If you’re a fan of sweet potato fries, you’ll love these crispy air fryer carrot fries. Carrots have roughly half the calories of sweet potatoes, leaving room for extra cheese and garlic infused olive oil for extra crispy fries!
How to Make Carrot Fries
This is an easy one, but let’s run through the recipe with a few notes and tips.
Step 1: Crush a clove of garlic and add to a tablespoon of olive oil.
If you’ve never crushed garlic, begin by peeling and chopping a clove. Then sprinkle a bit of kosher salt on top and press the flat of your knife down firmly and drag the garlic across the cutting board. This should create a thick paste.
Note: You can also find garlic infused olive oil if you wanted to skip a step!
Step 2: Cut the carrots.
Wash and dry the carrots before removing the tops. Cut them in half and then cut each half in two to create flat surfaces.
You should be able to cut 3 strips from the larger end and 2 strips from the smaller end.
Note: Feel free to peel the carrots, but I did not. Just be sure to wash them well if you’re not peeling.
Step 3: Toss the carrot fries in the olive oil and garlic mixture.
Note: A common question about these carrot fries is whether or not you could reduce or skip the oil. I tested both in my Instagram stories to demonstrate the differences. I’ve included my notes in the printable recipe card at the bottom of this post.
Step 4: Mix reduced fat grated parmesan with optional ground black pepper and red pepper flakes. Toss the oil coated fries in the parmesan.
For an even coating, add half the parmesan, toss, and add the remaining parmesan before tossing again.
Step 5: Add the carrot fries to an air fryer basket or on a baking sheet (oven method) in an even layer. Cook at 350F for 16-20 minutes. Gently shake halfway through for crispier fries.
Note: I used my 6.5-quart Ninja Foodi, which I’ve found to have similar cook times to other air fryers of the same size. Every air fryer is a bit different so check on your carrot fries along the way. You can check out the Ninja Foodi and other kitchen equipment I use on my Amazon list, if you’re interested.
If you’d like to bake these in the oven, check out my oven baked carrot sticks for an example of how to do that.
Step 6: Sprinkle with chopped parsley or parsley flakes and enjoy your crispy garlic parmesan air fryer carrot fries!
Okay, because I know everyone likes their chips with some dip, let’s talk sauce ideas.
Dipping Sauce Ideas for Carrot Fries
For the dipping sauce pictured in this recipe, I mixed 2 tablespoons of fat free Greek yogurt with 1 tablespoon of sriracha. If you’re spice sensitive, you could cut the sriracha in half.
Other dipping sauce ideas:
- light mayo (or Greek yogurt) mixed with a bit of mustard and sugar free ketchup
- lemon juice, fresh parsley, and yogurt or mayo
- sugar free ketchup and sriracha
- more crushed garlic with a bit of vinegar and spices
- any pre-packaged dipping sauce for garlic parmesan wings or fries
Let me know what you come up for sauce. I’d love to add more ideas to this recipe!
Side note: Check out my spicy air fryer sweet potato fries recipe for a great seasoning alternative once you try the garlic parmesan carrot fries. The recipe includes a creamy chili lime sauce that’s a must try, too! And if you’re a fan of cajun food, you could make some cajun carrot fries with my copycat Five Guys cajun fries recipe.
And I think that’s all ya need to know. I’ve included a printable recipe card below if you like to print or save recipes. Enjoy your carrot fries!
Air Fryer Carrot Fries
Ingredients
- 3-4 150-180g Carrots
- 1 Tbsp 16g Olive Oil*
- 1 clove Garlic, crushed
- 2 Tbsp 15g Reduced Fat Grated Parmesan
- 1/4 tsp Crushed Red Pepper, optional
- 1 pinch Freshly Cracked Black Pepper, optional
Instructions
- Add the crushed garlic to the olive and stir well. (To crush the garlic, peel and chop a clove. Then sprinkle a bit of kosher salt on top, press the flat of your knife down firmly, and drag the garlic across the cutting board. This should create a thick paste.)
- Wash and dry the carrots. Remove the tops and cut them in half. Then cut each half in two to create flat surfaces. You should be able to cut 3 strips from the larger end and 2 strips from the smaller end.
- Toss the carrot fries in the olive oil and garlic mixture.
- Mix the parmesan with the red and black pepper. Sprinkle half the mixture over the coated carrot fries. Toss and repeat with the remaining parmesan mixture.
- Add the carrot fries to an air fryer basket or on a baking sheet in an even layer.
- Air fry at 350 for 16-20 minutes, shaking halfway through for crispier carrot fries. (If you’re baking, bake for a similar time and temp.)
- Top with freshly chopped parsley or parsley flakes and dig in!
Notes
- Each serving has 3 Smart Points.
- Nutrition facts do not include any dipping sauce.
- If you’re sensitive to spice, omit the red and black pepper.
- You could try using nutritional yeast as a dairy free parmesan substitute.
- If you don’t have garlic on hand, you can try adding a pinch or two of garlic powder to the parmesan mixture.
- Cook times are with a 6.5-quart Ninja Foodi (air fryer, pressure cooker, crockpot all-in-one).
I’m not a vegetable eater. I actively avoid them, but this carrot fry recipe is going to have me eating far less potatoes and way more carrots
I STRUGGLE to get my kid to eat anything other than french fries. I mean, she’s 3 so what do you expect? Made these carrot fries the other night. Told my girl “I got you some french fries from Whataburger.” BOOM. ALL OF THE CARROT FRIES WERE GONE! She absolutely loves them! So I now have my fridge stocked with these ingredients. Thanks Mason!
I love sweet potatoes but hate how many carbs they have. I was excited to see how these compared. Two thumbs up! These were amazing! I loved how crispy they are and the seasoning was spot on! Looking forward to testing these with all kinds of dipping sauces!
These are a new favorite side dish!! My kids gobble these up which is a win in my book! Thanks for another killer recipe!
Ok these are amazing. I was honestly a little skeptical that they would be too “carrot-y?”. But they are not. At all. You can’t even tell it’s a carrot!! These 100% will be replacing our usual sweet potato fry. I wish I would have known about this recipe sooner!! Baked in the oven at 400 for about 20 minutes.
Love making these carrot fries in the air fryer! So easy and so much healthier than typical potatoes. I’ve also used seasoned nutritional yeast and they’re great that way too. And I typically use avocado oil instead of olive oil and they get nice and crispy and taste great! My next adventure or variation is going to be with parsnips. I don’t think I’ve even had a parsnip, but what a great way to try AIR?! Thanks for all the great recipe inspiration! So happy I found you on the Gram!
I make these carrots at least 4 times a week. I LOVE them and have used this recipe with spraying oil and using garlic salt and Parmesan cheese in the air fryer for other veggies too! I use baby carrots and cut them in half just for more volume!
So incredibly good and easy to make. Such a great substitute for French fries.
The first time I made these I substituted cooking spray for the oil to try and reduce the calories. They did not crisp up like fries. Use the oil! Just do it! It will be worth it!
Used babycarrots last week when that is all I had and they were still fry-like . Just an fyi when you really dont feel like slicing. I used this as a side q Mason cheesy bean quesadilla, and it was really good! Thanks for all your hard work and content!