Cosori Food Dehydrator Reviews

Con’s

• Doesn’t come with enough tray liners. With stainless steel trays, things stick easily or fall through the open grid. While Cosori provides two mesh sheets and one solid fruit leather sheet, I recommend purchasing an off-brand mesh set as you’ll want to use it all the time. You can use parchment if you prefer
• The fruit leather tray works better as a dehydrator liner. I personally prefer to use regular fruit leather sheets to do any liquid dehydrating as the tray provided warps fairly easily. Insert it into the bottom of the machine to help make clean up easier, then purchase some fruit leather sheets. I prefer the Simply Homey Dehydrator Sheets for an inexpensive option, but there is a set of mesh plus lipped silicone liners for fruit leathers.
• The stainless steel shelves can be very stick and hard to clean with things like fruit and very moisture-laden vegetables. I do recommend using mesh or parchment paper on most projects.

Stats of Cosori Dehydrator

This is the 6-tray dehydrator

• 6 stainless steel trays
• Adjustable temperature from 95°F-165°F (35°C-74°C) but in Fahrenheit readings only
• 6.48 square feet of drying space (1.08 square feet per tray)
• Touch-Control LED Display
• Timer (30 min–48 hr)
• 600 watts
• Stainless steel construction with glass door and plastic feet/facing
• Includes 1 mesh liner and one plastic fruit leather sheet
• Manual & recipe book ( Need a replacement manual?)
• 48 dB
• Voltage: AC 120V 60Hz
• Overheat protection (shuts off when the machine gets too hot)
• Size: 17.8 x 13.5 x 12.2 in
• Tray size: 12 in x 13 in

My Cosori Dehydrator Review

Here are my real-world thoughts about my Cosori Dehydrator.

Quick review: it’s a great machine. It’s quiet, easy to handle, and a great value. I’m so happy I purchased mine. I use it 80% of the time now.

Timer pause: While the timer only tells you that the machine has turned off, not that your food is done, it may be hard to remember how much longer you might have to go in the process as a guideline. It would be great if there was a pause button for checking on food.

Needs more liners – I also wish they included enough mesh liners for the whole machine, without an additional purchase. This is the number one issue with my readers as well.

Read the manual, then ignore it – Read it to understand how the machine actually works, then ignore it for everything else. As with many dehydrators, manuals/recipe books are written from the perspective of snacking on things or in countries where things are done a little differently. Many of the times and temperatures are incorrect for long-term storage (they recommend that foods can only be stored for a few weeks), and some of the recipes don’t work for longer-term storage. That’s not to say that they may not be yummy for you, but take the recipes with a grain of salt.

Reports of duds – as with every electronic device made in the last ten years, with the replace it instead of fix it mentality, there are duds. We get occasional reports of a model dying. Cosori’s customer service is usually very quick to take care of any issue. But those issues happen with every manufacturer I’ve seen, including Excalibur.

How to Use a Cosori Dehydrator

Before you begin to dehydrate any food, prepare your machine. Once you have unpacked your Cosori, follow these steps to begin running it:

1. Read the manual. While I don’t recommend their manual for the dehydrating section, I do recommend reading on how to work the actual machine.
2. Find a dedicated plug that gives six inches of space around the dehydrator.
3. Set the temperature to 160°F (70°C) and run for thirty minutes.
4. While you wait, read up on these dehydrating tips to help you get started.
5. Once the 30 minutes is up, allow the machine to cool, then wipe the inside and trays with warm soapy water to remove any build-up from the manufacturing process.
6. Pick one of these best dehydrating recipes to try.
7. Place mesh on your trays (if you didn’t purchase extra mesh, I recommend extra mesh dehydrator sheets like the ones I have in my Amazon shop that I recommend over the Cosori mesh, You can also use parchment paper, also.)
8. Place prepared fruits or vegetables on tray, giving a little space for airflow.
9. Set the Temperature and Time (but remember, time is only when the machine turns off, not when the food is done, so you’ll need to test for that).
10. Once you think it is done, allow a sample or two of food to cool, test for dryness,
11. If it is dry, you’ll need to condition it. If not dry, turn on the machine for more time.
12. Once dried and conditioned, you can optimally store dehydrated food in an airtight container for up to two years.

Which is best for you?

The Cosori 6-tray machine now has a big brother in the Cosori 10-tray dehydrator. Same machine, of larger size with more capacity and higher wattage.

However, after testing, the larger machine doesn’t dry any faster than the smaller one; it just does more volume at once!

Cosori Coupon Codes

You can purchase Cosori dehydrators at many online retailers, but Cosori has extended special savings to The Purposeful Pantry readers with these links and special discount codes (ignore their 10% off coupon when you enter the site).

• Cosori 6-Tray: USE CODE TPP24 $126.99
• Cosori 10-Tray USE CODE TPP2024 $239.99

Both come with free shipping in the contiguous US.
Details:

• This is Cosori’s parent company, Vesync
• It is for the contiguous US only (but see below for Canadians!)

If you’d prefer to purchase through Amazon, you can get both the Cosori 6-tray dehydrator and the Cosori 10-tray dehydrator. Be sure to look for warehouse deals, too!

Warranty

The Cosori standard warranty is one year. However, you may be able to purchase an extended warranty depending on where you purchase your machine. Amazon offers an extended warranty, as well as other third-party warranties on other platforms.

Cosori’s customer service is usually quick to remedy situations, though they may ask for video evidence of an issue to determine the fix.

Cosori’s customer service phone number is (888) 402-1684. They are available to assist you from 9 am–5 pm PST/PDT, or email [email protected] for help.

Accessories

The Cosori dehydrators come with a minimal number of liners for their machines. This is one con for the brand. But there are great accessories that make dehydrating easy, and are better than the original pieces made by Cosori.

• Mesh liners – I recommend these silicone mesh sheets for every project as it makes gathering easier and creates little issue of sticking. They are incredibly flexible. If you prefer a more rigid mesh, these rigid dehydrator mesh sheets may be the thing you need.
• Fruit leather sheets – I love these Teflon-coated dehydrator liners because they can be used on the 10-tray machines and cut down for the 6-tray machines because they don’t contain fiberglass. While Teflon was always an issue in the 80’s, modern Teflon doesn’t react to heat in the same way, and the dehydrator’s temperature isn’t high enough to be a factor. However, if you want a fruit leather sheet that is not Teflon coated or silicone, this solid plastic dehydrator sheet might work for you.
• Fruit leather trays – if you prefer a lipped tray made from silicone, these Bright Kitchen silicone dehydrator lipped trays will be just the ticket. There is an issue with sticking for things that are thin liquid (broths), and if you’re doing fruit leathers, flip them at least once during the process to help stop any issues with sticking.
• Plastic Bench Scraper – as with all dehydrators, sometimes, things stick. And instead of using something sharp that can damage your liners, a plastic bench scraper is a great tool to scrape off fruit leather bits that may have stuck to your silicone trays.
• Dehydrating Temperature Magnet – This handy magnet can be placed on your dehydrator or on your refrigerator to help you find the perfect dehydrating temperature every time!
• Dehydrating Basics and Journal – a how-to dehydrating book along with a dehydrating journal that teaches you how to dehydrate food, and helps you track every project for outcomes, what to try next time, and keeping a record of all you’ve done! It does come in an ebook format so that you can print off only the pages you actually need!