These air fryer zucchini fries with spicy ranch sauce are a delicious and easy snack. Crispy and golden brown on the outside, dip these air fried zucchini fries in creamy spicy ranch for a healthy shareable snack or side dish.
Air Fryer Zucchini Fries
Air fryer zucchini fries are a delicious, healthy, and affordable snack or side dish. The air fryer makes it easy to produce nice crispy golden brown zucchini sticks with minimal hassle. Make a quick dipping sauce with ranch and hot sauce or marinara for a quick healthy treat.
To Bread or Not to Bread Air Fryer Zucchini Sticks
For this air fryer zucchini recipe, you can choose whether or not to bread your zucchini sticks before cooking. Breading will produce a nice golden brown crust on your fries. This will make the zucchini fries crispy and make them rigid instead of saggy. If you are breading, first mix eggs together thoroughly. In separate bowl, combine breadcrumbs, parmesan, and seasoning. Dip zucchini sticks into eggs and drain off excess. Then coat thoroughly with breadcrumb mixture. The breadcrumb mixture adds extra flavor to the air fried zucchini fries and gives them a nice crispy texture. However, it does require extra work and ingredients compared to not breading. In addition, breading adds extra carbs if that is something that concerns you.
If you are not breading, simply toss zucchini fries with olive oil and salt. And that’s it. This method is simpler, quicker, and not add extra carbs. However, the zucchini fries will not be as crispy and will sag when picked up. Personally, I prefer breading the air fryer zucchini fries.
Cooking Zucchini in Air Fryer
Cooking zucchini fries in the air fryer is simple. Preheat the air fryer to 390 deg. F. Arrange the zucchini sticks in a single layer in the air fryer basket. Cook zucchini in air fryer for about five to seven minutes. Give the basket a slight shake to rearrange the fries, and then cook for another 5 to seven minutes. The outside should be golden brown and crispy (if breaded), and the inside should be soft and cooked through.
Spicy Ranch Sauce
This spicy ranch is super simple and can be made while the zucchini fries in the air fryer are cooking. Simply mix together ranch dressing and hot sauce, and that’s it! You’ve got a nice creamy sauce with a little kick. Alternatively, you could serve with marinara sauce (see recipe here for chunky marinara). Serve the air fried zucchini fries immediately with the dipping sauce of your choice.
Air Fryer Zucchini Fries with Spicy Ranch Sauce
Equipment
- Air Fryer
Ingredients
- 1 lb zucchini, cut into sticks about two inch long and about a quarter to half inch wide
- 2 each eggs
- 0.5 cup breadcrumbs
- 0.25 cup grated parmesan cheese
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- salt
- 1 cup ranch dressing
- 2 tbsp hot sauce use your favorite, I used cholula
Instructions
- Breaded zucchini: Mix eggs thoroughly. In separate bowl, mix breadcrumbs, parmesan, and garlic powder. Dip zucchini sticks in egg mixture and drain any excess egg. Coat thoroughly in breadcrumb mixture.
- Unbreaded zucchini: Toss zucchini with olive oil and salt
- Preheat air fryer to 390 deg. F. Put zucchini fries into single layer in basket. Cook for about 15 minutes. Shake gently to redistribute zucchini fries after about seven minutes. Zucchini fries are finished when crispy and golden brown on the outside and cooked through on the inside.
- Spicy ranch sauce: Mix together ranch dressing and hot sauce.
