Air Fryer Pasta Fries

These garlic parmesan pasta fries are crunchy, flavorful, and super easy to make. And since they’re made with chickpea pasta, every serving has 9 grams of protein with just 16 grams of carbs!

I’ll walk you through the recipe below and cover ingredient notes as we go. You can also find a printable recipe card at the bottom of the post. It’s a simple recipe but if you have questions about anything I don’t cover, drop a comment and I’ll help you out.

All right, ready to learn how to make crispy fries from pasta in an air fryer (or oven—we’ll get to that in a minute)?

Step 1: Partially cook 4 ounces of dry pasta. 

Similar to my Homemade Easy Mac recipe, I opted to cook my pasta in the microwave to cut down on time. Though you’re more than welcome to cook your pasta on the stovetop.

If you go the microwave route, just be sure to heed my advice on using a BIG bowl. I used a 1.5-quart and have yet to experience any overflow. The same can’t be said for anything smaller, however. If you don’t have a large bowl that’s microwave-safe, just go stovetop.

Pasta Notes

The recipe calls for Banza’s cavatappi pasta, which as you can see, look a bit like not-so-curly curly fries. While I haven’t tested every pasta shape under the sun, I’m guessing you could make pasta fries with just about any shape. I will point out, however, that different sizes will likely affect the cook time. Modify accordingly.

As for chickpea vs traditional pasta, I only tested this recipe with chickpea pasta. Similar to shape, though, I’m guessing regular ol’ pasta will work just fine. I’ll report back once other readers have experimented.

Step 2: Drain the pasta and toss with olive oil, grated parmesan, garlic powder, and black pepper.

Easy enough, right?

If you’re looking for a dairy free substitute, nutritional yeast is usually a safe bet for a grated parmesan swap. I’m betting you can find a dairy free parmesan out there as well. Just grate it up yourself and roll with that.

In terms of amounts used, I’ll mention the experiments I did with my air fryer carrot fries. Reducing the amount of olive oil and grated parmesan will still work, but it does impact the amount of diggity in the recipe quite a bit. So, I’d encourage you to stick to the script if at all possible.

Step 3: Air fry at 400° for 12-14 minutes, shaking halfway through. 

I used my 6.5-quart Ninja Foodi for this recipe. Cook times may vary with other air fryers so I’ve included photos of the starting point, halfway through air frying, and at the end of air frying.

At the halfway point, you may be able to shake the pasta enough to separate pieces. If not, use a spatula or tongs to carefully separate any chunks of pasta fries to get even frying in the back half.

The pasta should be golden brown but not burned, and it should be slightly soft/chewy straight out of the air fryer. Don’t worry, it will get crispier in about 30-60 seconds.

Step 4: Dig in!

You can get as creative as you’d like with your dipping sauces, but it’s hard to beat the classic—ketchup. Though I did mix a little Calabrian chili sauce for a spicy kick. I paired this combo with my air fried cauliflower gnocchi and fell in love!

My lasagna dip might be another great option for dipping, particularly if you use another pasta shape like farfalle with this method.

If you’re wanting to make a meal out of it, you might try pairing your pasta fries with something like my Nashville Hot Chicken Burgers, Crispy Chicken Sandwiches, or Sloppy Joes. Or, and this might be crazy, you could make some loaded fries with a protein like my bbq pulled pork.

Let me know what you come up with!

What if I don’t have an air fryer?

To make these pasta fries in the oven, I would do everything the same and put them on a baking sheet with a wire rack. If you don’t have a rack, just flip them a time or two during cooking.

Since I haven’t tested them in the oven, I’m only guessing on time and temp, but I know several recipes come out great using the same time and temp. Start there and just keep in mind—the fries will be crispier after they come out of the oven. Don’t burn them to a crisp!

That’ll do it. If you have any additional questions, don’t forget to drop a comment below. You can also join my free Facebook group to get some help from the nearly 13,000 home cooks there.