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Short-Order Kitchen

Air Fryer Turkey Meatballs and Zoodles

By Wes Ellis2 min read
Zucchini noodles topped with meat sauce, grated cheese and cherry tomatoes on a white plate.
Recipe card
Servings
1
Prep
15 minutes
Cook
10 to 12 minutes
Method
Air fryer
Heat
375°F air fryer
Difficulty
Easy
Jump to ingredients & directions ↓

Part 16 of the thread Air fryer weeknights

THE SHORT VERSION4 points
  • Roll the meatballs about 1 inch across; they cook in 10 to 12 minutes at 375°F.
  • Sauté the zoodles 3 to 4 minutes, no more, or they go watery.
  • Mixing zoodles with real spaghetti gives you the chew without all the carbs.
  • Pat the zoodles dry before they hit the pan.
THE RECIPE · AIR FRYER TURKEY MEATBALLS AND ZOODLES

Ingredients

Meatballs

Noodles and sauce

You'll need

  • Air fryer
  • Bowl
  • Skillet
  • Small saucepan
  • Spiralizer, if making your own zoodles

Directions

Prep

  1. Gently mix the turkey with the herbs, salt and pepper. Roll into 1-inch meatballs.
  2. Spiralize the zucchini, or open a package of zoodles, and pat them dry.
  3. Cook the spaghetti according to the package and drain.

Cook

  1. Heat the air fryer to 375°F and lightly spray the basket.
  2. Air fry the meatballs in a single layer for 10 to 12 minutes, shaking halfway, until browned and 165°F inside.
  3. Meanwhile, warm the marinara over low heat.
  4. Heat a lightly oiled skillet over medium heat and sauté the zoodles 3 to 4 minutes, just until slightly tender.

Plate

  1. Toss the zoodles with the spaghetti and pile them in a bowl.
  2. Top with the meatballs and marinara, and finish with Parmesan if you like.
Notes Best eaten fresh; zoodles release water as they sit. Keep leftover meatballs and sauce separately for 2 to 3 days and cook fresh zoodles when you reheat. Roughly 370 calories and 42 g protein per serving, give or take.

wesellis.com/blog/air-fryer-turkey-meatballs-and-zoodles/

Spaghetti and meatballs, split down the middle. Half the noodles are zucchini, half are the real thing, and the meatballs come out of the air fryer browned all over without a skillet full of spattering oil.

Half and half is the trick

All-zoodle bowls tend to disappoint. Zucchini doesn't have the chew or the twirl of pasta, and on its own it can feel like a salad pretending to be dinner. Mixing it half and half with regular or protein spaghetti fixes most of that. You get the bite and the sauce-grabbing texture of pasta, and the zucchini adds bulk without much to count.

Warning

Zoodles go from crisp-tender to a watery pile fast. Three to four minutes in the pan is plenty. Pat them dry first, and don't salt them until they're on the plate; salt pulls the water right out.

Small meatballs, hot air

One-inch meatballs cook through in about ten minutes and brown on every side the fan touches. Bigger ones need longer and tend to dry out on the surface before the center's done. Mix gently, too. Packed hard, lean turkey turns bouncy.

Tip

Leftover meatballs keep better than leftover zoodles. Store them in the sauce, and spiralize fresh zucchini when you reheat.

The oven-baked, full-pasta version of this is Spaghetti and Turkey Meatballs. The same lean turkey goes into the Air Fryer Turkey Meatloaf, and if you'd rather do all the pasta in the air fryer, see the Air Fryer Baked Pasta.

LINKED FROM3 notes

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