My new convection gas oven has a mode where it can be used to dehydrate food. Anyone ever used their oven like that? How does it compare to a standalone dehydrator? Any tips or tricks you might recommend? I’ve always wanted to try doing it myself, but didn’t want to get a dedicated machine. I wouldn’t be surprised if other devices can do it better, but I’m wondering if this kind of oven will do an adequate job considering it’s already available in my kitchen.
My ex-brother-in-law used to make beef and venison jerky in his oven. He claimed it worked well but I always thought it was over dried, almost crunchy.
Do you know if his oven had a special dehydration mode? Or was he just using a normal oven at a low temperature or whatever? The oven I just got has a screen where you can pick different kinds of foods or cooking modes, and one of the modes is specifically for dehydration.
I know that it was an electric (not gas) heated convection oven. I don’t know that it has a specific dehydration mode but I would wager that it did not. This would have been 20+ years ago and it certainly was not a top of the line model at the time.
I’ve used the oven many times for jerky. Always had gas ovens FWIW. Comes out fine.
I’ve also used a cheaper dehydrator, also comes out fine.
The oven tends to have a bit of excess heat in the room. Maybe less so for a electric as gas needs a vent which goes into the room.
I have a dehydrator setting in my oven, and I’ve made jerky and it works fine.
I’ve also used it for making yogurt. Yogurt needs a specific temperature to incubate - I think 115 degrees? The dehydrator setting is adjustable as to temperature and it works perfectly for that.
My oven has a dehydrate setting and I’ve used it many times for jerky. It’s a convection oven so it runs the internal fan while dehydrating. It works great.