Step 1

Make your favorite mashed potato recipe the day before you want to freeze dry them and put them in the fridge to get cold.

Step 2

Crumble the cold mashed potatoes onto the freeze drying trays. No more than 1 pound of potatoes per tray.

Step 3

Don't tightly pack and spread warm mashed potatoes. The dense nature of the dish will keep the freeze dryer from fully extracting all of the water. As you can see above, I tried it this way and ended up having to process it twice. I do not recommend this method!

Step 4

Never process more than a total of 5 pounds per batch. Any more than that will cause an ice build-up inside the freeze drying machine that will stop the process from working.

Step 5

Test the finished mashed potatoes by trying to crumble the thickest piece you can find. If it crumbles easily, then you can shut down the machine and store the freeze dried food.

Step 6

If during the testing process you find there are still layers of ice in the potatoes, place the mashed potatoes back in the freeze dryer and select "add more time" on the machine screen.

Step 7

If you don't realize the potatoes still have ice until after the machine is off, place them in the freezer, drain and filter the freeze dryer oil, and prep it for another complete cycle. Once it's prepped and defrosted, remove the frozen mashed potatoes and process them again.