Air Fryer Parsnip Fries

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Air frying parsnips doesn’t get any easier or tastier than air fryer parsnip fries or as us Brits call them air fryer parsnip chips. You will love the easy prep, simply flavouring, even crisp, and the fast cook time.

Perfect for a Christmas dinner side dish, Easter, or for easy Sunday dinners. Also makes a fantastic paleo friendly alternative to French fries.

Our air fryer parsnip fries were originally shared in 2018 and we are updating them today with an improved recipe and photos.

Parsnip Fries

If there is one vegetable that I love the most (I eat a lot of different veggies) it is parsnips. My hubby thinks I am weird (and you might too) when I say that I love to sniff fresh parsnips.

It reminds me of Christmas, it reminds me of Easter, it reminds me of Sunday dinners, and I could smell them all day long and love it when I am doing a casserole and include parsnips and my house smells of them.

But there is a big problem with parsnips when it comes to roasting parsnips and one that we often as home cooks moan about.

And that is the uneven cook.

You always have the smaller part of the parsnip burning and then the rest of the parsnip perfectly cooked and no matter how hard you try to roast your parsnips it always goes that way.

That is when I swapped classic parsnip that is chopped like roast potatoes for parsnip fries, or as I would call them parsnip chips.

They are evenly sliced making it ideal for a perfect cook on each parsnip chip, rather than some overcooked whilst some are undercooked.

Plus, parsnip fries can be prepped ahead of time and make a more fun alternative to a side dish for your next roast dinner.

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Can You Prepare Parsnips The Day Before?

Yes, you can, and I recommend making ahead your parsnips to take away the stress from cooking.

At Easter and at Christmas I will often prep as much as I can the day before. I will make my instant pot no drain mashed potatoes, prep the air fryer roasted potatoes, make my veggie bake, will prep the instant pot brussel sprouts and usually will cook the air fryer turkey crown and then it can be sliced for the day after.

Do You Have To Parboil Parsnips Before Roasting?

Yes, you can, but it is not essential, especially for the air fryer. The air fryer is rather quick at cooking parsnip chips, and they will cook in no time.

The same applies when we make our air fryer carrot chips too.

Do You Peel Parsnips For Roasting?

Yes, you do. Though what you can do, to save on food waste is to use your parsnip peelings for a big batch of instant pot veggie stock.

When I roast my parsnips in the air fryer, I will peel them and then create a pan of leftover peelings and then they are saved for later and I also have my parsnips quickly prepped.

What Are Parsnips Good For?

I often get asked what are parsnips good for and what is the best way to cook parsnips and my answer is always the same USE THOSE KITCHEN GADGETS. The time when you roasted parsnips in the air fryer, is now no longer popular as we realise that our kitchen gadgets do the best job.

I lived in Portugal for many years where parsnips were expensive to import and when you did, they were 2 weeks old.

But I made sure when there was a deal on them that I made good use of them. For example, my instant pot green lentil curry was inspired by a bulk buy of parsnips.

Another option is instant pot steamed parsnips. As parsnips can take a while to cook and by pressure cooking your parsnips you can speed up the cooking time.

Or another option is to go frozen and do air fryer frozen parsnips and carrots.

Are Parsnips Healthy?

Yes, they are. I have been a fan of paleo and the whole30 for a number of years and love parsnip as a healthier alternative to the white potato. I also find weight loss hard when I eat potatoes, but parsnips can work as a fantastic plan B.

You can use parsnips instead of potatoes and make instant pot parsnip mash, or just use it to bulk up casseroles. Plus, you can use parsnips instead of potatoes for your fries fix.

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Parsnip Fries Air Fryer Ingredients

Parsnips – I recommend using medium parsnips. Small parsnips will be very difficult to transform into fries.

Oil – To make the best ever crispy parsnip fries you will need some oil. I recommend the most for the air fryer that you use extra virgin olive oil. You only need a small amount and its much lower in oil calories compared to the oven.

Seasonings – For parsnip seasoning I recommend salt, pepper, basil, and parsley. This gives your parsnip fries recipe a wonderful Mediterranean flavour.

Then for the kitchen gadgets that we have used in this air fryer parsnips recipe it has just been our Philips Air Fryer XL. We have this one and its wonderful for many types of air fryer recipes.

Plus, we recommend you head over to our air fryer recipes category as we have more than 500 tried and tested air fryer recipes and have been air frying for 10 years.

How To Make Crispy Parsnip Fries?

• Prep. Peel your parsnips and chop the tops off. Then slice your parsnips into halves or thirds depending on how big it is. Then slice lengthways each section into medium equal sized fries.
• Load. Next load into a mixing bowl your prepped parsnip fries and add extra virgin olive oil and seasoning. Toss with your hands for an even coating.
• Cook. Then load your parsnips in air fryer and air fry for 17 minutes shaking and increasing the temperature at the 12^th minute.

And I am sure you can see now how easy it is to cook parsnip fries in the air fryer and why you should be doing it too!

How Long To Air Fry Parsnips?

These crispy parsnip fries took JUST 17 minutes. This was for a medium sized portion that would easily feed two people.

The parsnips are actually cooked on 12 minutes but to take the parsnips from cooked to crispy parsnips adds an extra 5 minutes onto the cook time.

Air Frying Parsnips Tips & Tricks

• It is essential that you mix your parsnips in a bowl with the oil and seasoning. If you don’t, you wont get an even coating and you will end up with dry parsnip fries that are lacking in crispy texture.

• An even cut of the parsnips ensures that you don’t have some burnt and some undercooked parsnip chips.

• Whatever you do, don’t overfill the air fryer basket otherwise you wont have crispy parsnip fries.

• You can mix and match the seasonings. If serving your parsnip fries with our air fryer leg of lamb mint or rosemary might be a better seasoning choice.

Top Air Fryer Trick – Shake the air fryer at 12 minutes. It stops your fries from being stuck together and you will have better crispy fries.

More Fries In Air Fryer

• Air Fryer Veggie Fries
• Air Fryer Homemade French Fries
• Air Fryer Sweet Potato Fries
• Air Fryer Five Guys Fries
• Air Fryer Frozen French Fries
• Air Fryer Frozen Sweet Potato Fries
• Reheat McDonald’s Fries In Air Fryer
• Reheat Fries In Air Fryer

Your parsnip fries in air fryer recipe is below, note you can print it out with or without photos, adjust servings, or click between metric and imperial depending on where you are in the world.

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