Air fryer beets
Makes: 2 servings
For the bay salt:
cup loosely packed broken dried bay leaves
2 teaspoons kosher salt
teaspoon ground white pepper For the beets:
2 bunches beets (about 3 pounds total), beet greens reserved 1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon bay salt, divided
Cooking spray
1. Place ¼ cup broken bay leaves, 2 teaspoons kosher salt and ⅛ teaspoon ground white pepper in a spice grinder. Pulse into a fine green powder, around 10 pulses. If needed, sift the powder through a fine-mesh strainer to remove any small pieces of bay leaves.
2. Heat an air fryer to 400 degrees. Meanwhile, prepare the beets.
3. Scrub, trim and peel the beets from 2 bunches. Cut into 1-inch pieces (just over 3 cups). Transfer to a medium bowl. Add 1 tablespoon olive oil and ¾ teaspoon of the bay salt, and toss to combine. (If you are using a mix of beets, the red color will bleed onto the golden beets. So you may wish to toss in separate bowls, but this is
not essential.)
4. Lightly coat the air fryer basket with cooking spray. Air frying in batches if needed, place the beets in a single layer in the basket. Air fry for 10 minutes. Flip the beets and air fry until caramelized at the edges and fork-tender, 8 to 10 minutes more.
5. Meanwhile, cut 5 medium beet green leaves into fine shreds (about ¾ cup). Wash and rinse the greens with a salad spinner or fine-mesh strainer. Transfer to a large bowl.
6. Add the air-fried beets to the bowl with the beet greens, sprinkle with ¼ teaspoon bay leaf salt and toss to combine.
Note: If you don’t have a spice grinder, you can substitute the bay leaves with 1 tablespoon of lightly toasted coriander seeds to create coriander salt instead, which goes equally well. Transfer the coriander seeds to a mortar and pestle with the salt to crush to a coarse powder. Alternatively, use a zip-top bag and a rolling pin to pound it instead. It will not get as fine as using a spice grinder, but as long as it’s ground reasonably well, it will still work out great. (Unfortunately, these methods do not work for bay leaves.)