How to Dry Herbs in the Microwave
Looking for a simple way to preserve your beautiful fresh summer herbs? Or only have a little left from store bought? Here's an easy way, step-by-step How to Dry Herbs in the Microwave.
Long, long ago, in a galaxy... well, actually: Back in November at the end of our crazy mild fall (remember that? sigh...), I ran across this post from Serious Eats on using the microwave to dry herbs -- and have been meaning to tell you about my experiments with this ever since! Sometimes life (and Black Friday) just intervenes, but now we're back on track. So: Here's How to Dry Herbs in the Microwave.
Look at the vibrant color you get when you dry herbs in the microwave! On the left in the photo above, rosemary from my garden that I dried in the microwave. On the right, organic dried rosemary I bought at the store. That's an amazing color difference, and so pretty in recipes -- I used my own microwave dried herbs on this garlic rosemary pork roast recipe earlier this month, and it really made the herb-garlic mixture pop.
You know how sometimes you buy fresh herbs for a recipe, but inevitably have some left over? Preserve those leftover herbs quickly and easily, with microwave drying. Here I dried rosemary and sage, but this method should work well with most heartier herbs. Be careful with more delicate ones, which will need less time and more tender handling.
How to dry herbs in the microwave
Step 1
Wash the herbs, then spread the leaves on a microwave safe plate on two layers of paper towels. Note: Do NOT use recycled paper towels for this, since they may contain small fragments of metal and are not safe for microwave use.
Step 2
Cover the herbs with another paper towel, the microwave on high for one minute. Follow up with 20 second bursts until herbs are completely dry and crumble easily between your fingers. (My microwave took 6-7 rounds; yours may take more or less.)
Step 3
Crumble up your herbs. I found that just twisting and crushing them right inside the paper towels worked for my purposes, but if you want to reduce yours to powder you'll want either to use a mortar and pestle or a coffee grinder.
- Frugal note: I was able to use each set of paper towels to dry a second batch of the same herb before I had to toss them.
The herbs get nicely brittle in the microwave since the water evaporates out before the herb really starts to cook, which also helps them retain their vibrant color.
Step 4
Store dried herbs in a tightly covered container in a cool dry space away from light -- with the rest of your spices would be lovely. 🙂 Here, I just thoroughly washed out and repurposed old spice containers to hold my new microwave dried herbs.
That's all you need to do to use the microwave to dry herbs
Microwaving is such a quick and easy way to preserve small batches of fresh herbs! Don't be afraid to buy fresh herbs, now that you know you can preserve the leftovers quickly and frugally. Let me know if you give it a try, and how it works for you!
How to dry herbs in the microwave, printable version
How to Dry Herbs in the Microwave
Ingredients
- fresh herbs (heartier herbs work better)
Instructions
- Wash the herbs, then spread the leaves on a microwave safe plate on two layers of paper towels. (See Note)
- Cover the herbs with another paper towel, the microwave on high for one minute. Follow up with 20 second bursts until herbs are completely dry and crumble easily between your fingers. (My microwave took 6-7 rounds; yours may take more or less.)
- Crumble up your herbs. I found that just twisting and crushing them right inside the paper towels worked for my purposes, but if you want to reduce yours to powder you’ll want either to use a mortar and pestle or a coffee grinder.
- Store dried herbs in a tightly covered container in a cool dry space away from light — with the rest of your spices would be lovely. Here, I just thoroughly washed out and repurposed old spice containers to hold my new microwave dried herbs.
Notes
More Frugal Homemade Ideas?
If you’re looking for more “frugal homemade” ideas, read more here:
Anything else you’d like to see covered in these categories? Comment here!
I was just thinking of drying some celery leaves to use in my salad dressing because the celery seeds are always irritating my gums. Sure enough you are already showing me what to do! It worked pretty good until the last round and then it burned a hole in the paper towel ! I'm glad I had removed most of the dried ones right before. Next time I think I will try 5 second intervals when there are fewer leaves on the towel. I can't smell anything now besides burned celery leaves and paper towel, but I'm excited to try the dry ones I didn't burn. Once my nose is back to normal! It was so easy and fast. I thank you again for all of the laughs and tips and bargains you work so hard to present here.
I think celery leaves are thinner and less hearty than the herbs I tried, so yeah, maybe a shorter cooking time -- yikes! 🙂 Glad it's seeming to work overall though, and now I'm thinking about the celery I have in my fridge... hmm.
It also depends on the strength of your microwave. When advocating use of a microwave for testing, mention the wattage of your own, so readers can determine how long, number & length of "bursts", etc. Thanks again for posting your discovery!!!
Can you do the same with mint I got bout 3-4 kind of mint
Good to know, I have mint in my backyard. Thanks.
I tried with mint on a microwave safe plate but if your plate has a defect the heating can cause it to break apart in your microwave. It is safer to use a food dehydrator or your oven.
this comment pertains to medicinal reasoning. PLEASE KEEP in mind the microwave uses radiation to cook defrost and dry. Therefore usage for drying garden herbs, the microwave extracts some of medicine and puts in radiation back into the herbs you are drying. It pays to use oven at 175-200* degrees several hours or a hydrators or hang dry method to get full potential medicine benefits.
Microwaves don’t use radiation. It uses a certain wave length, hence microwave but no radiation. That is an urban legend which stunts me that it is still going around. And drying herbs in a microwave for a minute or two keeps the medicinal etheric oils better preserved than heating it in the oven for a longer time.
I agree. Microwaves use a wavelength of 2.45 Giga Hertz from a so called vacuum tube. Radiation is a complete different story. Do not believe this myth. We use microwave drying in stead of freeze drying mushrooms with wonderful results. Keep microwaving
Microwaves use electromagnetic radiation. Electromagnetic radiation has a broad spectrum from very long radio waves to very short gamma rays. Waves at the long end of the spectrum are called non-ionizing radiation. Non-ionizing radiation doesn't have enough energy to change the molecular structure of cell. X-rays on the other hand are ionizing radiation and changes to atoms and molecules, and cause damage to cells in organic matter. The way microwaves work is by vibrating water molecules in the food, producing heat, which cooks the food. Organic matter that has more water content, such as celery leaves someone mentioned trying, will cook faster than more woody types of matter, such as the rosemary and sage mentioned in the article. So adjust your times as appropriate.
Gabriel, I would love to hear your method of drying mushrooms!
I’ve done celery leaves and was absolutely amazed at how they flavored things. So far I’ve powered down the microwave one level and cooked herbs for about 30 seconds. Then I continue by letting herbs air dry. This eliminates the danger of scorching. I do this with leftover parsley also. I’ve done rosemary, but nothing else yet.
I did this over the summer when the basil plant in our garden was growing like crazy!! My Mom was visiting at the time and suggested using the microwave to dry it. We ended up with 2 spice bottles full. The color and taste difference is truly amazing.
Once dried how long will it last?
About like dried herbs you get in the store. A year for optimum freshness, tightly sealed and away from light/heat/etc.
Thank you both for sharing the info. I will be trying this with my basil.
Some paper towels (the recycled kind) say NOT to use them to dry herbs because they can catch on fire. Ever since I read that, I dry them between paper plates instead.
The recycled ones can have small metal fragments so shouldn't be used in a microwave in general -- good catch, I will add a note!
the problem with paper plates aw well as paper cups, is that they are layered with a nylon or polyethylene layer so that the liquids wont wet the cup or plate. warming them will take the chemicals out/into to the herbs/food/drink......
The cheapy ones from the dollar tree that you have to end up using like, three of and they still soak through- those are perfect for this application. Don’t purchase the “good” ones
Mine cought fire....trying paper plates next
Rachel - don't crumble them up before putting them in the bottle. Crumble them just when you go to use them to preserve the essential oils. They will taste even better this way!
After washing the herbs, do you dry them before putting them between the paper towels and into the microwave? Thanks so much!
I didn't bother, I just shook them off. 🙂
How about drying onions and garlic? Do you do it the same way as the other Herbs?
This method is really only for green leafy herbs.
I used a dehydrator and the fruit roll tray for drying my garlic and onion bits
I use my oven on the lowest setting and they stay green. EVERYTHING dries well, without paper layers. Occasionally a leaf will stick to the cookie sheet, but I just scrape it off.. sometimes I will use a silicone sheet to put them on.
Can you provide more details on how you do this?
I simply wash and remove damaged leaves. Then I turn my oven on the lowest heat. I don’t necessarily remove leaves from the stems, but place the herbs that I want to dry onto a cookie sheet or shallow baking pan to separate different herbs of smaller quantities. Some dry faster than others, so I check them regularly, then store them in my designated containers, when they are crispy & dry. My husband turns th oven off, so I have to check everything often! LOL
I've dried oregano and sage in the oven. I dry them at 170* checking every 5 minutes. It doesn't take long. I found it quicker to take kitchen scissors and hold the stem of leaves in one hand and snip the leaves off letting them fall onto the cookie sheet. Then spread them out no place in the oven. After 5 minutes I flip and re spread them with my fingers and then place them back in the oven. Then you can leave them hole or crush and place in jars.
Last Thanksgiving my husband went out and picked sage and dried it this way for the chicken and dressing. It was amazing how good it smelled❣️
Chopped onions will cause sparks in the microwave. I slice my onions and separate rings, place them on parchment paper dry in oven on lowest temperature until completely dry. Onions are sweet after dried.
After slicing my onions I freeze them on cookie sheet and then I pack them in a ziplock bag! Use them only for cooking.
How long do you think they will keep for? Our local Farmers Market is fixing to start up and would LOVE to try this out and support Local Farmers and keep my food flavor packed!
If you store them away from light and tightly sealed, they should be good up to a year -- I've used rosemary a year after drying and it's been fine.
Thank you so much!!
I also use my food saver to seal small batches of herbs. They will keep for a really long time that way, since no air can get to them. If I am drying a big bunch, I will put some into a bottle to use, and seal the rest for later use.
It depends on how much you use them. If something I’ve dried doesn’t hold up or have any flavor, I put it in my compost bin and put the fresh in a new container. When I have leftover veggies, such as onions, I’ll just put them in the oven on lowest heat. I don’t use microwave.
This so emazeing .Thanks this kind idea. We say thank you.
I just did Basal, Oregano and Dill this morning and it was so much easier then the process I used last year. I didn't even have to pluck the leaves off the stems! I rolled in the paper towel to crush the leaves then used a sifter to separate the stems. Amazing...done in no time! Thank you so much for this information.
Tip: You can do this as long as the stem is not too big, so it'll cook evenly.
I have a large bunch of dill left over from pickle making. Can it be dried in the same manner? The dill is so fresh I really would hate to throw it away.
How long did you nuke the basil for in increments?
I just dried some basil, and it turned out perfect! I did 60 seconds then removed the tiny ones that were dry then 20 seconds and checked for small dry ones and removed them, and after that I used 15 second intervals until the last of them were brittle. The way I checked was I broke each leaf in half as I picked it up. if it was the least bit bendy I put it back in for another 15 or more depending. I love this way of drying herbs!