2 Sides Under 30 Minutes: Roasted Baby Carrots and Avocado Fries

Cooking in a time crunch can be challenging—especially if you’re unsure of what to make! Today I’m sharing with you two side dishes that go great with any meal. Best of all, you can easily cook these in less than 30 minutes in your air fryer!

Side Dish #1: Roasted Baby Carrots

Carrots are an easy side dish that go great with most meals. 100 grams average about 41 calories, making this an easy low calorie side dish to accompany your entrée. They also have so many amazing health benefits, like healthy antioxidants and high levels of beta-carotene which can actually help with anti-aging! They are also great for helping with eyesight and cancer prevention.

There are so many reasons to love carrots, so let me show you how you can make them into an easy side dish for your next meal.

Ingredients:

Baby carrots

Butter

Salt

Sukrin Gold Brown Sugar Substitute

Step One: Place about a tablespoon of butter and a tablespoon of brown sugar into a bowl. Mix with your salt, and then stir together.

Step Two: Next, toss your carrots in your mixing bowl and mix together well.

Step Three: When your carrots are mixed well, place them in your air fryer basket. Put the air fryer at 400 degrees at 18 minutes. This leaves you about five minutes to prepare your second side dish, the avocado fries, so that both dishes are done at the same time.

Side Dish #2: Air-Fried Avocado Fries

Avocado Fries are a healthy (delicious!) substitute for steak fries. Avocados naturally have some amazing benefits that you just can’t get from potatoes—they are high in potassium, heart healthy fats, and tons of fiber. Plus, they are low-carb and keto-friendly, making this side dish a perfect accompaniment for any dietary needs.

If you love avocados just as much as I do, let’s get started.

Ingredients:

Avocados

Garlic Salt

Powdered Jalapeno

Olive Oil

Step One: Start with a metal bowl and your olive oil. You’ll need about a tablespoon for every avocado that you’re using. I always like to make more fries than I think I’ll eat since this side dish makes great leftovers!

Step Two: Add in your desired amount of Garlic Salt and Powdered Jalapeno, mixing in with the olive oil.

Step Three: Peel your avocados. Firm, barely ripe, avocados work best for avocado fries. Take the avocado half out, then slice your avocado fries. Remember that the avocados shrink while cooking, so it’s alright to make them a little large.

Step Four: Toss your avocados in with your oil mixture and use your hands to combine. You can use a utensil, but be careful not to break the soft avocados.

Step Five: Spray down your air fryer pan with cooking spray and place your avocados evenly apart on the pan. Cook in the air fryer for 12 minutes, on the top rack.

Serving Suggestions

One of the things I love most about this side dish pairing is that carrots and avocado go great with so many different entrees. Plus, these are easy recipes to alter to fit your meal choice.

For the avocado fries, you can’t go wrong with tzatziki, but I would recommend trying a little bit of yellow mustard. The tanginess of the mustard really brings out the flavor of the avocados and just goes perfectly together with the dish.

For the carrots, you can also change the seasonings to match the flavor of your dish. While we used jalapeno this time, you can use any of your favorite seasonings instead.

If you’re looking for color, these side dishes certainly bring some vibrancy to any meal! There are so many reasons why I love these dishes and I hope that it brings some flavor to your table this week, as well. If you tried these dishes, let us know in the comments how you served them and what your entrée was! As always, please like and subscribe for more amazing healthy meals from The Kitchen Hack.