Ninja Air Fryer Brussel Sprouts

This Ninja Air Fryer Brussel Sprouts recipe is one of my favorite ways to eat vegetables because of the crispy edges and garlic parmesan buttery topping. They’re the perfect healthier option compared to deep frying with a cook time of less than 30 minutes. Learn how to roast Brussels sprouts in your air fryer with this easy recipe!

Why Make Air Fried Brussel Sprouts

There are so many reasons to love these Ninja Foodi Brussels Sprouts. Here are my top reasons to make them:

• Roast Brussel Sprouts in less time: One of the downsides of roasting Brussels sprouts in the oven is how long they take to get the perfect texture. By making Brussels sprouts in the Ninja Foodi, you can cook them in almost half the time as in the oven.
• Simple ingredients: with about five main ingredients (olive oil and pepper don’t count) this is really a no-fuss, healthy side dish for the whole family.
• Easy side dish: simply toss the ingredients in a large mixing bowl, add them to your air fryer basket, and allow your Ninja air fryer to do the work for you! You can’t go wrong by adding this as a side dish to any main meal. 
• Crispy without deep frying: use your crisping lid to make crispy sprouts with a lot less oil compared to deep-frying.

Ingredients Needed:

Cooking brussel sprouts doesn’t take much. Here’s what you’ll need to gather:

• Fresh Brussel Sprouts: I purchased fresh sprouts already washed from my local grocery store. To prepare them for this recipe, you’ll need to remove the outer leaves and cut the Brussels sprouts in half on a cutting board.
• Olive Oil: This helps the spices to stick to the Brussels sprouts.
• Garlic Salt: You can use a garlic salt seasoning blend from the store or mix garlic powder and sea salt.
• Black Pepper
• Parmesan Cheese: I use fresh grated parmesan cheese. Grated is best for mixing, but shredded works too!
• Butter: I use unsalted melted butter

How to Cook Brussels Sprouts in an Air Fryer:

Making Air Fryer Brussels Sprouts is super easy. Here are the three main steps:

1. Toss them in olive oil and seasonings: I’m using garlic salt. But, you can also use the same amount of garlic powder as listed in the recipe card below and salt to taste at the end.
2. Add the Brussels sprouts to your air fryer basket (crisper basket) in a single layer and cook: I use the air crisp setting (air fryer setting on different models) at 400 degrees because that’s my go-to temperature for vegetables and wings. I prefer to cook them for about 10-12 minutes per side.
3. Toss in the parmesan butter: Once the brussels sprouts are roasted in the air fryer, I toss them in melted butter and Parmesan cheese right before serving. I don’t add the parmesan cheese to the air fryer at the beginning because it will most likely burn.

Top Cooking Tips

• Adjust the cook time depending on the size of the sprouts: larger sprouts will take more time compared to smaller sprouts.
• Adjust the cook time depending on your air fryer model: this recipe was tested with the Ninja Foodi air fryer and should work the same for all basket style air fryers. You might need to adjust the cook time for oven-style air fryers since I find those don’t have the same power as my Ninja Foodi.

Air Frying Frozen Brussels Sprouts

For this recipe, I used fresh Brussels sprouts from the store. The ones I found were already trimmed and washed for me.

If you have frozen sprouts, use my air fryer frozen Brussels sprouts recipe since that was tested with those.

How Long to Cook Them

I prefer my air fryer Brussels sprouts to be extra crispy, so I leave mine in the fryer for about 11 minutes per side.

However, you can cook for more or less time, depending on your preference. After 15 minutes of cooking, I like to open up my air fryer lid and check on them every few minutes. This ensures that they will not burn.

Variations

If you would like to omit the Parmesan cheese, you can serve these air fryer Brussels sprouts with a dip or a sauce. Some of my favorite sauces to toss or dip the air fried sprouts in are:

• Keto Teriyaki Sauce
• Low-Carb Sweet Chili Sauce
• Alfredo Sauce
• Copycat Bang Bang Sauce
• Homemade Ranch Dressing

For another variation, you can also slice up some bacon and cook it with the sprouts for the last 6-7 minutes of cooking time. Making bacon in the air fryer is my go-to method generally and in this recipe.

For more garlic flavor, you can also skip the garlic salt and pair this recipe with any one of my garlic butter sauces like cajun garlic butter sauce or lemon garlic butter sauce.

Storage and Leftovers

Store your leftover cooked sprouts in an airtight container for 3-4 days.

What to Serve this with:

The Ninja Foodi Brussels Sprouts are naturally low-carb an keto-friendly. So, you can make an easy meal with these delicious recipes:

• Keto Lasagna
• Keto Cast Iron Skillet Pork Chops with Pan Sauce
• Pan-Seared Halibut
• Pressure-Cooker Whole Chicken
• Air Fryer Salmon Filet
• Air Fryer Buffalo Wings

If you’re a garlic parmesan fan like me, you can also enjoy these with one of my most popular air fryer recipes: Garlic Parmesan Wings.

More Easy Air Fryer Recipes:

• Air Fryer Fried Chicken
• Air Fryer Frozen Salmon
• Air Fryer Garlic Butter Chicken Bites
• Marinated Chicken Wings
• Buffalo Chicken Thighs