How to Dry Cilantro: Best Methods and Temperatures

More cilantro than you’ll get through in the week it keeps in the fridge?¹ You can dry it, but America’s Test Kitchen lists cilantro among the herbs that get much weaker once dried and are better used fresh,² so dried cilantro is for soups, stews and rice, not salsa. One surprise from the most detailed drying study we found: in a lab dryer, the cooler setting wasn’t the better one for cilantro’s aroma, and hot-air-dried leaves picked up hay and dry-grass notes.³ For something closer to fresh, see can you freeze cilantro?

At a glance

Question	Short answer
Worth drying?	For cooked dishes only. Dried cilantro is much weaker than fresh.
Dehydrator	95 to 115°F (35 to 46°C), up to 125°F in humid areas, 1 to 4 hours (NCHFP).⁴ Penn State says 95 to 110°F.⁵
Air drying	Small bunches, low humidity, good airflow, out of the sun; up to a month.
Oven	Penn State: generally not recommended; if used, no hotter than 180°F (82°C), door open, 3 to 4 hours.⁵
Microwave	Small amounts; sources disagree on time (table below).
Sun	Not recommended.⁴⁶
Done when	Leaves are crispy and crumble easily.
Keeps	Up to a year by Penn State’s general figure; up to 3 months for microwave-dried herbs by ATK’s.⁵²

What the drying research shows

Łyczko and colleagues dried chopped cilantro leaves with hot air (convective drying) at different temperatures, with vacuum-microwave drying, and with combinations of the two. Then they tested the aroma chemically and with taste panels. The results cut against the usual home advice that cilantro needs the lowest heat you can manage:

Hot-air drying at 70°C (158°F), alone or followed by vacuum-microwave finishing, kept cilantro’s aroma best of the methods tested.
Vacuum-microwave drying on its own scored lowest.
Finishing with hot air at 50°C (122°F) lowered aroma quality.
Some hot-air-dried samples got described as “dry grass,” “hay-like” and “parsley-like.”³

Keep the scope in mind. This was a lab dryer with controlled airflow, and vacuum-microwave drying is a commercial process, not your kitchen microwave. The study didn’t test a home dehydrator, an oven or air drying in a room, so it can’t tell you which home method wins. What it does show: in that dryer, the cooler setting wasn’t the better one for cilantro, and hot-air-dried cilantro picked up hay and dry-grass notes that fresh cilantro doesn’t have.

Before you start

Rinse the cilantro in cool water, shake off the excess, and toss bruised or damaged leaves and stems. The NCHFP and Penn State both say to pick herbs for drying just before they flower. Cilantro bolts fast in hot weather, so cut before it does.

Method 1: A food dehydrator

Spread the leaves in a single layer on the trays. These settings are for leafy herbs in general:

Source	Temperature	Time
National Center for Home Food Preservation (NCHFP)⁴	95 to 115°F (35 to 46°C); up to 125°F (52°C) in humid areas	1 to 4 hours; check periodically
Penn State Extension⁵	95 to 110°F (35 to 43°C)	not given
Illinois Extension⁷	follow the owner’s manual	not given

They’re done when they crumble and the stems break when you bend them. You’ll often see 90 to 110°F for about five hours recommended. That sits just outside the NCHFP’s range on both counts, and we couldn’t find a named source for it.

Method 2: Air drying

Air drying only works when the air is dry and moving, Penn State says, and the herbs should hang away from the sink, stove or dishwasher. Keep the bunches small. The NCHFP warns that big ones will mold. A paper bag punched with holes around each bunch keeps dust off, which is Penn State’s reason for it, and it catches falling leaves too. Illinois Extension says air drying can take up to a month.⁷ We didn’t find a cilantro-specific time.

Method 3: The oven

Penn State generally doesn’t recommend the oven. If you use it, set it as low as it goes, no higher than 180°F (82°C), and dry for 3 to 4 hours with the door open.⁵ Illinois Extension calls 90 to 110°F ideal, also for 3 to 4 hours, if your oven can hold it.⁷ You’ll see “about 30 minutes in the oven” repeated a lot, but it has no named source behind it. Both extension services talk in hours, not minutes.

Method 4: The microwave

For small amounts, the NCHFP says, the microwave is a fast way to dry herbs. The sources that give times don’t agree:

Source	Method
Penn State Extension⁵	Single layer between microwave-safe paper towels; high for 2 to 3 minutes per cup; start with 1 minute and mix every 30 seconds
Illinois Extension⁷	Between two paper towels on high for 1 to 3 minutes; check every 30 seconds and turn the herbs
America’s Test Kitchen²	30 to 40 seconds

Start short and check often. Penn State warns that a microwave rated 1,000 watts or more may heat too fast, and that with too little herb inside, the paper towels can catch fire.⁵

Why not the sun

The NCHFP and Penn State both advise against sun drying herbs. The NCHFP says they lose flavor and color.⁴⁶

Storing dried cilantro

Keep the leaves whole in airtight containers somewhere cool, dry and dark, away from the stove and sink. Whole leaves hold their oils and flavor longer than crushed ones. Penn State says most dried herbs keep well for up to a year, Illinois says about a year, and ATK suggests up to 3 months for microwave-dried herbs.⁵⁷² None of those numbers was measured on cilantro. If the leaves don’t smell like much when you crumble them, replace them.

Cooking with it

Save dried cilantro for cooked dishes. ATK warns that dried herbs used as a finishing touch can add an unpleasant texture, and says to add dried herbs at the point you’d add fresh.² For how much to use, see dried cilantro vs. fresh. For fresh alternatives in raw dishes, see cilantro substitutes.

Not yet measured

How home methods (dehydrator, oven, air, kitchen microwave) compare for cilantro’s aroma.
Cilantro-specific air-drying times.
Shelf life of home-dried cilantro, measured on cilantro.

Susan Mahr, Cilantro, Wisconsin Master Gardener Program, 2017. mastergardener.extension.wisc.edu · Reference work ↩
Danielle Lapierre, When You Should Actually Use Dried Herbs, America’s Test Kitchen, 2022. americastestkitchen.com · Publication ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵
Łyczko et al., Coriandrum sativum L.: Effect of Multiple Drying Techniques on Volatile and Sensory Profile, Foods, 2021. mdpi.com · Peer-reviewed ↩ ↩²
Drying Herbs, National Center for Home Food Preservation. nchfp.uga.edu · Reference work ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴
Zepp, Hirneisen and LaBorde, Let’s Preserve: Drying Herbs, Penn State Extension, 2023. extension.psu.edu · Reference work ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸
Stacy Reed, Preserving Herbs by Drying, Penn State Extension, 2024. extension.psu.edu · Reference work ↩ ↩²
Herb Gardening: Preserving, University of Illinois Extension. extension.illinois.edu · Reference work ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵

How to Dry Cilantro: Methods, Temperatures and What You Lose