I will never again bake meatballs in the oven after trying them in the air fryer. While the outsides get a faint crisp, the insides remain deliciously delicate. Best of all, you may prepare them in advance and freeze them for later use. These instructions are contained in the notes. If desired, serve meatballs with marinara.
| Prep Time: | 10 mins |
| Cook Time: | 20 mins |
| Additional Time: | 5 mins |
| Total Time: | 35 mins |
| Servings: | 4 |
| Yield: | 16 meatballs |
Ingredients
- 16 ounces lean ground beef
- 4 ounces ground pork
- ½ cup grated Parmesan cheese
- ⅓ cup Italian seasoned bread crumbs
- 1 egg
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
- ½ teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Preheat an air fryer to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
- Combine beef, pork, Parmesan cheese, bread crumbs, egg, garlic, Italian seasoning, and salt in a large bowl. Mix until evenly combined. Form into 16 equal meatballs (a small ice cream scoop is helpful) and place on a baking sheet.
- Place 1/2 of the meatballs in the basket of the air fryer and cook 8 minutes. Shake the basket and cook 2 minutes more. Transfer to a serving plate and let rest for 5 minutes. Repeat with remaining meatballs.
Reviews
So So SO delicious and easy! Allrecipes for the win again! 1.5 lbs of lean ground beef (no pork) made about 30 meatballs. Thank you Soup Loving Nicole!
Easy and quick to make but not nearly as good as meatballs simmering in sauce.
Super easy! My 7 year old made them with very little help. I changed the seasonings a bit just to our preferences, and served with egg noodles and a stroganoff sauce for the kid and the hubs. (I don’t like stroganoff so I ate mine as “meatloaf bites” and dunked in steak sauce.) Will make again for sure!
The meat balls were easy to make in the air fryer. I cooked them 8 minutes, turned them over and cooked them for 4 minutes more. The meat was fresh not frozen. Crispy on the top and moist inside. Next time the meat will be frozen so I will cook them about 2 to 3 minutes longer. Enjoyed very much.
Really liked how these turned out! Much better than in the oven—tender inside with a brown crust outside. I did cook them at 375 instead of 350 and liked the result. Definitely a keeper!
Thank you! I am new to my air fryer and this really helped me not botch it up. Many thanks
i made these for my fiancé and he loved them. He said hes had plenty of meatballs, but these are by far the best. They are very easy to make which is important. Gonna make them again tonight for dinner. Wouldn’t change a thing.
Used Ultrean air fryer, and modified the recipe (only 1lb beef, added 1/2 pack onion soup mix, 1/4 cup breadcrumbs, egg) Made 16 meatballs. I preheated to 400, lowered to 380 and cooked the first 8 for 12 minutes – too long. OK, but too long. The next batch I cooked for 10 minutes, and they were perfect. I didn’t need to toss or shake, because they moved around on their own.
I loved it…but I did add about two tbls of dill pickle relish…it gave it a zing
It needs longer cooking time in the airfryer
Very easy. Kept the meatballs plain as they’re for my 16 year old toy poodle who has kidney issues. I was instructed to do this method by Dr Harvey’s nutritional specialist. I’ll do it this way for me too!
They tasted very good but I cooked them longer by 6 minutes. Total of 14 minutes. Also had to substitute to plain bread crumbs. Still had a good flavor. Thank You
I made these today! It was quick and not messy to brown them in the air fryer. Delicious!
Made these in the oven because its literally the same as an air fryer. One star off for that comment hahaha
This is a simple but amazingly good recipe. Only thing I did was add black pepper because I can’t imagine beef without it. The parmesan is such a nice touch you don’t even need or want a sauce. I had these with salad. Would be amazing with a red sauce though or even on pizza. Worth making. Thanks for the recipe!
Made these for the first time and went by the recipe. Wouldn’t change a thing. Hubby says it’s a keeper. I would make these again. Great thing is you can make these ahead of time and freeze. The only thing I wasn’t sure of was the grated parmesan cheese. So I just used the grated in the bottle like you would serve w/spaghetti.
I had to substitute 4oz of mild Italian sausage for the ground pork but it turned out really well.
Great recipe! Very first time I’ve used my new air fryer. I made it as written-very tasty and super quick and easy.
All I did was make my special sauce to go with it but it’s really good
Awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I made this with the following deviations: 1). Instead of pork, I used hot Italian sausage (Costco) 2). I ended up with 15 balls rather than 16. 3). I rolled the meatballs in parsley before cooking. 4). I cooked all 15 balls at once in the air fryer, using 350 degrees for 10 minutes, turning them over, then for another 10 mins. Very, very tasty!!! I made 4 batches. Had one batch for dinner. The other three I will cook and freeze tomorrow, so I have “meatballs ready to thaw, heat and eat” for future meals. So glad I found this recipe.
Wonderful! Thank you!