UPDATE: If you love watermelon you will also love these Watermelon recipes!
Watermelon Syrup | Fresh Watermelon Cupcakes | Watermelon Ice
Watermelon Fruit Leathers are the perfect healthy treat this summer & you only need 2 ingredients!
Growing up I loved Fruit Leathers! I liked Fruit Roll-Ups, they were a sugary sweet treat every child enjoys, but my favorite were the berry fruit leathers at the checkout of our local health food store.
Anytime I saw them I was sure to ask my mom for one. They were a special treat & my favorites were the raspberry & mixed berry flavors!
This last week our fridge somehow became overloaded with fruit, although truth be told my husband went fruit crazy. Outside of the 10 peaches, a large carton of strawberries, half a cantaloupe, & bananas, I cut up a huge watermelon that took up over 6 large containers! That is way too much fruit for just two people!
So I decided to take part in one of my favorite reasons of being a blogger by creating these homemade Watermelon Fruit Leathers.
The thing about making fruit leathers is that you have to be patient, they take a long time to bake at a very low temperature. This is even more true when you are making fruit leathers out of a watery fruit like watermelon. And unfortunately I have always struggled with patience…
Truth be told, I enjoyed making & eating these Watermelon Fruit Leather’s, but they only made about 10 fruit roll ups from the 10 cups of watermelon. So that was a bit of a disappointment.
(Although there is a secondary recipe to use up the leftover watermelon liquid! Click here for the recipe!)
While I enjoy watermelon, my favorite fruits are cherries, strawberries, mangos, & blueberries. So while I enjoyed the Watermelon Fruit Leathers these Strawberry Fruit Leathers are my favorite. However, if you love watermelon this fruit leather is perfect for you!
The best part is that these homemade Watermelon Fruit Leathers are super easy to make, great for lunches or a snack, & you’ll only need 2 ingredients!
- 10 Cups Diced Watermelon
- Sugar or Honey (optional & to taste)
- First, preheat your oven to the lowest temperature*(1) possible & line a baking sheet with good quality plastic wrap. *(2)
- Blend all of the watermelon in your food processor & place it in a mesh colander lined with paper towels to drain out the excess liquid. *(3)
- If you desire to sweeten your watermelon, place the pureed watermelon back in the blender with your choice of sweeter & blend until the sweetener is evenly dispersed. If need be place the puree back in the colander one last time to remove any excess liquid.
- Evenly spread the watermelon puree onto the center of the baking sheet using a spatula so that it is approximately 1/4 inch thick. *(4)
- Bake the Watermelon Fruit Leathers for 6-8 hours, rotating the pan every hour. *(5)
- The Watermelon Fruit Leather is done baking when it is no longer shiny & has a matte appearance, it will also no longer be super sticky. *(6)
- Let cool completely before removing the Watermelon Fruit Leather from the baking sheet.
- Carefully pull the plastic wrap/fruit leather off the baking sheet & flip it onto a piece of parchment paper, fruit leather down. Remove the plastic wrap from the Watermelon Fruit Leather, cut off any excess fruit leather with a pizza cutter, & the excess parchment paper along the length side with clean kitchen scissors.
- Cut the fruit leathers/parchment paper into long strips, about an inch wide, & roll them up.
- All that's love is to eat & enjoy! *(7)
- *1. I set my oven at 170 degrees F.
- *2. It's best to use a plastic wrap that is microwavable and can tolerate low levels of heat so that it doesn't melt in the oven and mess up your yummy Watermelon Fruit Leather. Also, make sure the plastic wrap has no ripples when placed on the baking sheet so that the Watermelon Fruit Leather won’t have any weird lines or ripples once its baked.
- *3. I used a wooden spoon to push the excess watermelon liquid through the colander.
- *4. Try to avoid spreading it to the edges of the pan for easy removal.
- *5. If you are baking more than one pan at a time make sure to rotate from top to bottom every hour as well as rotating it on the rack.
- *6. If your finger doesn't leave an impression when touching it, & if the fruit leather can be carefully separated from the plastic wrap without easily ripping, then it is done baking.
- *7. Keep your Watermelon Fruit Leathers stored in an airtight container for 3-5 days at room temperature or up to a week in the fridge.
I’d love to see your Watermelon Fruit Leathers!
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With love, G
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After my arm gave out cutting the fruit leather with a pizza wheel or scissors i remembered how sharp my rotary cutter (for sewing) was and went out and bought one for my kitchen. It is amazing!
What a great idea Toni! Thanks for sharing!!
I hope you have a blissful weekend! 🙂
What brand of plastic wrap do you use? I dont know where to get “good quality” plastic wrap and i dont want to do all this and then havs it melt on the fruit leater in the oven! Thanks!
Hello Heather!
I just use Glad Cling Wrap. I’ve made fruit leathers many times with plastic wrap & have never had a problem with it melting into the fruit leathers. Alternately you could also you a silpat instead of plastic wrap. Here’s an affiliate link to silpats: http://amzn.to/2boomCf
I hope you have a blissful weekend! 🙂
I’m new to creative cooking and I have a silly question… When you say “rotate” the pan… do you mean turn it on the rack or move it from top rack to bottom rack (and visa versa) every hour?
Hey Kathryn!
No, that’s not a silly question! 🙂
The first one, turn the pan on the rack.
Hope that helps!
Happy cooking! 🙂
Perfect!! Thanks for getting back to me! 🙂
Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family!
Thanks!
Happy Thanksgiving to you too!! 🙂
Curious if you could use foil or parchment in place of the plastic wrap?
I’ve only ever used plastic wrap, but next time I make fruit leathers I will do a small test on a piece of foil & report my findings in my next fruit leather post. Hope you have a lovely weekend! 🙂
Well I only had one mini watermelon, lol so it is really the smallest batch of fruit leather you ever saw. But I reallllly wanted to try it! Thanks for the recipe!
I am a new reader of your blog, and I am loving it! Your recipes are unique! This watermelon fruit leather is in my oven as we speak 🙂
Thanks Kaela! 🙂 It’s always nice getting to know new readers! I hope you enjoy the watermelon fruit leathers & have more patience baking/drying them than I did! 🙂
Would cheesecloth hasten the painful drip process? I am so excited to try his like TOMORROW! I was long told I would need a food dehydrator, but I’m pumped! Whole Foods tomorrow! Can you dehydrate banana chips this way? You may just have altered my family’s snacking and lunch routines with pure yum!
Thanks Mucho!
Quattromom
Hi I would really love to make these. I was just wondering if it is 170 degrees centigrade or Fahrenheit. Thx Ella
Hey Ella! It’s 170 degrees Fahrenheit. Thanks for mentioning that, I will go back and add that detail! 🙂
Hi!
These look so good! One question, do you think I could make these in a dehydrator instead of using an oven?
Hoping to make these little guys soon (probably today)!
Thank you!
These look so tasty! I can’t wait to make them ~ Screw the silpat have the hubby get you a full size food processor for Christmas! Or, better yet, both! 😉
Thanks Natalie! I hope you enjoy the Watermelon Fruit Leathers! I will definitely have to drop some heavy hints for both! 🙂
Hi Guistina! This is such a brilliant idea to use up all that watermelon. We love watermelon, but its so hard to eat it all before it goes bad (not to mention refrigerating it all!). I will definitely have to try this, my 6-year-old would love it. Have pinned and will be featuring on my blog’s FB page (with proper link back, of course).
Thanks Erin! I hope you and your 6-year-old love the Watermelon Fruit Leathers! Thanks for sharing the recipe on your blogs facebook page! 🙂
I used to love fruit roll ups too! These are so bright colored and beautiful and they sounds super easy to make! I need to make these soon!
Oh yes! They are very easy to make and I must admit I am a huge fan of the color! I hope you enjoy the Watermelon Fruit Leathers!
wow roll ups take me back to my childhood alright! these fruit leathers look delicious, i cant get enough of watermelon flavoured anything at the moment!
I definitely agree! I was having a ton of childhood flash backs while making & eating these Watermelon Fruit Leathers! Oh and if you love watermelon I hope you get a chance to check out the secondary watermelon recipe coming this Thursday! 🙂
What a cute idea! And I am loving the recipe. Anything watermelon has me on board.
Thanks Russell! I hope you get a chance to try the Watermelon Fruit Leathers!