Air Fryer Frozen Meatballs. How to cook your favourite frozen meatballs in the air fryer. A simple air fryer method that is perfect for any brand of frozen meatballs, whether they are precooked or just premade.

Including a simple hack for air fryer spaghetti that can also be cooked in your air fryer, that you will fall in love with.

These frozen meatballs in air fryer were originally shared on Recipe This in 2020 and we decided to update it for you. We have added a video, create some new photos and shown you how to cook air fryer frozen meatballs and spaghetti together.

air fryer frozen meatballs
Air Fryer Frozen Meatballs
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Air Fryer Frozen Meatballs

One of my readers asked me to do some air fryer frozen meatballs and to add it to our growing collection of air fryer frozen food. Another reader mentioned to me that their most cooked air fryer food was meatballs because of how easy the air fryer was for cooking them for dinner.

But unlike many countries we only have one brand of frozen meatballs available to us in Portugal. It was a small bag with hardly any meatball for your money and I just didn’t want to do that.

So, instead I treated it like when I did my instant pot cheap freezer meals and bought the food fresh and raw and then froze it for later.

I got a wonderful pack of fresh meatballs that were perfectly shaped from Lidl and then placed them in the freezer so that I could see how well they cooked from frozen.

Plus, as well as our free newsletter, we also have a free air fryer mini course. It is ideal for air fryer beginners or those that want to get more confident with their air fryer. The free course runs for 5 days with a new lesson delivered each day to your inbox.

Why Cook Frozen Meatballs In The Air Fryer?

Frozen meatballs in the air fryer are easy, tasty and perfect for meal prep. Its one of the best meal preps you can do, because you can prep you own meatballs (or buy them in) and add them to freezer bags ready for when you are your family want to eat air fryer meatball subway sub or have a big plate of spaghetti and meatballs.

Then while you plan the rest of your meal, you know that your meatballs will be cooking in the air fryer, without much effort from you.

Can You Put Frozen Meat In An Air Fryer?

Yes, you can. Frozen meat in the air fryer is fantastic and it is not dry like you would expect. You can also cook frozen meat, such as meatballs from frozen in the air fryer, without needing to thaw it out first.

Beyond meatballs, I would also recommend air fryer frozen hamburgers, air fryer frozen steak and air fryer frozen pork chops. All these options for ideal for air fryer beginners and produce delicious tender meat.

What You Need For Air Fryer Frozen Meatballs?

How To Cook Frozen Meatballs In Air Fryer?

Meatballs – You can use any type of frozen meatballs. They can be make ahead meatballs that you have previously made and then frozen. They can be shop bought frozen meatballs that are either turkey, chicken, beef, pork or maybe a mixture. We are using frozen beef meatballs today but note that the more fat in the meatballs the harder it is to clean your air fryer later.

Then for the kitchen gadgets that we have used in this air fryer meatballs recipe, it has just been our Philips Air Fryer. We have this one and its wonderful for everyday air fryer cooking, as well as for other air fryer classics.

Air Fryer Frozen Meatballs Temperature

I recommend an air fryer frozen meatballs temperature of a mix of low and medium. Start your frozen meatballs at a low temperature and then finish off on a medium temperature.

Its important you don’t cook your meatballs on high. That is because it will crisp the outside and it won’t thaw them out enough to thoroughly cook them.

How Long To Cook Frozen Meatballs In Air Fryer?

The recommended air fryer frozen meatballs cooking time is 17 minutes. You start off with 12 minutes on a low temperature and then to make sure they are crispy and thoroughly cooked add another 5 minutes on a medium temperature.

air fryer frozen food is featured

How To Cook Frozen Meatballs In Air Fryer?

frozen meatballs in air fryer
  • Load. Remove your frozen meatballs from their packaging and load into the air fryer basket. Only do one layer of meatballs and as you can see from the image above, or air fryer holds a lot of frozen meatballs.
  • Air Fry. Cook your air fryer frozen meatballs from frozen and then load them serve them.

Spaghetti & Meatballs In Air Fryer

If you scroll down to the video in the recipe card, we have made a You Tube video for you.

In it we showed you an alternative to our instant pot garlic butter spaghetti or our reheat spaghetti, to bring you an air fryer version of spaghetti and meatballs.

It is fantastic for summer when you want spaghetti and meatballs and want an air fryer cheat version.

Listen To Air fryer frozen Meatballs

Air Fryer Mini Podcasts

Want to learn more about our Podcast? Then click here and you can browse through past episodes and subscribe to the Magic With Gadgets Podcast.

More Air Fryer Frozen Food

Here at Recipe This we love sharing with our readers lots of frozen food that they can cook from frozen in their air fryer.

The possibilities are endless and often frozen food tastes better in an air fryer, then in the oven or in the deep fat fryer.

Here are a few of our other air fryer frozen meat favourites for you to try next:

air fryer frozen meatballs
5 from 3 votes

Air Fryer Frozen Meatballs

Air Fryer Frozen Meatballs. How to air fry your favourite frozen meatballs from raw and frozen to perfectly cooked and crispy in the air fryer.
Prep Time: 2 minutes
Cook Time: 17 minutes
Total Time: 19 minutes
Servings: 4

Ingredients 

Kitchen Gadgets:

Air Fryer Frozen Meatballs Ingredients:

  • 16 Frozen Beef Meatballs

Instructions 

  • Remove your frozen beef meatballs from the packaging and place in the air fryer. Make sure they are not overcrowded and there is room for them to cook.
    How To Cook Frozen Meatballs In Air Fryer?
  • Set the temperature to 160c/320f and the time for 12 minutes.
    How To Cook Frozen Meatballs In Air Fryer?
  • When it beeps after 12 minutes adjust the temperature to 180c/360f and cook for a final 5 minutes. Serve with your favourite pasta.
    How To Cook Frozen Meatballs In Air Fryer?

Video

YouTube video

Notes

Recommend. I recommend slicing a meatball in half when done, just to make sure it is cooked properly in the middle. As you want to be safe when it comes to cooking frozen meat in the air fryer.
Example. In our example we have used frozen beef meatballs, but you could use turkey, chicken, pork or a mix.
Thanks for reading our air fryer frozen meatballs recipe on Recipe This. We have many more Air Fryer recipes for you to check out next. Though if you would like more pasta ideas, then I recommend you try our air fryer mac and cheese next.

Nutrition

Calories: 147kcal | Protein: 9g | Fat: 12g | Saturated Fat: 4g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 5g | Cholesterol: 40mg | Sodium: 31mg | Potassium: 161mg | Vitamin A: 4IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 8mg | Iron: 1mg
Like this recipe? Rate and comment below!

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air fryer frozen meatballs recipe

About Recipe This

Hi! I am Sam and along with my chef hubby Dom we love sharing with you easy everyday recipes using kitchen gadgets. We are also the authors of The Complete Air Fryer Cookbook, an amazing air fryer cookbook filled with 140+ everyday air fryer recipes.

Beyond the air fryer we also love the instant pot, slow cooker, soup maker, ninja foodi, pie maker and several other kitchen gadgets.

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Recipe Rating




5 Comments

  1. 5 stars
    Worked perfectly for some frozen meatballs that I needed for dinner. Done in the same time it took me to get the water boiling and pasta cooked!

  2. 5 stars
    I have to agree with beryl, mine turned out lovely and will be doing them again especially on game days, thanks.

  3. 5 stars
    This recipe is really easy and very tasty. They come out so juicy and not dry at all which seems to be the most common complaint about air frying that i have come cross, but these were so nice!