How to Make Garlic Powder

Dehydrate Garlic in Air Fryer

• Take a steel plate or bowl that fits into your air fryer.
• Put chopped garlic in it. It's better to use a plate otherwise small pieces of garlic may go into the base through the air fryer basket.
• Air-dry it at 180 degrees C for 5 minutes.
• Swirl the plate and if any pieces are stuck to the plate, release them.
• Tip: If you use the cornflour method discussed above then garlic will not stick at all. So, even if you chop it using any other method, my suggestion is that just dust it with little cornflour/rice flour and sift it.
• Thereafter, reduce the temperature to 100 degrees C and continue air-drying for 40 to 50 minutes.
• Shake the pieces using a spoon after every 10-15 minutes.
• After switching off the air fryer, let the plate with garlic in it only as there is a lot of heat.
• Soon they will be completely dry and turn hard like pebbles. When you shake the plate, the sound itself will tell you that these are completely dry.
• 250 g of garlic dehydrated in less than an hour. Isn't it cool!
• Take them out and let them cool completely.

Make Garlic Powder

• Once the air-dried garlic granules are completely cool, put them in a grinder and make a fine powder. Blitz the grinder after turning it off after every 15 seconds or so.
• Tip: Do not run the mixer continuously till the powder is formed otherwise the garlic powder will clump due to heat produced in the mixer.
• Once powdered finely, spread it on a plate and let it dry completely. And then store it in a glass bottle.
• 250 g of fresh Garlic gives roughly 50 g of garlic powder.

How to Make Onion Powder At Home

• Using the same method as in garlic, you can make onion powder too. The steps would be as follows:
• Peel onions as you normally do. Peeling onion doesn't require a hack :)
• Chop it or slice it finely. I sliced it using a slicer.
• Put it directly on the air fryer basket and air-dry for 5 minutes at 180 degrees C. No need to use a plate or bowl.
• Lower the temperature and air-dry these 80 degrees C  (or at the lowest temperature in your air fryer) for 40 to 50 minutes.
• Always dehydrate onions at the lowest temperature as it burns very quickly.
• Some of it may pass through the basket but no worries.
• Once it is almost dry then you can cover it with a steel mesh to avoid blowing it all over.
• Once completely dried, powder it in the grinder. Your onion powder is ready.
• 250 g of fresh onion yields approx 40 g of onion powder.
• If making Birista for Biryani then you may toss the sliced onions with very little oil before putting them in the air fryer.

How to Make Beetroot Powder, Natural Red Color

• Peel and chop beetroot finely. I used a chopper.
• Put it in a bowl and keep it in the air fryer.
• Dehydrate it for 15 minutes at 180 degrees C.
• Thereafter for 15 minutes at 160 degrees C.
• And lastly, again for  15 minutes at 150 degrees C, or till it is completely dried and it moves freely on a plate.We reduce temperature gradually, as we want to retain the color.
• Let the dehydrated beetroot cool down.
• Powder it in the grinder.
• Use it to give bright red color to your Pasta sauce or Pav Bhaji or make colorful Idli/Dhokla etc.
• You may pass it through a filter before adding to whipping cream for making red-colored cream.
• 250 g of fresh beetroot yields just 20 g of beetroot powder.