Pat your broccoli and mushrooms completely dry with paper towels first—moisture is the enemy here. Grab a large bowl and add your broccoli florets, bell pepper pieces, red onion chunks, and halved mushrooms. This is your veggie base for the recipe.

Drizzle 2 tablespoons of olive oil over everything in the bowl. Sprinkle the garlic powder, dried thyme, smoked paprika, black pepper, and salt on top. Toss everything together until each piece gets coated evenly in that seasoning mixture.

Sprinkle the cornstarch over the veggies and toss again for about 30 seconds. This creates the secret to crispy air fryer vegetables—the starch combines with the oil and creates crispiness without extra grease.

Set your air fryer to 400°F and let it preheat for 3 minutes. While that's happening, arrange your veggies in the basket in a single layer (they shouldn't be stacked). Working in batches is totally fine if your basket's smaller.

Slide the basket in and set the timer for 10 minutes. Don't walk away completely—you want to shake the basket halfway through cooking at the 5-minute mark so everything crisps evenly.

After the 10-minute mark, add the lemon juice and give everything one final shake. Pop the basket back in and cook for another 8 minutes until the broccoli edges turn golden and the onions look caramelized.

Transfer to a serving bowl and taste before serving—I usually add a tiny pinch more salt because the lemon kind of masks it. Let me know if this air fryer vegetables recipe becomes your go-to like it did mine.