Air Fryer Chicken Meatballs
Buy our air fryer e-cookbooks today Juicy air fryer chicken meatballs is one of our favorite healthy, low carb and keto meals. It’s a great snack, appetizer or dinner. And it only takes about 15 minutes of air frying time to make a delicious batch of air fried chicken meatballs from scratch.
Healthy Air Fryer Chicken Meatballs
When you’re craving homemade meatballs that’s healthier and made with chicken, try our air fried recipe! Made from scratch, we love chicken meatballs because they’re a lighter type of meat but still flavorful. We add garlic and other seasonings to give this simple ground chicken a lot of flavor. Lastly, chicken has less calories than more other meats so chicken is a good choice if you’re watching what you eat.
Buying Ground Chicken
Most butcher stores have ground chicken for sale. But if you have a hard time finding ground chicken in your grocery store, ask the clerk. Sometimes they sell the ground chicken pre-packaged and stored in the freezer section. If you can’t find ground chicken at all, you can use ground turkey as an alternative.
Video: Air Fryer Chicken Meatballs Recipe
Low Carb or Keto Air Fried Chicken Meatballs
To make these meatballs even more low carb and keto friendly, replace the regular bread crumbs with more keto fillers. For example, the most popular replacements would be using almond flour or crushed pork rinds. The almond flour or crushed pork rinds is a great keto friendly alternative for bread crumbs. It doesn’t dilute the flavors either.
Tips for Air Frying Chicken Meatballs
- Tender meatballs need some type of breading. Adding some dried bread crumbs really makes the air fried meatballs juicy. You can also use crushed crackers. It’s a great way to use up old crackers. If you want a low carb or keto friendly version, we discuss the below options below.
- Be Gentle: When forming the meatballs don’t press on the too firmly. This will make the mixture too dense and less soft and crumbly. Be gentle but don’t pack the meat too tight.
- Yes, you need egg. The egg is what makes them juicy in the center.
- To keep the meatballs from being dry, a light spray of oil on the outside of the meatballs will keep them from drying out during air frying.
- Don’t overcrowd the air fryer basket. You want just a single layer inside the basket. For a smaller air fryer or if you are making a larger batch, cook in batches if needed.
- Remember to turn the meatballs halfway through when you cook meatballs so that they air fry evenly on all sides.
- This meatball recipe is perfect as an appetizer or add some sauce and serves with pasta (everyone loves spaghetti & meatball), on rice, or as a meatball sandwich or sub.
- All air fried chicken meatballs recipe details are in the recipe box below.
Air Fryer Chicken Meatballs {Homemade}
Ingredients
- 1 pound (454 g) ground chicken
- 1/4 cup (27 g) breadcrumbs
- 1 large egg
- 2 teaspoons (10 ml) Worcestershire sauce
- 1 teaspoon (5 ml) onion powder
- 1/2 teaspoon (2.5 ml) garlic powder
- 1/4 teaspoon (1.25 ml) salt , or taste
- lots fresh ground black pepper , to taste
- oil spray
Optional Sauces
- BBQ Sauce
- Teriyaki Sauce
- Buffalo Sauce
Equipment
- Oil Sprayer optional
- Medium Cookie Scoop optional
Instructions
- In large bowl mix together all the meatball ingredients (chicken, breadcrumbs, egg, Worcestershire sauce, onion powder, garlic powder, salt, and black pepper).
- Lightly oil your hands to help keep the meat from sticking to your hands as you shape the meatballs.
- Shape the meat into 12 evenly sized meatballs about the size of a heaping 1/8 cup (a medium cookie scoop also works great for forming the meatballs).
- Preheat air fryer at 380°F/193°C for about 5 minutes.
- Lightly spray the basket/tray of the air fryer with oil. Add the meatballs into an even layer. Spray the meatballs with oil to lightly coat.
- Air Fry at 380°F/193°C for 8 minutes. Turn the meatballs over and then spray with additional oil if they look dry.
- Increase heat to 400°F/205°C and continue to Air Fry for another 2-4 minutes or until cooked through and to your liking.
- Serve on toothpicks or skewers for appetizers, and if desired add a BBQ sauce, teriyaki sauce, Buffalo sauce or any other preferred sauce. Or as a main dish, serve on pasta, rice, or in a sandwich.
If your air fryer is preheated or if you are cooking multiple batches, you may need to reduce timing by a few minutes (unless preheating is called for in the recipe).
Video
Nutrition Information per Serving
Ideas for serving meatballs
There’s so many possibilities for serving meatballs beyond the spaghetti and meatballs tradition. Sure, this classic comfort dish of spaghetti and meatballs is always satisfying. But if you’re looking for something different, here’s some yummy possibilities with air fryer chicken meatballs
- We love serving them as appetizers! You can serve them as they are with some toothpicks.
- Use differnet sypes of sauces: Add your favorite sauce on top for juicer meatballs like marinara sauce, alfredo sauce of any type of hot sauce.
- Other comfort food ideas: Serve with different types of pasta, rice or noodles. Kids will love these meatballs with pasta.
- Love sliders? You should make meatball sliders out of these.
- Meatballs sub sandwiches are fantastic! Add extra marinara sauce and cheese on top.
- If you love parmesan cheese, add a sprinkle on top for more flavor. Add some mozzarella cheese on top and let them melt on the meatballs. YUM!
- Add them sliced as a pizza topping. Or you can just halve them for pizza. We love meatball pizza!
1 Comment on “Air Fryer Chicken Meatballs”
I had some ground chicken and tested a half batch of this. Turned out great! I’m glad that it was easy and delicious.