So I’m really excited about our post today because it’s dehydrated citrus wheels! I love when winter rolls around and we’re able to enjoy all the fun seasonal citrus. I specifically get really excited for tangerines, blood oranges and Meyer lemons. Although the process can be a little tedious because of the time, dehydrating citrus wheels such an easy thing to do with beautiful results and lots of great uses. You can use your dehydrated citrus wheels to flavor a simple hot tea, chopped up and added to soups/stews, pureed into a powder and mixed with herbs and spices to create a custom rub for meats and seafood, or you can even mix it with other whole spices like cinnamon sticks and star anise for a fragrant and homemade potpourri.
Ways to use Dehydrated Citrus
There are tons of fun and unique ways to use your dehydrated citrus. Here are just a few ways we use them frequently:
- Cocktail Garnish – You can grind up the dehydrated citrus wheels in a spice mill to create a powder. Mix with some sugar or salt and you have a very delicious and beautiful rimming sugar or salt for cocktails. You can also simply float a wheel in the top of any drink.
- Make a Garland – String a bunch of citrus together to create a fragrant and beautiful garland. I love making them to hand above the window over my sink in the kitchen.
- Add them to tea for a little citrus essence.
- Baked Goods Toppings – use as a pretty topping to any cake, or cupcake.
- Use with Chocolate – Melt some chocolate and spread into a layer, and use these wheels whole or wheels broken into pieces to gently layer the top. Then let the chocolate cool, and break into pieces.
Dehydrating Citrus in the Oven
Using your oven to dehydrate citrus is a great option because you probably have everything you already need – like a baking sheet with an oven safe cooling rack that fits into it. This set of two is baking sheets with racks are great and affordable. You will have to be available to turn the citrus every two hours or so in order to make sure they get properly dried out.
Using a dehydrator, you do not have to be as attentive. Dehydrators are designed to be more set it and forget it.
FAQs
They can last up to 5 years if you ensure there is no moisture left. If there are any moisture left within the wheels they will mold. When you are dehydrating them in the oven be sure that you are doing it for long enough that no moisture remains. I like to press a paper towel into the wheels to see if any moisture remains.
It takes between 4 to 9 hours depending on the type of fruit, and how thick your slices are. Check out the timing we have put together in the how-to post below.
When they are brittle to the touch. The citrus flesh will still be slightly tacky, but once they cool they will be brittle.
Store in an airtight container in a cool and dry place. Once you see that the color has faded significantly, that is a good time to throw them out and replace them.
Dehydrating Citrus Tips and Tricks
- Slicing: The sharper the knife the better, or use a serrated knife. I prefer to use a mandolin. The thinner your citrus wheels are the better they will dry out, and the shorter time they will take. It is important to make sure your knife or mandoline is sharp! You don’t want to tear any of the citrus flesh as you are cutting them.
- A dehydrator is also a great way to do many citrus slices at once. A typical dehydrator has many layers to make it easy to dehydrate in bulk. It’s also a little less maintenance to use a dehydrator because you do not need to turn the citrus wheels frequently.
If you love citrus we much as we do – here are some recipes for that utilize citrus well!
Check out our DIY for our Dehydrated Citrus Garland! It’s super easy and looks stunning.
Dehydrated Citrus Wheels
EQUIPMENT
- baking sheet
- cooling rack
- tongs
INGREDIENTS
- tangerines sliced into ¼” thick wheels
- lemons or Meyer lemons sliced into ¼” thick wheels
- limes sliced into ¼” thick wheels
- key limes sliced into ¼” thick wheels
- blood oranges sliced into ¼″ thick wheels
- tangelos sliced into ¼” thick wheels
- grapefruits sliced into ¼” thick wheels
INSTRUCTIONS
- Preheat oven to 170˚F. Slice citrus to ¼” thick wheels.
- In batches (each type of citrus at a time), arrange slices onto cooling racks and place each cooling rack onto a baking sheet. Place wheel into the oven and fully dehydrate. Tangerines: 5 1/5 to 6 hours, rotating baking sheets every 2 hoursLemons: 4 to 5 hours, rotating baking sheets every 2 hoursLimes: 4 to 5 hours, rotating baking sheets every 2 hoursKey Limes: 3 to 4 hours, rotating baking sheets every 1 1/2 hoursBlood Oranges: 6 to 7 hours, rotating baking sheets every 2 hoursTangelos: 7 to 8 hours, rotating baking sheets every 3 hoursGrapefruits: 8 to 9 hours, rotating baking sheets every 3 hours
- Wheels should be completely dry and slightly brittle to the touch. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely. Store in a sealed container in a cool dry place.
Did you make this recipe? We want to see!
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I’ll be using the dried lemons to garnish a SMBC lemon cake. Is it safe to garnish and refrigerate. Will the wheels stay firm or will they soften up from the BC and the fridge? I’ll be placing them upright on the cake.
Hi Mais! I would wait until before serving to put the fried lemon garnish on the cake. While they can last for a little while (a couple hours) in the refrigerator, they will eventually soften.
Thank you Teri for your answer, it is clear now what to do and I am going to try it this week end. Merry Christmas to you both.
I want to try this method, but wasn’t quite sure what you all meant by rotating the baking sheets and do you turn the fruit over after how long in the oven.
Hi Dorothy – Rotating the baking sheet just means turning it. Usually people have hot spots in their oven. This can cause the fruit to brown so rotating it helps. There is a list by fruit in the directions that states after how often you should rotate.
It also doesnt hurt to rotate the fruit by turning them over every once in a while as well.
As soon as I saw “cocktail garnish” I had to make them. I did clementines and lemons in my dehydrator (95 degrees for 12 hours), and they are SO GOOD and so so pretty.
Thanks Christina!!!!!!!! :)
Can you do this in an air fryer? Thanks in advance !
Hi! I haven’t tested this in an air fryer, so I can’t give you a definite answer!
We can’t grow citrus on the Olympic peninsula, but we can dehydrate them. I use my garage to keep moisture out of the house. Last weekend it was pears , and candied citrus. This weekend it’s apple’s. My wife is in the baking mood, so anything I can do to prep ingredients goes right to my bottom line.
Question: Would these citrus wheels be any good to use as a craft / decoration afterwards or will they go off too quickly? Do they have to be stored immediately after? Thank you.
You can definitely use them as a craft! They keep for quite a while
Heidi, I’ve seen dehydrated orange wheels used in a flower arrangement. They’d look beautiful in a wedding bouquet.
Question is it normal to be some what sticky ?
Hi Sandi! These should be completely dry!
” into a powder ” The inside pulp will always remain soft; how did you grind that into a powder? It just gums up the blades of kitchen appliances you try to powder it in?
If you add a small amount of corn or tapioca starch to the mix, as you grind, you should be fine! :)
Hi can someone please tell me how to store the citrus wheels
Thank you
You can store them in an airtight container, and keep them in a cool, dry place!
Has anyone ever dried these out in the oven after dipping them in sugar. Does it affect drying time? I’m trying to figure out how to make dried sweet citrus wheels.
So beautiful! I tried this and I wondered if you had any tips chopping them up in small pieces for tea. I dried them as wheels and they were oh, so difficult to chop afterwards. Thank you!
I recommend gathering a few wheels into some paper towels and then just hitting them with the side of a knife…that should help to break them up!
G’day! Thank you for your recipe. I’m currently completing a winter contract as head chef for a winter educational camp in Gstaad Switzerland. It’s a bold statement, but I’ve enjoyed cooking here for children and international staff more than any other job I’ve had before. Found my niche ;) Previous chefs have had a reputation of assuming what kids like to eat and gave failed. I like to imagine that children enjoy lots of different, but simple food and added a creative aspect to it and so far have succeeded and had the praise from all the kids!! I used your recipe to compliment a dessert I created for the staff appreciation dinner over the weekend. Made a cocoa rich moist chocolate cake and cut a cavity in the middle of each individual cake, filled with blood orange curd and sealed over with dark chocolate ganache. The dehydrated blood orange wheel sat perfectly on the cake and was appreciated for its creative addition as well as its invidiual taste and texture. I will be creating this again for sure. Thank you again for your inspiration. Geoff the Chef :)
So glad you enjoyed the recipe!! Thank you for the kind words! Good luck with leading the educational camp, it sounds amazing and like so much fun! xx
You have inspired me for so many wonderful things in my future!!! Dehydration station is in process ♡ This house is going to smell amazing over the next couple days. I just had a romantic getaway this weekend in Joshua Tree, at a beautiful vaca home w an outdoor bath tub surrounded in citrus and pepper trees!! This recipe came to mind right away. So at the end of our weekend, I had my honey help me harvest a ton of this organic citrus grove lol no chemicals and no WAX!!! Just pure citrus love ♥♥♥
Absolutely gorgeous. Can you please tell me the name of the script typeface you used? Thank you!
Way cool! Some very valid points! I appreciate you penning this write-up plus
the rest of the site is very good.
Ok…now I. WANT. THIS. FRAMED. <3
GOOOOOOOORGEOUS (imagines the O here are citrus wheel too ;)
Prettiest post ever!
I’ll to to watch House of Cards. I’ve been hearing so many great things about it. The citrus wheels are so vibrant! And I love how the idea of using dehydrated citrus as a meat rub!
Can you please share where you got the pine garland over your window please?
I got it at the flower market here in LA, but I have seen it sometimes at Trader Joes. It’s live garland.