Air Fryer Zucchini Fries (Dairy-Free)

Every gardener eventually faces the August problem: more zucchini than any household could reasonably eat, multiplying under the leaves faster than you can give it away. The American kitchen's answer has long been to disguise it — into bread, into fritters, and, best of all, into something shaped like a fry. Because the truth about a picky eater, child or adult, is that almost anything cut into a baton and made crunchy will get eaten without complaint.

I'm not going to dress this up as health food in disguise — it's breaded and it's a treat. But it's a genuinely good way to move a glut of summer squash, and it's free of dairy and nuts, which matters when you're feeding a table with a few rules on it. The one piece of honesty the air fryer demands: zucchini holds water, so blot the batons dry before you bread them and serve them hot off the airflow. A spear that sits too long turns soft from the inside, no matter how crisp the shell started. Crunch is a fleeting thing here — lean into it.

Make them in the air fryer we reach for daily, which crisps the coating without the oil bath a deep fry would need.