Air Fryer Asparagus

When it comes to cooking asparagus, I’m going to go out on a limb and guess that you’ve never considered using an air fryer. Same. And, to be honest, before I tried air frying asparagus, this was never my preferred vegetable. Now that’s all changed.

Air Fryer Asparagus

Asparagus is a finicky vegetable, in my opinion. Overcook it and you’ve got a limp, tasteless spear. Under cook it and it is bitter. But when you put it in the air fryer and season it just so? Chef’s kiss perfect. It might just change your mind about eating asparagus as it did mine.

Ingredients Overview

Step-by-Step Instructions

Preheat your air fryer to 400 F for about 5 minutes. Trim the tough ends of the asparagus spears by snapping or cutting them off.

Place the trimmed asparagus spears to the preheated air fryer basket in a single layer. Brush with avocado oil or another high-smoke point oil.

Season the asparagus by adding salt and pepper over the oiled asparagus spears. You may want to use tongs to turn each spear to evenly distribute the seasonings.

Cook the asparagus in the air fryer for 6-8 minutes, shaking the basket halfway through the cooking time to ensure even cooking. You’ll know that the asparagus is fully cooked when it is tender-crisp and slightly charred.

Remove the asparagus from the air fryer and serve immediately.

Notes

You may have to adjust the cooking time based on the thickness of the asparagus spears and/or how tender you want your asparagus to be. For me, the longer it cooks, the better it tastes.

Also, I have a pretty low tolerance for spice, which is why I just season everything with salt and pepper. However, you’re welcome to experiment with additional seasonings or herbs according to how you like your air fried vegetables to taste.