Air Fryer Brussels Sprouts and Sweet Potatoes

These air fryer roasted brussels sprouts and sweet potatoes are tossed in a punchy 4-ingredient balsamic BBQ sauce you’ll want to bottle and put on everything. Each serving has just 120 calories, making them a nutrient packed, high volume side dish.

And in case you don’t have an air fryer, I’ve included instructions for oven roasted brussels sprouts and sweet potatoes as well. You’ll find a visual recipe walkthrough below with tips and tricks. If you’re a veggie roasting pro, you can click the jump to recipe button above to skip to the printable recipe card.

Step 1: Halve brussels sprouts, cube sweet potatoes, and cut half a red onion into 1″ pieces. 

You want all the veggies to be roughly the same size. I prefer my sweet potatoes skin-on, but you’re welcome to peel them. If you wanted to omit the red onion, I doubt the cook time changes all that much, but you may want to slightly reduce the amount of sauce you add at the end.

Nutrition facts tip: Check out my air fryer butternut squash for tips on swapping sweet potatoes for lower carb winter squash varieties.

Step 2: Toss the brussels sprouts, sweet potatoes, and red onion with olive oil, salt, and black pepper. 

If you’re tempted to skip the oil to save a few calories, don’t. It’s totally worth the extra 30 calories per serving. Not to mention, you’re roasting nearly two pounds of brussels sprouts and sweet potatoes in this recipe. So two tablespoons is on the conservative side already.

Like I demonstrated with my air fryer carrot fries, you can can transform sad, limp carrots to crispy fries with as little as a half tablespoon of oil.

Step 3: Transfer the sweet potatoes and brussels sprouts mixture to an air fryer basket or large baking sheet.

For air frying, I used the 8-quart Instant Pot Duo Crisp, which is an all-in-one pressure cooker, air fryer, broiler, and more. If you’re on the fence about getting an air fryer, go with something like this or the Ninja Foodi. Being able to pressure cook meat then broil to crispy perfection is, well, perfect. Check out my Instant Pot BBQ Chicken or Mexican Shredded Chicken for examples of what these things can do!

If you’re baking, use a sheet pan that’s large enough to have everything in a single layer. I like to have as many brussels sprouts as possible in direct contact with the pan for browning.

Step 4: Air fry for 25 minutes at 375ºF or bake for 25-30 minutes at 400ºF.  

You’re looking for fork tender sweet potatoes and slight browning on the brussels sprouts, especially on the leaves. While the brussels sprouts and sweet potatoes don’t need to be super crispy, you do want a little crisp so they can handle the glaze without getting soggy.

Also, I found that the red onion can fall to the bottom and get a little too crispy if you’re not careful when shaking halfway through. You can use a spatula to mix things evenly.

How to Make the Balsamic BBQ Sauce

This sauce is the bee’s knees, and the recipe makes a double batch so you’ll have a little extra for serving or adding to your proteins like my baked bbq chicken meatballs or bbq ground beef and green beans. That said, you could add some honey and a tablespoon or two of balsamic vinegar instead if you wanted to skip the sauce. You could also use your choice of BBQ sauce like I used for my crispy cast iron brussels sprouts recipe.

But make the sauce.

Add balsamic vinegar, honey, sugar free ketchup, and yellow mustard to a small saucepan. Cook for 5-10 minutes over medium-low heat until thick. 

Any ketchup will work here, and you can get creative with mustard. The dijon from my mustard balsamic air fryer chicken thighs would work great, as an example.

One BIG tip I can give for sauces is to taste as you go. Every palate is different, so you may need to add a bit more honey, salt, or acidity to get things balanced just right.

When it comes to reducing the sauce, it doesn’t have to be perfect. You can get an idea of the thickness you’re after in the photo above. But if your sauce is a bit more runny, it’ll still get the job done.

Toss the roasted brussels sprouts and sweet potatoes in the balsamic BBQ sauce.

Ah, the best part. Get ready for a strong, beautiful smells. The recipe calls for using half, but you may want to add slowly in case your sauce is a different consistency. You don’t want to add too much moisture.

Okay, that’s a wrap. Congratulations and enjoy your air fried brussels sprouts and sweet potatoes! If you wanted more ways to glaze or season your sprouts, check out my air fryer brussels sprouts 5 ways post.

And if you have leftover veggies, check out my sweet chili air fryer chicken and brussels sprouts, chipotle ground turkey and sweet potato skillet, ground beef and brussels sprouts skillet, or spicy air fryer sweet potato fries next.