COSORI Dehydrator Review (2026): Worth It for Dog Treats?

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This COSORI dehydrator review answers one question for dog owners: is the COSORI Premium 6-tray the right machine for homemade jerky, chews and training bites? My short answer is yes. It’s quiet, it holds its temperature well, and the all-stainless trays are easy to clean after greasy meat batches. The catch is food safety, not the machine. No home dehydrator makes raw chicken safe by itself, and I’ll show you the one extra step that fixes that.

If you’ve read my Harvest Right freeze dryer review, you know I ended up recommending a dehydrator to most people who treat-make now and then. This is that dehydrator, looked at closely. I pulled together COSORI’s own specs and manual, independent temperature testing, big-publication reviews and owner reports, and I checked every number against its source so you can decide for yourself.

COSORI Dehydrator Review: Specs, Price and What’s in the Box

The CP267-FD is a box-style dehydrator, the kind that looks like a small toaster oven. Trays slide in from the front like oven racks, and a fan on the back wall blows warm air across them. That design is the reason people switch from the round, stacking models. You don’t have to rotate the trays so much, and the trays have no hole in the middle, so you lose less space.

Specs from the official COSORI product page and the CP267-FD user manual.

COSORI even lists pet treats as an intended use on its product FAQ, and the recipe book is a decent starting point. For dog owners, the most important number on this sheet is the 165°F maximum. It’s high enough to finish jerky, but it’s not a cooking temperature for raw poultry. More on that below.

Build Quality and Design

Inside and out, this is a stainless steel box with a glass door that closes with a magnet. The inside is all stainless too, which matters more than it sounds. Fatty meat batches leave grease behind, and stainless wipes clean where plastic tends to stain and hold smells. If you’re trying to avoid heating plastic next to your dog’s food, this is one of the more affordable ways to do it.

The control panel has four buttons: power, temperature, time and start/stop. It remembers your last settings, which is handy if you run the same sweet potato turmeric chews every week. Plan for the footprint, though. At almost 18 inches deep, it takes about as much counter space as a large toaster oven. Backpacking Chef measured about 5 inches of spare clearance under standard 18-inch-high upper cabinets.

Performance Analysis

Temperature accuracy

For dog treats, accuracy matters more than any other feature. If the display says 145°F but the box runs at 128°F, your jerky dries slowly in the danger zone. The good news: in eight weeks of testing, BestDehydrator.com measured an average of 134.2°F at the 135°F setting and 161.5°F at the 160°F setting, with swings of only about 2–3°F. That’s tight for a machine in this price range.

Even drying

Because the fan sits on the back wall, air moves across every tray at once instead of pushing up through a stack. Backpacking Chef reported that it dried food evenly from top to bottom without rotating trays, and CNN Underscored named it a top pick after side-by-side testing. With very full loads of thick jerky, I’d still check the trays closest to the fan halfway through, since those pieces usually finish first.

Dog-treat performance

Here’s how the COSORI handles what most readers actually make:

• Sweet potato chews: the easiest win. Quarter-inch slices at around 135°F take roughly 8–12 hours. My sweet potato treat recipes and long-lasting treat ideas both work well in it.
• Chicken and beef jerky: great results once you pre-cook the meat (see the safety box). The stainless trays release dried meat more easily than plastic.
• Apple chips and fruit: fine, but sugary fruit sticks to the mesh. Use parchment or silicone sheets.
• Small training bites: anything smaller than the tray grid needs the mesh screen, and you only get one. Extra sheets are cheap. Bake-then-dry recipes like my homemade training treats come out crisp.

Scores for dog-treat makers

Scores are our editorial assessment based on the published tests and owner reports linked in this review.

Living With It: Setup, Daily Use and Cleanup

Setup is simple: wash the trays, run it empty once to burn off any factory smell, and you’re ready. Daily use is set-and-forget. Load the trays, set the temperature and hours, and walk away. At under 48 dB it’s about as loud as a quiet fridge. Vetted Cart ran it overnight and couldn’t hear it from the bedroom down the hall.

There’s one quirk you should know on day one. According to Backpacking Chef, pressing stop resets the timer to zero rather than pausing. To check your jerky, just open the door and pull a tray. Don’t hit stop.

Cleanup is where stainless pays off. The six trays go in the dishwasher. The mesh screen and fruit roll sheet should be hand washed. Vetted Cart warned that sugary fruit sticks to the mesh and usually needs a soak, so I line trays with parchment for banana or apple treats. The learning curve is short. The hardest part is judging when treats are dry, and my guide to soft or soggy treats covers the snap-and-bend test.

COSORI vs. Excalibur, Nesco and Magic Mill

Prices seen at Walmart and in 2026 buying guides; they change often.

Choose the COSORI if you want stainless trays, quiet overnight runs and reliable temperature at a mid-range price. Choose the Nesco if $160 is too much and you don’t mind rotating round trays. Choose a freeze dryer only if you want true freeze-dried texture and have about $2,000 to spend. And if you’d rather cook full meals than treats, my best slow cooker for homemade dog food guide is the better next read.

Is It Worth It? DIY Treat Savings Calculator

Pros and Cons

What’s New in 2026

The CP267-FD itself hasn’t had a redesign. It’s still the same 600W, 6-tray machine that reviewers have praised for years, which is reassuring if you care about reliability. The main changes are around it. COSORI now sells the model in both Silver and Black, and it runs frequent sales through its Daily Sale page (it has been listed at $143.99, 10% off list). The wider lineup gives you a clear size path too: a 5-tray Mini (480W, about $90–$100) for small kitchens and a 10-tray, 1000W model for big-batch households. Interest in DIY treats keeps growing, as our homemade dog food statistics for 2026 show, so expect this machine to stay near the top of buying guides.

Who Should Buy the COSORI Dehydrator?

Best for:

• Owners who make jerky, chews or training treats at least a couple of times a month
• Multi-dog homes that burn through expensive store-bought jerky
• Anyone who wants stainless steel rather than plastic trays near their dog’s food
• Readers learning to make shelf-stable homemade treats

Skip it if:

• You only bake biscuits. An oven handles those fine, like my apple dog treat recipes.
• You won’t pre-cook meat. Stick to veggie chews or buy commercial jerky.
• Counter space is very tight. Look at the COSORI Mini instead.

Alternatives to consider: the Nesco FD-75A for budget buyers, the Excalibur 6-tray for brand loyalists, or a Harvest Right freeze dryer if you want freeze-dried raw texture.

Where to Buy and How to Save

The easiest place to buy is Amazon, where the price moves often and returns are simple. Buying direct from COSORI gets you free shipping, a 30-day money-back guarantee and the 2-year limited warranty. Register the product either way.

Three money-saving tips:

• Watch for 10%-off sales on COSORI’s site and Amazon price drops around big shopping events.
• Add a few extra COSORI mesh screens up front. You’ll want them for small training bites.
• Get an instant-read meat thermometer if you don’t own one. It’s how you confirm 160°F or 165°F before drying.

Final Verdict

Evidence: What Testers and Owners Say

Put together, independent testers agree on the strengths: accuracy, quiet running and even drying. They also agree on the weak spots: sticky mesh and skimpy accessories. None of them reported the problems that should rule out a dehydrator for pet food, like unreliable heat or plastic warping. Before your first batch, double-check your recipe against my list of ingredients you should never feed your dog. Garlic- or onion-seasoned “people jerky” marinades are a common mistake.

Frequently Asked Questions