Air Fryer Asparagus
Asparagus with browned tips and soft stalks is one of my favorite things. The air fryer does it perfectly!
I love roasted asparagus and the air fryer does it quicker and better than ever! I like the stems fairly softened and the tips nice and brown. For thin-to-medium asparagus, that will only take 5-7 minutes. Quick, right?
Scroll down to read more about how it all comes together or click here to jump straight down to the recipe.
Video: Vegetables In The Air Fryer
Do I Need To Preheat The Air Fryer?
For some recipes I donโt find it necessary, but since this cooks so quickly, I recommend it.
Get your air fryer preheating to 400ยฐF. It doesnโt take long to preheat, but note youโll likely be ready to add your asparagus to the air fryer before itโs done preheating. Thatโs totally fine. Get that asparagus in there as quickly as you can so you can move onto something else.
How To Choose Asparagus For The Air Fryer
Thin asparagus stems will be done in just a few minutes in the fryer. I actually find them too crisp. Similarly, really thick ones seem to brown too much on the outside before theyโre cooked through. Try to get medium-thickness stems if you can.
How To Prepare Asparagus
People often say to take a stem of asparagus and gently bend it until it breaks and that is the natural trimming point. This is true, from what I can tell. However, I find it too fiddly to do each stem that way. Instead, I just do it for a few and then cut them all to that length.
Once theyโre all trimmed, put the parts of the asparagus stems that have the flowered tips into a medium bowl. Discard the ends. To the bowl, add 1 teaspoon of olive oil, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/8 teaspoon pepper. You could absolutely add additional seasoning if you prefer like garlic powder, paprika, or even one of our seasoning blends.
Note that you could do the seasoning and tossing right in the air fryer basket instead of dirtying a bowl. However, I find that some of the oil and seasoning drops straight through the holes in the basket when I add it directly to the basket. Using a bowl ensures more of it adheres to the asparagus. But this is really not a huge deal. Iโm just a perfectionist sometimes.
How To Cook Asparagus In The Air Fryer
Transfer the asparagus to the basket of your air fryer. Toss it around a bit to get it into a single layer, or as much of a single layer as you can.
Slide the basket into the fryer. Cook for 5 minutes. No need to toss them or anything. Let them be!
After 5 minutes, have a look. They should be lightly browned. And if you pierce one with a fork, it should go through easily. If they were on the thick side and they need more time, cook for another 2-4 minutes.
When theyโre done, theyโll look like this:
If youโd like, sprinkle them with a pinch of coarse salt before serving. And then eat!
More Air Fryer Veggies
If you love this recipe, make sure to try my other air fryer vegetable recipes too.
- Air Fryer Carrots Recipe
- Air Fryer Green Beans
- Air Fryer Blistered Shishito Peppers
- Air Fryer Roasted Red Peppers
Podcast Episode: Making Air Fryer Asparagus
Listen to me explain briefly about how to make this recipe, with some great tips along the way, by clicking the play button below:
Listen to more Recipe of the Day episodes here.
Print
Air Fryer Asparagus Recipe
- Prep Time: 5 Minutes
- Cook Time: 5 Minutes
- Total Time: 10 minutes
- Yield: 2 Servings 1x
- Category: Side Dish
- Method: Air Fryer
- Cuisine: American
DESCRIPTION
Asparagus with browned tips and soft stalks is one of my favorite things. The air fryer does it perfectly!
Ingredients
- 1 lb. asparagus, trimmed
- 1 tsp. olive oil
- 1/4 tsp. salt
- 1/8 tsp. pepper
Instructions
- Preheat air fryer to 400ยฐF.
- Put the trimmed asparagus into a medium bowl with the oil, salt, and pepper. Toss to coat.
- Transfer to the basket of the air fryer. Toss to distribute evenly.
- Put basket into fryer and cook 5ย minutes.
- Check the asparagus. If a fork pierces a stem easily and stems are lightly browned in places, theyโre done. If not, cook for another 2-4 minutes.
- Transfer to a serving plate.
Love this recipe? Iโd appreciate it if you could scroll down and add a *5 star rating* to help others know theyโll love it as well!
This post originally appeared in January 2020 and was revised and republished in February 2025.
Christine is the founder of TheCookful and also of her blog COOKtheSTORY. Her passion is explaining the WHY behind cooking โ Why should you cook things a certain way; Will they turn out if you do it differently; What are the pros and cons of the method? Learn more about Christine, her cookbooks, and her podcast.