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How to Dehydrate Turkey
Using Pre-Cooked, Pre-Sliced Deli Turkey Breast!

So glad you're here to learn how to dehydrate turkey.

Dehydrating Turkey is So EASY to Do!

Dehydrating turkey that is pre-cooked and pre-sliced couldn't be easier! So off to the refrigerator I went and took out a 9 oz. plastic tub of sliced Turkey I'd bought from Target Stores.

These 'before' and 'after' photos (shown below) are of the sliced turkey on the dehydrator. Notice how much they shrink!

NOTE: the tray on the right was a tray that had five slices on initially, not three.

(I think "someone" ate two of them before dehydrating them...)

Cut Evenly Sized Pieces of Turkey

As with the chicken and roast beef pages, I note you can use your leftover meats (as in whole chicken and turkey, and cuts of beef).

Just cut the meat into "dehydratable" pieces—make the pieces similar sizes—now they will dehydrate uniformly!

How to Dehydrate Turkey:
Ideal Temperature for Dehydrating Cooked Turkey

Cooked turkey is best dehydrated at 160°F as mentioned above—but please consult your food dehydrator's owner's manual for their specific instructions.

Back to the store-bought pre-sliced turkey:

The package from Target filled all four of my Nesco Dehydrator trays, with around three slices of turkey on three trays, and four slices on the fourth...

and I couldn't believe that it only took TWO hours to become fully dehydrated!

Turkey Slices Re-hydrated Really Well!

As you can see in the photo, I purposely draped a slice of the re-hydrated turkey around my finger so you could see that it was indeed moist again, i.e. not straight and crispy!

I was very pleased, to say the least. IMPORTANT: re-hydrate in the refrigerator in CLEAN water. Don't leave it out on the countertop! Don't waste your time and effort and let the turkey go 'off'!

In the photo above, you can clearly see three packages of pre-cooked turkey, all vacuum-sealed with their oxy-packs and ready to store.

I will check on these in about a month, to make sure they haven't 'turned'... because there is fat in meat and we don't want to be eating rancid bad turkey!

UPDATE: Turkey is still 'perfectly good' after one month with no refrigeration! :-)

Easy, No-Fuss Thanksgiving
(or any day) Turkey!

Image and recipe courtesy of Tastes Better from Scratch

I can't wait until next November or December for turkey!

Here's an easy, no-fuss turkey recipe.

It's from a place called Tastes Better from Scratch.

Then you'll be back here—dehydrating turkey leftovers! :-)

Turkey Risotto Memories

One of my favorite "turkey" memories is getting to eat Turkey Risotto. My mom made it every year back in the UK at Christmas time.

After moving to the USA, I got to enjoy my favorite turkey meal twice a year. Yes! Now Thanksgiving is another reason for going the extra mile for a sit-down turkey dinner.

Instead of using rice every time, I changed it up and added orzo. Adding orzo also shortened the cooking time by half!

Mom's Turkey Risotto Recipe was simple: A can of diced tomatoes, small can of peas, half a white onion, handful of mushrooms. And cooked, sliced up turkey, of course!

Cook it all down in a large shallow frying-type pan with a tad of chicken stock. Then add the rice, bring to a boil and simmer for 30 mins or until the rice is cooked. Again, if you substitute orzo for the rice, you've only got about 15 mins of added cooking time!

Believe it or not, I preferred the Risotto to the 'turkey, mash, and gravy' sit-down dinner.

~ ~ ~

I'm a big fan of turkey. I'm on a keto diet and I totally enjoy a very light dinner comprising a mozzarella stick wrapped in two thin slices of turkey breast. Learn more about the keto diet here on my sister-site.

If you wish to learn how to dehydrate chicken, simply visit this page. To learn how to dehydrate pork, visit this page. And let's not forget beef, which you can learn more about here. If you've got a hankering for learning how to dehydrate seafood, read more here.

Thanks for stopping by to learn how to dehydrate turkey! If you have any questions, feel free to drop me an email here.

Susan Gast began Easy Food Dehydrating in December 2010. Read Susan's story of what sparked her interest in all things related to "food dehydrating."

She is featured on Mother Earth News blog, and on Solo Build It (SBI) who host this site. Read her first SBI interview, and her second SBI interview.

Since 1980, Susan's involvement in publishing - in one form or another - led her to create a "review site" of products related to the publishing industry. Visit ePubTechReviews today, also hosted by Solo Build It. Susan also runs her namesake site SusanGast.com on Solo Build It that showcases the books she has written since 2010.

Do you want to send Susan a quick message? Visit her contact page here. She'd love to hear from you!

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