That time I tried dehydrating tomatoes in my air fryer ended badly

Last week I threw some cherry tomatoes in my air fryer on the dehydrate setting for 6 hours like the manual said. They came out as little black rocks that nearly chipped my tooth when I bit into one. Has anyone else had a dehydrate setting just absolutely destroy your food?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_seth23d ago

Oh man, the air fryer dehydrate setting is basically just a food incinerator in disguise. I tried drying apple slices once and came back to what looked like charcoal briquettes, the smoke alarm went off and everything. My wife still brings it up anytime I mention using that button.

nelson.finley23d ago

Nah, I gotta push back on the "food incinerator" thing. You just left them in way too long, man. The dehydrate setting works fine if you keep an eye on it. I do apple slices all the time and they come out perfect - chewy and sweet, not burnt. The trick is to slice them thin, like a quarter inch max, and check them every 15 minutes instead of walking away. Your mistake was probably trusting the presets or going too thick. Thick pieces take way longer and the outside burns before the inside dries out. Give it another shot with a timer and a little patience. It's not the setting that's the problem, it's the user.