How to Make and Use Vegetable Powder

Have you dehydrated all the vegetables, but don’t know how to use them? Here is a quick and easy way to make them even more versatile! Veggie powder!

Do you get so excited to dehydrate vegetables, then let them sit on a shelf, unsure of how to use them. Or maybe you realize that you don’t even like them. Maybe you’ve got lots of small portions that just don’t make sense keeping.

This tip will make ALL of your dehydrated vegetables so versatile to use, and you’ll NEVER notice them! This works for dehydrated fresh vegetables, canned vegetables and frozen vegetables.

According to the CDC, only 1 in 10 adults gets enough vegetables into their diets on a daily basis. The federal recommendation is at least 2-3 Cups of vegetables per day, yet only 1 in 9 adults get that.

Seven of the top 10 leading causes of death in the United States are from chronic diseases. Eating a diet rich in fruits and vegetables daily can help reduce the risk of many leading causes of illness and death, including heart disease, type 2 diabetes, some cancers, and obesity.

But what if you just really hate vegetables? Or you have texture issues that make eating vegetables hard for you? There are a lot of reasons, besides having trained our mouths to only like junk food. But here’s how you can help boost the nutrional value of even your most nutrition-less meals.

(This is not an excuse for you to eat McD’s all the time and just sprinkle some veggie powder on your burger, mind you)

What is Veggie Powder?

Vegetable powder is ground, dehydrated (dried) vegetables. Any vegetable. And the cool thing is you can mix them all up!

You can use

• Fresh Vegetables (this list is being updated as quickly as I can take pics!)
• Frozen Vegetables
• Canned Vegetables
• Freeze-dried vegetables (if you’re trying to use up a bag or can before you open a new one)

How to Make Vegetable Powder

Of course, go ahead and dehydrate your vegetables. Whatever you’re using will be just fine. In my photo, it’s a combination of corn, carrots, green beans, peas, potatoes, broccoli, and cauliflower.  They were part of my last frozen veggie dehydrator run. I happen to use an Excalibur Dehydrator, but any dehydrator will do.

You can do single ingredient powders or just mix up all of the veggies and powder them. The mixture tends to take on a more neutral taste – a generic vegetable taste. If you ratio is heavy on a particular vegetable, it may begin to take on more of that particular flavor.

Case in point – no one in my family likes peas. In fact, we pretty much all hate them. But I can sneak in pea goodness into my powders. However, if I do a whole bag of frozen peas, I need to be sure it’s into a large portion of ‘generic’ powder to help mask that flavor. My husband can pick it out in a heartbeat if the ratio is too heavy on the pea side.

1. Pour Dehydrated Vegetables into a Blender

Whatever veggies you’re using – you’ll want to go ahead and grind them.

2. Powder

I pulse a few times, then set it to a sustained mode (I happen to use crush from my machine). This is to break up the pieces then run on a sustained cycle to pulverize the pieces.

Here is the result of 1 C of the dehydrated vegetables ground in my Ninja blender. You can see that there are a few larger bits on top from green beans and carrots.

You can, of course, use any blender that you have, depending on how much you are doing at one time.

3. Strain and Grind Again

Strain out the powder into a bowl so I can take the larger bits and either use my blender again — or —

I throw them into my coffee grinder. I use this Cuisinart grinder because this little bowl detaches to make clean up a breeze!

But you can see how the larger bits of carrots and green beans are ground into a fine powder. Sometimes the big blenders can’t get those last bits because there’s just not enough bulk to keep them in the blades. That’s when a coffee grinder can really come in handy.

How to Use Vegetable Powder

The basic ratio of vegetables to vegetable powder is this

2 C of vegetables to 1 C dehydrated vegetables to 1/2 C vegetable powder.

Your ratio will vary depending on the cut of your vegetables (these were small cut sizes). 1 C of uncut broccoli will be different than 1 C of small, chopped broccoli. This is an instance where the ratios don’t have to be exact. It is to give you a sense of the conversion that you can adjust to your own taste preferences.

►Add veggie powder to boost the nutrition of anything that you are making. While 1 TB of ground dried vegetables seems pointless in one instance, the accumulation of the addition of the powders to your daily life adds that much more nutrition throughout your day.

How to Store Vegetable Powder

Store in an airtight container. A mason jar, a mylar storage bag, but not zip-top plastic bags as they do allow air to permeate over time. You want to make sure that no air/moisture gets into your powder to allow it to clump or degenerate. Store in a cool, dry, dark place.

Ideas for Using Veggie Powder

• 1 TB to baked goods – you really don’t taste it, but it helps make those brownies or cookies ‘nutritious’!
• 2 TB to casseroles – no matter what veggies you may have added, it helps boost the nutrition level of tater tot casserole.
• 1.5 TB into scrambled eggs
• Smoothies
• 1-2 TB into breads
• Sprinkle on salads
• 1/4 C of vegetable powder to 2 C of broth makes a great vegetable broth
• Make your own nutritional supplements
• Create your own seasoning blends with herbs and spices
• Use powders to naturally color pasta
• Mix with stock and milk to make a cream of vegetable soup

Remember, these ratios are suggestions only. You may find you need to adjust them for your taste buds or for the particular dish.

DOES VEGETABLE POWDER REPLACE YOUR VEGETABLE INTAKE?

We use dehydrated vegetable powder more as a supplement to boost the vitamin and mineral content in our food, but not as a replacement for vegetables. You are getting a boost of vitamin and minerals.

However, if you do a straight 1/4C of vegetable powder to approximately 2 C of broth (bone or vegetable), you can count that as a serving of vegetables!

YOUR INPUT ►► If you are already using vegetable powders, how do you integrate them into your meals?

Other Kinds of Dehydrated Powders You Can Make or Use

• Fruit Powders
• Green Powder
• Peanut Butter Powder

You Might Also Be Interested in Learning…

How to Dehydrate Blackberries & Make Blackberry Powder

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

10 Creative Ways to Use Beans in Food Storage – even if you hate them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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