Ever since I bought my dehydrator I have been looking forward to drying chile peppers. I wanted to make my own red pepper flake on the Nesco Snackmaster Pro. I use a ton of red pepper flake in the many dishes I cook, and I thought it’d be awesome to grown my own peppers and dry them. So, that’s what I did. My pepper harvest wasn’t very bountiful, but fortunately it doesn’t take a lot of peppers to make a good-sized batch of red pepper flake.
Packed with heat and great flavor, I couldn’t have been happier with the end result. I hand-crushed the dried peppers with a mortar and pestle. You could use a blade coffee grinder or even blender, but I think you’ll end up with chile powder (my next project) instead of coarse flake. You get much better control over the end product using the mortar and pestle.
I like to load up my dehydrator. To do that I picked up a handful of extra trays from Nesco. They really add a whole lot more drying space! Since I have to rotate my trays, I write a number on each one on a piece of blue painter’s tape so I can keep track of them.
Also try my smoked habanero flake.
Red Pepper Flake on the Nesco Snackmaster Pro
Ingredients
- 32 chile peppers ripe
Instructions
- Cut the stems off of the peppers. Do not remove the seeds.
- Place peppers on the dehydrator trays. Set the dehydrator temperature to 165 F.
- Dry for 8 hours or until the peppers are crispy and brittle.
- Working in batches, place the peppers into a mortar and grind with the pestle until the desired consistency is achieved.
- Store in an airtight container.
Nutrition
Nutritional values are approximate.
