Turn dehydrated garden vegetables into multi-use powders.

Dehydrated zucchini, carrots, tomatoes, dried bean powder and dehydrated beets.

Homemade vegetables powders are a great way to use up the dwindling garden harvest.

Which Vegetables Should Be Used For Powders?

Almost any vegetable can be dried. Here are some of my favorites:

• Roots: beets, carrots, sweet potatoes, rutabagas
• Fruits: tomatoes, corn, zucchini, winter squash, peppers
• Greens: beet greens, spinach, Swiss chard, cabbage
• Misc: dried beans, asparagus, onions, leeks, garlic, celery

How To Dry Vegetables For Powder

1. Steam blanch or cook hard root vegetables, corn, squash, and dry beans until tender. Rinse with cold water.
2. Peel vegetables if appropriate and slice very thin. Tear or cut greens into medium sized pieces.
3. Dry, using a food dehydrator until vegetables are crisp, not leathery.
4. Store in jars or plastic containers. Dehydrated vegetables may be kept on the shelf or in the freezer.

*Note: I prefer to keep my dehydrated veggies in the freezer for two reasons:

1. The vegetables retain more nutrients if not exposed to light.
2. The freezer keeps the dehydrated vegetables crisp, thus easier to turn into powder.

How To Make Vegetable Powder

The easiest way to turn dehydrated vegetables into vegetable powder is by using a high speed blender like a Ninja or Vita-Mix. You can also use a standard blender, food processor, or an old-fashioned mortar and pestle.

Add dehydrated vegetables and process until you have vegetable powder!

Vegetable Powder Uses

Vegetable powders have many, many uses. Once you start making your own, you will find yourself adding new powder and flavor combinations each year.

Seasonings: Good quality onion and garlic powders are very expensive to purchase, but very inexpensive to make at home. Dry sliced onions, leeks, shallots, or garlic for your own seasoning mixes.

Broth powders: It is next to impossible to find low-salt, high-flavor broth powders in the commercial marketplace. Follow my lead and make your own.

Salt mixes: Want a flavored salt that is more flavor and less salt? Make your own using celery, onion, or garlic powders.

Pasta: I am drying beets this year for homemade beet pasta. I can’t wait to try it with homemade, low-fat Alfredo sauce. Squash powder, carrot powder, tomato powder and spinach powder pastas are on my list too.

Boost protein: In the photo above there is a small jar of dried Pinto bean powder. I like to cook dried beans and then dehydrate them for powder. Adding bean powder to red sauce and casseroles is a good way to boost the protein level, especially for us vegetarians. It is also a good way to sneak some protein into your picky child’s meal!

Boost nutrients: Speaking of picky children, adding vegetable powders of any kind to their meals boosts vitamins. Just be aware of potential color changes. Don’t try to sneak beet powder or spinach powder into the kids’ mac and cheese, the color change makes it undesirable. But carrot powder, squash powder, or sweet potato powder adds more “cheesy orange” color and a good dose of vitamins too.

Spinach or beet green powder is a good addition to your morning smoothie, and carrot or squash powders taste great mixed with Greek yogurt and nuts.

Soups and sauces: Vegetable powders add flavor to both homemade and purchased soups and sauces. Strongly flavored powders like cabbage, rutabaga or fennel are especially nice additions to vegetable soups.