Viral TikTok air fryer smashed Brussels sprouts delivers on its promise

Welcome to AirFryDay, where — you guessed it —every Friday Mashable covers the latest trends, dispenses advice, and reviews recipes for your air fryer.

There is no wrong way to eat a potato — it is a delicious food in most forms — but I think my favorite method for cooking them recently is to smash then roast them until they’re nice and crispy. Basically, you boil tiny potatoes in salty water, smoosh it flat on a sheet tray, then douse in oil and salt and roast at high temps. The final product should be salty and crispy potato pucks that retain a fluffy interior. Perfection.

So when I saw there was a similar recipe for Brussels sprouts circulating on TikTok, I knew it had to try it for AirFryDay. I love Brussels sprouts and the idea of a green veggie version of the potato recipe seemed promising.

The viral recipe came from Jackie Hartlaub on TikTok, otherwise known as @LowCardStateofMind. She’s a popular creator who — you guessed it — often cooks low-carb dishes.

Here’s how @lowcarbstateofmind’s process looked.
Credit: TikTok / @lowcarbstateofmind

Here are the basic steps and ingredients for the Brussels.

Ingredients

Directions

1. Cut the end of each Brussels sprout and remove the outer leaves that fall off easily.

2. Place the trimmed sprouts in a microwave safe bowl.

3. Pour a small amount of water — a few glugs, maybe three-quarters of a cup — into the bowl.

4. Cover the bowl with a microwave-safe plate then cook for four minutes. This steams the sprouts and softens them for smashing.

5. Remove the Brussels sprouts from the bowl. Using the bottom of the bowl, push down on each sprout, until it flattens into a disc. This should take minimal effort. Push too hard and you won’t have a neat end product.

6. Preheat your air fryer to 275 degrees Fahrenheit.

7. Load the sprout discs into the preheated air fryer. Spray heavily with oil and season well with garlic salt. Make sure both sides of each sprout are oiled and seasoned.

8. Cook one on side for 10 minutes, then flip and cook for 10 minutes more at 275 degrees.

9. Crank the heat up to 350 degrees — or even higher if you like — and air fry until the sprout discs are charred and crispy. Enjoy!

The Details

There are few things you should know before you take on this recipe. The first thing is this: You do not have to put in all this extra effort for delicious, crispy, Brussels sprouts. You can simply chop them in half, oil and salt the sprouts, then air fry at high temps. You will get nearly fool-proof, delicious results. But this recipe does add some novelty to air fried Brussels sprouts and it does create more surface area to the sprout that can get crispy. Here were my final results, for reference.

Credit: Mashable

There’s also another small drawback to this recipe. Since the first step of the process is removing the outer leaves of the Brussels, you don’t get charred, loose leaves that are basically like crunchy Brussels chips. I love those. Oh well.

Otherwise, I’ve got to say, this is a viral TikTok that delivers on its promise. The steaming in the microwave and smashing could not have been easier. I thought I might need to really use some elbow grease to smoosh the sprout down but, surprisingly, I pressed on the bowl and bloop, I got a disc really easily. Here’s the process in action.

Credit: Mashable

This process does mean, however you’re Brussels have a slight boiled/steamed taste and texture on the interior. I would say that it tastes bad but my preference is for whole thing to be roasted. It’s just a more pleasant taste, in my opinion, than the more funky, cabbage-forward taste of a half-boiled, half-steamed Brussels sprout you pre-cooked in the microwave.

But again, this smashed Brussels are neat and cool and give you a crips little puck you can eat with your hands if you so desired. Hartlaub dipped her sprouts in an aioli and that looked good as hell. You could even make these as a party app or a snack for your kid. You can’t really do that with a halved and roasted sprout.

One you get past the smashing, the cooking process is relatively straightforward. I suspect you could make these sprout discs in less time — I am impatient and often say screw it, we’re cooking with high heat — but using Hartlaub’s method you need roughly 34 minutes of active cooking time. Keep that in mind. You’re also going to need to do careful flipping after ten minutes, rather than your typical air fryer basket shake. Here’s what they looked like about halfway through.

Credit: Mashable

I didn’t really flip my sprouts for the final 10 minutes of high-heat cooking. I left the topside of the Brussels facing upward and it turned out just fine.

All in the all, the verdict on this recipe is that it works, delivers on its promise, and gives you a tasty result. I think that’s because the air fryer is a perfect tool for cooking vegetables. The circulating hot air gives you great results no matter what.

I’ll probably make these suckers again, mostly because they’re pretty fun and don’t take too much effort. Do I think I’ll make it for a weeknight dinner when I have just 20 minutes to cook a side? Absolutely not. But say, maybe on a Friday night, you want a healthy, dip-able snack for happy hour — I think this recipe would be perfect.