Italian Style Meatballs

Fastest meatballs I’ve ever made—from prepping, to popping into my mouth! Air fryer method included

I was adamantly anti-air-fryer for years, said I’d never get one. But last all when I went to UK/Europe for a grand tour, I finally used one in one of the apartments I was renting, and boy, that changed my mind. I found it really easy to make meatballs in the air fryer, and here’s how I did that. Feel free to swap out or add whatever you like. I sometimes add ground fennel and/or grated onion to my Italian style meatballs, and I serve them plain, or with melted garlic butter and garnished with a little more grated Parm. 

Hope you enjoy!

INGREDIENTS

2 pounds ground beef (or 1 pound each, pork, beef)
2 eggs
1/4 to 1/2 cup grated Parmesan
Minced garlic to taste
Fresh snipped basil leaves
Ground fennel to taste
Salt & pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS

Mix & form 2 ounce meatballs (a bit larger than a golf ball) and place them on a parchment-lined tray or dish to freeze ’til hungry

Preheat air fryer at 350 F for 5 minutes

Place 3-5 meatballs in air fryer, cook 6-8 minutes

Turn meatballs & cook 6-8 more minutes until browned outside and registering 165 F internally with a thermometer (I recommend an instant-read one for ALL air-frying).

Eat! 

Notes:

Cook time above is per 3-5 meatballs and your air fryer may vary, but the rule of thumb is that generally the air fryer will run hotter than the oven, since it’s using convection and makes for a faster cook. However, you should always check for doneness via the internal temperature vs going by cook time & temperature setting of your air fryer.

You don’t necessarily have to preheat the air fryer, that’s a personal preference. I like to because it offers more of a sear that way. But with frozen raw meatballs, 

The way around this (in my experience) is to use 350 F to start, then use the last 3-4 minutes on 400 or so to blast them good. I like to also use a slip of parchment in the air fryer tray to keep all the lovely juices (and for quick clean-up!). That said, I haven’t found it always necessary to preheat. It’s up to your taste, but you will find you need to cook them a bit longer (for meats).

⚠️ WARNNG ⚠️

Do not preheat your air fryer with parchment in it! It will blow around and catch itself in the burner and set fire at worst, smoke a little at best. Either way, it will not smell good (at all) and make your food taste awful, as well, and you have to then stop, cool the air fryer down, and wash it out. That just cut all your time-saving cooking method down! Make sure to cut your parchment sheet to fit only the food you’re going to set it on, and don’t place the parchment until you’ve preheated.