I’ve beens slightly obsessed with sun-drying things. I usually make kale chips in my oven about once a week because it’s super simple and I love crunchy things. But right now, since it’s summer and hot AF, I’m trying to avoid turning on my oven.
Of course there are exceptions: Hatch Chile Cornbread (coming soon), pie (always) and other delicious things. But these foods HAVE to be made in an oven, veggie chips and other things can be made in the hot summer sun.
These aren’t really recipes I suppose; instead it’s just a post to share what I’ve been up to. Maybe inspiration?
To start, I’ll say that I used these mosquito nets because I don’t like the idea of flies on my food. Do any of us?!
I took these cherry tomatoes, halved them and then placed them on a parchment-lined baking sheet. I placed them in the sun for about 2 days and boom! Sun-dried cherry tomatoes. They’re so sweet and tart.
I’m excited to bust these out in November and put them in all sorts of pasta. Of course, I’m just gonna eat the chips with like a glass of iced tea.
As I stated above, I cannot live without kale chips. I eat them constantly. I loooove ’em. Have you ever eaten a bunch of kale chips and then tried to talk to someone?! There will be shards of green all up in your teeth–it’s not a good look!
I rubbed the kale leaves with a bit of olive oil and salt and set them outside for about 2 days. They were crispy as could be.
The same with the zucchini chips, except I didn’t use any olive oil and just salted them.
I will say as a bit of a disclaimer: I live in very dry climate. California doesn’t have much humidity. Maybe on an average summer’s day we’re at about 20% humidity so not very much at all. I have no idea how this would work in more wet climates. If you try it, please let us know in the comments!
Ingredients
Sun-Dried Tomatoes:
- 1 pint cherry tomatoes halved
- Sea salt
Sun-Dried Kale Chips
- 1 bunch of kale leaves torn into bite-size pieces (I discarded the stem)
- 1 to 2 teaspoons olive oil
- Sea salt
Zucchini Chips
- 1 zucchini thinly sliced with a mandolin
- Sea salt
Instructions
- To make the sun-dried cherry tomatoes: Place the halved cherry tomatoes cut side up on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Sprinkle the cherry tomatoes with a few pinches of salt. Allow to stand in the direct sunlight for at least 2 to 3 days, until fully dried and shrivel-y. Depending on the temperatures, this may take less or more time. At night I brought the baking sheets and lightly covered them with a towel.
- To make the sun-dried kale chips: On a parchment-lined baking sheet, spread out the kale leaves and drizzle with about 1 to 2 teaspoons of olive oil. Rub the kale for about 2 minutes, making sure the olive oil is incorporated into the kale. Sprinkle with a few pinches of salt. Set the baking sheet in the direct sun for at least 1 to 2 days. This will vary depending on the temperatures.
- To make the zucchini chips: Set the zucchini slices on a parchment-lined baking sheet so they are not overlapping. Set them in the direct sunlight for about 2 to 3 days, until crispy. This may take more or less time depending on the weather. Zucchini chips are tough to get totally crispy if there's a high humidity so just beware of that before you start!
I posted a pic on instagram recently of some herbs I was hanging to dry outside and someone who lives on the east coast was like “You’re not doing that inside?!?!” High five for dry, desert-y living!
disclaimer indeed – that would never work in DC! We have 100% humidity nearly the whole summer (but we also have AC and an oven, so no fear 😀 )
those cherry tomatoes though…
I live in a very… natural area, LoL– if I would like to do this in my oven, could you recommend a temp to set it at and for how long? Thanks =)
This is amazing! I live in far too humid a climate to do this legit in the sun. Any tips for cheating and doing it in the oven?
OMG this is so awesome! I live in Minnesota so the humidity could be a problem but it is totally worth a shot! Thanks for the inspiration!
OMG, I’ve wanted to try this for years but I never seem to remember to when it’s hot enough. I’m so doing it when it gets how down here in the south hem. Thanks for sharing!
Talk about really using the elements to your advantage! I’m all for saving our lovely produce as long as possible, love it! (Pie is always the exception for oven time)
Adrianna;
I just checked out your mosquito nets – they’re 16×16; my pans are 17″, and I assume if you’re using standard sheet pans, yours are the same. What did you do about the gap? I’m curious as I’m in SoCal (LA) and would like to try this.
The tomatoes are on a quarter sheet pan (not halves) and they fit perfectly under the mosquito nets. The kale and zucchini are half sheets and didn’t really fit but it mostly did the job. It had to sit on top of the sheet pan but totally worked. There was a bit of a gap but it worked great. I checked on them regularly and there were never flies or bugs on the zucchini or kale chips.
I love everything about this.
Quick question, what if bugs land on my sun drying veggies??? This is my problem, I think about this kind of stuff too much! And then I talk myself out of doing it…
P.S. Talking with Kale chips in your mouth should make it on SNL! And they should credit you.
Hahaha…right? It’s a sight!
Oh this is why I bought the mosquito nets (link is in the text above). I was a little freaked out about bugs crawling all over my food. Fun fact: I tried sliced watermelon bc I figured sun-dried watermelon would be delicious and after a few hours I went to check on it and ants were all up on them! So no sweet foods outside. But mosquito nets are a must!
Totally missed the mosquito nets! Thanks. Now I really can do this!
I always figured that making sun-dried tomatoes would be more complicated than just… putting them out in the sun! I’d love to try it, but I wonder if I missed my window of opportunity, since the humidity in Boston just cranked up to 100%.
Any advice for storing the finished tomatoes? How long do they last?
Nooooo…I think September in Boston when the humidity has waned might work! Also tomatoes are still super good in September. I dried mine in about 80 degree temperature so not too hot.
Oh! I put them in a jar and stuck them in the fridge. You could also pour olive oil over them and store them in olive oil, too. I’m not sure how long they last since I haven’t tested that part out but I’m thinking they’ll last well into the winter.
This is so intriguing! I love sun dried tomatoes. Wish I lived in a dry environment like you!
Sun-dried Kale CHips?! My mouth is watering!
xoxo Mollie
www.molliebellezza.com