How to Make Fruit Leather in a Dehydrator
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My kids are back in school, which means I’m back to packing lunches. To prevent lunch box boredom (for me and them), I like to tuck fun things in their boxes from time to time. This week it was homemade fruit leather. If you’ve never made any before, it couldn’t be easier. Here’s a video of the process.
And here are the directions all written out for you. Be sure to print a copy of the recipe card at the bottom of the post.
How to Make Fruit Leather in a Dehydrator
Total Time:
6 hours 15 minutes
What You’ll Need:
A dehydrator (I have a Nesco Snackmaster, but any dehydrator will work)
Fruit roll sheets
Parchment Paper
Fruit
This is what a fruit roll sheet looks like. It sits on top of the regular tray, and seals off all of the holes, so you can dry things that are more liquidy.
What You Do:
Puree your fruit. This can be fresh fruit or canned fruit. Two cups of puree should be enough to cover one fruit roll screen. In this example, I used a can of cherries combined with a bit of applesauce. If you’d like to sweeten your puree with sugar or honey, this is the time to do it.
Pour your puree onto the screen. Add more, if you need it.
Then, smooth the puree out with a rubber spatula. You want it to be 1/8-inch thick everywhere.
Turn on your dehydrator, and let it run for at least six hours. Your fruit leather is done when it feels completely dry to the touch.
Allow your fruit leather to cool. Then, carefully pull it off of the screen …
and place it on a piece of parchment paper.
Then, cut the fruit leather (and parchment paper backing) into strips.
Roll the strips with the parchment paper facing out, and secure each bundle with a piece of tape.
Store your finished fruit leather in an air-tight container, and drop a couple into your kids’ lunchboxes each day until they’re gone.Want to learn how to make fruit leather without a dehydrator?
Click here to learn how to make fruit leather in the oven.
How to Make Fruit Leather in a Dehydrator
Use your dehydrator to make homemade fruit leather from fresh or canned fruit. Less than 15 minutes of hands on time required.
- Total Time: 6 hours 2 minutes
- Yield: Varies
Ingredients
- 2 cups pureed fruit – fresh or canned
Instructions
Pour your fruit puree onto a fruit leather sheet, and smooth it out with a rubber spatula.
Turn on your dehydrator, and let it run for at least six hours. Your fruit leather is done when it feels completely dry to the touch.
Allow your fruit leather to cool. Then, carefully pull it off of the screen; cut it into strips, and enjoy!
Notes
Store in an air-tight container to maximize the shelf life.
- Prep Time: 2 minutes
- Cook Time: 6 hours
- Category: Snack
- Method: Drying/Dehydrating
- Cuisine: American
Keywords: how to make fruit leather in a dehydrator
How long can you sore these for?
Hi Aysha,
The National Center for Home Food Preservation says homemade fruit leather will keep for a month at room temperature or up to a year in the freezer.
Will parchment paper work in the dehydrator, if we don’t have the special trays with no holes? My husband has a dehydrator for making beef jerky, but I’ve never used it myself
Good question. You could probably get away with lining your trays with plastic wrap, but I think the parchment would probably stick big time.
parchment works great! I just started making fruit leather again and pour the puree directly on the parchment lined trays to dry. Once done, roll up the parchment and store. the fruit leather peels right off. My grown-up grandson asked me today if he returned the paper, would I use it again to make him more 🙂 Looks like I’m going to be very busy this fruit season.
Great tips. And smart grandson 🙂
Where did you find the special tray for fruit puree?
Hi Kerry,
I ordered them off of Amazon. If you click through the “fruit roll sheets” link under the “What You’ll Need” section, it’ll take you right two them. They don’t cost much.
Am I missing something…looking all over your site for a ‘what you’ll need’ section, to figure out which dehydrator and trays to buy, and I’m not seeing it!? Help please!
Hi Krystal,
Scroll past the video, and you should see the “What You’ll Need” section. It includes info on the dehydrator that I use, plus links to everything. Hope that helps.
Hi!
Thanks for the recipe, what is the best temperature to do this? I have a dehydrator.
Hi Miranda,
If your dehydrator has a thermostat, I would dry your fruit leather at 140 degrees. Mine just has an on/off switch.
Hi. I was wondering if frozen fruit would also work for this?
As long as you thaw it first, I don’t see why not.
I have made fruit leather just sitting it out in the sun. 3 days, bring it in at night to avoid pesky night critters and of course screen it during the day. Works best on parchment paper, any cookie sheet works splendidly. Absolutely no sticking problem
I can a lot of jam. One batch didn’t setup as thick as I like it. Found your recipe for fruit leather in a dehydrator. I am dehydrating blue razz (blueberry raspberry jam) , applesauce and pear sauce. Cross my fingers. If this works, I will experiment with a jar of my peach jalapeño jelly. The wheels are turning in my brain. Thank you