timer and shutoff are must-haves to avoid overdrying.

Size

When it comes to a food dryer’s size, you need to think about both its capacity and its overall footprint. If you want to make lots of jerky but don’t have a lot of storage space, a stacking dehydrator that you can add more trays to and then later collapse into a smaller package for putting away is ideal. I

f you’ll dehydrate frequently and have a chunk of unutilized counter space, go for the larger unit.

Wrapping Up

When you’re ready to pull the trigger on a food dehydrator, remember to consider its size, ease of use, and features. We’ve offered several of the best dehydrators above, so you’re sure to find something that works with your budget.

If you’re looking for the best, we highly recommend the COSORI CP267-FD. It has the best balance of features and value, and you can use it for dehydrating anything. Not sure what to make with your new machine? Check out these awesome dehydrator recipes for some ideas.