If you have 30-minutes you have all the time you need to make this delicious meatballs in air fryer recipe! We are going to show you just how easy it can be to make homemade Italian meatballs with ground beef, panko breadcrumbs, and parmesan cheese. Seasoned with garlic, parsley, basil, and oregano, our air fryer meatballs are perfect served as-is, with sauce, or in your own WHOLE LOTTA YUM way!
Meatballs Air Fryer Recipe
We love making this meatballs in air fryer recipe in our home! It's super simple to put together and cooks up in just a few minutes. Plus, because we are using the air fryer rather than the stovetop or the oven, our air fryer meatballs come out perfectly cooked every time.
Made without pork, but with cheese, these homemade air fryer meatballs are always a hit and we frequently double the recipe because we know that everyone will want extras!
Whether we serve our meatballs in air fryer with a couple of air fryer sides, or covered in sauce and with either noodles or zoodles, or perhaps as even as a sub sandwich, there is no wrong way to serve this quick and easy meatball recipe.
Unless, of course, you never make it. 😉
Why You'll Love This!
- These air fryer meatballs are bursting with authentic Italian flavor thanks to a wide variety of seasonings including fresh garlic, parsley, oregano, basil, Worchestershire sauce, and parmesan cheese!
- With a cook time of just 8-minutes, making your meatballs in the air fryer just might be the fastest cooking method available!
- Our meatballs in air fryer recipe is sugar-free and free from chemicals and preservatives often found in storebought frozen meatballs. A quick adaptation can have your air fryer meatballs compliant with gluten-free, low-carb, and keto lifestyles (diet adaptions listed below).
- Unlike many meatball recipes, we are keeping things simple by making our Italian meatballs with just ground beef.
Make your entire dinner simple when you use the air fryer for the whole thing! Serve your meatballs in air fryer recipe alongside our potato wedges air fryer recipe and air fryer frozen asparagus dish and make your dinner a breeze.
And for those times you need meatballs even faster, why not keep a bag of frozen ones in the freezer and try our frozen meatballs in air fryer recipe?
Ingredient Notes
It's true that your meatballs in air fryer recipe does need quite a few ingredients, but most of these are kitchen staples and all of them help make your homemade meatballs taste amazing!
- Panko breadcrumbs
- milk
- 80/20 ground beef
- garlic cloves, minced
- finely minced onion
- egg
- grated parmesan cheese
- Worcestershire sauce
- dried parsley
- dried basil
- dried oregano
- fine sea salt
- ground black pepper
- cayenne pepper
Variations
- Ground Beef - Ground turkey, pork, or chicken can be substituted for the ground beef.
- Egg - If you would prefer to avoid egg you can substitute buttermilk, ricotta cheese, or Greek yogurt.
Equipment
An Air Fryer- We have a Cosori XL basket style air fryer, an Omni Plus oven style air fryer, and a small 3.2L Farberware basket style air fryer. The Cosori was used in this recipe.
Diet Adaptions
- Gluten Free - Use gluten-free breadcrumbs to make your air fryer meatballs gluten free.
- Keto - You can make your meatballs keto by using a low/carb or keto-approved breadcrumb or breadcrumb substitute.
Step by Step Instructions
Making your meatballs in air fryer is just like making them on the stovetop or in the oven. We are going to combine our ingredients, shape the meatballs, then cook them in the air fryer until they are perfect and ready to be served for dinner.
Prep Ingredients
In a medium-size mixing bowl, add the panko breadcrumbs and the milk. Combine and let the mixture sit for 5 minutes.
After the 5 minutes have passed, add the remaining ingredients to the bowl which includes the ground beef, egg, minced garlic, minced onion, grated parmesan cheese, Worcestershire sauce, dried parsley, dried basil, dried oregano, fine sea salt, ground black pepper, and the pinch of cayenne.
Combine all of the ingredients together.
Form the meatballs into 2 Tbsp-sized balls and place them in the air fryer basket. A medium cookie scoop works well for this to get the meatballs an even size.
Depending on the size of air fryer you have either all 20 of the meatballs will fit or you'll need to split them into two batches.
Air Fryer Meatballs Temperature
You are going to cook your air fryer meatballs in an air fryer that has been preheated to 400 F for 5 minutes.
Air Fryer Meatballs Cooking Time
Air fry the meatballs for a total of 8-9 minutes.
You do not need to flip the meatballs halfway, but you can as an optional step.
Check the beef meatballs after 8 minutes of cooking time with a digital thermometer to check for doneness and continue cooking them until the internal temperature reaches 160 F.
Recipe Tips
- A higher fat meat with an 80/20 ratio was used in the recipe as the extra grease helps to keep the meatballs juicier.
- For best results, use a scoop to keep your meatballs evenly sized. This will help them all to cook in the same amount of time.
- Preheating your air fryer ensures that your air fryer meatballs begin cooking immediatley.
- We flipped the meatballs halfway through cooking but you can skip that to get them extra brown and crisp on one side.
Common Questions
You could stick to the classics and serve your meatballs in air fryer as part of a spaghetti and meatballs plate, with sauce over zoodles, as a sub sandwich, or simply on a plate with other air fryer sides for a quick and easy dinner.
To make frozen meatballs, preheat your air fryer to 400 F for 5 minutes. Cook your meatballs for 12+ minutes, flipping halfway through cooking.
You can store cooked meatballs in the fridge for up to 4 days.
More Air Fryer Dinner Recipes
Looking for more air fryer dinner recipes?
- Air Fryer Frozen Meatballs
- Air Fryer Chicken Fajitas
- Air Fryer Chicken Sausages
- Air Fryer Country Style Ribs
Come connect with us on Instagram! Be sure to tag us (wholelotta.yum) when you make a recipe. You can also find us on Facebook, and Pinterest.
Meatballs in Air Fryer Recipe
Quick and easy Italian meatballs in the air fryer. Eat the juicy meatballs as a main dish on their own or mix them with spaghetti sauce and serve with pasta or zoodles.
Ingredients
- ½ cup Panko breadcrumbs
- 2 ½ tablespoon milk
- 1 lb ground beef (80/20)
- 2 teaspoon garlic cloves, minced
- 2 tablespoon finely minced onion
- 1 large egg
- ½ cup grated parmesan cheese
- 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
- 2 teaspoon dried parsley
- 2 teaspoon dried basil
- ½ teaspoon dried oregano
- ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
- pinch of cayenne pepper
Instructions
- In a medium-size mixing bowl, add the panko breadcrumbs and the milk. Combine and let the mixture sit for 5 minutes.
- After the 5 minutes have passed, add the remaining ingredients to the bowl which includes the ground beef, egg, minced garlic, minced onion, grated parmesan cheese, Worcestershire sauce, dried parsley, dried basil, dried oregano, fine sea salt, ground black pepper, and the pinch of cayenne. Combine all of the ingredients together.
- Form the meatballs into 2 Tbsp-sized balls and place them in the air fryer basket. A medium cookie scoop works well for this to get the meatballs an even size. Depending on the size of air fryer you have either all 20 of the meatballs will fit or you'll need to split them into two batches.
- Preheat the air fryer to 400 F for 5 minutes.
- Air fry the meatballs for a total of 8-9 minutes, you do not need to flip the meatballs halfway but you can as an optional step. Check the beef meatballs after 8 minutes of cooking time with a digital thermometer to check for doneness and continue cooking them until the internal temperature reaches 160 F.
Notes
Ground turkey, pork, or chicken can be substituted for the ground beef.
A higher fat meat with an 80/20 ratio was used in the recipe, the extra grease helps to keep the meatballs juicier.
To make air fryer meatballs without egg substitute the egg for buttermilk, ricotta cheese, or Greek yogurt.
Other types of cheese can be used instead of the parmesan like mozzarella.
Serve with meatballs as is as a main dish or mix them with spaghetti sauce or tomato sauce to serve with pasta or your favorite Italian recipes.
Dried herbs were used in the meatballs air fryer recipe but fresh can be used as well. The conversion between dried herbs and fresh herbs is 3x.
To make the air fryer meatballs gluten-free use gluten-free breadcrumbs, for keto friendly use keto breadcrumbs.
We flipped the meatballs halfway through cooking but you can skip that to get them extra brown and crisp on one side.
Leslie says
Could I sub ground turkey?
WholeLottaYum says
Hi Leslie, Yes! You can sub ground turkey. I recommend using a higher fat ground turkey instead of the ultra-lean since the fat helps to add moisture and flavor.