How to Air Fry Frozen Vegetables

I’m finding that more than anything, I’m using air fryer vegetable recipes when I cook with my air fryer. I love cooking frozen vegetables with my air fryer, as it’s so convenient to keep them in the freezer!

These air fryer recipes can easily be used for fresh or frozen vegetables–my favorite veggies to air fry are cauliflower, broccoli, and green beans.

I live about 25 minutes from a grocery store and I love being able to use frozen veggies for everything I can–they’re picked at the peak of freshness, so they are super healthy and easy to cook. 

The best air fried vegetables:

• Broccoli florets Definitely a favorite because it tastes just like roasted broccoli, but it’s faster!
• Okra Not one of my favorite vegetables, typically, but I love that the air fryer crisps it up a bit.
• Green Beans These are so easy and they’re perfect for snacking!
• Cauliflower All around, my favorite vegetable to cook any way–in the last year I’ve developed a love affair with cauliflower.
• Sweet Potatoes Roasted sweet potato chunks sprinkled with cinnamon are a delicious treat.
• Brussel Sprouts Mixed with some onions and mushrooms, this is a meal in itself, or the perfect side dish!

What is an air fryer? 

An air fryer is like a countertop convection oven. It is different than deep frying because it cooks food by blowing hot air around it. It technically doesn’t need any oil, but by not using oil your food might come out a bit dry (with all of that air blowing, it’s easy to dry food out if it’s overcooked in the air fryer). 

I spray olive oil on the foods that I put in my air fryer and they cook evenly and don’t dry out–it works great for me. Also, spray oil can help your seasonings stick to the vegetables. It’s always a good idea to find a healthy oil sprayer to accompany your air fryer.

Can you put frozen vegetables in the air fryer? 

You can easily cook fresh or frozen vegetables in the air fryer. Making air fryer frozen vegetables takes a little more time–about 20 minutes–because you’re defrosting the veggies as they cook. I’ve found that some vegetables cook better than others, and I’m sharing all of my tips with you here today! 

Tips for cooking frozen vegetables in the air fryer: 

• Cook at a higher heat so that the vegetables don’t have much of a chance to get soggy as they cook. 
• Use spray olive oil to lightly coat your veggies before seasoning instead of drizzling olive oil on them–drizzling oil on frozen veggies causes it to freeze right away and it doesn’t come out very even. 
• If you’d rather not spray oil on the vegetables, that’s fine, but watch for them to become dry.
• Remember that you might lose some seasoning at the bottom of the air fryer–plan for that and add a little extra at the end if you’d like. 

Air Fryer Broccoli Recipe with Balsamic & Parmesan

Ingredients for Broccoli with Balsamic & Parmesan: 

• One half of a 12 ounce bag of frozen broccoli (or fresh if you prefer, and cook at 350º for 10 minutes, tossing every few)
• Olive oil
• 1/4 cup nutritional yeast, panko breadcrumbs, or homemade breadcrumbs
• 3 tbsp balsamic vinegar
• Parmesan cheese, as an optional garnish

Directions for Broccoli with Balsamic: 

1. Pour half the bag (about 6 ounces) of broccoli into a bowl.
2. Spray olive oil on top of broccoli. If using frozen broccoli, do this quickly because it’ll freeze and clump up. 
3. Add nutritional yeast (optional, but it makes a great bread-like coating) and balsamic on top of it. Toss and mix well in the bowl. 
4. Cook frozen broccoli in the air fryer at 400º for 20 minutes, opening to toss every few minutes. 

Air Fried Green Beans and Okra

Ingredients for Air Fried Okra and Green Beans: 

• One half of a 12 ounce bag each of frozen cut okra and full green beans (or fresh if you prefer, and cook them 350º for 10 minutes, tossing every few)
• Quick spray of olive oil
• 1/4 cup nutritional yeast
• 3T Balsamic or salt and pepper to taste

Directions for Air Fried Okra and Green Beans: 

1. Pour half the bag (about 6 ounces each) of each okra and green beans into a bowl. 
2. Lightly spray olive oil on top of the veggies. If using frozen, do this quickly because it’ll freeze and clump up. 
3. Add nutritional yeast (optional, but it makes a great gluten free bread-like coating) and either salt and pepper or balsamic on top of it. Toss. 
4. Cook at 400 degrees for 20 minutes, opening to toss in the air fryer basket every few minutes. 

Air Fried Cauliflower

Ingredients for Air Fried Cauliflower

• One half of a 12-14 ounce bag of frozen cauliflower
• Quick spray of olive oil
• 1/2 cup hot sauce (I use Frank’s original)
• 3/4 cup nutritional yeast

Directions for air fried buffalo cauliflower:

1. Pour half the bag (about 6 ounces each) of cauliflower into a bowl. You can also use fresh cauliflower, cook at 350 degrees for 10 minutes).
2. Lightly spray olive oil on top of cauliflower. Add hot sauce and toss to coat.
3. Add nutritional yeast and toss. 
4. Cook at 400 degrees for 20 minutes, opening to toss in the air fryer basket every few minutes.
5. Want more spice? Drizzle more hot sauce on the cauliflower after removing from the fryer.

What ingredients can you use to cook vegetables in the air fryer?

There are so many delicious toppings and ingredients that you can toss your vegetables in for the air fryer. Make sure it’s something that will stick to the veggie, or use something to help it stick (like oil spray). Here are some of our favorites: 

• Frank’s hot sauce
• nutritional yeast
• balsamic
• garlic salt
• fresh ground pepper
• rosemary and garlic
• unsweetened coconut
• parmesan cheese
• keep it basic with salt and pepper–it’s delicious!

Looking for the Best Air Fryer?

While I prefer the Ninja Foodi to use as my air fryer, you can easily use an Instant Pot with an air fryer lid or a Mealthy CrispLid.

Healthy Eating Plans

21 Day Fix/Ultimate Portion Fix

Nutritional yeast is free if you’re using one serving, but 1/2 cup will count for about 1/2 red (this is an educated guess on my part, as nutritional yeast is not on the food list).

If you’d rather not use nutritional yeast, you can use whole wheat panko and count 1Y for 1/2 C, or use 6 Triscuts, crunched up, for 1Y. 

Weight Watchers

Most vegetables are free on Weight Watchers, depending on the myWW plan you’re on. The breading and fats are where your points will come in.

These points are the same on Purple, Green, and Blue Plans:

• 1/2 cup of Nutritional Yeast is 2 points
• 1 tbsp of butter is 5 points
• Olive oil cooking spray is zero points
• 1/2 cup of panko whole wheat breadcrumbs is 5 points
• 1/4 cup of Frank’s Original Red Hot is zero points
• 1 tbsp of balsamic vinegar is 1 point

Looking for more healthy air fryer recipes?

• Buffalo Cauliflower Bites are so popular!
• Cauliflower Taco Bowl
• Air Fryer Apple Slices 
• Buffalo Chicken Roll Ups
• Roasted Artichokes