Are you looking for options to trick your kids into eating veggies or just a healthy snack to add to your meal plan? Then you must give these air fryer carrot fries a try. These sweet-savory crunchy carrot fries when served with your favorite dipping sauce, are bound to become everyone's favorite.
Carrot fries are rich in vitamin A, dietary fibers, and potassium. These have way fewer calories and saturated fats than the conventional fries.
If you like sweet potato fries, you are bound to be hooked on these air fryer carrot fries.
These carrot fries are a great alternative to conventional potato fries. They are a much healthier option and kids are likely to accept them without much fuss. After all who doesn’t like fries.
Why will you love these air fryer carrot fries?
This air fryer carrot recipe works as:
- Simple and approachable. It is a very simple recipe and uses very basic ingredients.
- Vegan. It makes a perfect vegan side dish.
- Oil is not necessary. You do not have to use oil if you do not want to. Make them healthy and delicious in your air fryers. These are a low carb alternative to French fries.
- It is quick: ready in under 15 minutes. The air fryer does not take much time to preheat like oven. Air fryer carrot fries are quick or rather the fastest way to make them.
- They are the best. The air-fried carrot fries turn out better than the pan-roasted, instant pot-made, or oven-roasted ones.
- Evenly cooked. The air fryer cooks them evenly throughout.
- Gluten-free. They make a perfect gluten-free side dish that will complement most entrée dishes.
- Delicious fries with the perfect amount of sweetness and crunch. The carrots are spiced savory, which balances the sweetness of the carrots. And they have a perfect crunch, that stays even after getting cold.
Jump to:
🥘Ingredients for making air fryer carrot fries
Carrots
Any type of carrot will work for making fries. You can use baby carrots. Then air fry baby carrots to make the glorious fries.
You can use red carrots, orange carrots, yellow carrots, purple carrots, or even white carrots. All would work. I have used rainbow carrots in this recipe. I just love the way it looks and so do my kids. You do not have to use these fancy carrots, just stick to whichever you can procure easily.
Try to avoid large and fibrous carrots. They are less sweet and take longer to cook.
Olive Oil
I am using olive oil, but you can use avocado oil or whichever vegetable oil you like. Or go for melted butter or ghee if you want. But this is more for an Italian version, so I am going to stick to olive oil.
Salt and spices
We are going to spice this with some freshly crushed black pepper, garlic powder, dry basil, chili powder, and salt.
You can use whatever spice combination you like. Try adding some dry oregano, and thyme.
🍶Equipment
Though you can cook the carrots the way you want, but for making these carrot fries you will need an air fryer. I have used an 8qt. Bella Professional air fryer.
🔪Instructions to make air fryer carrot fries
Step1 Prepare the carrots
Start by washing and cleaning the carrots. I like to use a vegetable scrubber to scrub the carrots to remove all the dirt clinging to the carrots. It is important to clean the root vegetables thoroughly. Alternately you can peel the carrots.
You can cut carrots the way you like.
But I cut my rainbow carrots into thin pieces. I first cut them into 3- inches long pieces. Then, I slice each piece into 4 thin pieces or carrot sticks.
Step 2 Season the carrots
Transfer them into a bowl. Then add all the spices with salt and olive oil. Toss the carrot sticks in the bowl to get fully coated with the spices.
Step 3 Air fry carrot fries
To air fry carrots, start by preheating the air fryer. Preheating the air fryer is a must for getting crispy carrot fries. I like to set the air fryer at 400 0F for 4-5 minutes. Then I open the air fryer basket and spread the carrot sticks in a single layer.
Do this step carefully as the basket must be hot at this point. I like to use tongs to spread the carrot sticks uniformly in the air fryer basket.
Then let them cook in the air fryer for 9-10 minutes or until they are cooked through and become crunchy.
Do not forget to shake the basket halfway through the cooking time to flip the carrot sticks for even air frying on all sides.
Now, remove the air-fried carrot fries into a plate and serve with your favorite dipping sauce. I like to garnish them with some chopped fresh basil leaves.
How to make oven roasted carrot fries
Wash, peel, and cut the carrots into carrot sticks. Then in a bowl add olive oil and spices of your choice. Now add carrot sticks and coat them well. Transfer them to a parchment-lined baking tray. Then oven roasts them at 425 0F for 14-15 minutes or until fully done.
Do not forget to pull them out at 10 minutes mark and flip all the carrot sticks.
There you have it. The perfectly sweet and crunchy oven roasted carrot fries!
Pull out your favorite dipping sauce and enjoy!
Other flavoring options
Other than basil and oregano, there are numerous flavoring options that you can try.
Garlic parmesan is one of my favorites.
· Garlic Parmesan carrot fries.
The carrot fries are coated in the fresh minced garlic butter and then rolled in grated parmesan cheese.
· Air fryer baby carrots
In this version, you can use baby carrots to be roasted in the air fryer.
· Honey glazed carrot fries
Use honey to glaze the carrots with other spices to get perfectly sweet carrot fries.
· Carrot fries with balsamic glaze
For this recipe, use the above-mentioned recipe as such. Just prepare a balsamic reduction in a saucepan. Drizzle the balsamic glaze all over the air fryer carrots.
Other Seasoning options:
Other store-bought seasoning options that you can explore are
- Peri-Peri
- Chaat masala
- Taco seasoning
- Garlic bread seasoning blend
- French fry seasoning
How to serve air fryer carrot fries
These carrot fries made in an air fryer make a perfect quick snack for kids, games day snack, picnic snack, and an ideal side for meals. Enjoy them with an air fryer frozen burger, or as a side to air fryer spaghetti squash. Serve them with your favorite dipping sauce or humble tomato ketchup.
🫙Storage Tips
Store the air fried carrot fries in an air-tight container or a zip-locked bag and refrigerate for or a day.
♨️Reheating Instructions
Are you wondering, how to reheat carrot fries in air fryer?
To reheat, air fry at 350 0F for 4-5 minutes.
💭Pro Tips
- Make sure to clean the carrots properly. The best option is to peel the carrots with a peeler, but if you do not like peeled carrots, do scrub them nicely to get rid of all the dirt.
- You can reduce or skip oil from the recipe if you like. Or go for a cooking spray to use very negligible oil in making these carrot fries.
- Place the carrot sticks in the air fryer in a single layer. Never overcrowd or overlap the food in an air fryer. If you are making a large batch, make sure that there are gaps in air circulation. Do this step carefully as the basket must be hot at this point. Use tongs to spread the carrot sticks uniformly in the air fryer basket.
- Flip the carrot fries cooking in the air fryer halfway through the cooking time. The best practice is to flip them and change the place of the carrots sitting in the center with that the ones on the periphery of the basket. This ensures the even cooking of all carrot sticks.
- If you root for a mess-free air frying. Use air fryer silicon mats or punched parchment paper. They do not hamper the air circulation and are also easy to clean and maintain.
- It is always a good idea to open the air fryer and check for the doneness 2-3 minutes before the suggested time. Pull out the air fryer basket before the lowest given cook time in a recipe and see for yourself, how much more time you need to perfectly air fry the carrot fries.
❓Frequently Asked Questions
To make the carrot fries crispier make sure to preheat the air fryer. The quicker the food cooks, the crispier it will be. I suggest preheating the air fryer for 5 minutes at 400 0F before putting in the carrot sticks, will give the best results.
Yes, you can perfectly roast carrots in an air fryer. Coat the washed and peeled carrots with oil and spices and roast in a preheated air fryer at 400 0F for 20-22 minutes or until fully cooked through.
The exact time required to roast the carrots in the air fryer will depend on the quantity of the carrots you put in the basket of the air fryer. Air fryer roast carrot to your liking.
Slice the carrot into thin slices using the mandoline slicer. Then coat them with oil and spices. Air fry the carrot slices in a preheated oven at 400 0F for09-10 minutes to get perfect carrot chips.
The reasons for soggy fries in an air fryer are mainly due to the overcrowding in the air fryer basket. If there is not enough space for hot air circulation inside the air fryer, there is going to be a lot of moisture from the food that is cooking. This will lead to a soggy outcome.
Also, when we cook thick food items with loads of moisture at low temperatures, they turn out to be soft and tender. Soggy in other words.
🍽 Related Air Fryer recipes:
Now that you made rainbow carrot fries in your air fryer, you might wanna try making more frozen veggies in your air fryer. Frozen veggies make an excellent side dish.
Side dish Suggestions:
- Air Fryer Frozen Broccoli Spiced to Perfection!
- Frozen Cauliflower in air fryer : A Quick Recipe
- Air fryer spaghetti squash: Low Carb, Quick and simple!
- How to fry frozen okra in air fryer? Breaded and plain cut okra
- Frozen Green Beans in Air Fryer
Some frozen snack options
- How to make best frozen mozzarella sticks in air fryer?
- How to cook frozen pizza bites (veggie pizza rolls) in air fryer
- Frozen potstickers in air fryer: The best way to make frozen dumplings
- Frozen spring rolls in air fryer: Quick, easy, and crispy!
- Pakoras in Air Fryer: Crispy and Healthy!
Hope you love these carrot fries, made in an air fryer. Share your results and opinions in the comment section below. Also, subscribe to never miss a recipe.
Till then
Make it Delicious
📝 Recipe
Air Fryer Carrot Fries
Ingredients
- 200 g Rainbow Carrots or any other carrot
- 1 ½ tablespoon Olive oil
- ½ teaspoon table salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper crushed
- 1 teaspoon dry basil
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- ¼ teaspoon chili powder Optional
Instructions
Step1 Prepare the carrots
- Start by washing and cleaning the carrots. Use a vegetable scrubber to scrub the carrots to remove all the dirt clinging to the carrots or simply use a peeler to peel the carrots.
- Now, cut them into 3- inches long pieces. Then, slice each piece into 4 thin pieces or carrot sticks.
Step 2 Season the carrots
- Transfer the carrot sticks into a bowl. Then add all the spices with salt and olive oil. Toss the carrot sticks in the bowl to get fully coated with the spices.
Step 3 Air fry the carrot fries
- Start by preheating the air fryer. Set the air fryer at 400 0F for 4-5 minutes and let it run with an empty basket.
- Then open the air fryer basket and carefully spread the carrot sticks in a single layer.
- Let them cook in the air fryer for 9-10 minutes or until they are cooked through and become crunchy.
- Do not forget to shake the basket halfway through the cooking time to flip the carrot sticks for even air frying on all sides.
- Now, remove the air-fried carrot fries into a plate and serve with your favorite dipping sauce.
Notes
- Make sure to clean the carrots properly. The best option is to peel the carrots with a peeler, but if you do not like peeled carrots, do scrub them nicely to get rid of all the dirt.
- You can reduce or skip oil from the recipe if you like. Or go for a cooking spray to use very negligible oil in making these carrot fries.
- Place the carrot sticks in the air fryer in a single layer. Never overcrowd or overlap the food in an air fryer. If you are making a large batch, make sure that there are gaps in air circulation. Do this step carefully as the basket must be hot at this point. Use tongs to spread the carrot sticks uniformly in the air fryer basket.
- Flip the carrot fries cooking in the air fryer halfway through the cooking time. The best practice is to flip them and change the place of the carrots sitting in the center with that the ones on the periphery of the basket. This ensures the even cooking of all carrot sticks.
- If you root for a mess-free air frying. Use air fryer silicon mats or punched parchment paper. They do not hamper the air circulation and are also easy to clean and maintain.
- It is always a good idea to open the air fryer and check for the doneness 2-3 minutes before the suggested time. Pull out the air fryer basket before the lowest given cook time in a recipe and see for yourself, how much more time you need to perfectly air fry the carrot fries.
Nutrition Facts
Archana Malhotra
A great way to enjoy fries! loving all your air fryer recipes.