Dehydrating jalapeños to make your own crushed jalapeño flakes or jalapeño powder is a great budget-friendly way to add flavor to so many dishes! This recipe will teach you how to dehydrate jalapeños, create your own jalapeño seasoning, and give you lots of ideas for how to use this versatile spice.
Dehydrating jalapeños is such a great way to preserve them, so be sure to SAVE this recipe for when you have an abundance of fresh jalapeños from your garden or if you see a great deal at the grocery store.
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Homemade jalapeño powder
Ever since I got my Excalibur dehydrator, I've been dehydrating ALL THE THINGS! I recently posted instructions for making dehydrated pickle chips, and now I am sharing how to dehydrate jalapeño peppers (in a nutshell, dehydrate at 130F for 14-16 hours, or until totally dry).
I dehydrate jalapeños until they're completely crisp and crunchy, then I process them in a food processor for a few seconds to make crushed jalapeño flakes, or continue processing until they are a fine powder.
There are so many uses for both the fine powder and the chunkier crushed pepper seasoning!
How to use dehydrated jalapeños
- Sprinkle crushed jalapeño flakes on top of pizza (low calorie pizza), sandwiches (breakfast sandwiches with baja sauce), or pasta (lobster Alfredo).
- Stir in fine dried jalapeño powder into soups (Instant Pot chicken taco soup), chilis (low calorie slow cooker chili), pizza sauce, pasta sauce (like this spicy marinara), and anywhere you want the powder to "dissolve" and add savory flavor and subtle heat. Try it in low calorie queso, slow cooker chicken tinga, charro beans.)
- Add fine dried jalapeño powder to ground meats when making burgers (low calorie turkey burgers), meatloaf, meatballs.
- Add fine dried jalapeño powder to flour or breadcrumbs when making food that needs to be covered in breading, such as air fryer pickles, healthy onion rings, or air fryer deviled eggs.
- Add jalapeño powder to the batter for vegetarian snacks and patties, such as corn fritters.
- As a seasoning for pan fried potatoes or breakfast hash.
- On top of fried eggs or scrambled eggs, or on top of rice.
- Sprinkle jalapeño powder on top of popcorn, avocado toast, or pretty much any snack.
- Don't bother powdering — the dried jalapeño peppers can be enjoyed as crunchy dehydrated jalapeño chips.
Quick tips
- 3 pounds of peppers took about 30 minutes to clean out and get ready for dehydrating.
- 3 pounds of peppers makes about ½ cup of powder.
- Dehydrate jalapeños at 130F for 14-16 hours, or until completely dry, hard, and brittle.
- Once the jalapeños shrink in the dehydrator, you can combine them on fewer trays and add more foods to dehydrate so you don't waste electricity. You can dehydrate any other vegetables or savory foods at the same time, the jalapeños will not affect the flavor of other foods.
- Dehydrated jalapeños have the same shelf life as other spices—they're most flavorful within the first 3 months, but shelf life will depend on the storage conditions (humidity, heat, how much air is in the jar) and how often the jar is opened (how much air it is exposed to).
- If your air fryer has a dehydrator setting, you can use that. But just keep in mind that this is not a quick-dehydrating vegetable. The air fryer would need to be on for a long time.
Ingredients
Jalapeños. That's it. Since jalapeños take a while to dehydrate, I like to dehydrate at LEAST 3 pounds at a time. Three pounds fills up 2 trays on my Excalibur dehydrator. You can dehydrate other savory foods at the same time so you don't waste electricity if you don't have enough jalapeños to fill up all the trays in your dehydrator.
Equipment
- Dehydrator (obviously), or you can dehydrate in the oven at a low temperature with the door open to prevent cooking the peppers, but it is harder to control the temperature.
- Food processor. I have this small one which is perfect for making fine jalapeño powder.
- Disposable kitchen gloves. These are a MUST when handling jalapeños or other spicy peppers. Otherwise the spice stays on your fingers the rest of the day no matter how many times you wash your hands with soap. And you do NOT want the spice on your fingers in case you touch your eyes or nose or any other sensitive areas. For this recipe, you'll be cleaning out a LOT of jalapeños so it is impossible to avoid touching the spicy inner parts of the pepper.
- Spice jar or small jar for storage. If your jar seals well and doesn't have a lot of extra space, the jalapeño powder will stay fresh longer.
- Food desiccant packets. Optional, but helpful if you live in a humid climate and want to make sure your effort of dehydrating your own food is not wasted. I like these rechargeable/reusable food grade packets.
Instructions
Wash your jalapeños, then slice them in half and remove the stems, seeds, and pith with a knife. You don't have to remove all the seeds if you don't want to—they add spice. If you plan on making crushed pepper flakes that are chunky, you want to leave some of the seeds. If you want to make a really fine powder, I recommend removing as many seeds as you can. You might need to shake out or rinse out some stubborn seeds that are stuck inside the peppers.
Arrange the peppers on the dehydrator tray. You can load the trays up and have the peppers touching, they shrink a LOT when drying.
Dehydrate at 130F for 14-16 hours, or until the peppers are completely hard and crunchy without any soft leathery spots. If you want, you can stop here and have these as crunchy dehydrated jalapeño chips. Why not, right?
Allow the peppers to cool, transfer to a food processor, and pulse until you reach the desired texture. You can leave the peppers as flakes, or continue processing until you get a fine powder.
Another option is to use a mojito muddler to crush the dried jalapeños into chunky flakes. Please note that this method will not get your fine powder.
Store in a dark place in a tightly sealed small jar or spice container. Dehydrated jalapeños will last as long as they don't get any moisture in, but they have the freshest flavor for about 3 months.
Frequently asked questions
Are dehydrated jalapeños super spicy?
No. In my experience jalapeños lose some of their heat when dried, so they become a milder seasoning that has a lot of nice savory flavor. However, fresh jalapeños vary in spice so your mileage might vary with this one—the powder might still turn out spicy, especially if you leave in a lot of seeds and pith.
Do I have to remove the seeds?
You can leave the seeds in if you prefer a spicier seasoning, but I recommend removing at least some of them. I prefer to remove the seeds when I make a fine powder seasoning because seeds are harder to blend into a fine powder. If you're making a "crushed pepper flakes" type of seasoning you can leave some of the seeds in, though I still recommend removing at least half the seeds because jalapeños have a LOT of seeds, and I simply don't want a seasoning that has so many crunchy seeds.
Does dehydrating jalapeños stink up the house or make your eyes burn?
Surprisingly no! Jalapeños definitely give off a green pepper smell while dehydrating, but it is not enough to make my eyes burn. Obviously everyone has different sensitivities, so if you notice any discomfort turn off the dehydrator or run it outside or in a part of the house where you won't be breathing the air. However, I found that grinding the jalapeños into powder made a lot of dust, so it is helpful to wear a mask and/or goggles. Another thing you can do is let the powder settle in your blender or food processor, then take it outside to transfer it to a container. And open the windows and run fans to air everything out quickly.
Is dehydrating jalapeños worth it?
This totally depends on you. If you have tons of jalapeños in your garden and you are tired of cooking with them, then dehydrating is a great way to prevent waste and make homemade seasonings. However, if you only have a couple of pounds of jalapeños and you're simply curious about how crushed jalapeños taste, you can simply buy it as a seasoning for a few bucks.
Cleaning out 3 pounds of fresh jalapeños took me 30 minutes, and dehydrating the peppers took 16 hours. Depending on your specific dehydrator and the cost of electricity, dehydrating peppers can cost anywhere between $1-2. So it makes sense to do a large batch at a time! Don't forget that once the jalapeños shrink in the dehydrator, you can consolidate them onto 1-2 trays and add new veggies or other savory foods to dehydrate so you don't waste electricity.
Dehydrated Jalapeños (Crushed Jalapeño Flakes)
Special Equipment
- Food Processor or blender
- Disposable kitchen gloves a MUST when working with hot peppers
- Spice jar or small jar for storage with a tight seal for longer storage
- Food desiccant packets optional but helpful for storage
Ingredients
- 3 pounds jalapeños (or more. 3 pounds of jalapeños make about ½ cup of dried jalapeño seasoning)
- salt, garlic powder, or other seasonings (optional, if you want to experiment with different flavors)
Instructions
- Wash your jalapeños, then slice them in half and remove the stems, seeds, and pith with a knife. You don't have to remove all the seeds if you don't want to—they add spice. Leave some of the seeds if you want to make crushed pepper flakes instead of fine powder. Remove as many seeds as you can if you want to make a milder fine powder seasoning. You might need to shake out or rinse out some stubborn seeds that are stuck inside the peppers.
- Arrange the peppers on the dehydrator tray. You can load the trays up and have the peppers touching, they shrink a LOT when drying. Dehydrate at 130F for 14-16 hours, or until the peppers are completely hard and crunchy without any soft or bendy spots.
- Allow the peppers to cool, transfer to a food processor, and pulse until you reach the desired texture. You can leave the peppers as flakes, or continue processing until you get a fine powder. Optional: try adding other seasonings such as salt or garlic powder to make your own signature spice mix.
- Another option is to use a mojito muddler to make coarse chunks of jalapeño flakes.
- Store in a dark place in a tightly sealed small jar or spice container. Dehydrated jalapeños will last as long as they don't get any moisture in, but they have the freshest flavor for about 3 months.
Notes
Nutrition
All nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered estimates. Actual nutritional content will vary with brands used, measuring methods, portion sizes and more.
Kate
I've been adding a pinch of this jalapeño powder to most of my dishes lately for just a little added heat. I hope you like it as much as we do!