Best Zucchini Fries
The very best zucchini fries should have a few important qualities. They should be crispy and brown on the outside, but moist and tender on the inside. They should have the perfect seasonings that compliment but don’t overwhelm the flavor of the zucchini. Perfect zucchini fries should leave you feeling satisfied but craving just one more bite, and with NO need to lick your greasy fingers. These zucchini fries out of the air fryer are exactly what they should be – crispy, light and delicious.
Air Fryer Zucchini
A lot of the credit for perfect zucchini fries goes to the air fryer. By cooking the breaded zucchini with hot dry air, we’re able to use a lot less oil… and I mean A LOT less. You will need to spritz the zucchini with oil so that it’s evenly and completely coated, but that’s way easier than deep-frying. The hot dry air of the air fryer also cooks the zucchini quickly so that it doesn’t dry out.
How to Make Air-Fried Zucchini Fries
The trick to getting as many fries as you would like cooked at the same time is to build a little stack of fries in the air fryer basket, with the second layer of fries facing the opposite direction to the first layer. Be sure to leave some room between the fries so that the air can circulate and remember to rotate them halfway through the cooking time. I know that’s a lot to remember and might seem a lot of work, but it’s worth it!
Dip for Zucchini Fries
I guess you could always resort to dipping zucchini fries in ketchup, but I think they are much better suited to a mayonnaise-style dip. This recipe includes a super quick and easy roasted garlic aïoli that you can just stir together. How to roast the garlic? Why, in the air fryer, of course! Simply slice off the top of a head of garlic to expose the tops of the garlic cloves. Drizzle a little olive oil on top and season with salt and freshly ground black pepper, and air-fry at 380ºF for about 15 minutes. Let the head of garlic cool and squeeze out the roasted cloves. Save any extra roasted garlic in your refrigerator for another recipe.
I made this recipe today and it was so delicious! It’ll be on my ‘go to’ list from now on when I have too many zucchini. I used lite Ranch for dipping. So yummy! I did them in a single layer, so had to do two batches. Nice and crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. Next time I’ll try the double layer method.
Thanks for the recipe and tips.
These were fantastic. I added a bit of Parmesan cheese to my breadcrumbs. Your dipping sauce was too delicious for words. Again and again, thanks Merideth for the great recipes. Plan on trying the others too !!
Frequently!! So much better than oil fried, and zero mess!
I made these in my air fryer, and they were absolutely yummy. I dipped my zuchinni fries into ranch dressing. (Which I love). Soooooo good. Going to buy more zuchinni and make some more. Thank you for this quick, easy, delicious recipe.
So good!! I made these, adding Parmesan to the breadcrumbs, and ate the entire basket in one sitting!! You can’t eat just one!,
Do you think this would work with avocado? I recently had “avocado fries” in a Mexican restaurant and they were really good.
Yes! I actually have a recipe for avocado fries in my cookbook “Air Fry Genius!”. 🙂
ML
These look so yummy! Do you think it would work if I pre-breaded all of the fries and then froze them? If i then air fried them frozen do you think it would turn out the same?
Yes – you can absolutely freeze the breaded fries. The texture of the zucchini might be a little different, but they will still be good!
These were so awesome!! Just bought an air fryer two weeks ago, tried mushrooms first and then these and loved both. Thanks!
Thanks for the recipe! Instead of bread crumbs, I used panko, and boy were the fries crunchy! I love it. I was lazy to make the sauce, so used ketchup and taziki sauce lol
I’m new to air frying. ( I just bought the Instant pot air fryer lid). Can you tell me what temp I should put the fryer on. Thank you !
Hi Betsy. I haven’t had a chance to play with an air fryer lid yet. I expect it should use the same temperatures, however. Here’s more info on general air frying in case you wanted info on just temperatures for different foods. https://bluejeanchef.com/cooking-school/air-frying-101/ You can also find my air frying cooking charts helpful: https://bluejeanchef.com/cooking-school/air-fryer-cooking-charts/
Meridith
Do you think these could be baked in a regular oven?
Hi Patty. You could bake them in the oven at 425°F for about 20-25 minutes – doing so on a rack sitting in a baking sheet would be best. I would turn them over halfway through the cooking time.
Hi Meredith…I just made the zucchini fries tonight in our air fryer. They were just Awesome! We had found crispy green beans in our frozen section at our grocery store. These were so much better as they were fresh. Thank You for the recipe.
I made these today and added Parmesan cheese to the breading and they were delicious. I used a horseradish cream for dipping. I will definitely make them again.
I made this it’s very good . But I added dill weed to the zucchini and to the dip I put dill weed on just about everything I eat .. I also made this zucchini and had it with my egg wrap very very good
My husband doesn’t ask for French fries after I made these! These are so good and crispy on the outside. I add Parmesan cheese to my bread crumbs. This is a go-to recipe as long as I can find zucchini!!
I dont eat eggs, what can I substitute for that? Any suggestions will b we helpful. Thanks
The eggs are used as a binder. You could try olive oil or avocado oil to moisten the sticks. Or if you eat mayonnaise, whisk some milk with a little mayo, for a thicker liquid that will help the breadcrumbs adhere to the zucchini sticks.
Hi I don’t have oil sprayer or mister, can I just drizzle oil on top?
Sure. Drizzling will work. Spraying is better for even coating, but drizzling will work. Try to get as much of the coating covered if you can.
Made these and they turned out fantastic. Sure do miss you on INTKWD. Nobody measures up to you!
I made these tonight. They turned out great and well worth the effort of dredging each stick. I did spray with olive oil which definitely added to the flavour and crunch. I used Italian bread crumbs.
I think I’ll wrap the garlic bulb next time. The outer layer was burning and not soft in the middle.
Thank you for sharing your recipes.
Hi I made these tonight not sure if I was doing something wrong but found it hard to get the breadcrumbs to stick
I used flour then the egg then the Panko breadcrumbs
Just didn’t even to coat evenly
The ones I made were good and tasty def needs seasoning and mayo sauce
Not giving up work in progress