Onion Powder

Onion powder is one of the easiest homemade spice you can make in your kitchen. It has a fresh, strong onion flavor, perfect for spicing up dishes.

Making homemade onion powder is very simple to do. The hardest thing is having the patience to wait until it's done dehydrating.

I have found homemade onion powder to have a fresh, slightly stronger onion flavor if that's possible. And it's a great way to save a bit of money. Especially when onions are in season and you can buy them in bulk from local farmers.

Word of warning - your home will smell like stinky, sweaty gym socks while you are dehydrating your onions.

If this smell is too much for you, you do have a couple options. You can move your dehydrator to your garage or outside to a deck or patio. You can even do this mid dehydrating if you think you can handle it and then in the middle of the process find out it's too much for you.

How to store

After making your onion powder you can store it in a mason jar, old spice jar, or other airtight container.

I like to make a lot of onion powder at once and store it in a quart mason jar. This allows me to store a lot to use throughout the year. I have a smaller container that I keep in my spice storage area that I refill from the larger mason jar as needed.

How long does it last

You'll want to use up your onion powder within a year of making it. It is still fine to use after a year, but you'll find it isn't nearly as flavorful.

Equipment

Dehydrator - you can use any dehydrator or even the dehydrating feature on your oven if you have it.

Knife, mandoline, and/or a food chopper

Mortar and pestle or food processor

Ingredients

Fresh Onion

How to Make

Step 1: Start by peeling your onions. If you want, you can save these peel for homemade chicken broth. Dice the onions. You can use a mandoline or a food chopper if you prefer. By using one of these gadgets, your onion pieces will be more uniform, which will make them dehydrate closer to the same speed.

Step 2: On a dehydrator tray, place the chopped onion pieces and spread out into a single layer. If you are using an excalibur dehydrator, you'll want to use the fruit leather sheets. Just make sure you wash them really well when you are done. Or you can have one set of sheets for more potent food such as onion powder, garlic powder, etc. and one set of sheets for fruit leather, banana chips, etc.

Step 3: Turn the dehydrator on to 125°F and run the dehydrator for 18-24 hours or until completely dry. The time will depend on the humidity level in your home. If your home tends to be more humid, it will take a bit longer.

You can to see if the dehydrated onion is done by snapping a few of the onion pieces in half. You want it to "snap", not fold in half. If it doesn't snap in half, then make sure to put it back in the dehydrator for a bit longer.

Step 4: Once the onion pieces are dry, add the onion pieces to a mortar and pestle. Grind using the pestle until the onion is a fine powder. You will need to grind in batches.

If you prefer, you can use a food processor or a coffee grinder instead. For large batches I like using my food processor since it makes turning the dehydrated onion into powder so much quicker.

Step 5: Transfer powdered onion to an airtight container. Use as you would any store-bought onion powder to spice soup, meat, add to spice mixtures or added to dips.

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Other Spices and Seasoning Recipes:

Homemade Taco Seasoning