Meatballs in an Air Fryer

Name: Meatballs in an Air Fryer
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 30 min
Ingredients: 30 g olive oil; 100 g onions chopped (Fine or grated); 2 garlic cloves finely chopped (fine or grated); 15 g fresh oregano leaves or 1 tablespoon -- dried 1 teaspoon; 1/2 tsp fennel seeds (optional great with pork -- *see options); 1/2 tsp Murray River salt flakes (or a big pinch of fine salt); 500 g minced Pork *see options (or other meat); 150 g feta finely chopped (I like to use Danish feta); 100 g parmesan grated (We like lots 100g is shy but I know some kids don't like the strong smell. ;-)); 1 egg lightly beaten; 2 slices of breadcrumbs. Around a cup of fresh bread crumbs; Sauce, What you like? (*see my tips); Spaghetti enough for the family meal. (How many serves? 55- 60g per person)

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Want to make a brilliant meatball meal in under 30 minutes? I often make meatballs in an air fryer, and they came out light, with loads of flavour. You don’t even need to turn them over if you follow my steps. Just watch them turn golden brown.

Meat balls in a frypan with spaghetti. — Bringing the meatball dish together in a frypan

Our grandson often stays over, and although he eats everything I put in front of him, I like to make things that he would like to eat. I came up with this quick and easy dinner because I could have all three parts cooking at the same time, with a quick warm-through in the frying pan at the end. All done and dusted in such a short time. Oh, and he loved helping me roll those meatballs. ???

Purchase by the 18th December for Xmas delivery

Ingredients to make my meatballs?

This recipe works so well for me because I’ve chosen readily available ingredients. In fact, they’re ingredients I almost always have on hand as pantry staples. I’ve also chosen ingredients to keep the meatballs together, add moisture, and heighten the flavours (think feta cheese).

My Mum used to make meatballs that were like squash balls (very rubbery), so if your meatballs are tough and rubbery, I know what you’re going through. ?? I never liked them when I was a kid. I think she just used meat and egg, with maybe some salt and pepper, and she couldn’t use onions because my brother wouldn’t have eaten them. So it’s understandable that they turned out like hard little chewy balls. We discussed meatballs in one of our Bake Club sessions a few years back and found that many families would make them for their evening meal rotation. I never knew that!

Meatballs (with spaghetti and sauce) step by step

Start by chopping your onion and garlic. Get your pan heating on the stove so it’s medium/hot by the time you’re ready for it.
Fry off the onion, garlic, herbs, and spices in a little oil. I know some may be thinking, why cook them? Trust me, you don’t want raw onion in your meatballs, and these soft translucent bits will stick better when you’re shaping your meatballs.
While the onion/garlic is cooking, ensure it’s not too hot. It’s better to cook onion by heating it gently. Then get a pot on the stove with water and a teaspoon of salt for your spaghetti to cook in and set it to heat. It will take a while to a boil, so start it now.
Your onion in the frypan should be starting to become translucent now. You don’t have to brown it here because we’ll cook the meatballs off until they’re golden brown. So, as long as they’re translucent, they are fine. Get the pan off the heat and set it aside.
Grab a large bowl and put all the meatball ingredients into it, including the onion/garlic mix you had cooling for a bit. Mix all the ingredients without squashing them up too much. You can use a fork if it helps; it must be mixed well but not overworked.
Roll the meatballs up and place them on your oiled or paper-lined air-fryer racks. Set them into your air-fryer to cook at 180c for 15 mins but check at 10 mins as all air fryers are slightly different. You want them to be golden brown.
In the meantime, get your spaghetti into the pot of boiling water. It should take 12-15 mins to cook. As soon as it’s cooked, take it out to drain.
Make your sauce in the frypan with the cooked onion/garlic/herb mix from earlier. I used a little more onion, capsicum and a tin of Annalisa tomatoes. *See the image below.
Once everything is cooked, toss the al dente spaghetti in the pan, gently coat the spaghetti in the sauce, then do the same with the meatballs. I also threw in a handful of baby spinach to give it some extra colour.

These are my favourite tinned tomatoes. Once you’ve used these, you’ll never go back to anything else.

FAQ

Why are my meatballs tough?

Two things come to mind.
1. You may have overworked the meat
2. You need to add ingredients that hold in moisture or give moisture.

Why don’t my meatballs have much flavour?

There are loads of recipes out there that don’t use flavour-enhancing ingredients. In this particular recipe, you’ve got a good amount of spices (that are not hot) and a great one is the addition of the feta cheese. It not only adds some salt to bring up the flavour, but also adds some tangy notes to give another dimension. You can use goats, cows or sheep feta.

Why do my meatballs fall apart when I cook them?

Have you used something to bind them? This recipe has egg and bread crumbs to help bind. We also use the air fryer, so we don’t have to roll them around in a pan. If you can get your meatballs in layers with gaps all around, you shouldn’t have to move them at all until they’re beautifully golden brown.

What sort of sauce do you use for Meatballs?

These meatballs have heaps of flavour, so your sauce can be quick and easy. I tend to include all the usual suspects – a little cooked-off onion, garlic, herbs and great tomatoes (fresh or tinned). Easy. Oh, if you have kids make sure you get that onion chopped fine and well-cooked before you add your tomatoes; you don’t want them to notice them, right?

What can you serve with Meatballs?

Did you know that you don’t usually see meatballs served with spaghetti in Italy? Yeah, I know we all think this spaghetti and meatball thing is Italian, but it’s not. Apparently, it’s an American/Italian invention somewhere back in the 1800s. But it’s one we’ve adopted all over the world.

How should you serve meatballs?

This is up to you, but the idea of piling meatballs on top of spaghetti just doesn’t do it for me. It might be because of my training as a chef. I like the idea of cooking the spaghetti off until just al dente, then adding to the frypan with the sauce so it warms through and picks up some of the delightful flavours. Lastly, add in the meatballs, warm them through, plate up and serve with lashings of parmesan or pecorino cheese.

Instead of pasta and meatballs?

Oh, the options are endless. Instead of pasta, you can use rice, couscous, or polenta. You could also serve it on chunks of buttered sourdough toast. If using rice or couscous, you could have matching herbs in both the meatballs as the side. For example, you could make Ras el hanout meatballs (lamb meatballs) and this couscous recipe. That’s a brilliant combination.

Meatballs in a white serving bowl. — Meatballs

Serving ideas

Rice. Why not!
Vietnamese bread rolls. Pop them in one of these crunchy bread rolls

Related meal ideas

Ricotta Gnocchi
Chicken Pasta Cacciatore
My instant Italian Herb Blend, see how I make this blend to keep on hand for all sorts of Italian recipes.