How to Dry Sage from the Garden {3 Easy Methods}
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Sage is a popular and wonderfully fragrant herb that grows well in many climates. If you have an abundance of fresh sage on hand, learn these 3 easy methods to dry sage so you can add it to your favorite soups, stews, roasted veggies, and more all winter!
I feel deeply drawn to sage. There’s something about the color, texture, and scent that lures me in, and I often find myself rubbing my hands over the fresh leaves in my herb garden to touch and smell them. Plus, it grows so easily from seed and is such a cheery sight in the early days of summer!
Now that it’s midsummer here, this is the ideal time to harvest as much fresh sage as possible, dry the leaves, and then rub them into fine pieces I can use in my fall and winter meals.
Especially if you dehydrate your sage in the oven, it’s one of the fastest food preservation projects and tastes way better than storebought!
Equipment
For dehydrating sage, you’ll need:
- Clean kitchen towel (for drying the leaves after rinsing)
- Oven method: Sheet pan and parchment paper
- Dehydrator method: Food dehydrator and dehydrator trays
- Air drying method: rubber band and kitchen twine
- Mortar and pestle (optional)
- Storage containers (glass jars, etc)
Ingredient Notes
Fresh sage – You’ll want as many fresh sage leaves as you can get, and ideally, they should be of the highest quality.
The leaves should be clean without rot, mold, or decay. Rinse the sage leaves under cool running water and let them dry on a kitchen towel before dehydrating.
Since the leaves shrink a lot after drying, I usually like to dehydrate as much as possible to make it worth the effort. I typically harvest as much as I can one week, let the plants grow another 2-3 weeks, then harvest again. After a few weeks, it really adds up!
How to Dry Sage
There are 3 different methods for drying sage that I recommend: using the oven, dehydrator, or air drying. Follow the tips below to make the most of each one.
Oven Method
Oven drying is the easiest way to preserve your sage harvest and is done very quickly, although the flavor won’t be quite as potent as air-dried or dehydrated herbs.
- Remove the stems from the leaves and arrange them in a single layer on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
- Preheat the oven to the lowest temperature setting (usually 170 F).
- Place the sheet pan in the oven and crack the door open 6-8 inches.
- Let the sage leaves dry for 20-45 minutes, rotating the leaves halfway through. Continue drying if needed, but mine usually takes about 30 minutes.
- Crush the dried leaves and store in an airtight container.
Dehydrator Method
- Arrange the sage leaves in an even layer on your dehydrator trays and dry at 105 F for 1-3 hours. Rotate the leaves partway through the drying time. Continue dehydrating until fully dried and the leaves crumble.
- Remove the leaves from the dehydrator, crush, and store in a jar.
Air Drying
- Make small bundles of fresh sage and secure each with a rubber band, then hang it with kitchen twine in a cool, dry place out of direct sunlight for several weeks or until fully dried. It’s best to select a location with good air circulation to avoid mold.
- Check the sage bundles every few days and bring them down once fully dried.
To keep pieces of dried sage from falling to the floor, you can also place the bundles in a paper bag instead of hanging them on the wall.
Ground vs. Rubbed Sage
If you’ve shopped for sage at the grocery store, you’ve probably noticed that it’s sold in two forms: rubbed or ground.
Ground sage is run through a spice grinder or mortar and pestle until it becomes a fine powder.
Rubbed sage is made by literally rubbing the leaves until they break apart. This releases the essential oils in the sage leaves, but it also has a milder flavor than ground sage. Since the pieces are larger, you actually end up adding less sage this way compared to using ground sage.
Both of these options are delicious, so it really depends on personal preference.
What I do: I like to use rubbed sage as it’s easy to make, and since you use less at a time, it’s hard to go overboard and use too much.
Plus, I can crush the leaves by squeezing them in parchment paper and/or using a mortar and pestle, then adding straight to the jar. It’s easy, effective, and doesn’t require me to wash or dry my spice grinder. 🙂
Storing
Store the dried sage leaves in an airtight container in a cool, dry location, like your pantry or spice cupboard. When properly dried, your sage will last for years.
How to Use Dried Sage
Your dry sage leaves are now the perfect seasoning for roasted potatoes or carrots, soups, homemade stuffing, sausages, and much more. You can use dehydrated sage in exactly the same ways you use the stuff from the store!
- Make sage butter
- Add it to herbal tea blends
- Make your own sage smudge sticks
- Season poultry, potatoes, and more
- Make your own seasoning blends
Tips & Variations
- Dry different types of sage. I grew common sage and purple sage this year. Both can be dried and used in the same ways.
- Make smudge sticks. Gather several bunches of sage and tie them together with cotton or hemp twine. Air dry until completely dried then burn like normal. It can help to let the leaves partially air dry for a day or two to prevent mold from growing in the center of the stick.
- Harvest at different stages. If you’re growing sage perennially, you probably have a large, bushy sage plant compared to my smaller plants. The main goal is to harvest fresh, tender leaves. Avoid woody stems and don’t harvest more than 1/3 of the plant at a time. If you are harvesting from a young plant, I prefer to pinch off clusters of 3-4 leaves at a time to let the rest of the plant continue to grow.
FAQs
Compared to other herbs, sage burns very, very quickly. I found that my first two trays of sage burned in a low oven with the door barely ajar, and I was disappointed to need to toss them. If drying in the oven, set it to the lowest possible temperature and prop the oven door open at least 6 inches to keep the heat nice and low.
For the best flavor, harvest your sage in the spring or summer before the plants flower. After flowering, the sage leaves won’t have quite as robust of a flavor. I usually like to harvest my herbs in the early morning hours while the plants are still tender and before they soften from the heat of the day.
It depends on the drying process you use. If you are drying sage in a dehydrator or oven, I do like to remove the stems because I only really want to keep the leaves. If you want to air dry sage, you’ll want to keep the stems so you have some way to hold the bundles together.
Related Recipes
- How to Dehydrate Parsley
- Drying Chives
- Dehydrating Green Onions
- How to Dehydrate Basil
- Dehydrating Dill Seeds and Leaves
How to Dry Sage
Equipment
- Sheet pan
- Parchment paper
- storage jar
Ingredients
- fresh sage, as much as you can gather
Instructions
Oven Method
- Oven drying is the easiest way to preserve your sage harvest and is done very quickly, although the flavor won’t be quite as potent as air-dried herbs.
- Remove the stems from the leaves and arrange them in a single layer on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
- Preheat the oven to the lowest temperature setting (usually 170 F).
- Place the sheet pan in the oven and crack the door open 6-8 inches.
- Let the sage leaves dry for 20-45 minutes, rotating the leaves halfway through. Continue drying if needed but mine is usually takes about 30 minutes.
- Crush the dried leaves and store in an airtight container.
Dehydrator Method
- Arrange the sage leaves in an even layer on your dehydrator trays and dry at 105 F for 1-3 hours. Rotate the leaves partway through the drying time. Continue dehydrating until fully dried, and the leaves crumble.
- Remove the leaves from the dehydrator, crush, and store in a jar.
Air Drying Method
- Make small bundles of fresh sage and secure each one with a rubber band, then hang it with kitchen twine in a cool, dry place out of direct sunlight for several weeks or until it is fully dried. It's best to select a location with good air circulation to avoid molding.
- Check the sage bundles every few days and bring them down once fully dried. Crush, store, and use as desired.
- Tip: To avoid having pieces of dried sage fall to the floor, you can also place the bundles in a paper bag instead of hanging them on the wall.
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