Did you know that one of the quickest ways to dry fresh herbs is actually your air fryer? You don’t even need a special dehydrate setting to use it. Today, I’m going to show you how to dry mint in the air fryer for an easy way to preserve it for later.
Why You Need This Recipe
If you’re anything like me, I’ve always got a bunch of peppermint left over after the holiday baking sprees, and any time I have a cocktail party. Why waste perfectly good mint? Now you don’t have to, since it takes just a few minutes to dry it out.
Should you not own an air fryer yet (gasp!) or want to try out both methods to see which one you like better, make sure to check out how to dry mint in the microwave as well. It’s an equally quick and easy alternative!
What You Need For This Recipe
- 3-4 stems of fresh mint (or about 20 large leaves)
Recipe Ingredients and Substitutions
- Mint. This recipe uses fresh mint leaves (and that’s it)! However, that said, it works equally well for Peppermint, Spearmint, Chocolate mint, or cocktail garnishing mints such as Mojito mint. Really, whatever you happen to have on hand is going to work great!
How to Dry Mint Leaves in an Air Fryer
- Wash and dry your mint leaves
- Preheat your air fryer to 350°F
- Place your mint in a single layer in the preheated air fryer basket
- Add a trivet or rack over top of the leaves, or bind the stems together with a heat safe tie to prevent the mint from flying around in the air fryer
- Cook on the air fryer setting for 3 minutes at 350°F, then check for doneness. Leaves should appear dry and break easily when squeezed gently
- If additional time is needed, add in 1-minute increments
- Separate the leaves from the stems by either gently plucking them off, or by squeezing your hand around the stem over a plate. The latter should only be done if you want crushed leaves
- Store dried mint leaves in an airtight container, zippered bag, or spice jar for best preservation of flavor
Dishes to Use Air Fryer Dried Mint In
Try using air fryer dried mint in microwave peppermint bark, or in the Tandoori Tofu over in our best air fryer Indian recipes.
Recipe FAQs
Do You Wash Mint Before Drying?
It is highly recommended that you wash mint before drying.
While technically not absolutely necessary, there’s a lot of benefits to doing so. Washing your mint (or any herb for that matter) gets rid of dirt, dead leaves, pests, and even chemicals if it was commercially grown.
That way, when you begin drying your mint, you’re ensuring that you’re only getting what you actually want to consume with your herbs.
What is the Best Way to Dry Mint?
The best ways to dry mint are the microwave or air fryer. These two methods take the shortest amount of time, don’t noticeably harm flavor over other drying methods, and get you a reliable dry that makes your herbs safe for storage.
Air drying takes much longer, though arguably you don’t have to do much other than string up bunches of herbs. However, if you live in a humid area, you’ll never be able to dry your leaves out enough to prevent molding.
The oven and dehydrator are great methods, but each takes several hours. Plus, you can technically burn your leaves unless you pay good attention to them in the oven. The time and monitoring required just don’t make a method I usually choose.
That’s why the best ways to dry mint are the microwave or air fryer methods.
How to Dry Mint Leaves for Tea?
Mint tea is best made with whole leaves, or at least large pieces. If you need to break them to fit into a tea bag or ball, you’ll get the best flavor from breaking them at time of use from a full leaf.
Instead of cooking your mint leaves on the stem, you’ll want to remove them ahead of time and just dry the leaves themselves. This way, you don’t have to go through the tedious process of trying to separate them from the stems without breaking them later.
That said, for the air fryer drying method you’ll absolutely require a rack of some kind that fits inside it to secure the leaves and prevent them from blowing into the heating element and burning. You won’t have the additional weight of the stems to help here.
Recipe Pro Tips
- Using the rack or trivet in the air fryer is designed to keep the mint leaves from flying around. They can get up into the heating element and burn if not contained. If your air fryer doesn’t have some sort of rack you can use, bind the stems together with heat safe ties of some kind
- It’s important to keep your mint in as close to a single layer as possible. If not, you’ll end up with wet spots after the initial cooking cycle. If this happens, make sure to shake or otherwise separate the leaves before adding additional cooking time to eliminate the wet areas
- It normally takes me about 4 minutes in my Ninja Foodi Dual Zone air fryer to completely dehydrate mint. However, it may take a slightly different amount of time for other brands and sizes of air fryer
- Note that your entire kitchen is going to smell like mint during this process (the hot air just throws the scent around) so be prepared for a mintfest!
- The mint leaves will naturally brown when drying in the air fryer. For a greener leaf, I recommend using our microwave mint drying method instead
- This amount of fresh mint leaves should net you around 1 tsp of crushed when dried (or just 20 dried whole leaves if you leave them intact)
- Crushed dried mint is best for use in baking, seasoning, sauces, or ice cream. Whole leaves are ideal for mint tea and garnishes
- Dried mint keeps well for about a year, if stored properly in an airtight container in a dark place (like a spice cabinet). After that time, it’s still safe to consume, but far less potent
Other Air Fryer Dried Herb Recipes
Final Thoughts
Drying mint in the air fryer is one of the quickest and easiest methods to dehydrate your fresh mint. Whether it’s your overly abundant herb garden or a pile leftover from your holiday baking endeavors, you’ll be able to safely save it for later.
Dried mint is so useful for a variety of dishes, too! Season sauces, frosting, baked goods, cocktails, and more with this cool flavor.
Dry Mint in the Air Fryer
Equipment
- Rack, trivet, or heat safe ties
Ingredients
- 4-5 stems Mint (about 20 leaves) washed and dried if needed
Instructions
- Preheat your air fryer to 350°F
- Place your mint in a single layer in the preheated air fryer basket
- Add a trivet or rack over top of the leaves, or bind the stems together with a heat safe tie to prevent the mint from flying around in the air fryer
- Cook on the air fryer setting for 3 minutes at 350°F, then check for doneness. Leaves should appear dry and break easily when squeezed gently
- If additional time is needed, add in 1-minute increments, making sure to separate any bunched leaves to reduce wet spots
- Separate the leaves from the stems by either gently plucking them off, or by squeezing your hand around the stem over a plate. The latter should only be done if you want crushed leaves
- Store dried mint leaves in an airtight container, zippered bag, or spice jar for best preservation of flavor
Notes
- Average total drying time for fresh mint is about 4 minutes in a Ninja Dual Zone air fryer. Other brands and sizes of air fryer may vary slightly
- Dry in batches if necessary. If you overlap your mint leaves too much you’ll get wet pockets
- This amount of fresh mint leaves should give you around 1 tsp dried mint (when/if crushed) depending on the size of your leaves
- Crush dried mint for use in baking, seasoning, or ice cream. Whole leaves are best for mint tea and garnishes
- Dried mint keeps for about 1 year if properly stored. After that, while still safe to consume, it significantly loses potency
Nutrition
I enjoy trying new recipes, creating my own, and dabbling with new techniques all the time. My husband loves to protest when I make him my guinea pig, but it’s all for the love of food!
My cooking philosophy is that great tasting food doesn't have to be complicated or time consuming to make. I'm a home cook with over 20 years of experience feeding myself and others. I've learned from a variety of different people, things I've learned online, and some trial and error as well.
I enjoy cooking a variety of foods, from convenience to comfort foods, as well as international cuisine. You can rest assured that all of my recipes have been actually made, thoroughly tested, and most importantly: tasted! I want you to enjoy my food as much as I do!
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