Air fryer meatballs are PERFECT for quick and easy dinners. Made with ground pork and beef, they taste absolutely amazing, and the air fryer allows you to cook up a big batch with minimal effort.
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If you love meatballs as much as I do, you might also want to check out my baked turkey meatballs, traditional beef and pork meatballs, or these super easy sausage meatballs.
Discover more air fryer beef recipes!
Ingredients
To make these delicious meatballs, you will need to use ground pork, ground beef, garlic, onion, breadcrumbs, egg, dried thyme, dried parsley, salt and pepper.
Meatballs are usually made using both beef and pork, however the recipe will also work with just beef.
Instructions
Finely dice the onion, and grate or finely chop the garlic. Combine these with the ground beef, ground pork, seasoning and breadcrumbs in a bowl. Use a spatula or your hands to mix the ingredients thoroughly.
With your hands, form the meat mixture into bite sized meatballs. Try to keep them all the same size, so that they cook as evenly as possible. I like to roll them between my hands to get them as round and compact as I can.
Preheat your air fryer to 355 °F / 180°C. Spray the inside of the air fryer basket with some cooking spray or olive oil spray, and place the meatballs inside. Avoid overcrowding the air fryer basket. You will probably have to cook the meatballs in multiple batches, depending on the size of your air fryer.
Air fry for about 8-12 minutes. Shake the basket once halfway through cooking. Use a meat thermometer to ensure that the meatballs have cooked through before removing them from the air fryer.
Serve the meatballs hot or cold, or use them in your favorite dish.
Top tips
- To get juicy meatballs that are cooked just right, you will want to use a meat thermometer. The meatballs are done when they reach an internal temperature of 165 °F / 74 °C.
- Keeping the meatballs evenly sized will help them cook evenly. You can use a kitchen scale to ensure that they weight the same, but as long as they look similar, they will be fine.
- If food tends to stick to your air fryer basket, you can simply spray it with some cooking spray. I like to use this olive oil spray.
- Avoid overcrowding the basket. Make sure to leave some space between the meatballs. You will find that this is key in most air fryer recipes, simply because you must allow the air to circulate freely.
Serving suggestions
What do you serve with meatballs? Whatever you want! I like to serve these with pasta and my favorite healthy spaghetti sauce, but you can also enjoy them with some mashed potatoes and Mediterranean roast vegetables.
I also highly recommend this easy slow cooker meatball stew, or crockpot BBQ meatballs, both of which can be made using air fryer meatballs.
But my favorite way to enjoy a good meatball is honestly as a snack, dipped in tzatziki or ketchup!
Variations
Traditional air fried meatballs are fantastic as they are, however there are so many options if you're looking to be a bit creative. Here are some of my favorite meatball variations:
- Add some grated, crumbled or finely chopped cheese. Mozzarella, feta or blue cheese are excellent alternatives.
- Make them spicy by adding some sriracha or chili powder.
- For Italian meatballs, you can add plenty of fresh herbs.
- Make them Greek style by adding some finely chopped spinach and feta.
- For a gluten free variety, you can replace the breadcrumbs with ground almonds or gluten free breadcrumbs.
- Stuff the meatballs with cubed cheese.
- Sun dried tomatoes and diced chorizo are excellent additions for Spanish style meatballs.
Leftovers
Leftover meatballs store incredibly well. Here is how you can make sure to keep them juicy, fresh and delicious as long as possible:
Storing: Store air fryer meatballs in an airtight container in a refrigerator for up to 4 days. Serve them cold, reheat them, or use them in a variety of dishes over the next few days.
Freezing: Place the meatballs in a freezer safe container, and freeze them up to 12 months. You can reheat them from frozen, or thaw them in your refrigerator overnight first.
Reheating: Reheat the meatballs for a few minutes in a microwave, a frying pan, in an oven, or even with an air fryer. The meatballs can be served cold, but are more commonly enjoyed warm.
Batch cooking: Meatballs are excellent for batch cooking. I often make a double or even triple batch, and freeze them down in portion sizes. This saves me time in the long run, and there has been plenty of times when I have been grateful to find some homemade meatballs in the back of my freezer.
Frequently asked questions
Absolutely. Any raw meat can be air fried - pork, beef, chicken and lamb. The meat will be cooked similar to how it would be in a convection oven.
Yes. You can use the air fryer to cook frozen raw meatballs, or to thaw and reheat frozen cooked meatballs.
Recipe
Air Fryer Meatballs
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 lb ground pork (500 g)
- 1 lb ground beef (500 g)
- ½ cup breadcrumbs (120 ml)
- 1 egg
- ½ onion
- 2 garlic cloves
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1 teaspoon parsley
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon pepper
Instructions
- Finely dice the onion, and grate or finely chop the garlic. Combine these with the ground beef, ground pork, seasoning and breadcrumbs in a bowl. Use a spatula or your hands to mix the ingredients thoroughly.
- With your hands, form the meat mixture into bite sized meatballs. Try to keep them all the same size, so that they cook as evenly as possible. I like to roll them between my hands to get them as round and compact as possible.
- Serve the meatballs hot or cold, or use them in your favorite dish.
Video
Notes
- To get juicy meatballs that are cooked just right, you will want to use a meat thermometer. The meatballs are done when they reach an internal temperature of 165 °F / 74 °C.
- Keeping the meatballs evenly sized will help them cook evenly. You can use a kitchen scale to ensure that they weight the same, but as long as they look similar, they will be fine.
- If food tends to stick to your air fryer basket, you can simply spray it with some cooking spray. I like to use this olive oil spray.
- Avoid overcrowding the air fryer basket. Make sure to leave some space between the meatballs. You will find that this is key in most air fryer recipes, simply because you must allow the air to circulate freely.
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