How to cook air fryer ground beef perfectly in just a few minutes. The best part is that the grease drains away for extra lean protein. Use your Ninja Foodi or Cosori to make for dinner.
Cooking lean ground beef can be messy on the stove. Skip the pan for this kitchen hack that has been a game changer for us! The fat drains away and it’s browned in just 5 minutes flat! Just one of our easy air fryer recipes that can then be used in a multitude of other meals. (affiliate links present)
We buy half a cow every year. With that said we make a lot of ground beef recipes year round. You too can buy meat in bulk online. It saves money and trips to the store, I love it. With all the different cuts we get, we cook this the most often by far. There are so many recipes for it we love.
Whether I use it inside our very popular Instant Pot spaghetti recipe, or just mix in taco seasoning, I make this at least once a week. I love the fact that the fat and grease drain away automatically and browns it nicely in no time at all. You could use this same technique with ground turkey, chicken or even ground sausage.
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.
This is how our meat is packaged when we get it. They’re packaged into one pound bags, that is how much I make at a time. It is plenty for the 4 or 5 of us in the house. If you have a larger household, just do two batches.
How Long to Cook Ground Beef in Air Fryer
It is done so quickly that it isn’t a big deal. You could break up two pounds and just overlap it more than I did. Typically I suggest to not do that, but with ground meat it doesn’t make that big of a difference really. Cook time for 1 lb. of hamburger meat is 5 minutes for us. If you really wanted it to have NO pink, 6 minutes would be better for you.
Super quick timing right?? All you need is a spatula or wooden utensil to break the meat apart and rotate it. Cleans up quickly in the dishwasher if you just throw it in there once you’re done. High protein, fast prep, can’t go wrong with that if you ask me.
Ingredient Notes
I typically will cook 1 pound hamburger meat at a time though the video below shows 1.5 pounds and the cook time isn’t any different. The same would go for ground sausage really.
Salt and pepper to taste or you could sprinkle on taco seasoning or garlic powder for flavor too. Seasonings are really up to you in this case depending on what you are making.
Equipment Needed
To cook air fryer beef recipe you will need your air fryer basket, a spoon or spatula to break up the meat and that is it! No need for a strainer as the holes at the bottom of the basket serves as this!
Tips
You don’t want it to overlap if possible so each piece gets done at the same time. It doesn’t have to be super teeny tiny, you can see here how I did mine.
We use about a pound at a time which is just about right as far as our 6 quart pot can fit nicely. Yes there will be a slight overlap but typically you want it to spread out and not have a lot on top of one another so it cooks evenly.
Then you can mix into a casserole on busy weeknights, serve with taco shells as taco meat with all the fixings your heart desires. Jump to recipe and get started.
Air Fryer Ground Beef Recipe
Equipment
- 1 air fryer
- 1 wooden spatula or spoon to rotate
Ingredients
- 1 lb ground beef, thawed out, not frozen
- 1 pinch salt and pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Preheat air fryer to 380 degrees F for 5 minutes.
- Break up ground beef and lay in air fryer basket without overlapping.
- Close basket and keep at 380 degrees for a total of 5 minutes breaking meat up again after 3 minutes. If you'd like it more done after 5 minutes set for 1 more minute.
- Lift out basket, drain grease in bottom drawer and use hamburger meat as you'd like. If you want to make taco meat, put ground beef into a bowl. Sprinkle packet of dry taco seasoning on top, then pour 1/4 cup of water or beef broth on top. Stir so meat is coated, serve.
Video
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Can you air fry frozen ground beef?
Yes, frozen hamburger patties in air fryer are possible. I would not suggest cooking an entire pound of ground beef in it though. The outside will get way more overdone by the time the middle defrosted. In patties though you can defrost and cook in a short amount of time.
Ninja Foodi Ground Beef
Ninja Foodi recipes use either the pressure cooker function or air fry, but for this timing and instructions below you will use the lid that is attached. In this case it will become just a bit crispy on the edges instead of super tender (which is great).
Other Air Fryer Ground Beef Recipes you’ll love
Once you have this done and ready you can add them into a ton of meals like air fryer ground beef egg rolls, Air fryer stuffed peppers with rice and tomatoes are great. You can make some yummy air fryer empanadas too as an appetizer or meal. Or cook the meat as directed in this post and throw it into a pot of 5 ingredient chili for a really cheap and healthy meal for all of you.
I’m new to air frying. I’m wondering how you get the meat out of the basket after it’s cooked. Do you just use a spoon? I know you can’t dump it out because the grease would poor out too. Thanks
For this one I use a spatula to get it out, a slotted spoon would work well too. Then drain grease.
This sounds yummy and I’m going to try it tonight when I’m making tacos using my air fryer. Thanks!
Let me know how you liked it
I made it according to your recipe. Delicious.
Awesome
So super easy! Thanks! I had to break up, and cook a little longer because I have a very small capacity, but still only took about 10mins total!
Yay
I am new to my air fryer and have learned you can cook more than just chicken wings. This recipe looks easy enough and yummy. Thanks
sounds like something i’d like to try!! thanks