Air fryer green beans are tender, flavorful, and the perfect year-round veggie side. Make them with farm fresh green beans all summer long, and add fried onions for a lighter, vegan green bean casserole around the holidays.

Air fryer green beans are a delicious way to make the most of summer's bounty. Make them with or without mushrooms and crunchy French fried onions.
Recipe notes
Before you begin cooking, you do need to wash and trim your green beans. You don't need to soak them before cooking, though, so don't worry about that.
To trim them, this southern gal prefers snapping off the ends, one by one, but you can save time by bulk trimming with a knife.
I prefer snapping them, because this helps you weed out any bad beans. A good green bean has a lovely snap to it. If the bean is floppy, I tend to toss it into the compost bin.
To make air fryer green beans, just toss together your green beans and sliced button mushrooms with a little bit of lemon juice, sage, salt, and pepper.
Use some spritzes of spray oil, then air fry for about 10 minutes at 400° F. Boom.
Make sure that you are using an oil spritzer, not an oil sprayer. You want something with a hand pump, because an aerosol oil spray can damage your air fryer's nonstick finish.
Serving suggestions
I like to serve these topped with a sprinkle of crispy, french fried onions to give a little nod to a vegan green bean casserole. It adds a little bit of crunch and extra umami flavor.
This makes a great side to go with tofu nuggets and mashed potatoes!
If you're making this for a holiday spread, add some mandarin orange cranberry sauce and miso gravy to round things out.
Substitutions
If you don't want to use mushrooms, just add an equivalent amount of extra green beans.
Instead of lemon juice, feel free to use rice vinegar or red wine vinegar.
Sage and green beans are lovely together, but you can omit the sage, if you don't want a holidays vibe. You can also replace the sage with more garlic powder or with other herbs/spices.
If you don't want to use the french fried onions, you can omit them. You can also substitute them with your favorite roasted nuts or seeds instead. Pumpkin seeds, sliced almonds, or cashews all work well.
Storage directions
Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge. If possible, store the fried onions separately.
To reheat, either add to a pan on the stove with a splash of water to warm through or reheat in the microwave.
You can freeze these in a freezer bag. They'll keep for six months. Thaw overnight in the fridge, then warm in the microwave or on the stovetop.
📖 Recipe
Air fryer green beans recipe
Ingredients
- 24 ounces fresh green beans - trimmed
- 2 cups sliced button mushrooms - or 2 cups extra green beans
- 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- ¾ teaspoon ground sage
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- ¾ teaspoon black pepper
- spray oil - optional
- ⅓ cup french fried onions - for garnish, optional
Instructions
- In a large bowl, toss together the green beans, mushrooms, lemon juice, garlic powder, sage, onion powder, salt, and pepper. Spray the mixture with oil from an oil sprayer, then toss again to coat. Transfer the mixture to your air fryer basket.
- Air fry at 400° F for 10-15 minutes, shaking once or twice during cooking.
- Serve topped with french fried onions, if you're using them.
Catherine
This was so good and exactly what I was looking for….thank you for sharing your recipe!
Becky Striepe
I am so glad to hear it, Catherine!
Pam
Do you have to use spray oil?
Becky Striepe
I wouldn't omit it. One note, though: don't use the aerosol spray type. Use a spray bottle that spritzes or just toss in a bit of oil before putting it into the basket. The aerosol bottles, I learned recently, are not good for the nonstick for some reason. :(
Cadry
What a terrific idea! Since we're just a family of two, I don't need a whole casserole. Plus, oven space can be quite a commodity this time of year. Air fryer to the rescue!
Becky Striepe
Thank you, Cadry! Any excuse to bust out the air fryer.
Dianne
Green beans and mushrooms are a match made in heaven! Making them in the air fryer is pure genius, and it saves precious oven space on Thanksgiving.