7 Best Replacement Dehydrator Trays For Excalibur on a Budget

Sooner or later, you’ll face the cracked plastic tray or the sticky mess that just won’t scrub off your de=osi&th=1&psc=1″ target=”_blank”>Excalibur‘s original mesh sheets. Your dede=osi&th=1&psc=1″ target=”_blank”>hydrator is a workhorse for preserving the harvest, but its trays can be a weak link. Finding the right replacements or liners doesn’t have to mean spending a fortune on official branded gear.

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Choosing the Right Budget Excalibur Trays

The first thing to realize is there’s no single "best" replacement. The right choice depends entirely on what you’re pulling from the garden or pasture. Are you processing a five-gallon bucket of tomato slices, making fruit leather from bruised apples, or curing a batch of venison jerky?

Think about materials as a tradeoff. Stainless steel is a buy-it-for-life option, but it’s rigid and sticky foods will weld themselves to it without a liner. Silicone is flexible, fantastic for non-stick, and reusable, but can hold onto oils and smells if you’re not careful. Parchment and other disposable liners offer zero cleanup but create waste and a recurring cost.

Before you buy anything, measure your existing trays and confirm your Excalibur model. A 9-tray and a 5-tray model use different sized sheets. The goal isn’t to find a perfect replacement, but to find the most effective tool for the specific food you dry most often.

Brightkitchen Silicone Sheets for Sticky Foods

These sheets are your best friend when dealing with high-sugar fruits or anything that turns into goo when heated. Think persimmon slices, pineapple rings, or sun-dried tomatoes packed in oil. The silicone surface releases these sticky items with a simple peel, preventing the heartbreak of a shattered, stuck-on fruit chip.

Because they are just flexible sheets, they require the support of your existing plastic mesh tray. You simply lay them on top. This is their main advantage and a minor drawback. They are easy to store rolled up, but they can be a little floppy to handle and wash when covered in sticky residue.

I find them indispensable for that late-summer glut of stone fruit. Peaches and plums come off clean, leaving almost no residue behind. This dramatically cuts down on cleanup time, which is a huge win when you have another batch waiting to go in.

Homemaxs Stainless Steel Trays for Durability

If you’ve ever had a plastic tray crack under a heavy load of apple slices, you’ll appreciate stainless steel. These are not liners; they are full-blown replacement trays. They offer incredible durability and won’t get brittle or stained over time like the original plastic trays can.

The major benefit here is airflow and longevity. The steel mesh is often wider than the plastic, which can improve circulation for dense items like meat. They are also dishwasher safe without any concern for warping, making sterilization between batches of jerky and vegetables simple and effective.

However, they are not inherently non-stick. While great for non-sugary vegetables, herbs, or jerky, you’ll still need a liner for fruit leathers or sugary fruits. Think of these as a permanent upgrade to your dehydrator’s chassis, not a non-stick solution in themselves. They cost more upfront, but you will likely never replace them again.

Kispog Silicone Mats for Easy Fruit Leathers

Making fruit leather on a flat sheet can be a race against the clock. You pour the puree and try to spread it evenly before it runs over the edge, creating a massive mess on the bottom of your dehydrator. Kispog mats and similar products solve this with a simple, brilliant feature: a raised lip around the edge.

This "spill-proof" edge acts like a dam, containing the liquid puree and allowing you to get a consistent thickness from edge to edge. It removes all the guesswork and frustration. You just pour, spread to the lip, and you’re done. The resulting leather peels off effortlessly once dried.

These are a specialized tool, and you wouldn’t use them for drying sliced vegetables. But if turning excess fruit into healthy snacks is a major part of your food preservation plan, a few of these mats are a non-negotiable, time-saving investment. They turn a potentially messy job into a clean, repeatable process.

If You Care Parchment for Single-Use Needs

Sometimes, convenience trumps reusability. For incredibly messy jobs or when you’re simply out of clean silicone sheets, high-quality parchment paper is a perfect liner. It’s ideal for heavily marinated jerky where the cleanup of oily residue from a reusable sheet is more trouble than it’s worth.

You just cut the parchment to size, lay it on your tray, and toss it when you’re done. This is also my go-to for drying very small, delicate herbs like dill or thyme. The solid surface prevents the tiny leaves from falling through the mesh as they dry and shrink.

The obvious downside is the waste and the fact that you have to keep buying it. But for the occasional greasy task or for protecting your trays from potent marinades that could flavor the next batch of apples, it’s an incredibly practical and cheap solution. Don’t underestimate the value of a disposable option in a busy harvest season.

SANNIX Non-Stick Sheets for Jerky and Meats

These thin, teflon-coated fiberglass sheets are the workhorse for anyone who makes a lot of jerky or dried meats. They are tougher and more heat-resistant than silicone and provide a slick surface that seasoned meat won’t stick to. After hours of drying, jerky strips peel right off without leaving shredded bits behind.

Their main advantage over parchment is that they are reusable for hundreds of cycles. They wipe clean with a simple sponge and soapy water, and because they are so thin, they take up virtually no storage space. They are also fantastic for things like kale chips, as the oily seasoning won’t soak in.

It’s important to note these are PTFE (Teflon) coated, which is a consideration for some folks. However, for a durable, reusable, and truly non-stick surface dedicated to savory projects, they are hard to beat. They keep your primary trays clean and make the entire process much more efficient.

Pretty Simple Sheets for All-Purpose Drying

Think of these as the jack-of-all-trades liner. They are typically made of a fine, flexible mesh material that sits on top of your standard trays. Their primary job is to prevent small foods from falling through the larger grid of the Excalibur trays.

This is a lifesaver for things like garden peas, corn, or chopped nuts. As they dehydrate and shrink, they’d normally fall to the bottom of the machine. These fine-mesh liners keep everything in its place, ensuring you don’t lose half your batch.

While they offer a slightly more non-stick surface than the bare plastic tray, they aren’t a substitute for silicone when it comes to truly sticky items. They are best seen as a physical barrier. They are an essential, inexpensive accessory if you dry a wide variety of small-particled foods.

Chef’s Star Reusable Mats for Small Batches

Not every dehydrating project involves filling all nine trays. Sometimes you’re just trying out a new recipe for crackers, drying a handful of herbs from the windowsill, or making a single fruit leather for the kids. For these small jobs, a smaller, easy-to-handle mat is perfect.

These mats, often sold in multi-packs, are easy to wash in the sink and don’t require the wrestling that a full-size, sticky sheet sometimes does. They allow you to dedicate just one or two trays to a specific project without committing a large liner to the task.

This approach is about efficiency in both time and effort. It encourages experimentation because the barrier to entry—and the cleanup—is so low. If you find yourself wanting to dry small, varied batches frequently, having a set of these small mats on hand makes the process feel much less like a major production.

Ultimately, outfitting your Excalibur on a budget is about building a small toolkit of liners and trays, not finding one magic bullet. By matching the right surface to the right food, you’ll save yourself countless hours of scrubbing and frustration. This lets you focus on what really matters: preserving your hard-earned harvest for the months ahead.