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My neighbor said something about frozen vegetables that made me stop and think
We were chatting over the fence yesterday and she mentioned she only uses fresh broccoli in her air fryer. I told her I always buy the frozen florets from the store to save time. She just shrugged and said, 'But you're missing the crunch.' I tried her way tonight with a fresh head, and she was totally right. The texture is way better. Does anyone have tips for getting fresh veggies really crispy without burning them?
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angela5872mo ago
A cooking blog I follow did a whole test on this. The key is to dry your fresh broccoli completely after washing it. Any water left on it makes it steam instead of crisp up. Toss it in a little oil and salt, but don't crowd the air fryer basket. Give the pieces some space. A higher heat for a shorter time works better than a lower heat for longer.
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quinna892mo ago
Totally agree about the drying part, that was my game changer too. My first batch came out soggy and sad until I started using a salad spinner.
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michaeltorres2mo ago
Read a similar thing in a cookbook last year. They said the same as @angela587 about the water causing steam, but they also stressed cutting the florets to a similar size. If some pieces are tiny and some are huge, the tiny ones burn before the big ones crisp. I always cut mine to about the size of a quarter now and it makes a big difference. The drying step is key, but so is making sure they all cook at the same rate.
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the_jana3d ago
@michaeltorres is onto something with the size thing but I'd add that drying them in a paper towel after washing works even better than a salad spinner for getting that last bit of moisture off. The spinner leaves droplets in the crevices. Also a quarter size is good but I've found slightly bigger pieces, like the size of a ping pong ball, give you a better ratio of tender inside to crispy outside. Higher temp is right but I'll push back on angela587's timing a little, 400 degrees for 10 minutes works for me while their suggestion of 375 for 12 minutes always left mine underdone.
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