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!
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