The Right Way To Cook Frozen Vegetables In The Air Fryer

From crispy fries and tater tots to brownies and burgers, air fryers are ideal for cooking all sorts of quick and tasty meals, sides, and snacks. The ease and effectiveness of this cooking method is also why you should be cooking frozen veggies in an air fryer. You can skip the time-consuming prep or thawing period and load up the appliance with vegetables straight from the freezer. Just make sure to follow a few pro tips to ensure the perfect flavor and texture every time.

Rachel Buck, Senior Demo Chef for the Ninja Test Kitchen, shared some advice for evenly crisping your frozen veggies in an air fryer. "The most important part of cooking frozen vegetables is to ensure there's enough space for air to circulate. If you're cooking a large batch, it's better to cook them in batches," she tells Chowhound exclusively. She also recommends "shaking the basket halfway through cooking to ensure even crispiness." 

Air fryers work to make your food crispy by circulating hot air around your food, providing an even cook on all sides. However, if you crowd the contents of your air fryer, the hot air won't be able to circulate around the food, leaving it undercooked and soggy. Follow a few more of Buck's helpful suggestions for flavorful, crispy, evenly cooked veggies every time.

According to Rachel Buck, another way to ensure even cooking is to preheat the air fryer for around three minutes before adding your frozen veggies. While preheating the countertop appliance isn't always required — such as when reheating leftovers — it's particularly important to do so for frozen foods since they take longer to heat up. Whether you're cooking with the Ninja 4-in-1 Air Fryer Pro or Ninja's stacked two-basket model, preheating your air fryer in general results in crispier food and will prevent mushy veggies.

Whether using a store-bought bag of frozen veggies or veggies you sliced up yourself and froze for later, you can make super flavorful air-fryer veggies in a flash by adding just a few ingredients. "Lightly coat the vegetables with cooking spray or toss them in a little bit of oil and season well, by adding salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, or other seasonings according to your taste," Buck suggests.

Adding oil or cooking spray will help crisp up your food in an air fryer, however, you don't need as much oil as you would if pan-frying the veggies. Simply add a couple of teaspoons of oil to a bowl of frozen veggies, along with your seasonings, and mix well before adding them to the air fryer. Avoid adding oil directly to the air fryer since it can create overly greasy food and cause your air fryer to smoke.