Asparagus cooked in the air fryer is a fantastic side dish for any meal. This recipe is simple, quick, and needs very little work to cook to perfection in only 8 minutes.
This article describes how to prepare asparagus in the air fryer with olive oil and seasoning. One of the easiest side dishes you can make that pairs well with your protein is this air fryer-roasted asparagus. Sometimes the simplest dishes are the best.
Although asparagus cooked in the air fryer is a delicious side dish, you can make it a little fancier by adding some mushrooms to the frying basket.
When asparagus is fried in the air fryer, it always comes out with crispy ends but is internally soft and delicate. And the reason why this cooking technique is so unique is because of these crispy ends.
I could even eat an entire plate of this asparagus by myself if I added a few extra nutritional yeast flakes. How could anyone possibly resist?
Why You’ll Love This Recipe?
- It’s quite easy! Add some oil and seasoning to your asparagus, then let the air fryer handle the rest!
- It works well as a side dish for almost any main course and also makes a nutritious snack.
- Asparagus that is crunchy and highly addictive will result.
- Asparagus is a wonderful choice for heavy eaters because it is low in carbohydrates and calories.
What is an Asparagus?
The herbaceous perennial plant known as garden asparagus (Asparagus Officinalis) is a member of the lily family.
The plant’s young branches are consumed—the thin spears with pointy, scaled tips. These grow into a massive, fern-like plant with feathery leaves that dies back in the fall if left unchecked.
There are asparagus plants all around the world. The United States, Germany, Peru, and China are the top four producers. In temperate regions when the ground freezes, they flourish. The spears emerge from the earth as a result of the spring thaw and rising temperatures.
They are harvested when they reach a height of 6 to 8 inches and have spears that are at least half an inch thick. The harvest stops when the spears reach only the thickness of a pencil. They begin thin, grow thicker as the season goes on, then taper off again.
Asparagus cultivation does take time and room. It may take up to 3 to 4 years after the seeds are planted for the plant to start making edible spears. Asparagus has an elevated status as a luxury vegetable as a result of the lengthy wait and the brief season, which explains why it occasionally costs more at the market.
It’s one of the simplest foods to prepare and cook, though.
Benefits of Air Fried Asparagus
Asparagus that has been cooked for around 10 minutes in an air fryer is known as air-fried asparagus.
The ultimate product is a side dish of crispy vegetables that you can proudly serve to your family or guests. Asparagus may be air fried with very little preparation—just season your fresh or leftover asparagus before placing it in the air fryer.
A healthy substitute for conventional frying techniques is air frying asparagus. Deep-frying and pan-frying involve using a lot of oil, which might raise cholesterol.
But as compared to conventional frying techniques, air frying consumes less oil. When air frying, the food gets just a fraction of oil and is exposed to circulating, high heat which results in equally crispy food.
As a result, compared to pan or deep-fried asparagus, air-fried asparagus has less overall fat. Asparagus is a simple way to get calcium, vitamin A, vitamin C, and potassium into your diet because it is a great source of all four of these vitamins.
Recipes for air-fried vegetables can be used with diets like low-carb, vegan, vegetarian, and ketogenic ones.
Air Frying Asparagus vs. Roasting Asparagus
Because it involves less preparation and cooks faster than traditional roasting techniques, air-fried asparagus is simpler than roasted asparagus.
When air frying asparagus, the cooking time is about half that of when roasting asparagus conventionally. Asparagus cooked in the air fryer involves minimal cleanup. After you’re finished frying your asparagus, just rinse the air fryer basket in the sink rather than cleaning the baking sheets.
Other veggies can also be air-fried to save time and make a nutritious side dish for dinner. In addition, Brussels sprouts, zucchini, broccoli, green beans, and cauliflower all cook well in the air fryer.
Ingredients You Need for This Recipe
Only a few ingredients are needed to make Air Fryer Asparagus: asparagus, parmesan, garlic parsley salt.
This is a great dish, but here are a few modifications you can try:
| Bacon with asparagus | Add a few strips of bacon, diced, to the air fryer simultaneously with the asparagus. It will fry up the bacon beautifully! In fact, one of the best foods to cook in an air fryer is bacon. |
| A sprinkle of lemon juice | This dish is revitalized by a squeeze of lemon juice. An iconic summertime dish is lemon-flavored asparagus. |
| Seasoning salt | Sprinkle on your preferred seasoning salt if you can’t get enough of it! Just be careful not to overseason parmesan, which is already salty, by adding too much seasoning salt. |
| Dash of pepper | Do you like a little heat? Sprinkle some freshly ground pepper. |
| Smoked paprika | The flavor combination of smoked paprika with asparagus is delicious! |
Best Way to Cook Asparagus
- Cut the ends off: Trim or snap the ends off your asparagus after rinsing it.
- Use a lot of seasoning: Season your asparagus liberally with salt, pepper, and olive oil.
- Make it goofy: Grate parmesan over the asparagus after placing it in the air fryer basket, making sure to arrange the spears in an even layer.
- Air fry: Cook the asparagus in your air fryer at 400 °F for 7 minutes.
How to Trim Asparagus?
The following information will help you successfully trim asparagus:
- Use cool water to rinse your asparagus.
- Trim the spears by chopping off the bottom half, which is rough and woody. The woody portion should naturally break off when you snap it off with your hand.
- Season your spears and toss the ends!
Conclusion
- This leafy green vegetable is a good source of vitamins and minerals like folate, vitamins A, C, and K, and is low in calories and carbohydrates. Asparagus is air-fried, which requires very little oil and reduces the amount that must be added.
- See where an asparagus spear naturally snaps off by grabbing it at the bottom. This is often one to two inches from the ground. You can either snap them all or use a sharp knife to remove that much of each stem.
- Asparagus needs to be preheated in order to cook rapidly in the air fryer and come out lovely and crisp like roasted asparagus.
- Your air-fried asparagus should be kept in an airtight container. You can store it for up to one week in the refrigerator. Asparagus can also be frozen and then simply reheated in the air fryer to restore its crispiness.
- Each air fryer is unique! This implies that depending on the size, thickness, and level of heat generated by your air fryer, the cooking time will vary. Always check the asparagus at 7 to 8 minutes to determine when it is done, then modify the cooking time accordingly.
- Asparagus can be slightly overlapped because it will move when it is turned, but it is best to keep it in a single layer to ensure that it crisps up and does not steam.