--- title: "AirFryday: Zesty brown mushrooms in your air fryer" description: "Mushrooms cook madly quickly in an air fryer. Put them in on the highest heat, as the last element you cook before serving your meal." type: "NewsArticle" publisher: "Daily Maverick" site: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za" section: "WHAT’S COOKING" author: "Tony Jackman" author_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/author/tony/" canonical_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2025-07-11-airfryday-zesty-brown-mushrooms-in-your-air-fryer/" published: "2025-07-11T07:00:11" updated: "2025-06-30T21:04:44" lang: "en-ZA" word_count: 539 --- # AirFryday: Zesty brown mushrooms in your air fryer > Mushrooms cook madly quickly in an air fryer. Put them in on the highest heat, as the last element you cook before serving your meal. By Tony Jackman · Published 11 July 2025, 09:00 SAST · Updated 30 June 2025, 23:04 SAST ## Content Mushrooms can be seasoned with salt and pepper and one or two extra seasonings of your choice, then cooked in 10 to 15 minutes. These mushrooms were intended as a side-dish to chicken portions I had cooked in my large air fryer. But they can serve other purposes too. Once cooked, they can be scooped out, cooled, sliced and used as a stuffing for an omelette or in a frittata. Or spoon them onto buttered toast and pour the pan juices over to be soaked up by the bread. I like something zesty with mushrooms. I often use a squeeze or two of lemon juice and also lots of garlic when cooking them in a pan. To achieve that zestiness in an air fryer I avoided using juice, as the mushrooms have plenty of their own juices which they release during cooking. The juices render out into the pan – in this case the air fryer basket. You can cook them for less time or more – cooking them for longer will enable their juices, which they release when very hot, to cook away to a degree. The longer you cook them, the more the juices will evaporate. But those juices have their own value. You can think of them as a sauce, to be spooned or poured over the cooked mushrooms when serving. I sometimes pour mushroom juices onto a steak if they’re accompanying that. Instead of citrus juice, however, I decided to use lime zest, from a lime so ripe that it had turned yellow to resemble a small lemon more than a lime. But taste the juice and it is unquestionably just a very ripe lime. The only other seasonings were salt and black pepper, but you can use some garlic and/or chilli, or a powdered chilli spice such as cayenne pepper. I also grated some fine zest onto the mushrooms when serving. These brown mushrooms were medium in size, not the huge ones often found at vegetable markets. I used a very high-quality olive oil for these – De Rustica Estate Collection Coratina olive oil. Its green olive flavour profile adds some intrigue to the mushrooms’ own taste. Note that mushrooms soak up olive oil, which is why I used more of it than I might normally use in an air fryer. **Tony’s zesty brown mushrooms in the air fryer** *(Serves 2 as a side-portion)* **Ingredients** 8 medium brown mushrooms 4 to 6 Tbsps De Rustica Estate Collection Coratina olive oil Salt and black pepper to taste Zest of 1 lime **Method** Put the mushrooms in a bowl and add the seasoning, olive oil and half of the zest. Toss well so that everything is evenly coated. Preheat the air fryer to 190°C. Cook at 190°C for 15 minutes, shaking the basket after 5 and 10 minutes. They should be soft with some firmness by now. If you’re not happy, put them in for 2 or 3 minutes more. Sprinkle the remaining lime zest over when serving.**DM** *Tony Jackman is twice winner of the Galliova Food Writer of the year award, in 2021 and 2023.* *Follow Tony Jackman on Instagram*[*@tony\_jackman\_cooks*](https://www.instagram.com/tony_jackman_cooks/)*.* *This dish is photographed in a bowl by*[*Mervyn Gers Ceramics*](https://www.mervyngers.com/)*.*