NESCO Food Dehydrator

The NESCO food dehydrator company has made Nesco food dehydrators for over thirty years, and according to Nesco, their patented food dehydrators feature technology that dries your food faster and evenly.

NESCO food dehydrator, running

I've had my dehydrator since 2010... and love it! I like being able to stack as many trays as needed... more on that in the FAQ section below.

TOP Frequently Asked Questions:

Nesco food dehydrator beef jerky?

Yes, you can make beef jerky with a Nesco dehydrator. That link takes you to our "How to Dehydrate Meat" overview page, and at the bottom is a recipe for Beef Jerky!

Nesco food dehydrator trays?

The neat thing about Nesco dehydrators is that you can stack as many trays as you need. The minimum is FOUR - for proper air circulation. And maximum? It varies from 7 to 20. TWENTY? Wow. Can you imagine what would happen if the dog's tail knocked that tower of trays over? Just sayin'.

Nesco food dehydrator recipes?

Check out my 20 Taste-Tested Easy Recipes with Dehydrated Food. Available as an eBook or paperback.


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How to Grow and Dehydrate Herbs free eBook

How to Grow &
Dehydrate Herbs

Treat yourself today with my free eBook. Learn how to dry the top six herbs and make herb-infused oils and vinegars!

Click the book cover and that will take you to my secure download page and full deets.

It's my gift to you as a way of saying "thanks for stopping by!"

Pick up my Free eBook today!

How to Grow &
Dehydrate Herbs

How to Grow and Dehydrate Herbs free eBook

Treat yourself today with my free eBook. Learn how to dry the top six herbs and make herb-infused oils and vinegars!

Click the book cover and that will take you to my secure download page and full deets.

It's my gift to you as a way of saying "thanks for stopping by!"


NESCO™ DEHYDRATORS at Amazon

Nesco FD-80A Food + Jerky Dehydrator

This is a square-shaped food dehydrator, perfect for snacks, fruit, and beef jerky. White with a top black tray edge, with a white lid.

  • 700 watts of drying power
  • Expandable to 8 trays
  • 15.25 x 10.25 x 15.63 inches (LxWxH)
  • Temperature range: 95°F - 160°F
  • Comes with: 1 Clean-A-Screen, 1 Recipe Instruction Book, 1 Jerky Seasoning & Cure Sample

Nesco FD-61WHC Snackmaster Encore Food Dehydrator

This round Nesco Snackmaster comes with a jerky gun kit and 5 trays. It has a very light grey body with a darker grey lid.

  • 500 watts of drying power
  • Expandable to 12 trays
  • 13.5 x 13.5 x 9.25 inches (LxWxH)
  • Temperature range: 95°F - 160°F
  • Comes with: 1 Jerky Gun with 3 tip attachments, 2 Fruit Roll Sheets, 2 Clean-A-Screens, 5 Jerky Seasoning & Cure Samples, Recipe & Instruction book

Nesco FD-60 Snackmaster Express Food Dehydrator

This is the new version of mine as it has an updated lid. It's a light grey body with a darker grey lid.

  • 500 watts of drying power
  • Expandable to 12 trays
  • 3.5 x 13.5 x 9.25 inches (LxWxH)
  • Temperature range: 95°F - 155°F
  • Comes with: 1 Fruit Roll Sheet, 2 Original-Flavor Jerky Spice & Cure Packets

* As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. The price you pay does not increase.







Even Drying ~ From Top to Bottom

According to NESCO®, you get even-drying from top to bottom because of NESCO's Converge-A-Flow® air-flow design.

This is supposed to eliminate the tray rotation, but I still rotate the trays, anyway.

They also have clear NESCO® food dehydrator trays so you can see what's drying.

They also have a Snackmaster® Square Dehydrator and Jerky Maker as mentioned in the RED WORDS/links near the top of the page.

Check out this FD-75A model over on Amazon.

* As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. The price you pay does not increase.

NESCO temperature selector on its lid

Easy-To-Use Temperature Selector

The NESCO® food dehydrator models have a temperature selector on the lid and are easy to read and use.

The NESCO® food dehydrator fan is located on the top inside the lid, (which is better than some models where the fan is at the bottom, as it makes it a breeze to keep clean!)

There isn't an on/off switch on the NESCO® food dehydrator, you just have to plug the dehydrator in and unplug it when you're done. More on that below.

Buy a Lamp "Timer-switch"

24-Hour Plug-In Mechanical Timer - Grounded

You can buy a 'timer-switch' from hardware stores if you want to have the luxury of the NESCO® food dehydrator turning off, say after ten hours, if you know you won't be home to shut it off!

A neat feature of a NESCO® food dehydrator is that you can stack as many trays as you want, within reason!

(You MUST have a minimum of four trays in use; see additional comments coming up).

* As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. The price you pay does not increase.

I feel good about being able to use as many dehydrator trays as needed, rather than having to run the machine with empty trays. Sometimes I'll have just four trays going, and some days seven!

Nesco Dehydrator - 4-tray starter model, showing green beans being dehydrated

Nesco Food Dehydrator: Features Stackable Trays; Fan is in the Lid

I began with the NESCO®  four-tray model and purchased additional trays.

They come in sets of two at a very reasonable price.

I was pleased that the new NESCO food dehydrator trays color-matched perfectly with the old(er) trays for an almost seamless stacking experience!

I also made sure I had solid fruit roll sheets too, more on these coming up!

Use a Minimum of 4 Trays!

NOTE: NESCO® states you must use a minimum of four trays, whether you've got food on all four trays or not, for the fan to create even drying.

The only time I ever need to run the dehydrator with less than four trays is when I make fruit roll-ups—I only have two Fruit Roll Sheets that came with the dehydrator so only two trays are actually being used! To have the mimimum of four trays, I insert and empty tray at the top and bottom. (One below and one above my fruit roll trays).

Keep on scrolling to read more about screens to keep your Nesco food dehydrator clean!


NESCO Clean-a-Screen and Fruit Roll sheets

Nesco Clean-a-Screen and Fruit Rolls Sheets

So for now, when only using TWO trays for the roll-ups until you have purchased more fruit roll sheets to make the stack of trays add up to four, add an empty tray (without clean-a-Screens, more on those coming up) in-between the fruit roll trays and one more on top, so that you have the 'four tray minimum' for drying.

NESCO®  food dehydrators also have "Clean-a-Screens" which are circular plastic mesh flexible screens. They have little half-round cutouts for your fingers to enable easy removal of the sheets—and that's great!

They fit neatly into the dehydrator trays and this enables you to keep small foods from falling through to the trays below (as foods shrink when they dry out!)

NESCO™ ACCESSORIES at Amazon

Nesco Solid Fruit Roll Sheets

Nesco LSS-2-6 Round clear plastic 13-1/2" diameter Fruit Roll Sheets, white.

  • 2 pk of solid fruit roll sheets
  • 1.6 sq feet drying area
  • Dry capacity up to 3 cups of pureed fruit per sheet
  • Check the red Amazon link to see which Nesco models these Fruit Roll Sheets fit

Nesco Mesh Sheets

Nesco LM-2-6 Round plastic mesh 13-1/2" diameter Clean-A-Screens, white.

  • 2 pk of mesh sheets
  • 1.6 sq feet drying area
  • Check the red Amazon link to see which Nesco models these Clean-A-Screens fit

Nesco Trays

Nesco WT-2SG Round Speckled Plastic 13-1/2" diameter Add-A-Tray.

  • 2 pk of speckled round trays
  • 1.6 sq feet drying area
  • Fits 20 Series and 30 Series Food Dehydrators
  • Check the red Amazon link to see all the Nesco models these Add-A-Trays fit

* As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. The price you pay does not increase.

Use Screens - Sticky Foods Clean Off Much Easier!

Also, any sticky fruits/foods clean off really easily from these dehydrator screenswhich is their intended purpose. I just soak mine in the sink, then gently scrub away any stubborn particles, but honestly, it's rare that I have to put that much elbow grease into cleaning them.

My 4-tray model came complete with two Fruit Roll Sheets as mentioned above, and these are like the Clean-a-Screens because they fit neatly into the trays, but these are solid so that the tray's contents CAN'T spill or seep through! Important when pouring puréed fruits to make the fruit roll-ups!

The NESCO® dehydrator company also offers cookbooks and Jerky Gun Kits.

NOTE: Some of you have written in saying that you've been using plastic wrap instead of the NESCO® Fruit Roll sheets—word of caution here! Make SURE you DO NOT cover the center hole in the trays—if you do, you won't get ANY air circulation and you'll likely burn the motor/thermostat out if you forget.

I'd err on the safe side and get more Fruit Roll Sheets because of their affordability.

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Susan Gast, founder of Easy Food Dehydrating

Hi, I'm Susan Gast, founder of Easy Food Dehydrating. My passion for dehydrating food began in 2010 while seeking crafty uses for abundant tomatoes. I've since devoted myself to elevating the art of removing moisture from fruits, vegetables, meats, and so much more!
JOIN ME as we unlock the magic of food preservation through dehydration together!
Read About Me here.

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