Your rosemary plant is growing abundantly! Whether you’re taking a small mid-season harvest or bringing in the entire plant before the end of the growing season, drying rosemary is one of the easiest ways to preserve it.
Personally, I dry all of our rosemary in the dehydrator. It’s simple, effective and has consistently worked well for us. In this article, I’ll show you exactly how to dry rosemary in a dehydrator, along with an air-drying method if you don’t have one.
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Quick Answer: How to Dry Rosemary
To dry rosemary in a dehydrator, arrange clean, dry rosemary sprigs in a single layer and dehydrate at 95-105°F until the leaves are brittle and crumble easily. Our preferred temperature is 105°F. Once completely dry, remove the leaves from the stems and store them in an airtight container in a cool, dark place.
When is the Best Time to Harvest Rosemary for Drying?
If you’re looking at the best time of day, it would be in the morning after the dew has dried.
If you’re looking at quantity, it would be whenever your plant is large enough to harvest. This is very specific depending on whether you’re growing rosemary as a perennial or an annual.
I go into detail on the best time in my article: How to Harvest Rosemary in Cold Climates.
Should You Wash Rosemary Before Drying It?
My stance is always a resounding yes! No matter the herb or the produce, wash it! Wash it, and pat/towel dry it to ensure it’s dry enough before entering the dehydrator.
If there is a bit of moisture in the herb, the dehydrator will remove it during the drying process.
How to Prepare Fresh Rosemary for Drying
Once you’ve harvested your rosemary, bring it inside and wash it if needed. I always wash ours because I don’t want any extra protein hiding in the leaves! Pat the sprigs dry with a clean towel and remove as much surface moisture as possible before drying.
From here, you can place the whole sprigs on your dehydrator trays or bundle them together for air drying.
How to Dry Rosemary in a Dehydrator
This process is so simple, my 4 year old does it, you can too.
Step 1: Arrange the Rosemary on the Trays
When placing the rosemary on the trays, make sure there is a good amount of room between each sprig. This allows for good airflow and improves the drying time.
Step 2: Set the Dehydrator Temperature & Dry
The ideal dehydrator temperature is between 95-105°F. We’ve found that 105°F works better and more consistently for us for the wide variety of herbs we dry.
Step 3: Check for Doneness
After the allotted time is up, check the dryness of the herb. The leaves should be brittle and dry to the touch. If you’re unsure, dehydrate it for a few more hours.
Step 4: Storage
Once the rosemary is completely dried. Grind up the herb either in a food processor, in a pestle and mortar, or using your hands over a bowl. Place the dried herbs in an air-tight glass container and store with spices for years to come.
How Long Does Rosemary Take to Dry in a Dehydrator?
It will take anywhere from 24-72 hours for your rosemary sprigs to dry in your dehydrator. Big factors affecting that are:
- Temperature: 95°F works a little slower that 105°F
- Spacing: how much space each sprig has on the tray. If everything is overlapping it will be harder to dry.
- Moisture: if you don’t properly towel dry to get as much moisture out of the sprigs as possible – it will take longer for the herbs to dry.
How to Air Dry Rosemary
The other common way to dry rosemary is by hanging it. This isn’t the method I recommend because I’ve tried air drying herbs in the past and it didn’t work particularly well for me. Our summer humidity makes the dehydrator much more reliable.
If you want to try it, gather several clean, dry rosemary sprigs into a small bundle and tie them together near the bottom of the stems. Hang the bundle upside down somewhere dry, out of direct sunlight and with good airflow. Avoid making the bundles too large, as you want air to circulate around the sprigs.
A similar air drying method is to lay out the sprigs on top of a paper towel on a baking sheet. And leave it out to dry in the sun during the day, bring it back in if it’s windy or at the end of the day. This is the method my grandmother uses to dry herbs, no gadgets, no oven and no moisture issue.
How Do You Know When Rosemary Is Completely Dry?
The rosemary leaves should feel crisp and brittle and should crumble easily when rubbed between your fingers. There shouldn’t be any soft or pliable leaves remaining.
Rosemary contains natural aromatic oils, so you may notice some residue on your fingers when stripping the dried leaves from the stems. Don’t use that alone to judge whether the rosemary is dry.
Should You Dry Rosemary on or off the Stem?
You should leave the rosemary leaves on the stem and dry it attached. The herbs leaves are so small that they could easily blow away when airdrying or fall through the holes of the dehydrator tray.
How to Remove Dried Rosemary From the Stems
Grabbing the top of the rosemary sprig, pull the leaves towards you, against the grain and the leaves will snap off and fall into the bowl underneath.
Now, some people place the full-sized leaves away to crumble/grind for day-of use because it protects the herbs aroma better. I don’t subscribe to this method because I’m a busy mom, I don’t have time to grind up herbs in the moment. I just want to add them to my dish and move on with my day.
Therefore, at this point of the drying rosemary process, I’ll choose my preferred grinding method to break down the leaves into a good spice size before storage.
How to Store Dried Rosemary
Store dried rosemary in an airtight glass container in a cool, dark place alongside your other spices. Properly dried rosemary can remain usable for a long time, but its flavour and aroma will gradually fade.
Since we grow and dry rosemary every year, I try to use our dried rosemary before the following year’s harvest. That way we’re continually replacing it with a fresh batch rather than storing herbs for years.
How Long Does Dried Rosemary Last?
Dried herbs can last years. But like anything else, the flavour profile changes over time. The herbs will loose their flavour in time, so if you’re growing rosemary every year, I would try to use it up before drying it again the following year.
What to Do With Dried Rosemary
Besides its traditional use as a medicinal herb, its flavour is unlike any other. We use dried rosemary for potatoes, soups, stews and meat dishes and also in these recipes:
- Easy Sourdough Discard Crackers: 2 Ingredients. No Rolling or Kneading
- How To Make Homemade Focaccia Bread With Just 4 Ingredients
Frequently Asked Questions About Drying Rosemary
I recommended 105°F as it’s more efficient but still preserves the herbs flavour profile.
I always recommend washing your herbs before drying or cooking.
Yes, rosemary can be dried in the oven, but I’ve never personally used this method. Since our dehydrator works so consistently for drying herbs, I haven’t found a reason to switch to the oven.
Related Herb Articles
- How to Harvest Rosemary in Cold Climates.
- How to Dry Oregano From the Garden
- How to Dry Dill (Using a Dehydrator)
- How To Harvest and Dry Thyme
- How to Harvest Oregano So It Keeps Growing
Drying Rosemary for Winter
Learning how to dry rosemary is one of the simplest ways to make the most of a plant you’ve spent all summer growing. We use our dehydrator because it’s reliable, easy and gives us consistently dried rosemary that we can use throughout the winter.
Since we grow rosemary as an annual here in Zone 5, drying our final harvest also means none of that growth goes to waste when cold weather arrives. By the following summer, we’re usually ready to dry a fresh batch all over again.
If you’re learning how to preserve more of what you grow, explore our Garden-Based & Preserving Guides, where we share the methods that actually work for us here on our Zone 5 homestead.
We are growing our website with more articles all the time, and we invite you to grow with us. If you have any questions about how to dry rosemary or would like to share some of your knowledge with us please leave a comment below. Happy Gardening!
