Air fryer asparagus

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I absolutely love to use my air fryer for just about any meal I can. It's quick, simple, easy to clean, lightweight and sits right on my kitchen worktop too. I have a double drawer air fryer, an AF400UK, which is so simple to use and I love that it sits up on the worktop.

Cooking asparagus in the air fryer is a super simple way to cook it, without lots of standing by the hob, and is great for busy nights when I want something fast with minimal fuss.

I have more than 100+ air fryer recipes on this website and I’m adding air fryer asparagus to my list! It takes just a few minutes, and is really easy to boost the flavour of too if you want it to be a little more special. 

I love to cook air fryer vegetables alongside things such as air fryer chicken tenders or air fryer salmon for a simple and tasty meal.

Air frying asparagus is super easy and still packed full of great flavour too.

I love to try and enjoy vegetables with most of my meals, including lunch, and this air fryer asparagus recipe is simple and takes just a few minutes from start to finish. Some days I'll be serving my vegetables with air fried frozen chicken nuggets and frozen french fries, and other days I'll be serving alongside a chicken pie and pile of root vegetable mash with onion gravy.

What I love about cooking asparagus in the air fryer is that it gives the same results every time, and it is harder to overcook it.

Ingredients for air fryer asparagus:

160g asparagus of choice - I've used purple asparagus

5-10ml vegetable oil or olive oil spray 

Seasoning of choice – see below for some suggestions

Method for air frying asparagus: 

Wash the asparagus and dry well.

Trim ½ - 1 inch off the bottom of the asparagus.

Coat the asparagus in the oil and add your seasoning of choice, if you're using one. If you want it plain then you can just add a little cracked black pepper and salt. 

Place the asparagus in your air fryer basket in a single layer if possible. This allows for good air flow while the asparagus is cooking.

Air fry at 200C (390F approx) for 3-4 minutes for very thin, 5-6 minutes for medium and 7 minutes for very thick asparagus. 

Be sure to check 1-2 minutes before the end of your preferred cooking time to ensure it is cooking correctly as there is no exact science due to the different thicknesses asparagus comes in.

You can shake up the air fryer basket halfway through the cooking time if you want to ensure a nice even cooking to all of the asparagus.

I like to serve the asparagus right before the end of the cooking time, as it will still cook for a little bit of time after you remove it from the air fryer.

Add a sprinkle of salt and pepper before serving. Lemon juice works great too, as does parmesan or garlic salt.

Make sure to adjust the cooking time if you’re using extra thick asparagus.

Why isn't my asparagus crispy?

If your asparagus is limp and a little soggy before you cook it then it may be that it is passing its best. I like to store mine by cutting ¼ - ½ inch off the bottom and then standing in a glass of water in the fridge.

When you've already cooked the asparagus, if it is limp and floppy then, you'll likely have overcooked it. I recommend keeping a close eye on the cooking times, and checking 1-2 minutes before the end of the cooking time.

Personally I like to get medium thickness asparagus to try to prevent overcooking it and this seems to work well. You can see the thickness type I mean in the above image.

Is asparagus good in the air fryer?

Personally I love it. It stays lovely and crisp, is super simple to cook and takes about the same time as an air fryer minute steak or an air fryer ribeye steak if you buy thicker asparagus.

Want to try some different flavour combinations?

First up I love to make my own seasoning blends. Fajita seasoning, cajun seasoning, peri peri seasoning and Mexican seasoning all work perfectly on this air fried asparagus.

I've enjoyed asparagus with a number of different flavour combinations. My favourite is just salt, pepper and fresh lemon juice.

You could dip your asparagus in egg and then panko breadcrumbs for something a little different.

I've cooked up air fryer bacon before and crumbled this over the asparagus.

A little sprinkle of parmesan is great too and brings lots of flavour. You can add this upon serving the asparagus.

Do you wrap the asparagus in foil before air frying?

Personally I don't, but you could - as long as the foil was suitable for the high temperatures of an air fryer.

Using foil or baking paper in your air fryer will block the air holes and mean there is less air flow throughout the basket and this will potentially give you lower quality cooking results.

Looking for some tasty meat dishes to serve with your air fried asparagus?

I love to serve asparagus with my air fryer pork belly strips, air fryer pork schnitzel, Ninja Foodi pork chops or slow cooker pulled pork.

What sauces go great with asparagus? 

Cream and white wine based sauces work great with asparagus. If you're serving it with poached eggs it goes great with hollandaise sauce too.

I've used purple asparagus too and it works great.

Want to try a flavoured butter to air fry your asparagus in? 

Personally I love to make an easy and cheap garlic butter, which goes great with asparagus, but you could also try them with a sun-dried tomato butter, lemon butter or just a salted butter would work great and bring lots of extra flavour to this dish. 

Something to note about air fryer recipes is that all air fryers have different sizes, depths and as such the cooking times can vary. All air fryer recipes on this website are intended as a guide, and not a guarantee that the timings will be perfect. Enjoy!

How to cook air fried asparagus:

Note: All calorie information is for demonstration purposes only and is based on the specific uncooked ingredients that I used when creating the recipe.

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