Dried Orange Slice Ornaments

ByLola

Dried orange slices make some of the prettiest natural ornaments — thinly sliced and dehydrated, they turn translucent and glow on the tree or the mantel. They also make beautiful garlands. All it takes is slicing oranges thin and drying them in your oven or a dehydrator.

Most methods I’ve found require running the oven for 4 to 8 hours, depending on slice thickness. That’s nearly a whole workday, and I don’t have the patience for that — I don’t even enjoy cooking a meal for two hours. So I cut major corners and dried my oranges in a fraction of the time.

Call it lazy or call it genius. I’m going with genius.

What you’ll need

  • 3 to 4 oranges (I used navel oranges)
  • Cutting board
  • Knife
  • Paper towels
  • Non-stick cookie tray, or parchment paper on a cookie tray
  • Twine, string, or ribbon
  • Skewer
  • Scissors

My method

First, my own drying experiment — follow it and tweak as needed. At the end of the post, I’ll share the most popular slow method from around the web, in a nutshell.

I preheated my oven using the convection bake setting, which circulates the heat. I didn’t use a cooling rack, so I wanted all the air circulation I could get. My oven’s lowest convection bake setting is 300 degrees, which reads as 275 on my oven because of the circulating fan. I know that’s high — I went with it anyway.

  • Preheat the oven on convection bake at 300 degrees.
  • Wash and dry the oranges.
  • Slice the oranges into thin slices, about 4–5 mm.
  • Pat the slices dry with paper towels.
  • Arrange the slices on a non-stick cookie sheet.
  • Place the sheet in the oven.
  • At the 30-minute mark, check the slices and flip if needed (I didn’t flip mine).
  • Check again 20 to 30 minutes later.
  • By this point the slices should be ready, or close to it.
  • A few of mine came out crispy and dark but not burnt; others were still a little soft in the center.
  • Let the slices cool for a few minutes, poke a hole with the skewer, and string them with twine.
  • Tip: I strung and hung my orange slices, then left them to finish air-drying on their own — they kept drying while they decorated my tree.

It took one hour instead of eight

They may not be completely dehydrated, but they’re dry enough to finish air-drying on their own.

My advice: check the slices every 15 minutes and flip as many times as needed. Next time I make them, that’s exactly what I’ll do.

The most popular slow method, in a nutshell

  • Preheat the oven to 170 degrees.
  • Bake for 4 to 8 hours.
  • Flip the slices several times.
  • Cool overnight.
  • Poke holes and string.

Dried oranges are one of my favorite natural ornaments — here’s how I plan my Christmas decor before I even start decorating.

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