Dehydrating Ground Beef

Dehydrating ground beef is a great way to free up space in your freezer. Also, it tastes just the same when it is rehydrated.

I use my dehydrated ground beef in my slow cooking recipes and my meals in a jar. It takes up less space on my shelf than it does in the freezer. Which for us, is reason alone to dehydrate our ground beef.

If you don’t have much freezer space and you find a good sale on ground beef, get it. This is a great way to preserve it for long term storage.

Dehydrating Ground Beef

1. Cook up your ground beef, the leaner the better.
2. When your ground beef is cooked thoroughly you will need to rinse it all off. This is a very important step. You don’t want oil left on the beef when you put it in the dehydrator. The oil will go rancid quickly, so rinse and pat it dry with some paper towel if needed.
3. Place your ground beef on your dehydrator sheets and place the sheets into a warmed dehydrator. I have a 9-tray Excalibur that I use. I always turn my dehydrator on so it can start warming up.
4. Put the temp on 165 degrees.
5. It should be dry within 4-6 hours maybe longer depending on where you live.
6. When it is dry bring your ground beef to room temp before placing it in an airtight container.
7. Condition your ground beef for at least 3 days
8. Once it is conditioned and you know it is dry, place your ground beef in an airtight container, add an oxygen absorber, and vacuum seal.
9. I always use these dehydrator sheets on my trays. You can place them on all your trays or just on the bottom tray. This will keep those small bits of ground beef from falling to the bottom.

How do you bring your ground beef back to life?

Two ways you could rehydrate your ground beef. First, you can boil some water, and pour the boiling water over your ground beef. It may take 10-15 minutes to rehydrate.

Second, you can just toss it into whatever you are cooking, just make sure you add in extra liquid.

Quick Tip

If you are wanting to rehydrate this quickly here is a great tip. As you are cooking your ground beef, add in some bread crumbs in with your ground beef. When you rehydrate the ground beef, the bread crumbs will help soak up some moisture.

Shelf Life

You can research this because answers are going to vary. I am comfortable using it for up to a year. It could last longer, I don’t know.

Common Questions

Does it need to be refrigerated? No. As long as it has been dried and conditioned correctly, no refrigeration is needed.

Does it have to be vacuumed sealed? If you’re planning on using it within a few months or less, no it does not. If you’re wanting to keep it longer, I suggest you vacuum seal it. You may not have to, but it’s what I do.

Does it need an oxygen absorber? If you are wanting to store it longer than a few months, I suggest you toss in an oxygen absorber.

Happy Dehydrating

Here is a quick video explaining how to condition your dehydrated food

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