Buffalo air fryer chicken meatballs in Ninja Foodi or Cosori are easy appetizers to make or enjoy as a low carb high protein dinner idea. Made homeamde with ground chicken with a sauce of your choice.
Chicken meatballs turn out great cooked in hot air. Using lean ground meat, Panko breadcrumbs and a few other ingredients you can make them spicy or mild. Enjoy as a protein rich snack or throw them into a pot of spaghetti for an entire meal. One of many air fryer recipes we love.
Made with frozen meatballs
Yes we have made frozen meatballs in air fryer before. That is by far the easiest and quickest method of all if you are in a hurry. WAY better than just microwaving those babies because they turn out a bit rubbery that way. Instead throw them into your basket and do it like this. Then toss in your favorite sauce when done.
Ninja Foodi Option
You can use your Foodi with the lid that is attached with the air crisp button, or make it as a Cosori air fryer recipe. Some pots are larger than others which just means you could make more at once that way. You don’t want them to overlap or they will stick together and not get crispy on the outside either.
Ingredient Notes
- Ground chicken or you could use the same instructions with ground turkey or ground beef instead
- Onion powder adds flavor, minced onions could be substituted
- Garlic powder is another seasoning we use
- 1 egg will help as a binder to keep it all together
- Salt and pepper, Italian seasoning works well too
- 1/2 c Panko breadcrumbs or Italian style
- Buffalo sauce or really sauce of your choice, or leave plain
- You could add 2 tbsp of parmesan cheese too if you wanted an Italian flair instead of buffalo
without Breadcrumbs
If you wanted to try another method that are higher in protein but still with ground chicken you could use our meatball recipe without breadcrumbs. That is a good choice for a mixture too if you want low carb without the fillers. We use oats instead with this one and any meat could be used too.
So when making homemade meatballs in air fryer with any sort of protein really you are going to need a binder. Panko is lighter and gluten free so we went with that one. I used to add some ketchup for flavor and such but this time buffalo hot sauce sounded better. You can find from mild to very spicy with that.
Tips
In order to get the right texture you’ll want to make sure your machine is at the right temperature right from the start. It takes only 5 minutes to do so and will get you the result you want so don’t skip that part. Same goes for when we make homemade chicken nuggets with ground chicken.
Tips: My Favorite models are the Cosori or making Ninja Foodi recipes with the lid that is attached.
It is best practice to put food into a hot basket. This is how to preheat air fryer first before adding your food so it becomes as crispy as possible. For best results, here’s a printable free air fryer cooking time chart here for your fridge.
Air Fryer Chicken Meatballs Recipe
Equipment
- 1 air fryer
- 1 Bowl
Ingredients
- 1 lb ground chicken
- 1/2 tsp onion powder
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1 egg
- 1/4 c green onions, diced, optional
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp pepper
- 1/2 c Panko breadcrumbs
- 1/3 c buffalo sauce, optional, or use a milder sauce
Instructions
- Preheat air fryer for 5 minutes at 380 degrees F. In a bowl mix together all ingredients listed above. If you think it is too loose you can add a bit more breadcrumbs. You want them to stick together.
- Use your hands with 1 heaping tbsp of mixture to roll into balls. Set on a plate or baking sheet until they are all in balls.
- Spray inside of basket with non stick spray and place balls in one layer with some space between them.
- Air fry for a total of about 8 minutes (depending on their size), turning over after 4 minutes. After that check internal temperature to ensure they have reached a safe 165 F. If not add 2 more min and check again.
- Remove, dip in sauce and enjoy
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Sauce Ideas
You could choose others if you wanted like teriyaki, marinara sauce, a thai blend to add and beyond that you might want a dip of some sort if you are serving them as an appetizer. For that I like to offer a variety of different ones like we do with our dipping sauce for chicken wings or offer a thicker dip like bang bang sauce.
Remove from the oven and drizzle with buffalo sauce, or make Alfredo Meatballs with this creamy sauce. Gently toss the meatballs or just serve the meatballs as is with toothpicks. Then you can offer a bunch of different options for guests to make a few different types. This is a fun one especially during a big get together like Super Bowl.
If you want to add this to dishes more like fried rice or chow mein you might like our Panda Express sweet and sour sauce recipe here. Sometimes I will find something similar that is sweet with a little tang. You can always use teriyaki which is always a huge win around here.
This is faster than how long to cook meatballs in oven, and will get crispier on the outside as well. Or faster with how to cook frozen meatballs served with a sauce or plain.
How to you store leftover meatballs
If this was a frozen meatballs recipe to begin with you won’t want to refreeze them but you could keep in the fridge and reheat within 3 days. However if there were homemade like these you could freeze them once they were at room temperature. It is best if you freeze on a sheet pan, then put them into a freezer bag so they don’t stick together. Not entirely necessary though.
It is best if you use freezer bags or vacuum pack them so you won’t get freezer burn, that is no good. You can also make these, not cook them, and freeze beforehand so they are really fresh. You would need to lay on a baking sheet first for these, then transfer into a bag.
Is it safe to reheat cooked meatballs?
As long as they have been stored properly then by all means enjoy them for another meal. If homemade, then frozen lay them on a plate or pan covered to defrost in the fridge first. Cooked and then frozen you can leave in the same bag and thaw in the fridge and then cook. I would air fry them once softened. 380 F for 3-4 minutes is plenty of time to get hot again.
