As a beginner home cook or someone who's been cooking for years but will use air fryers for the first time, trying out air fryer vegetarian recipes without a guide can be costly, exhausting, and frustrating. That's why I rounded up some of my favorite air fryer recipes to help you get started.
Air Fryer Vegetarian Recipes
1. Air Fryer Banana Chips
This quick and easy recipe only requires three ingredients: ripe banana, salt, and olive oil. Spray your air fryer tray with olive oil, arrange the thinly sliced bananas on it, and cook them for 25 minutes or until crunchy. Once cooked, allow the chips to cool before seasoning them with salt.
2. Air Fryer Banana Bread
Mash the almost completely brown bananas or those with black speckles on your countertop or fridge and mix them with the rest of the ingredients before baking in your air fryer for up to 35 minutes. The resulting banana bread is flavorful, soft, and moist.
3. Air Fryer Baby Potatoes
Potatoes are boiled in water with salt, whole peppercorns, and bay leaf, then placed in the air fryer basket, sprinkled with a homemade spice blend, sprayed with olive oil, and cooked until crispy and golden brown. Serve the air-fried baby potatoes with or without a dipping sauce.
4. Air Fryer Hassleback Potato
The air-fried potato is crispy on the outside and buttery and tender on the inside. The herbs used lend the potato earthy, savory flavors, while the basil gives it a hint of freshness, and the parmesan cheese adds more creaminess, flavor, and texture.
This super tasty air fryer vegetarian dish can be served as an appetizer or a side dish to steamed or roasted vegetables, fresh salad, or soup.
5. Air Fryer Tater Tots
Golden brown, crispy, and delicious are three words that perfectly describe this appetizer, snack, or side dish, which is ready in about 45 minutes. The boiled potatoes are grated and combined with black pepper, salt, onion powder, garlic powder, and potato starch to create small tots before cooking in the air fryer. Serve the tots with or without a dipping sauce.
6. Air Fryer Broccoli
Brocolli florets coated with olive oil and seasoned with marjoram, paprika, turmeric, garlic powder, salt, and pepper give you a crispy, juicy, flavorful dish. Serve it as a standalone appetizer with or without a basil and lemon garnish or as a side dish, or mix it with your favorite pasta, drizzle with olive oil, and sprinkle with parmesan cheese to have a complete meal.
7. Air Fryer Carrot Chips
With just 25 minutes of your time and five ingredients, you'll have golden, crispy chips that you can snack on guilt-free or use as a salad ingredient and wrap, sandwich, or burger filling. Add crushed red pepper flakes or ground cayenne pepper, paprika, oregano, thyme, or rosemary to the seasoning if you want to.
8. Air Fryer Carrot Cake
This classic dessert or snack made with grated carrots and warm spices, like nutmeg and cinnamon, is ready in an hour. You can substitute the vegetable oil with coconut oil or top this moist, delicious cake with half a cup of nuts or fruits for added flavor and texture.
9. Air Fryer Cauliflower Bites
Bite-sized cauliflower florets are dipped into a soy-sauce-flavored mixture and then coated with seasoned breadcrumbs before being cooked in the air fryer for 18 minutes. The golden brown, crispy bites pair well with any dipping sauce, but most especially with soy sauce and sweet chili sauce.
10. Air Fryer Cauliflower Steaks
The combination of spices used to season the cauliflower slices gives the dish a smoky flavor that pairs well with chimichurri, yogurt, and sriracha-mayo dipping sauces, quinoa pilaf, and lentil curry. Or you can simply garnish the golden brown, crunchy steaks with lemon wedges and herbs.
If you want smokier flavored cauliflower steaks, add smoked paprika to your spice blend while sprinkling them with feta or Parmesan cheese a few minutes before the end of the cooking time can add more crunch to them.
11. Chili-Lime Air-Fried Chickpeas
Among the vegetarian air fryer recipes that require less than an hour of your time, the chili-lime air-fried chickpeas or garbanzos are perfect for busy weeknights. The chickpeas are toasted in the air fryer for 20 to 30 minutes, with constant shaking of the basket for them to cook evenly. The cooked chickpeas are then coated with an oil mixture.
12. Air Fryer Fried Rice
Save yourself from the tiring constant stirring just to have delicious fried rice with this air fryer vegetarian recipe. Vegetables and spices are added to leftover white or brown rice coated with beaten eggs before being poured into a baking dish and cooked in the air fryer for 12 minutes or more.
13. Air Fryer Garlic Bread
A perfect accompaniment for soups, stews, and pasta dishes or served as a standalone snack or appetizer, the air-fried garlic bread only requires 35 minutes of your time and six ingredients.
14. Air Fryer Oatmeal Breakfast Bar
Earthy, sweet, fruity, and nutritious; what more can you ask from this oatmeal breakfast bar? You can eat it while having coffee or tea, pair it with nut butter or Greek yogurt, or crumble the bar and add it to your milk or yogurt bowl.
15. Air Fryer Roasted Pumpkin
Bite-sized pumpkins are coated with simple homemade seasoning and placed in the air fryer to cook evenly with constant shaking of the basket. Within 22 minutes of prep and cook time, you have an appetizer, snack, or side dish with a tender interior that will melt in your mouth and a caramelized exterior that complements it perfectly.
Feel free to use a different blend of herbs and spices, add crushed red pepper flakes to the original seasoning, or add balsamic glaze or lemon juice.
16. Air Fryer Sweet Plantains
Ten minutes and three ingredients are all you need to enjoy this delicious appetizer, snack, or side dish. The naturally sweet flavor of the plantains meshes well with the salt and olive oil flavors, while your air fryer's circulating hot air is responsible for the caramelization and tender, pudding-like texture of the plantain slices.
17. Air Fryer Sweet Potato Chips
Easy and quick to make, these chips made from sweet potatoes are perfect standalone, guilt-free snacks you can serve with or without a dipping sauce, like guacamole, salsa, barbecue sauce, or tzatziki. The chips can also be used to add texture to your burgers, sandwiches, soups, and salads.
18. Air Fryer Sweet Potato Fries
Not your typical French fries, sliced sweet potatoes are coated with vegetable oil, seasoned potato starch, cornstarch, or tapioca starch and then air-fried until they're crispy on the outside and tender on the inside. Enjoy these fries as an appetizer or snack with or without a dipping sauce, or add them to your burger, taco, or vegetarian bowls.
19. Air Fryer Tofu
This delicious, moist, crispy tofu is ready to be served in less than 30 minutes. Serve it with a sweet chili sauce, peanut sauce, or soy sauce, add it to your salad or wrap, or pair it with rice and roasted, steamed, or air fryer vegetables.
20. Air Fryer Tortilla Chips With Guacamole
A perfect snack when binge-watching or during game night, the cold, fresh guacamole perfectly matches the warm, crispy, air-fried tortilla chips. Season the chips with cayenne pepper or chili powder before air frying, or add diced jalapenos to the guacamole if you want a spicy kick.
21. Air Fryer Roasted Vegetables
Enjoy well-seasoned roasted bell peppers, eggplants, tomatoes, and white, yellow, or red onions in one bowl or plate with this air fryer vegetarian recipe. They're crispy on the outside and tender and juicy on the inside, so you can serve them as is or with fresh herb garnishes or a drizzle of balsamic reduction or olive oil.
The air-fried vegetables are also great additions to your salads and wrap and sandwich filling.
22. Air Fryer White Asparagus
After 18 minutes of preparing and cooking, you're ready to serve a delicious, crispy, tender air-fried white asparagus. Pair it with aioli or hollandaise, toasted nuts, and green salad. Give the white asparagus a Mediterranean punch by adding dried oregano to the seasoning or a spicy kick with a pinch of red pepper flakes.
23. Air Fryer Zucchini Chips
Munch on these delicious, crispy, golden brown, air-fried zucchini chips with or without a dipping sauce, like marinara sauce, ranch dressing, or tzatziki, guilt-free. Using them as a salad topping and wrap and sandwich filling ingredient are also great ways of making the most of the air-fried zucchini chips.
Cooking Air-Fried Vegetarian Meals
Whether you, a family member, or a guest is vegetarian, these air fryer recipes won't disappoint. From sweet and savory to appetizers, snacks, desserts, main dishes, and side dishes, you will surely find something that will work for your current needs.
If you're looking for more air fryer recipes and tips, even reviews for air fryers, All the Crumbs Please has the information you need.
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