Having an air fryer has increased my vegetable consumption by at least 60%. Instead of waiting for a whole conventional oven to preheat, or worrying about a hot pan, I simply toss whatever vegetable part I want in some fat, season it, and then throw it in my air fryer, which is usually heated to somewhere between 375℉ and 400℉. It’s easy, but air frying mushrooms is even easier because they don’t need oil to brown and crisp up. In fact, they brown better without it.

If this sounds familiar, it’s because I’ve written about cooking mushrooms (in a pan) without fat before, but the same principles still apply. The culprit behind soggy, pale mushrooms that won’t brown is almost always moisture:

First, butter is at least 15% water, and adding it to the pan will increase the overall moisture content of that pan, which is exactly what we're trying to avoid. But even pure fats can create a kind of oily layer on top of the liquid coming out of the mushrooms, slowing down its evaporation.

This isn’t to say that mushrooms cooked in oil will never brown, but they will brown faster without oil. Plus, it allows you to skip a step (and reduce the amount of fat, if you want).