Air-Fryer Brussels Sprouts With Garlic, Balsamic and Soy

I have been doing the air-fryer Brussels sprouts for a while, and I find that blanching them first keeps them from drying out and getting hard. They still get plenty brown and crispy!

After reading the comments, to avoid the too dry and hard results: -Quartered the brussels and let them soak for a few (like 10) minutes in cold water (also did not dry them, just drain the water then continue with recipe); -Roasted at 360 for 10 min, added the sliced garlic and roasted another 2 min. Also shake the fryer basket at least twice while roasting. -Used pomegranate balsamic for an extra zing, skipping lime and soy sauce. Perfect.

We get great results parboiling sprouts and roasting them in a toaster oven wrapped in buttered parchment. They OOZE sugars and caramelize.

Step 2: Fifteen minutes at 390F in a Phillips air fryer and my first attempt turned into a collection of desiccated brown cinders. Suggest you start checking for doneness at 10 minutes for this step.

I used our Brevielle toaster oven on the air fryer function at 375F. I soaked the sprouts in cold water for about 15 min after trimming and halving/quartering, then tossed in olive oil and salt and white pepper. After 10 min, I stirred the sprouts and added the thinly sliced large clove of garlic, then at 5 minutes intervals I stirred until they looked ready. Definitely will make again. Topped with fresh lemon juice on serving. Perfect.

I do not own an air fryer and based on Melissa’s article and these comments, I probably wouldn’t bother. More easily and with the same amount of oil, or less, you can achieve the same results in the same amount of total time on a sheet pan. No additional cutting or parboiling required. Just place the halved sprouts on a pan, mix with oil, season, and cover with aluminum foil. Bake at 425 for 15 minutes and remove the foil. Place back in oven and bake for 10 minutes to crisp the outside. Perfect!

What would be the best way to adapt this to a conventional oven? Convection setting or broiler? Or some combination of the two?

Following the advice below, I parboiled and then air fried. I used the balsamic/soy sauce, but was too lazy (read hungry) to reduce. Balsamic is rather vicious by itself, especially when emulsified with the olive oil. The result was just delish :)

I tried this last night; they were charred after 15 mins in Philip AirFryer on full power. I parboiled the sprouts for 3 mins; they end up more moist that way when I do them in the oven. (Drain well after boiling, then toss with oil.) However, the loose leaves were quite burnt; I think I would do the extra step I do when I oven roast them, and that's to separate the loose leaves from the main sprout and add them a few minutes later.

Be careful about the temperature and time here. I have a new air fryer and after 15 minutes at 400 degrees the sprouts were totally burned. I think all fryers are not created equally. The manual has 300 degrees for air frying vegetables. It's a Corsari.

And how would one do this with the broiler?

Definitely have to try blanching them first. Try a balsamic glaze to remove the entire Step 4, add soy sauce and lime to microwave for 15 seconds and you are ready to go. It tastes like take out!

My new favorite brussel sprouts recipe. I only used a drizzle of olive oil on the brussel before the air fryer, and used only 2 teaspoons (not tablespoons) in the glaze. Delicious!!!

OMG! Talk about delicious! Someone in the comments suggested that I soak the Brussels Sprouts in cold water before frying them so that they would not dry out and that was a great idea! Other than that, I followed the recipe exactly, except….I literally blinked and the balsamic vinegar had cooked down to nothing! They were fried crispy so I just sprinkled a little rice vinegar on them and they were absolutely delicious! Yummy! Definitely a repeat! ❤️

So, in theory, it’s possible to ditch the one Tbs of oil that is applied to the ‘sprouts themselves, as mentioned in your referenced article*? Cooking for a very oil-adverse individual, to my not-inconsiderable chagrin... *and have the end result be less crispy but tasty nonetheless?