I just discovered another favorite recipe to make in my beloved air fryer – pork meatballs. With the COVID-19 quarantine in full effect, I am exploring new dishes and flavors with just the ingredients I have on hand. For this recipe, all I used was a pound of defrosted ground pork shoulder, a small onion, and a few spices I had in my pantry. I did not expect much from these pork meatballs. It was a quick lunch idea, but they disappeared in an instant, and the family members begged for more. So I quickly whipped up another batch and took some pictures. I must share the recipe for these tasty morsels on Craving Tasty!
So, what’s in these bomb diggity meatballs? Other than the ground pork and sauteed chopped onion, I threw in some garlic powder, onion powder, allspice, mustard powder and sage. I wanted to include ground caraway seeds for a touch of licorice flavor that they add, but, sadly, I was all out. Instead, I added a mix of smoked sweet and hot Spanish paprika. Oh my! What a combination of flavors! Smoked paprika gave the meatballs a huge flavor boost. Prepare to salivate while your meatballs are cooking as the smell is overwhelmingly good.
Cooking pork meatballs
As my air fryer jalapeno poppers, I cooked the pork meatballs at 375F, which I find works best for any type of ground meat. It took the meatballs to thoroughly cook through and reach 165F internal temperature about 15 minutes. As usual, I suggest you start checking for doneness earlier as different air fryers may cook differently. This recipe makes 12 meatballs that fit nicely in my Chefman 6.8 Quart Air Fryer. If you have a smaller, 3.5 Quart air fryer, you will need to cook in two batches. When the meatballs are done, serve them immediately. I think they taste best hot fresh from the cooker, exploding with flavors and juices.
