30 Vegetables in the Air Fryer, Ranked From Quickest to Slowest

All 30 vegetables

Pairing vegetables with a main

Use the ranking to time a side. A vegetable that cooks in under 10 minutes can join a main for its last few minutes, as long as the temperatures match. Asparagus, broccoli and green beans are the easy ones.

Vegetables that take 20 minutes or more are better started first, with the main added partway through, or cooked on their own while the meat rests.

Watery vegetables such as courgette, mushrooms and tomatoes give off steam. They are fine alone but soften anything crisp cooked beside them.

How these figures were worked out

The figures are counted from the 304 recipes published on RecipeAirFryer.com on 2026-10-08. Each recipe has one temperature, a time range, a prep time, an ingredient list and a serving count, and those fields are what is counted here.

The times and temperatures are the starting points given on each recipe page for a standard basket air fryer. They are not laboratory measurements, and air fryers differ between models, so treat the counts as a description of this recipe set, not of every air fryer.

Vegetable recipes are those in the side dish, vegan and vegetable categories, leaving out potatoes, breads and pulses.

Energy cost uses a 1,500 W air fryer with a 3-minute preheat at 26.32p per kWh (Ofgem price cap, October to December 2026) and 18.31¢ per kWh (EIA U.S. residential average, July 2026). It is an upper limit, because the element cycles once the basket is hot.

Sources

• Ofgem energy price cap, 1 October to 31 December 2026 (26.32p per kWh, GB average, Direct Debit)
• U.S. Energy Information Administration, Electric Power Monthly Table 5.6.A (18.31 cents per kWh, U.S. residential average, July 2026)

You may quote these figures with a link to this page. If you spot an error, tell us through the contact page and we will correct it.