Air Fryer Brussels Sprouts
Temperature
375°F
190°C
Time
12 min
2 cups
Heat through to
Piping hot
cooked right through
Prep
8 min
Cook
12 min
Total
20 min
Sprouts win people over in the air fryer: the outer leaves go shatteringly crisp and the centers turn sweet. Cut them in half and start them cut-side down for the best browning.
Ingredients
Quantities for 2 cups - the times on this page assume that much in the basket.
- 2 cups Brussels sprouts, trimmed and halved
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tsp wholegrain mustard
- 1 tsp maple syrup
- Salt and black pepper
How to air fry brussels sprouts
- Trim the sprouts and halve them. Whisk the oil, mustard and maple syrup together, toss the sprouts through it, then season.
- Preheat the air fryer to 375°F (190°C).
- Add the fresh brussels sprouts to the basket. Shake the basket halfway through.
- Cook for about 12 minutes, shaking the basket halfway through.
Pro tip
Halve them to get a nice char on the flat side.
How to tell when it's done
Look for deeply browned, almost crispy outer leaves and a tender center. Smaller sprouts crisp faster, so check and give them a shake halfway.
Air fryer brussel sprouts: the char is what kills the bitterness
Bitterness in brussel sprouts is a compound, not a cooking mistake. Sprouts carry glucosinolates - sulfur compounds that taste sharp and stay sharp for as long as the sprout is wet. Boiling and steaming hold the surface at 212°F, and nothing browns at 212°F, so there is nothing on the plate for that sulfur to hide behind. Dry heat at 375°F does the opposite: it caramelizes the sugars in the cut face and browns the outer leaves, and both throw off sweet, nutty, savory compounds that simply read louder than the sulfur does. Growers have been breeding the bitterness down since the 1990s as well, so a modern sprout starts milder than the ones that gave them their reputation.
That is also why cut-side down matters more than it sounds. The flat face sits against the perforated basket, and metal conducts heat far better than air does, so it browns the way it would in a hot pan while the fan gets on with everything else. The loose outer leaves are the other half of it - they are thin, moving air reaches both of their sides, and they dry out and go to a crisp long before the center is tender. That texture is the thing an oven tray cannot give you, because there those same leaves sit in still air and go leathery instead.
So the whole recipe for brussel sprouts in an air fryer comes down to two surfaces doing two different jobs: the cut face searing against hot metal, and the leaves crisping in moving air. Everything else - halving them, keeping to 2 cups, not crowding the basket - is just protecting those two things.
Converting from an oven recipe
If your recipe is written for a conventional oven, lower the temperature by about 25°F (15°C) and reduce the time by roughly 20% to land near 375°F for 12 minutes. Need a different starting point? Use the conversion calculator.
Air fryer brussels sprouts: FAQ
How long to cook brussel sprouts in an air fryer?
About 12 minutes at 375°F (190°C) for 2 cups, halved and in a single layer, shaking the basket halfway through. Small sprouts can be done nearer 10 minutes and large ones want 14 or 15, so go by the outer leaves rather than the clock - once they are deep brown and brittle, the center is tender.
How long to cook halved brussel sprouts in an air fryer?
Halved is what the 12 minutes at 375°F (190°C) on this page assumes - it is the size the whole recipe is built around. Halving roughly doubles the surface area and gives every sprout a flat face to sit on, so they brown far better and cook faster than whole ones. Left whole, the same 2 cups need closer to 15-18 minutes and never get the seared cut face.
How to make brussel sprouts in an air fryer?
Trim 2 cups of sprouts and halve them. Whisk 1 tbsp olive oil, 1 tsp wholegrain mustard and 1 tsp maple syrup together, toss the sprouts through it, then season with salt and black pepper. Air fry at 375°F (190°C) for about 12 minutes, cut-side down to start, shaking the basket halfway through.
Why are my air fryer brussel sprouts bitter?
Usually because they never dried out. Browning is what masks the sulfur compounds behind the bitterness, and a sprout cannot brown while its surface is wet - evaporation pins a wet surface near 212°F, and browning needs closer to 285°F. Pat them dry after trimming, keep to 2 cups in a single layer so they roast instead of steaming each other, and give them the full 12 minutes at 375°F (190°C). An undercooked sprout is a bitter sprout.
How long does it take to air fry brussels sprouts?
Air fry brussels sprouts at 375°F (190°C) for about 12 minutes, shaking the basket halfway through. That's for 2 cups in a single layer; adjust slightly for a fuller basket or a different model.
What temperature do you air fry brussels sprouts at?
Set the air fryer to 375°F (190°C). If you're converting an oven recipe, that's roughly 25°F (15°C) below the oven temperature, with the time cut by about 20%.
Do I need to preheat the air fryer for brussels sprouts?
A 2-3 minute preheat gives the most accurate timing and the best browning, but it isn't essential - if you skip it, add a minute or two to the cook time.