The meatballs they are a must of the Italian home cooking and, in recent years, they have also become a gourmet dish: it is not so rare to find them even in the kitchens of the best restaurants, reworked so that they are an elegant dish, as well as good and tasty! Not surprisingly, meatballs are truly loved by everyone for their goodness and versatility. Excellent as finger food, as an appetizer, aperitif or as a second course, meatballs are also easy to prepare, despite hiding some small pitfalls: it often happens, in fact, that they are too dry if cooked in the oven or, on the contrary, that yes flaking during pan cooking. For an exceptional result the solution is simple: the air fryer! Meatballs in air fryer they are crunchy on the outside and very soft on the inside, they cook in just over half an hour and they will make everyone happy. If you are a “meatball addict” you can’t help but try other meatballs to cook in the air fryer, such as lentil meatballs, cod meatballs and ricotta meatballs!

Preparation

1

Wash the potatoes under running water, place them in a pan and add fresh water until they are completely covered. Bring the pan to the heat and cook for 40 minutes or until soft. To test whether they are cooked or not you can pierce them with a fork: the fork must enter perfectly, without the potato falling apart. Once cooked, drain them.

2

Let the potatoes cool completely, then peel them and pass them through a potato masher to puree them.

3

Beat a whole egg in a small bowl. Instead, pour all the minced meat into a large bowl.

4

Add the mashed potatoes, the beaten egg and the fine salt to the minced meat.

5

Add the grated parmesan and mix. Finally, add the grated zest of an untreated lemon and mix again to mix all the ingredients well.

6

Now mix with your hands to obtain a homogeneous mixture. Then prepare a deep plate full of breadcrumbs.

7

Take a portion of approximately 40-50 grams of dough with your hands and roll it between your palms to form a meatball, which you will place in the breadcrumbs.

8

Roll the meatball well in the breadcrumbs so that it is covered on all sides. Proceed like this with all the dough, forming meatballs, dipping them in breadcrumbs and placing them on a plate. Then place them in the air fryer basket, without overlapping them, and season them with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.

9

Cook at 200°C for 35-40 minutes. Once cooked, remove from the oven and serve while still hot.

Tips and tricks

You can customize your meatballs with different spices and herbs. For example, you can add garlic powder or chopped fresh garlic, thinly chopped onion or herbs such as thyme, basil, marjoram or lemon thyme. For a fresh touch, add a few chopped mint leaves!

For this recipe we chose to use potatoes instead of bread soaked in milk because the meatballs cooked in the air fryer will remain very soft in this way. This is an essential trick for making meatballs perfectly!

You can use any type of potatoes, the important thing is to let them cook in their skin, so that the water does not penetrate inside and they remain soft and easy to work with.

You can diversify the meat, using only pork or only beef, or using chicken or turkey meat.

Each air fryer has different instructions and wattages. We therefore advise you to always check the characteristics of your air fryer first to make any changes to the degrees and cooking. In any case, for meatballs we always recommend cooking for at least 30 minutes, to make sure they are perfectly cooked.

storage

Meatballs cooked in an air fryer can be stored in the refrigerator, in an airtight container, for a maximum of two days.