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!
so happy you posted this! i have basil, lavender & chives growing in my garden and was wondering how to preserve them without losing their color. This method seems perfect!! Thank you so much.
I have been doing this for years with parsley, love the intense green color
Does this work for all herbs? I'm looking for a good way to preserve a big bunch of coriander (cilantro) since I can't buy them in every store in Germany. I usually get that in an asia market but that's always a bigger trip and I'd love to have some dried up.
I haven't tried cilantro but I don't see why it wouldn't. It's probably going to dry more quickly like parsley does, so err on shorter bursts and you might need fewer; just keep an eye on it.
Thanks for your quick answer! 🙂 I will report the result here.
Thanks for the info on cilantro and parsley because I can’t use up what I have and have to throw them away. I’m definitely going to the microwave method. Tried the oven method but it takes way to long to dehydrate anything.
It takes a little longer, but the microwave destroys any nutrient value in your herbs and they have many values that are lost!
Cooking in a microwave does not destroy nutrients when cooking food. The microwaves cause water molecules to vibrate, heating the food from within. As a general rule of thumb, microwaved food holds on to more nutrients than any other cooking method. Remember, microwaves are nothing more than light waves, they are at a frequency that is nonionizing.
When you use the microwave dried herbs, do you use the same measurement as for store-bought, or do you measure as if they are fresh?
Like dried store-bought -- they shrink up and the flavor concentrates.
Should the paper towels be damp?
Nope -- just plain old dry paper towels.
What about using clean cotton towels, rather than paper?
I've never tried it. Let us know if you do! 🙂
As another frugal hint, you can use a clean dry tea towel for this. *S*
I dry my herbs on either wax paper or parchment paper. Works great.
i have tried this method with parsley and it came out nice with good aroma, thanks for this info. But the day i tried it with garlic everything got burnt wow. I really need to know how to dry your garlic, ginger and tumeric in microwave, I will be glad if you can help. thanks
Are you kidding drying them in a microwave??
Microwaves have radiation and they take everything out..nutrients, anything good for you.
Wrong way to dry them.
Agreed. I was surprised when I saw this circulating around. Microwaves are a terrible way to keep healthy nutrients in your food.
That's actually not true. See for instance:
https://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/17/health/17real.html
Well, the question with a big Q is, who paid for the studies?
Thank you so much for this post. The hot Florida sun and a few days of inoperable sprinkler system has done damage to my outside herb garden this year. I have been able to salvage some herbs but I know they won’t last too long in the fridge. I tried this last night as a test on a little bit of herbs and it worked like a charm. The color is so much more vibrant than the store bought herbs I have. Although I still prefer to use fresh when possible, this is a wonderful alternative.
Has anyone tried to do diced peppers? If you can’t do it in the microwave how can it be done in the oven? I thought most paper towels were recycled...what brand is not recycled?
Thanks fo any info
Thank you! The instructions are clear and the pictures are beautiful.
Thanks for the article, and thanks to all the commenters. I don't buy paper towel and was wondering if cheesecloth or a tea towel would work. So, nice to see some folks say, "yes." Thanks!
Thank you. Leftover cilantro will never rot in my refrigerator drawer any more. So easy. One minute and 5/30 second bursts here.
I started using this way to dry curley leaf parsley about 25 years ago. It dries really fast and it smells so fresh when done. I have some that is 8 years old and is still bright green and tastes fresh. Keep in an air tight container away from light.
Well, apparently basil and select-a-size Bounty causes fires.....
Yikes. Make sure any paper towel you use doesn't have any recycled paper content, because that can contain metal.
I have been using this technique for years. It's fast and because of that I tend to harvest more often so I get a bigger yield. I usually get enough dried herbs from one plant to carry me through to the next year, except for parsley. I use a lot of that, so one flat & one curly mixed together in one container does the trick. The herbs keep more of their flavour and colour by dehydrating in the microwave. Thanks for posting.
I use the microwave for drying my herbs all the time and most herbs do exceptionally well. My herb garden is extensive and one year I dried a gallon of parsley and gave most of it away for Christmas gifts. You do have to watch the paper towels because you can scorch them and I have caused a mini fire in the microwave. However only once.
I use parchment paper to dry mine.
Can you dry mint, like peppermint, lemon balm, spearmint, chocolate mint, etc., in the microwave using the same method?
I have not tried mint, but don't see why not. It's much more delicate than the rosemary shown, though, so be gentle with it -- try a small batch and experiment first.
I dried basil last week and today I dried oregano in the microwave. The Basil took much longer to dry but the oregano was less tedious and faster!
In comment to the prices going up at Aldi on spices; I check Dollar Tree and Walmart and Big Lots for cheap deals. I also find some at Kroger (house brand) for a decent price. I noticed Aldi was not as cheap for dried herbs and spices a few years ago and have either dried my own or shopped in the places mentioned. These store usually sell their stock fast and they have extremely far out date stamps on them.
I have been successfully drying parsley in my 1000 watt microwave for 10 + years. I have used paper plates or a big stoneware dinner plate with paper towels under the herbs and over. I do them for short intervals until dry enough to crumble. I strip the leaves off the stems before drying since the stems are woody. I have never burned any paper towels. Guess it is a matter of paying attention. Glad to know about the metal pieces in recycled paper toweling. Will check my brand. I will not use any that are recycled in the future. You can dehydrate any food in the oven or using a dehydrator. Use a mandoline slicer to get uniform pieces. The amount of liquid in a food will determine how long it takes to dy. I know someone who slices then dries his home grown hot peppers in a dehydrator and then pulverized them. He uses the hottest ghost pepper powder and a variety of other peppers to make his own salsas, sauces, etc and heats up all his food and loves doing it. Of course his taste buds are burned off, but that is what he likes. Due to health concerns, he lost 100 lbs in a year, is pescatarian but mostly vegan. He never eats sweets, and rarely bread or pasta. It works for him. All food is "dead" unless it is raw or fresh " out of the ground or off the stems. Eating a variety of colorful food is best for our bodies well being. Knowing what our body has to do to get the nutrients out of our food is essential to eating well and staying healthy. Drying food is only a means of convenience, but fresh is best. Happy eating All!
Can you use cloth towels? I will try doing with this method. Thank you
I was just going to ask this! will also try- don't want the chlorine in the towels to somehow evaporate into the herbs.
will use cheese cloth and see
CAUTION! Some microwaves run hotter than others. I tried this and before the first minute was up, there was a burst of flames and the paper towel caught on fire. Lucky I was standing there watching and responded quickly to put it out.
I am thrilled to find this info especially to dry my rosemary for infusing salt. Could I dry lemon zest in the microwave? Using the microwave should eliminate drying salt and rosemary in oven but I realize I may still need to dry salt and zest in the oven. Thank you for any comments.
I will try them out, the different methods.
I did the microwave drying this morning but my paper towels burst into flame???
Make sure that you are not using recycled paper towels, which can contain bits of metal.
@vergel, see above comments about paper towel & paper plate additives. I read many and think they’re spot on. I’m going to try drying now but probably by hanging in my garage where it’s hot/dry.
All the best!!!
How do I dry parsley and basil in microwave? Do I chop it up first? My microwave is 1000 watts.
Thank you.
Where is the PRINT link, please.
I have just added one for you: https://www.mashupmom.com/wprm_print/368580
(This is quite an old post before I had the plugin to create the printable version, sorry it was not there before!)
Please don't use microwave for drying herbs. We should not be using them at all. They reduce nutrition in anything put in it.
https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/ask-the-doctor-microwaves-impact-on-food#:~:text=However%2C%20microwave%20cooking%20is%20actually,microwave%20cooking%20takes%20less%20time.
I do same with parsley and basil and Mint and oregano and marjoram.
So green!
Store bought dried parsley tastes like grass clippings but this way they actually taste like parsley.
This comment is not to criticize the technique. However, a microwave scrambles the energetic components of herbs to make them null and void of any purpose for nutrition. Although convenient, you are now consuming devitalized anything after microwaving it. 😕
I’ve been using this method for years. But I have found that if I leave the leaves of the herbs whole and do not crush them until I’m ready to use them that the flavor is much more intense and more like fresh herbs. The oils are released at the time of use instead of early by crushing them before using them.
Will be drying left over herbs in future. Thanks.
Thanks, helpful and will do.
Ref drying herbs in microwave. I don’t even warm up water in microwave for tea cuz experiments I’ve seen on watering plants with microwaved water and regular tap water. So wouldn’t microwaving herbs take away the nutrients from the herbs. Does it probably leaves the taste of the herb but what about the nutrient benefits of the plant??
Hi there can I dry Basel in the microwave?
I used this method last year and was surprised how easy & quicker this method is. I also found the color to be more vibrant when using the microwave method.