How to Make Dried Citrus in an Air Fryer

Apr 10

Dried citrus has emerged as a sleeper winner for your kitchen in the past few years. What started as a twist on a popular Victorian Christmas decoration has applications well beyond seasonal holidays!

Most dried citrus recipes recommend about 8 hours of drying time in an oven. In the year of our Lord 2023, I was not about to devote a full working day to ensuring my orange slices didn’t catch on fire. That’s how I stumbled into making them in the air fryer - in less than half the time.

How to Use Dried Citrus

Though most tutorials focus on making garlands of citrus slices, they have many more applications than that! Since you can eat dried orange, lemon, and lime slices, get creative with incorporating them into your culinary pursuits! Some ways I like to use them include:

Broken up as part of a homemade tea blend
Floating elegantly on top of a craft cocktail
Stuck vertically into the top of a beautiful cake, or along the sides of the cake
As a garnish on lemony dishes like chicken piccata

Things to Keep in Mind Before Making Dried Citrus

Making dried citrus is one of the easiest things to do in the kitchen! But there are still a few tricks to getting it just right.

How long it takes your citrus to dry is entirely dependent on how thick the slices are. The thicker the slices, the longer it takes.
If you want to perfectly preserve the color of lemons and limes, a lower temp and longer time is the way to go. I prefer fast over perfect, but you do you!
You don’t have to keep this method to citrus! Make delicious apple and pear chips using this method as well.

How to Make Dried Citrus

Ingredients:

1 large orange or grapefruit, or 2 lemons or limes

Tools:

Air Fryer (I have the Breville Smart Oven Air Fryer - not sponsored)
Sharp knife
Cutting board
(optional) Mandoline slicer (not sponsored)

Instructions:

Slice your citrus as thinly as you can (this is where using a mandoline comes in handy). 1-2 millimeters thick is ideal. Discard the end rinds.
Arrange your slices in one layer in the basket of your air fryer and set inside. It’s okay if your slices touch - they just shouldn’t overlap.
Select the “air fry” setting, and make sure you oven is set to the highest convection setting. Set the temperature to 185 degrees and the time to 2 hours and 30 minutes. You’ll know the citrus is ready when the pulp is transparent, with an appearance like stained glass!
Once cooled, store your dried citrus in an airtight container. It should last at least 2 years.

Looking for ways to use your dried citrus? Check out these ideas!