In this crispy Air Fryer Broccoli and Cauliflower recipe, we take less than 15 minutes to bake up these veggies with other antioxidant-rich foods, like coriander, sumac, and garlic. This creates a flavor powerhouse you'll actually enjoy eating alongside your chicken wings.
If you enjoy easy cauliflower recipes, you'll love trying my air fryer frozen cauliflower or my baked Indian-spiced califlower!
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✔️ Why this recipe is great
Cancer-Fighting Properties: Cauliflower, broccoli and histamine sensitivity actually go very well together (unless you have a sulfite sensitivity), as not only are they high in fiber and antioxidants, but are also rich sources of nutrients like choline, folate, and sulforaphane, all of which play a role in the body's methylation pathways (essential for proper detox).
Low Histamine Veggies: This time of year, cauliflower and broccoli are basically the only low histamine vegetables I can find in the organic section of my local supermarket, though I have many other favorite air fryer vegetable recipes.
Easy Vegan Side: combining broccoli with cauliflower in the air fryer makes for a flavorful vegan side dish, with the seasoning fully customizable to whatever you're serving it with.
🥦 Ingredients
Cauliflower: this cruciferous vegetable combines with the healing powers of its cousin veggie to crisp up and form a deliciously-spiced side dish for your next evening meal. The basic flavor of cauliflower isn't very strong, so it takes to the spices beautifully.
Broccoli: this low histamine vegetable is cut slightly larger than the cauliflower, since it cooks a bit faster, but both of them crisp up equally well. It's best to use fresh vegetables here rather than frozen.
Oil: you can use any high-heat oil here, such as avocado oil or coconut oil, or even ghee or lard if non-vegan.
Zata'ar: there's just a small optional amount of this Mediterranean spice here, but it complements the slightly bitter flavor in this broccoli and cauliflower air fryer recipe beautifully.
Garlic Powder: this is optional, but really pairs flavorfully with the other ingredients.
Sumac: the slightly sour flavor of this anthistamine spice makes it so that you don't need any lemon juice in this dish, keeping both vegetables crispy.
See recipe card for quantities.
📖 How to make air fryer cauliflower and broccoli (instructions)
Step 1. Clean the vegetables well.
Step 2. Then and cut up your broccoli and cauliflower heads into medium-sized and small-sized pieces respectively, using the stems if you enjoy them, and pour them into your air fryer basket (image 1). Make sure they're as spaced-apart as possible, pushing them against the sides of the basket if needed.
Step 3. Preheat your air fryer to 380°F (195°C) for 2-3 minutes with the florets inside; this gives them time to get completely dry (image 2).
Step 4. Once the air fryer is preheated & prompts you to add food, spray or drizzle the oil (or ghee) onto the cauliflower and broccoli in the air fryer. Then sprinkle on the zata'ar, garlic powder, and sea salt (image 3) and cook for 6-8 minutes. A smaller air fryer will take longer to cook them, so check them every minute after the 6-minute mark.
Step 5. Once lightly browned and crispy (image 5), pour your air fried broccoli and cauliflower onto a plate and enjoy.
Reader Review
Fabulous combination of spices etc, great flavour!
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ - Sonja
📝 Substitutions and variations
- All Broccoli - keep the pieces the same size as called-for in the recipe card.
- All Cauliflower - keep the pieces the same size as called-for in the recipe card.
- Other Oils - avocado oil, ghee, butter, coconut oil, sesame oil, lard
- Other Herbs - Italian seasoning, steak seasonings, garlic and thyme, or pesto instead
If you have a favorite sticky sauce you enjoy, you could pour it on halfway through the cooking process to given enough time for the flavor to seep into the pieces, in place of the zata'ar, garlic, and sumac.
Alternately, try swapping out the zata'ar and sumac for 2 teaspoons of honey for a sweet savory crispiness.
🥘 Freezing and reheating
Honestly, I don't prefer to freeze this, though it can keep in the fridge for up to 4 days, if tolerated. It doesn't reheat well, so I purposefully use just four cups of veggies at a time when I make this recipe, as it can easily be halved or doubled for varying crowd sizes.
But if you absolutely must freeze your broccoli and cauliflower, make sure you use fresh veggies in the first place, then make sure to reheat them in the air fryer for 3 minutes at the cooking temperature.
👨🏻🍳 Expert notes & tips
Using Frozen Vegetables: I've only used fresh cauliflower and fresh broccoli to make this, but I believe that if you put the frozen versions into the air fryer during the preheat, you could make a reasonable verison of this that still crisps up with frozen veggies.
Freezing It: You can & should freeze this once you've made it, but if you're working from frozen vegetables initially, then I highly recommend eating all you can of it fresh, because the crispness doesn't translate well after it's been frozen.
😋 What to serve with broccoli and cauliflower
🙋🏻♂️ Frequently asked questions
No, broccoli cooks faster than cauliflower, which is why you need to cut it larger than the cauliflower pieces.
Yes, you can add up to a cup more of either broccoli or cauliflower to most air fryers, but you could also swap out more broccoli or cauliflower for either veggie. Just be sure to follow the size guidelines for each one, no matter how much you put into the air fryer.
As always, if you like the recipe, I really appreciate a 5 star review or comment!
📖 Recipe
Air Fryer Broccoli and Cauliflower
Ingredients
- 2 Cups cauliflower cut into bite-sized florets
- 2 Cups broccoli cut into bite-sized florets
- 2 Tablespoons oil try ghee for extra crunch
- 1 teaspoon zata'ar optional
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ¼ teaspoon sea salt
- ¼ teaspoon sumac optional
Instructions
- Clean the vegetables well.
- Then and cut up your broccoli and cauliflower heads into medium-sized and small-sized pieces respectively, and pour them into your air fryer basket. Make sure they're as spaced-apart as possible, pushing them against the sides of the basket if needed.
- Preheat your air fryer to 380°F (195°C) for 2-3 minutes with the florets inside; this gives them time to get completely dry.
- Once the air fryer is preheated & prompts you to add food, spray or drizzle the oil (or ghee) onto the cauliflower and broccoli in the air fryer. Then sprinkle on the zata'ar, garlic powder, and sea salt and cook for 6-8 minutes. A smaller air fryer will take longer to cook them, so check them every minute after the 6-minute mark.
- Once lightly browned and crispy, pour your air fried broccoli and cauliflower onto a plate and enjoy.
Sonja Schereck says
Fabulous combination of spices etc, great flavour!
Max says
I'm so glad you liked it, Sonja!!