# Ever dehydrated food in an oven that has a Dehydrator setting? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 12, 2019, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-dehydrated-food-in-an-oven-that-has-a-dehydrator-setting/832444 "2019-04-12T16:54:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![filmore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7993a0/32.png) [@filmore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/filmore)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2019, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-dehydrated-food-in-an-oven-that-has-a-dehydrator-setting/832444/1 "2019-04-12T16:54:18Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Alpha\_Twit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alpha_twit/32/265_2.png) [@Alpha\_Twit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alpha_Twit)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2019, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-dehydrated-food-in-an-oven-that-has-a-dehydrator-setting/832444/2 "2019-04-12T17:00:37Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![filmore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7993a0/32.png) [@filmore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/filmore)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2019, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-dehydrated-food-in-an-oven-that-has-a-dehydrator-setting/832444/3 "2019-04-12T17:06:59Z")
> [@Alpha\_Twit](#): > > 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. ---
**Author:** ![Alpha\_Twit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alpha_twit/32/265_2.png) [@Alpha\_Twit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alpha_Twit)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2019, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-dehydrated-food-in-an-oven-that-has-a-dehydrator-setting/832444/4 "2019-04-12T17:11:43Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2019, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-dehydrated-food-in-an-oven-that-has-a-dehydrator-setting/832444/5 "2019-04-12T19:12:39Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2019, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-dehydrated-food-in-an-oven-that-has-a-dehydrator-setting/832444/6 "2019-04-13T12:25:09Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2019, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-dehydrated-food-in-an-oven-that-has-a-dehydrator-setting/832444/7 "2019-04-13T14:59:20Z")
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.