Homemade Vegetable Powders

Vegetable powders are used commercially for flavoring foods and adding texture and color. Chefs use them in professional kitchens as an easy way to incorporate flavors into dishes. While you can buy vegetable powders in specialty stores and many online retailers, they are easy to make at home. You can control the quality of the vegetables and make your own vegetable powder mixes.

How to Dehydrate Vegetables

The first step in making the powders is to dehydrate the vegetables. The best way to do this is by using a food dehydrator, but, if you don't have one, you can dry vegetables in a 200 degree Fahrenheit oven. A dehydrator does a better job of keeping the colors and flavors of the vegetables, however.

Each vegetable has its own method for dehydrating. Some require blanching prior to drying and some need extra processing. When drying vegetables for powders, you will take them past the point of being pliable. They are dried until crispy--if there is any moisture left in them, they will not powder properly.

Here are three easy vegetable powders to get started with:

Tomato Powder

Tomatoes should be washed, dried, and sliced thinly. Italian-style tomatoes, such as Romas, are easier to dry as they have more "meat" and less liquid. Spread tomatoes out on the dehydrator tray or baking pan and dry until tomato slices snap when bent. Cool slices and grind in small batches in a spice or coffee grinder. Store in a dry glass jar with a tight lid. Tomato powder is very hydroscopic, meaning that it picks up moisture from the air very easily.

Use tomato powder to thicken soups and stews. You can also mix a spoonful of powder with a little bit of water to make tomato paste, or more water to make tomato sauce. Tomato powder makes pretty homemade pasta noodles. Incorporate two tablespoons into a one pound batch of dough.

Spinach Powder

Spinach can be dehydrated from fresh but the easiest way is to buy frozen chopped spinach. If using fresh, blanch spinach leaves for 15 seconds in boiling water before drying and chop coarsely. Spread chopped spinach on trays and dehydrate until hard and crisp. Grind in a coffee or spice grinder and store in a jar.

Spinach powder adds color to bread and pasta doughs and is often used to sneak healthy vegetables into the meals of unsuspecting kids.

Onion Powder

Onion powder is more commercially available than other vegetable powders, but it is easy to make. The trick is to dehydrate the onions outside, unless you want your entire house to smell like onions for days. Slice the onions thinly and spread on a dehydrator tray. Dry until onion slices break when bent. Grind into a powder and store in a glass jar. Onion powder has a powerful flavor so add a little at a time to dishes until you get a feel for how it affects recipes. Onion powder can be mixed with other vegetable powders to form the base of broths and soups.