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Dehydrated Citrus Slices

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Jessica Pinney

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Dehydrating citrus slices like lemons, limes, and oranges is a great way to preserve them for future use. This recipe includes instructions for using a dehydrator or oven. 

Dehydrated lime, orange, and lemon slices on a white background.

Our backyard is full of citrus trees which often leaves us with an abundance of lemons, limes, and oranges. I’m not complaining – it is certainly a good problem to have! 

One of the ways we like to use and preserve our citrus is by slicing and dehydrating them. It’s really easy and there are so many things you can do with them throughout the year! 

Ways To Use Dehydrated Lemon, Lime, & Orange Slices

  • Use as a garnish on cocktails, like our Green Juice Margarita
  • Add to glasses of water for flavor
  • Make lemonade, limeade, or orangeade
  • Grind into a powder and save to flavor baked goods, soups, sauces, meats, and vegetables
  • Add to tea to infuse a citrus flavor
  • Make Citrus Salt for using on margaritas
Fresh citrus slices in a dehydrator tray.

How To Dehydrate Citrus

We like to use our dehydrator for this recipe, but if you don’t have one I have also included instructions for dehydrating citrus in the oven. 

I highly recommend using a sharp paring knife to slice the citrus for this recipe. It is important that you cut the slices evenly and at a uniform 1/4″ so that it dehydrates evenly and at the right time. 

If you are going the oven method you will need a large sheet pan and an oven-safe cooling rack. If you don’t have a cooling rack you can place the slices directly on the pan, but I’ve found they dehydrate much better/evenly if they are on a rack. 

Fresh citrus slices in a dehydrator tray after being dehydrated.

Other Dehydrated Recipes

More Citrus Recipes

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Dehydrated Citrus Slices

Learn how to dehydrate citrus slices like lemons, limes, and oranges in your dehydrator or oven.
5 from 1 vote
Print
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 6 hours
Servings: 30

Ingredients

  • 4 Lemons
  • 4 Limes
  • 2 Oranges

Instructions

  • Wash all your lemons, limes and oranges really well, then dry.
  • Cut all citrus into 1/4″ slices.
  • Dehydrator Method
  • Arrange citrus slices in a single layer on your dehydrator trays.
  • Place trays in dehydrator and dehydrate for 6-8 hours at 135F.
  • After citrus has been dehydrated, store in an airtight container until ready to use.
  • Oven Method
  • Preheat oven to 200F.
  • Arrange citrus slices in a single layer on a cooling rack on top of a sheet pan.
  • Allow citrus to dehydrate in the oven for 3-4 hours.
  • After citrus has been dehydrated, store in an airtight container until ready to use.

Nutrition

Calories: 2kcal

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Recipe Rating




30 responses

  1. Linda Todd

    My lemon slices dehydrated 12 hours in my excalibur at 135 but they didn’t dry completely out. Are they supposed to?

    Reply
    1. Jessica Pinney

      Yes, they should be completely dry. Keep dehydrating them and just keep an eye on them until they are done. If the slices are thicker it will take longer.

      Reply
  2. Karen

    5 stars
    Really easy recipe! I did lemon and lime slices and they were perfectly dehydrated when I checked around the 12 hour mark.

    Reply
  3. Tillie

    This is so easy, thank you

    Reply
  4. Rawda

    Do I have to leave the oven on at 200 F for 3-4 hours?

    Reply
    1. Jessica Pinney

      Yes, the citrus dehydrates at 200°.

      Reply
  5. spring

    Thanks. Not sure how dry they should be….. will dehydrate a few more hours. They are bendable at this point.

    Reply
  6. Sue Dietrich

    I think it’s important to tell people to make sure the fruit is actually dry.

    It may be necessary to bottle the fruit for a day or so, so that the moisture that’s remaining can equalize — travel into other slices — then, stick them back into the dehydrator for further drying, Then if they feel completely dry, put them back into a glass bottle. shake the bottle daily to check on them.

    I did this method with “sundried” tomatoes and they are in my closet since March 2020 (start of covid here)

    Reply
    1. Eve Marshall

      Thank you for this tip. I have some citrus that my son packed away early for me yesterday and is not quite done so I’m glad to see that I can put it back in for longer!

      Reply
  7. Patsy Elrod

    CRAFT USE: Can I arrange dehydrated citrus fruit slices on a round lazy Susan board that has a 1/4” metal edge, and pour resin/epoxy liquid over fruit to form a hard, water proof surface?

    Will the fruit retain its color? Will the resin harden in order to utilize the tray for serving purposes?

    Reply
    1. Hope

      As long as they are completely dry it will work, but if there is any moisture remaining the resin will make it rot.

      That being said I always batch test mine with resin separately.

      Reply
  8. Dena😂

    I am dehydrating lemon slices and so far so good. Lemons are so necessary and seem to go bad so quickly. (however I have found a wonderful trick to give more life to a fresh lemon) Let them set in a bath of water and a few tablespoons of white vinegar for about an hour. drain and dry off, and keep in a plastic bag. I use a straw to suck as much air out of the bag and keep them in my frig. They never went bad and got to enjoy every last drop of lemon juice and zest!

    Reply
    1. Christine Welch

      Can you freeze them?

      Reply
      1. Karen Kane

        You can freeze the juice. Not the whole lemons though.

        Reply
        1. Karen Cochrane

          I have frozen whole lemons. Great for the juice later

      2. Judy C.

        You can freeze whole lemons. I worked in a high end restaurant in my youth. They froze lemons, and grated them as they needed to use them. They did not defrost or peel them, just grated them directly into whatever recipe they were doing. Works really well, just grate off what you need and pop back in freezer for nrpextvtime!

        Reply
  9. Ann-Marie Wasley

    My dried lemon & orange slices were put in plastic containers in a cool cellar, but both went mouldy when our weather got really hot.
    Should I have used sterilised jars?

    Reply
    1. Karen Kane

      I suspect they weren’t fully dry when you put them in the containers, and/or that the plastic containers weren’t made of a material that prevents moisture from getting in. I find it is always safer to use sterilized glass jars–canning jars–and their lids.

      Reply
  10. Marilyn

    Do you leave the citrus slices in the dehydrator once it is turned off to cool or do you take them out to cool?

    Reply
    1. Ann-Marie Wasley

      Left them in there.
      Should I have taken them out?

      Reply
  11. Susan

    Dehydrated meyer lemons left the skin on

    The slices taste bitter from the rind should i have removed the skin first then dehydrate them?

    Reply
  12. Joan

    I just want to use my citrus skins. Can I store in my freezer until I have enough to dehydrate?

    Reply
  13. Samantha

    I used my air fryer 3 hours set at 200 Fahrenheit flipping every 30 minutes and I used my mandolin to get them thin like paper

    Reply
  14. Julie K

    Does dipping orange slices in citric acid prevent them from discoloring?

    Reply
    1. Annie

      Dehydrating at a lower temp will keep them from discoloring. I dehydrate my citrus at 95 – 100 degrees and it can take a couple days but they remain true to color and look lovely. You can’t get temps that low in an oven.

      Reply
      1. Sharon

        Check your oven. I just found I have a dehydrator function on my oven. I can do temps between 100° and 200°

        Reply
  15. Beth

    Do you grind/pulverize them ever? With or without the rind?

    Reply
  16. VERONICA

    When do you sprinkle caster sugar on dehydrated limes and lemons? During the drying process or afterwards?

    Reply
  17. Ellen Hill

    What if the citrus still has moisture in the little sacs? Will they go off ? Does all the juice need to be dehydrated before storing?

    Reply
  18. Michael Schertz

    Most of the other dried lemon recipes I see involve peeling and drying the skin only to be ground into lemon powder and even added for instance to lemon pepper. Could I use this similarly and would I end up with a sweeter powder this way?

    Reply

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