Air Fryer Green Beans Are the Quick Veggie Side You’ll Love

I’m always looking for new ways to jazz up vegetables. Green beans are one of my favorite vegetables to experiment with because they can take on a lot of different textures. These air fryer green beans are my latest green bean experiment and they worked fantastically!

The trick to make these truly great is to dust the green beans in a light breadcrumb coating that barely hangs onto the beans as they air-fry. The morsels of breadcrumbs give just a little much-needed crunch to the green beans.

Why Air Fry Green Beans?

This was an experiment for me, but I came away loving the air-fried green beans. Because they cook hot and fast, they still have some bite to them, but they also get blistered in places from the hot air. 

This would be a hard mix to nail down without an air fryer. If you simply boiled the green beans, you would miss that crispy texture. Deep-frying the green beans would kill their crispy freshness. 

No Need To Blanch First

Normally, I’ll blanch green beans by adding them to boiling water for about 30 seconds before using them in salads or something, but it’s truly not necessary for this recipe.

Save yourself the time. You wouldn’t gain anything by blanching the green beans for this recipe. 

Tips for Air Fryer Green Beans

For starters, I recommend trimming off the ends of the green beans before air frying. Sometimes I’m lazy and skip this step, but if you leave the ends on during air-frying, they will burn because they are so thin.

Second, as with any air fry recipe, make sure your green beans are in a single layer. Some overlapping here is fine, but if you pile in the green beans, they won’t cook correctly. Work in batches. Don’t worry. They go fast. 

The Crispy Coating

I tried a version of these air fried green beans with just some oil and salt and pepper and they were good, but I found they were lacking some texture. Enter the breadcrumb coating! By tossing the beans in olive oil and a seasoned breadcrumb mixture, it gives them a really nice crunch.

Get More Veggies in Your Air Fryer 

• Air Fryer Brussels Sprouts
• Air Fryer Avocado Fries
• Crispy Cauliflower
• Air Fryer Onion Rings
• Air Fryer Baked Potatoes

Prep and season the green beans:

Clip the ends off the green beans and rinse them well. Dry them off with a paper towel and then add them to a large bag or bowl. Drizzle in the olive oil and then toss with the bread crumbs, onion powder, salt, black pepper, and red pepper flakes.

Air fry the green beans:

Remove green beans from the bag (or bowl) with tongs. A lot of the breadcrumb mixture will fall off the green beans, and that’s okay. What stays on will give them a little texture that they need. 

Place the beans in the air fryer basket in a single layer (it’s okay if a few green beans overlap, but don’t pile them up). Air fry at 375˚F for 6 minutes. 

When the cooking time is up, taste a green bean and, if necessary, air fry the batch a few minutes longer. (Older or thicker beans will take longer to cook.)

Repeat with more batches. Depending on the size of your air fryer, you’ll probably need three batches for 1 pound of green beans.

Serve:

When green beans come out of the air fryer, garnish them with a light grating of fresh lemon zest.

Serve hot, warm, or at room temperature.

Leftover green beans keep well in the fridge for a few days and can be reheated in the air fryer for 1-2 minutes or in a 400˚F oven until just warm.

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