Best Air Fryer Zucchini Fries

Air fryer zucchini fries or spears are a great side dish or a healthy low carb snack your whole family will love! With meat as a meal we do love our air fryer zucchini boats. This works great as a vegetable side as well. It’s our favorite veggie air fryer recipe to date. 

Air Fry Zucchini

Wondering how to cook zucchini in air fryer? Since we planted our vegetable garden we have had a lot of these green veggies on hand. To use them up I had to get creative for sure. We did this to make our air fryer zucchini chips first and just kept going with new creations from there.

We do love mixed air fryer vegetables but sometimes you want some crunch on the outside. With a little bit of breadcrumbs and your favorite seasoning, these taste deep fried but a healthy version of that. If you have a craving for fries with zucchini like at the fair every summer, these will do the trick!

Zucchini fries in air fryer

It doesn’t matter what brand you have. I have a Cosori but we also make Ninja Foodi zucchini fries in that often too.

Should you peel zucchini before you cook it?

Not at all. I have never shredded it before using at all. There is quite a bit of liquid in this veggie so the skin keeps it together well really.

Is Fried Zucchini Bad?

Well anything deep fried in oil isn’t great for your health. BUT when you air fry vegetables you still get that crunch but without the fat or oil!

Air fryer zucchini fries

This is kinda’ my assembly line of sorts. Prepare all ingredients and then dunk and dip, then cook! The girls can do this themselves now that they are teens which I love. Yellow squash is kinda’ fun to mix things up too.

I have used my large air fryer before which works well for these since it has shelves and crisps it all without flipping at all. You can fit a lot too, but my square Cosori basket is by far my favorite overall and use it every day.

• Use seasonings you love, what I have below are obviously just suggestions.

If you haven’t made any Old Bay recipes before it is probably my favorite seasoning by far.

Zucchini fries recipe keto

You can use shallow small bowls too for your bread crumbs and one for your egg, totally up to you. It’s the way I make almost all of our air fryer vegetable recipes.

Since they are bite sized your kids will likely want to try them too. Of course air fryer french fries are fun, but with a little added parmesan I probably prefer these as a side dish or snack.

Dipping sauces: Ranch dressing, marinara sauce or fry sauce are best. I mean they’re quite good just as is right out of the basket but it is totally up to you. Those who put ketchup on everything might like that.

Are air fryers healthier?

Compared to deep fried zucchini spears, yes!! Using hot air to make the outside crispy and delicious versus submerging it into vegetable oil is a much healthier way to make this.

• The biggest tip when making air fryer vegetables, or anything else in your machine really, is layer in air fryer in only ONE layer.

If you crowd your food in the air fryer basket the sides won’t get an opportunity to get really crunchy and crispy like you want them to be.

Separating them allows the hot air to create a crispy outside, but still leave the outside tender and moist.

If we just want something light at the end of the day this is one of our favorite zucchini dinner recipes. We love zucchini taco boats too.

Air Fryer Zucchini Fries Gluten Free

If you needed a version like this you could easily use a gluten free version of Panko, you can find that online all the time and usually at the store. It tastes almost identical really.

Another tip when making air fryer zucchini fries: flip them halfway through the total cook time. This isn’t totally necessary if you forget, but if you remember it makes every inch perfectly crunchy!

Air fryer zucchini spears

Slice your zucchini and/or yellow squash in half, then into spears about 4 inches long. Size is up to you but this works well for us. The thinner they are the less time needed, and crispier they’ll be. Dip into shallow bowl with your egg in it, then press into your breadcrumb mixture until well coated.

• Place into your air fryer basket in a single layer. Cook at 350 degrees until crispy, about 15 minutes total flipping after 10 min.
• Remove and do the same for remaining zucchini until your entire batch is done and perfectly crispy on the outside, tender on the inside.

Eat right out of the basket or have a few dipping sauces available to serve with them. Make as a side dish or a snack. Dip and enjoy! Some like a light squeeze of lemon juice after they’re freshly cooked too.

Air Fryer Parmesan Zucchini Fries

Other Ninja Foodi recipes you might enjoy are:

(any brand of air fryer will work)

• Crispy air fryer fried shrimp with some air fryer okra on the side is amazing
• Air fryer zucchini fritters
• Meatballs in air fryer are keto and low carb snacks
• Use our air fryer cooking times chart linked above to air fry almost anything else!

For the french fries in the oven follow these directions, Air fryer carrot fries are amazing too. Then make our pumpkin zucchini muffins as a treat.

Ninja Foodi Zucchini Fries

There is a printable version of this recipe with an ingredient list too. Of course you can come back and get what you need the next time you want to make them too, but sometimes it’s handy to keep it in your recipe book.