How to Freeze Dry Chicken at Home

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Learn how to freeze dry chicken at home including preparation tips, drying times, and how to make the best freeze dried chicken.

Prep Time20

Freeze Dry Time1

Total Time1 20

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: American

You do not need to use parchment paper for freeze drying chicken, but you can if you would like to.
Remove the cooked chicken meat from the bones and trim away fat and skin.
Tip: Fat and skin can spoil quicker than the meat because the high fat content so remove as much fat as possible.
Cut the chicken into 1 inch cubes or shred it into medium pieces.
Spread the chicken out on the freeze dryer trays in one layer. It will be fine if the chicken touches other pieces of chicken.

If you would like to pre-freeze your chicken it will help you freeze dryer to run for less time. Cover the trays and add them to your freezer. Allow the chicken to freeze for 24-48 hours.
Turn on your freeze dryer and select the option for frozen food. Change the settings for freezing shelf temperature to -10℉ and the maximum shelf temperature to 120℉. Change the final (extra) dry time to 24 hours. It should take less than 24 hours. See Below.
Allow the freeze dryer to reduce it's temperature to at least -10℉ before adding the frozen chicken into the chamber. Close the chamber door and make sure your vacuum and drain valve are close.

Make sure your chicken is cold before adding it to the freeze dryer. Add the trays to the chamber, close the chamber door and make sure your vacuum and drain valve are closed.
Click Freeze Dry and in the freeze drying settings change the settings for freezing shelf temperature to -10℉ and the maximum shelf temperature to 120℉. Change the final (extra) dry time to 24 hours. It should take less than 24 hours. See Below.

Once the final dry time is complete or if you want to check for doneness, pause your freeze dryer and open the vacuum valve.
Weigh each tray individually and write down the weight of the tray. Add the trays back to the freeze dryer, close the vacuum valve, and continue for another 3 hours.
After 3 hours, pause the freeze dryer and check the weight of the trays again. If the weight stayed the same then the chicken is done freeze drying. If the weight decreased then continue to run the chicken for another 3 hours until the weight no longer changes.
Tip: It is extremely important to allow the freeze dryer to remove all the moisture to make sure the chicken is shelf stable and will not spoil prematurely.

To add moisture back to the freeze dried chicken, add the chicken to a bowl of warm water or you can add it directly into soup of other meals that have lots of liquid.
Tip: Add the chicken to a bowl of warm chicken broth or chicken bouillon to enhance the chicken flavor!

For long term storage add the freeze-dried chicken to mylar bags with an oxygen absorber. Store it in a cool dry place.