Air Fryer Carrot Fries with Pesto Aioli

Name: Air Fryer Carrot Fries with Pesto Aioli
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 25 min
Ingredients: 1 lb large carrots; ½ tsp garlic powder; ¼ tsp onion powder; ¼ tsp paprika; ¼ tsp salt; ¼ tsp pepper; freshly grated parmesan cheese (to taste); 1 tbsp olive oil; ½ cup mayonnaise; 1 ½ tbsp pesto; ½ tbsp fresh squeezed lemon juice; 1 tbsp freshly grated parmesan cheese

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Air fryer carrot fries are a quick and easy side dish that every member of your family will enjoy! Simply air fried and served with a homemade pesto aioli on the side, these fries are crisp and packed with flavor. As an added bonus, they’re incredibly healthy and only take 25 minutes from start to finish. It’s the perfect twist on a classic American side dish!

Air fryer carrot fries in a white bowl, garnished with freshly grated parmesan cheese, lemon slices, and a bowl of pesto aioli on the side.

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📋 About the Recipe
🛒 Ingredients
📓 Instructions
🔍 FAQs
💭 One More Tip
🍴 Related Recipes
📖 Recipe
💬 Reviews

📋 About the Recipe

Air fryer carrot fries taste incredibly similar to sweet potato fries, and they also look nearly identical. These air fried carrots are slightly sweet with a subtle carrot flavor. They pair well with nearly any protein, making them the perfect sidekick for dinner. Additionally, they can also be enjoyed as a healthy snack.

With the use of this trendy kitchen gadget, you cut the cook time nearly in half to transform hard, raw carrots into crispy fries. Additionally, the circulation of the hot air helps get these carrots perfectly crisp instead of floppy and soggy. Just be sure to spread them out in the air fryer, so the air can circulate around them!

And, with the addition of the pesto aioli on the side for dipping, your kids won’t even notice that these fries are actually packed full of healthy vitamins and minerals or that they’re made from carrots. Plus, the beauty of this recipe is that it provides you with the framework for air fryer fries, allowing you to ultimately season them any way you please!

Not a fan of pesto? Try these dipping sauces instead!

🛒 Ingredients

For the Air Fryer Carrot Fries

For the Pesto Aioli

Labelled ingredients for pesto aioli (see recipe for details).

A few notes about the ingredients:

To make things even easier, you can use baby carrots instead of the large ones. However, if the carrots are different sizes, you’ll need to cut them more uniformly. Because of this, I prefer to use the large carrots and cut them to my liking, but I did want to mention that air fryer baby carrots can be an option here too.
As mentioned above, you can season the fries any way you’d like. The basic flavor of the air fried carrots is pretty neutral, so they will take on any flavor you pair them with.
When buying store-bought pesto, look for one in the refrigerated aisle. Often these pestos are much fresher and made with better-for-you ingredients. Refrigerated pestos (instead of shelf-stable ones) often use less additives and preservatives, and in turn, are healthier.
For the pesto aioli, you can make the pesto from scratch if you’d prefer. Just add fresh basil, lemon juice, freshly grated parmesan cheese, and pine nuts into a food processor. Pulse them together and then slowly add olive oil until you get the consistency you desire.

📓 Instructions

Cut the carrots into fries. Make sure they’re all about the same size so they cook evenly.

Cut carrots in a glass bowl topped with seasonings.

Place the cut carrots into a clean bowl and season them with garlic powder, onion powder, paprika, freshly grated parmesan cheese, salt, and pepper. Drizzle olive oil over top and toss the carrots to coat them in the seasoning and oil.

Cut and seasoned carrots in an air fryer basket.

Add the seasoned carrots to your air fryer basket or trays. Make sure to leave plenty of space between carrots. Do not overcrowd them or they won’t get crisp. Depending on the size of your air fryer, you might need to cook the carrots in batches.

Cook the carrots in the air fryer at 400 degrees F for about 15 minutes.

While they cook, prepare the pesto aioli. In a separate bowl, combine the mayonnaise, pesto, lemon juice, and freshly grated parmesan cheese. Mix it all together and allow it to sit so the flavors can blend.

A small bowl of pesto aioli with a basil leaf garnish.

Once the carrots are done cooking, remove them and place them on a serving dish with the pesto aioli on the side for dipping.

These carrot fries are best served warm and fresh from the air fryer.

A single carrot fry dipped in pesto aioli with a serving platter of air fryer carrot fries blurred in the background.

Check out the how-to steps in this web story!

🔍 FAQs

Are fries healthy in an air fryer?

YES! Fries are much healthier made in the air fryer because it utilizes air circulation instead of excess oil to “fry” them. In the air fryer, air circulates around the food to make it evenly crispy on all sides. On the other hand, traditional frying uses oil to create the same results. Therefore, air frying is a healthier way to fry since you utilize minimal oil.

Can I layer fries in an air fryer?

I’d recommend spacing the fries apart so that the air can circulate around them. If you crowd the air fryer too much by overlapping the fries, they will become soggy instead of crispy. Luckily, air fryers don’t take long to heat up or cook food in general, so it’s fairly quick and easy to make fries in batches if necessary.

If you’re worried about your first batch of fries getting cold while waiting for the other batches to cook, you can spread them on a sheet pan and place them in a 200 degree F oven to stay warm.

How do you cut carrots into fries?

To cut carrots into fries, you’ll want uniform pieces. To do this, first cut the carrots in half widthwise, then cut them in half lengthwise. You should have about 4 uniform pieces per carrot. If your carrots are thick at the top, you can cut that half into thirds instead.

If you’re using baby carrots instead of large carrots, utilize as many of the “bigger” baby carrots as you can. If you must use “smaller” or “thinner” baby carrots, then cut the bigger ones in half to match. Because these carrots will be much smaller than the recipe intends, adjust the cook time in half, or alter the cook time until the carrots turn crisp but not too soggy or burnt.

What does aioli mean?

Aioli is a fancy word for “mayonnaise sauce.” It is traditionally found in mediterranean cuisines and is inherently a combination of garlic and oil. Often, you will find different condiments mixed into the mayonnaise to make different kinds of aiolis. For example, a roasted red pepper aioli is mayonnaise mixed with pureed roasted red peppers, pesto aioli is mayonnaise mixed with pesto, and a garlic truffle aioli would have mayonnaise mixed with both mashed garlic and shaved truffles or truffle oil.

What other ways can I use pesto aioli?

Pesto aioli is delicious for many different things! You can use it to top a turkey or chicken salad sandwich, for dipping potato chips or regular french fries, slather it on top of a grilled steak, or use any left over for dipping roasted vegetables.

💭 One More Tip

For even crisper fries, you can try coating the carrots in a thin layer of corn starch, flour, or corn meal. Just be sure to watch them carefully, so the extra coating doesn’t burn!

A closeup of the carrot fries on a white serving dish with a side of pesto aioli.

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