You’ve Come To the Right Place!
Air Fryer Beets with apples, blue cheese, walnuts, and honey is so delicious and easy to make. First, I just think beets are so gorgeous on the inside. Don’t judge a book by its cover, so ugly on the outside and so pretty on the inside. Gorgeous, tasty, is a great combination of everything good in life!
Second, air frying is a fast roast method and this dish is to delish. Lastly, I’m so excited to have your try this combination of flavors… blue cheese can be polarizing. You love it or you don’t Please try all of these flavors together. You’ve come to the right plate, ahem, I mean place!
What You’ll Need to Make Air Fryer Beets
- Beets – Use fresh, raw beets. I honestly don’t know what would happen with canned… let’s pin that one. If your store offers more than one color beet, I recommend using both for visual interest.
- Apples – Honestly, I had Honeycrisp in my house when I started working on this recipe, so that’s what I used. Any sweet apple will work like Fuji, Pink Lady, Jazz, etc.
- Blue Cheese – Bring on the stinky umami! Give blue cheese a chance, it brings a tangy and salty element. If blue is too much for you, try gorgonzola which I feel is a notch down in everything that blue offers.
- Honey – Not the same dish without this. Honey is a mild, unique sweetener that is a common paring with blue cheese. Nothing new here. Use a light, easy to drizzle honey.
- Walnuts – When air fried, walnuts have almost a popcorn flavor. Walnuts add crunch and a contrasting texture to the soft beets and apples.
How to Make Air Fryer Beets
I appreciate my air fryer more and more. This is a relatively new addition to my kitchen cache and it’s really growing on me.
Peel and cube the beets. The pieces should be large, 3/4″ x 3/4″. Why? Because they will shrink in cooking and the larger raw cutting size will end in the perfect bite size after they have cooked. Coat them in olive oil and sprinkle with salt.
Cube the apples. Mix the apples with olive oil, then toss in the walnuts, separately from the beets because we’ll add them at different times. Set aside.
Before cooking, I make a foiler liner that fits the air fryer basket, then remove it before starting the air fryer. This is because if there isn’t anything to hold the foil down, the air fryer could suck it up to the top of the basket during the pre-heat.
Start up your air fryer – if it pre-heats, allow it do to so and then stop it to add the foil and oil coated beets. When there are 10 minutes left, stop it to add the apples and walnuts. Add the blue cheese at when there are 5 minutes left. Then, allow the air fryer to finish cooking.
At the end of the cooking time, remove the basket and carefully lift out the foil basket. Transfer the, by now, magnificent looking beet, apple, toasty walnut mix into a serving bowl or plate each serving. Top with extra crumbled blue cheese and drizzle with honey. Serve immediately!
Tips, Tricks & FAQs
- How To Avoid Dying Your Hands? To avoid lightly stained hands a few options
- Wear rubber gloves.
- Purchase beets with stems. Hold on to the stem as you peel.
- Only use lighter colors beets, like the golden shown above, which stain less or lighter.
- Variations. Using more than one color beet in this dish just takes it up a notch, but one color would be fine.
- How To Peel Beets. My photos show the beets cut in halve then peeled, but that was for the photos. I recommend peeling beets while they are whole. Use a veggie peeler.
- Substitutions. Substitute gorgonzola for blue cheese if you desire a mild pungent, umami flavor. I do like block better than the pre-crumbled option because those bits can be too small. Buy block and make your own pieces.
- Use Ugly Apples. If you see less than perfect apples at the store or maybe you have some in the fridge or countertop that are looking sad, this is a perfect place for those ugly apples.
- Customize? I don’t recommend leaving too many of these options out, the flavors are like a puzzle, they all work together and the dish won’t be the same without.
- Can I store leftovers? For this one, I don’t recommend keeping leftovers. The apples release a lot of liquid and a re-heat will disappoint. Simply scale back to half the recipe to reduce excess if 3 cups is too much for your needs.
Air Fryer Beets
Equipment
- chef's knife
- cutting board
- measuring spoons
- measuring cups
- vegetable peeler
- air fryer
Ingredients
- 2 large beets (3 1/2 cups when cubed)
- 2 teaspoons olive oil (2 for beets, 2 for apples)
- 1/8 teaspoon sea salt
- 1 large sweet apple (2 cups when cubed), Fuji, Honeycrisp, Pink Lady, Jazz, etc.
- 1/2 cup walnut halves and pieces
- 2 ounces blue cheese
- 1 Tablespoon or more honey to drizzle on top
Instructions
- Prep. Prepare the air fryer basket by lining it with foil. Remove the foil before starting the air fryer preheat. This will prevent the foil from being moved while the pre-heat is in process.
- Beets. Using a vegetable peeler, peel the beets. Cut each in half and cut off the top and ends, discard. Cut the beets into 3/4" x 3/4" cubed pieces. Drizzle with 2 teaspoons olive oil. Toss to coat and sprinkle with sea salt.2 large beets (3 1/2 cups when cubed), 2 teaspoons olive oil (2 for beets, 2 for apples), 1/8 teaspoon sea salt
- Apples. Cut apples into 3/4" x 3/4" cubed pieces. Add apples to a bowl. Drizzle with remaining 2 teaspoon olive oil and toss to coat. Add the walnuts to the bowl, don't coat. Set aside.1 large sweet apple (2 cups when cubed), Fuji, Honeycrisp, Pink Lady, Jazz, etc.
- Air Fry. (Beets) Start the air fryer, 400 degrees for 25 minutes. After the preheat is complete, remove the basket (stop the timer if needed). Carefully place the foil liner back in the air fryer basket and add the beets.
- More Cooking. Return the air fryer basket to the fryer and resume cooking.
- Apples & Walnuts. Where there are 10 minutes remaining in the cooking, remove the air fryer basket (pause the timer if needed). Add in the apples and walnuts. Be sure to spread everything out into one layer in the basket.1/2 cup walnut halves and pieces
- More Cooking. Return the air fryer basket to the fryer and resume cooking.
- Cheese. When there are 5 minutes remaining in the cooking, remove the air fryer basket (pause the timer if needed). Check the beets for doneness. They should be fork tender. If not, allow them to cook for a few minutes more. Then, add the blue cheese.2 ounces blue cheese
- More Cooking. Return the air fryer basket to the fryer and complete the cooking time.
- Honey. At the end of the cooking time, remove the basket from the fryer. Carefully remove the foil liner from the basket and transfer the beets and apples to a serving bowl or plates. Top with additional crumbled blue cheese and drizzle with honey.1 Tablespoon or more honey to drizzle on top
- Enjoy! Serve immediately.
