Crispy Air Fryer Eggplant Fries

Air Fryer Eggplant Fries are crispy, very easy to make and they are versatile so you can combine them with a lot of dishes. You will need only one medium eggplant, breadcrumbs, half of cup of parmesan, two eggs, a little bit of oil, and a pinch of salt. A perfect midweek meal that you can make in less than 20 minutes. They may work fantastic as a snack, appetizer or even you can serve them as a side dish.

This recipe may be a good fit if you want to introduce eggplants to your kids and they don’t like them very much. Because of the crispy texture, that usually kids are familiar with already, they may start eating eggplants after this recipe.

I suggest also serving them near a dipping sauce to make them more unique. I served them near my homemade marinara sauce, but you can also use a jarred sauce for the dipping.

🥰 Why You Will Love This Recipe?

• It is very easy to cook and you need only a little bit of time.
• They are crunch, because of the panko coating.
• Great for the entire family.

🏆 Tips for Success? How to Make It Better?

• For a more particular taste, you could add more spices like chili flakes, garlic or black pepper.

🖐️ How to Pick the Right Eggplant?

You may know that not all eggplants are the same in taste. A few of them have a bitter taste after cooking.

So how to pick the best ones?

First of all, pay attention to the weight of the eggplants. Pick those that are heavier, have a green stem, have a shiny peel, and that is slightly firm when squeezed.

Also, if you want to go safer, you may pick smaller ones because usually, they are less bitter than the large ones.

🤔 How to Scale the Recipe Up and Down?

This is a simple recipe, so just increase the ingredients proportionally.

🥘 Ingredients Needed for This Recipe?

• 1 Medium Eggplant.
• ½ cup of Freshly Grated Parmesan.
• ½ cupf of Breadcrumbs.
• 2 teaspoons of Olive Oil.
• ¼ teaspoon of Salt or to taste.
• 2 Medium Eggs.

🥦 Ingredients Swap?

• Parmesan. You can replace it with another type of hard cheese such as Pecorino.
• Breadcrumbs. You may use panko instead.
• Seasoning. You may add black pepper, chili flakes, dried basil or garlic powder.

🍽️ Serving Suggestions

You could serve these air fryer eggplant fries with different sauces such as tomato sauce, garlic with mayonnaise, tzatziki sauce, or sweet chili sauce.

📖 Variations

• You can use the gluten-free breadcrumb to make the gluten-free version
• You may cut the eggplants into bite sized cubes, or to cut the eggplants into slices and to make the eggplant chips.
• You can use more dried herbs to give a more special and personal taste.

👩‍🍳 Step-by-step Directions

Wash well the eggplant and cut it into sticks.

Quick Note: It’s important to cut the eggplant into similar size slices to avoid overcooking some of the slices and undercooking others.

Put the batonnet eggplant slices in a large bowl to be easier for you to mix them. Pour over salt and oil. Mix all the ingredients well.

How to Make Coated Eggplants?

1. Take a plate, where you need to combine together the breadcrumbs with salt and parmesan (image 1).
2. Take another plate and beat 2 eggs in it (image 2).
3. Soak each eggplant slice in the beaten egg (image 3).
4. Roll the eggplant slices in the breadcrumbs and make sure that they are covered on all sides (image 4).

Preheat the air fryer for 5 minutes at 400°F (200°C) and arrange the eggplant strips evenly in a single layer in the air fryer basket.

Quick Note: If your air fryer basket is smaller, or if you need to cook a larger number of fries, for the best results, consider cooking them in a few batches to avoid overcrowding the air fryer basket.

Cook the eggplant fries in the air fryer for about 10 minutes at 400°F (200°C). The cooking time may also depend on how thick you cut the sticks. In my case, I cooked them for 10 minutes until I got a nice golden color. If you see that the fries didn’t become crispy yet, consider adding 1-2 additional minutes, but be careful not to burn them.

Quick note: Please consider that the cooking time may differ from one air fryer manufacturer to another or from the quantity of the ingredients you will cook simultaneously. Because of that, in the last minutes, please check from time to time fries and adjust the timing if is needed. For this recipe ai used: Cosori Air Fryer 5.8QT.

The eggplant fries are ready to be served.

For the best crunchy texture, I’ll recommend eating the eggplant strips while they are still hot because if they will cool down, the texture will soften.

Additionally, when the eggplant fries are still hot, you may sprinkle them with parmesan cheese, or add a few crushed garlic cloves.

A good and simple option is to serve them near a homemade marinara sauce or just to use a jarred sauce.

♻️ Make Ahead, Storage and Heating:

Can I Prepare the Dish Ahead?

Not really. The only thing you could do ahead is to mix the breadcrumbs with salt and parmesan. I would suggest cooking and serving the eggplant strips immediately because they are the most crunchy right after you will take them off from the air fryer.

How Long Do They Last in the Fridge?

You can keep the eggplant sticks in the fridge for up 2-3 days in a well-closed container.

Can You Freeze Them?

I do not recommend freezing them as the texture will change.

How to Heat Them?

I recommend heating the fries in a preheated air fryer for 2-4 minutes at 375°F or until they will become crispy again. If you will heat the fries in the microwave, they will soften and not be as crispy as they was in the beginning.

🤔Answering Your Questions:

📋 Recipe Card: