This recipe for crispy Air Fryer Delicata Squash Fries takes less than 20 minutes to prep and cook. They'll quickly become your go-to healthy swap for french fries, with no peeling required, and a rich flavor that even picky eaters will reach for more of!
If you love crispy vegetable fries, try my baked zucchini fries or air fryer yuca fries.
Jump to:
- 😋 Why this recipe is great
- 🧄 Ingredients
- 🔪 How To Prep & Cut Delicata Squash
- 📋 How to make delicata squash in air fryer: step-by-step instructions
- 🧂 Substitutions & Variations
- 🥘 Freezing & Reheating
- 👨🏻🍳 Expert notes & tips
- ⭐ How To Serve Delicata Squash Fries
- 🙋🏻♂️ Frequently Asked Questions
- 📖 Recipe
- 💬 Comments
😋 Why this recipe is great
Simple Enough for Beginners: When looking to cook squash in the air fryer without breading, it doesn't get much easier than just washing, cutting, and tossing the squash pieces in oil & seasoning, and then frying them up nice and crispy. The recipe really just has 4 or 5 steps, so get your favorite dipping sauce ready!
Great Source of Vitamin A: Just like my air fryer butternut squash, these delicata squash fries are high in fiber and nutrients like vitamins A and C, as well as smaller amounts of potassium, magnesium, and manganese.
Easy Side Dish: air fried delicata squash cooks up in about 10 minutes, and can be seasoned with whatever you tolerate, and even flavored specifically to complement the rest of your meal. We like to use za'atar, but if you find a blend you like, it's always nice to have a healthy comfort food to come back to!
🧄 Ingredients
Delicata Squash: Also called sweet potato squash thanks to their sweet and mild nutty flavor, delicatas are a relatively delicate winter squash with thin edible skin and a creamy taste and texture.
They come from a vining plant, and like butternut squash, these striped green and orange fruits can be stored many months (into wintertime) and taste just as good fried up fresh.
Olive Oil: while delicatas are most commonly baked, they can also be microwaved, sautéed, steamed, or air fried like we do here. For that you need a cooking oil that's safe to use at higher temps, like the plain olive oil I've used here.
You don't need much, either, especially if using an oil sprayer! For an intolerance, use lard or another high-heat oil like refined coconut.
Seasoning: while this is technically optional, I highly recommend using 1 to 1 ½ teaspoons of your favorite tolerated seasoning, along with ½ teaspoon of sea salt per pound of squash. See the notes section for ideas, though I really like two parts za'atar with one part garlic powder.
🔪 How To Prep & Cut Delicata Squash
Delicata winter squash have edible skin and a relatively long harvest season, as in my area I start seeing them in the farmer's market in early August. However they can be hard to cut, despite their reputation for being delicate (hence the name).
- The best way to prep a delicata squash for any cooking method is to start by washing and lightly scrubbing your delicata. Since the skin is edible, delicatas don't need to be peeled, so we want the outside super clean.
- Then cut off the top and bottom, and cut the squash in half. Use a large spoon to scoop out the seeds and innards. See directly below for images and more detailed step-by-step instructions.
Remember: the seeds can also be roasted and eaten! Don't toss them if you enjoy pumpkin seeds, as they're very similar.
- Next cut each half in half, and then you can either cook the squash from there or slice the squash as desired. For squash fries I like to start by cutting each half in half to make delicata steak fries, about ⅓" thick, though you can also slice each half into half-moon shapes or cubes for sauteeing.
📋 How to make delicata squash in air fryer: step-by-step instructions
Step 1. Set your air fryer to preheat to 400°F (205°C) for 3-5 minutes, and while it's heating up, gather your oil, salt, and seasonings of choice (I like 1 teapsoon za'atar & ½ teaspoon garlic powder).
Step 2. Then wash and lightly scrub your delicata squash; since the skin is edible, delicata squash doesn't need to be peeled, so we want to make sure the outside is clean enough to eat.
Once clean, cut off the top and bottom, then cut the squash in half and use a spoon to scoop out the seeds and innards. Either set aside the seeds to clean and roast or discard everything (just like pumpkin seeds, delicata squash seeds are totally edible once cooked!).
Step 3. Next cut each half in half, and then slice the squash lengthwise into delicata steak fries, about ⅓" thick. You can also slice each half horizontally into half-moon shapes, but these will take longer to cook and aren't as French fry-like.
Step 4. Once cut, put your delicata squash pieces in a bowl and drizzle over or spray on your oil, and sprinkle on the salt, garlic powder, and za'atar (if using), then toss until well-coated.
Step 5. Pour the delicata squash fries in the air fryer and arrange them in as thin a layer as possible (a bit of overlap is okay), and cook them at 400°F (205°C) for 9-11 minutes, shaking the basket or turning the squash fries halfway through your cook time.
If you cut them into thicker ½" cresents, you'll need to air fry delicata fries for an extra 1-2 minutes and check on them from there.
Step 6. Regardless of fry size, the best way to tell if delicata squash is cooked through is to make sure it's fork-tender. When the timer goes off, take out your crispy delicata fries and taste one, then add extra salt (if needed) & enjoy!
🧂 Substitutions & Variations
Other Squash - other than delicata, you could also make squash fries with any hardier winter squash, including butternut and even honeynut squashes (the latter of which also doesn't need to be peeled).
Alternate Oils - since you need to air fry squash fries, you do need some high-heat oil. If you can't tolerate or don't want to use olive oil, some good alternatives would be coconut oil, avocado oil, lard, or even ghee. The latter two would add some serious richness to this roasted winter squash recipe!
No Garlic - you can omit the garlic in the recipe for more plain-flavored fries.
Seasoning & Flavorings - If you know you don’t tolerate one or more of the spices on this air fryer squash, you can swap it for a blend of other low histamine herbs and spices you think would go well. You can use anything, but other flavors and seasonings good on delicata squash include:
- fresh thyme with garlic
- any premade steak seasoning (if tolerated)
- your favorite cheese to make cheesy fries
- dried rosemary & garlic
- a plain pesto sauce (a great dipping sauce)
🥘 Freezing & Reheating
Honestly, I don't like to freeze these. I purposefully use just a pound of squash whenever I make this recipe, as it can easily be halved or doubled for varying crowd or squash sizes.
However if you need to freeze them, cook them beforehand. Then put a single layer of them on a baking sheet topped with a piece of waxed paper, freeze them fully through (at least 30 minutes), and pour them into a larger container for long-term storage.
To reheat squash fries, heat them in a preheated air fryer at 400°F (205°C) for 3-5 minutes, then serve as desired. If you're not on a low histamine diet, these delicata squash fries can stay good in the fridge for up to 3 days when stored in an air-tight container and cooled to room temperature beforehand.
👨🏻🍳 Expert notes & tips
Squash Storage: You can store these striped winter squash on the counter or in the fridge, but mine ended up on our counter for about a month before we used them and they tasted great, so use your best judgement when storing delicatas before making this recipe.
Fry Size: when cooking delicata squash in the air fryer, it's most common to simply slice them into half moon shapes, but I most like the steak fries shape you get when you slice them lengthwise. But what's most important is to make sure the pieces are all the same size, to ensure even cooking.
What Sauce?: my picky grandmother-in-law enjoyed her delicata fries plain, while my fiance liked them with ketchup, and I liked mine with some homemade aioli (contains lemon juice). Other great sauces to try include pesto or chimichurri.
Batching: to make delicata fries with more than 1 pound of squash, simply multiply the amount of non-squash ingredients by the number of pounds of squash, and cook the fries in one layer in the air fryer in as many batches as needed.
⭐ How To Serve Delicata Squash Fries
- Next to Low Histamine Chicken Tenders
- With a Simple Low Histamine Salad
- Along with a slightly sweeter dish, like Hummus Chicken
- Aside your Favorite Low Histamine Soup
- On top of Garlic Herb Tahini Pasta
- With Baked Honey Turmeric Chicken Thighs
- Topped with your favorite dipping sauce
🙋🏻♂️ Frequently Asked Questions
The flavor of delicata squash is somewhere between a sweet potato and a butternut squash, more mild than almost any other winter squash, which means it takes great to added seasonings.
Delicata squash will be ready to harvest shortly after the color changes to a bright yellow or white with green stripes, when it's a bit too hard to pierce with your fingernail. Generally the delicatas in the market are all already ripe, with the same yellow-green color scheme.
Yes, if you're going to keep your squash around for more than 2-3 days, you can keep it in the fridge for up to 2 months. But if it starts to feel even a little soft, it's time to cook it in the next day or 2.
Yes! Delicata squash peel is completely edible, and generally decribed as paper-thin, which is qute accurate.
Yes, you should remove the seeds from delicata squash before cooking, but they are edible if you wash and toast them, just like pumpkin seeds.
While butternut squash are generally larger than delicatas, they're also a deeper orange color and have a stronger squash flavor, though both squashes have very similar price points and availability.
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📖 Recipe
Easy Air Fryer Delicata Squash Fries (10 Minutes)
Equipment
- air fryer
Ingredients
- 1 medium delicata squash ~1lb.
- ½ to 1 Tablespoon olive oil try using a sprayer
- 1 teaspoon za'atar optional
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder optional
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
Instructions
- Set your air fryer to preheat to 400°F (205°C) for 3-5 minutes, and while it's heating up, gather your oil, salt, and seasonings of choice (I like 1 teapsoon za'atar & ½ teaspoon garlic powder).
- Then wash and lightly scrub your delicata squash; since the skin is edible, delicata squash doesn't need to be peeled, so we want to make sure the outside is clean enough to eat. Once clean, cut off the top and bottom, then cut the squash in half and use a spoon to scoop out the seeds and innards. Either set aside the seeds to clean and roast or discard everything (just like pumpkin seeds, delicata squash seeds are totally edible once cooked!).
- Next cut each half in half, and then slice the squash lengthwise into delicata steak fries, about ⅓" thick. You can also slice each half horizontally into half-moon shapes, but these will take longer to cook and aren't as French fry-like.
- Once cut, put your delicata squash pieces in a bowl and drizzle over or spray on your oil, and sprinkle on the salt, garlic powder, and za'atar (if using), then toss until well-coated.
- Pour the delicata squash fries in the air fryer and arrange them in as thin a layer as possible (a bit of overlap is okay), and cook them at 400°F (205°C) for 9-11 minutes, shaking the basket or turning the squash fries halfway through your cook time. If you cut them into thicker ½" cresents, you'll need to air fry delicata fries for an extra 1-2 minutes and check on them from there.
- Regardless of fry size, the best way to tell if delicata squash is cooked through is to make sure it's fork-tender. When the timer goes off, take out your crispy delicata fries and taste one, then add extra salt (if needed) & enjoy!
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