If you’ve been reading CookingChew for a while, you may have noticed that we are huge fans of the air fryer.
With a little bit of olive oil, brown sugar, and garlic powder, we get delicious fork tender carrots in about 10 minutes!
We make easy recipes that enhance the natural sweetness of roasted air fryer carrots with sea salt, onion powder, melted coconut oil, and maple syrup for a sweet version.
These taste so much like delectable, rich sweet potatoes this way, especially if we top them with a sugar mixture while they are still warm!
Or we’ve made a great side dish of rainbow carrots without a toaster oven at all and just fry carrots into a spicy version with cayenne pepper, black pepper,
We have been pretty excited with how all kinds of foods and side dishes have turned out, usually crisped up in record time.
We are happy to report that we have increased our vegetable intake and the air fryer basket makes such quick work of it, we can make an easy side dish of veggies on our lunch hour (or our “lunch 20 minutes,” depending on how busy we are that day).
The air fryer puts out beautiful golden potatoes with crisp skin and fluffy interior in a cooking time that’s a fraction of an oven-baked potato.
Cooking carrots in the air fryer really does reduce the cook time.
It’s also easier to check on delicious roasted carrots, easier to turn or toss air fryer carrot fries.
The dry, super-heated air is basically roasting your carrots and making a gorgeous crisp char with very little oil.
The type of air fryer doesn’t seem to matter, though we have a simple Ninja that makes food for two people just fine.
What kind of carrots to use
This is one of those air fryer recipes that is super flexible and you can use whatever type of carrots that you have on hand.
You can use purple carrot, bag of baby carrots, yellow carrots or plain ol’ orange carrots.
You can create new recipes for holiday meals, make a main dish out of frozen carrots without a long time in the kitchen.
How to cut the carrots
You can cut carrots into any shape or size that you want. You can cut grocery store carrots and organic carrots into round coin shapes or longer carrot fries
The only real thing to consider is keeping the size of the carrot pieces as consistent as possible.
Cut whole carrots or large carrots into uniform pieces so they cook evenly and in less time.
If you are using a bag of baby carrots you don’t really need to cut them at all.
This carrots recipe will cook up into crispy carrots in the air fryer really well just as they are.
Make sure you maintain a single layer of carrots in the air fryer basket.
You can use a crinkle-cutter as a fun way to encourage kids to eat air-fryer carrots as a simple side dish, served in a small bowl. Combine carrots with a protein and you have a perfect choice for lunch.
Here are a few tips about the best way to peel carrots.
Air Fryer Carrots Recipe
While there are different ways to get crispy edges on this delicious side dish, this is our favorite Air Fryer Carrots Recipe.
Ingredients
- 1 lb raw carrots
- 1 T olive oil or avocado oil
- 2 T dried thyme
- 2 T minced garlic
- Salt and pepper to taste. (It may need more salt than you think, so start with a full teaspoon for a whole pound of raw carrots.)
Instructions
- Wash and dry the carrots.
- Peel the carrots with a vegetable peeler and then cut them into 1/2" size pieces.
- Preheat the air fryer to 400°F.
- Place carrots into a medium size glass mixing bowl along with all of the seasonings.
- Toss carrots to coat.
- Add the seasoned carrots to the air-fryer basket and cook for 10 minutes.
- Open the basket and use tongs to stir the carrots in the basket.
- Cook for another 10 minutes or until the carrots are fork tender for the best flavor.
- Cool completely before storing in an airtight container.
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Nutrition Information:
Yield: 5 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 95Total Fat: 6gSaturated Fat: 1gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 5gCholesterol: 0mgSodium: 123mgCarbohydrates: 11gFiber: 3gSugar: 4gProtein: 1g
The bottom line
Air frying is so much better than deep frying, and it’s one of our favorite things that allows us to get the best results that the whole family just loves.
We love french fries, of course, but cut these into carrot sticks, and I promise you, these will be just as crisp and well received as potato fries.
Haven’t committed to an air fryer yet? Here’s our recipe for Oven-Roasted Carrots with Thyme
This air fryer carrot recipe makes the perfect side dish to so many mains, you will be surprised at how easy it is to get them on the table.
Experiment with your favorite seasonings, but don’t skimp on the salt. They enhance the robust and sweet flavor of the air fryer carrots.
Be well, friends!