How to Reheat Meatballs with Sauce in an Air Fryer
Wether you decide to keep the meatballs in the fridge or freezer, I will show you how to reheat meatballs with sauce in an air fryer for a quick meal.Reheating these classic meatballs can be challenging since you want to maintain the original flavor and texture, so the air fryer is the best way.
Yield: 1 packet of 6 meatballs
Cost: 10
Equipment
- Air Fryer
- Air Fryer pan or basket
Materials
- aluminum foil or parchment paper
- leftover meatballs
- sauce for meatballs Optional: spaghetti sauce, barbeque sauce, teriyaki sauce
Instructions
- Take out your basket, or tray from your air fryer. Now with a large piece of foil or parchment paper laid down, place your meatballs in the middle in a single layer.
- Avoid overcrowding to allow proper air circulation. If you have a large batch, you may need to reheat them in multiple batches. The size of your meatballs will determine how long you will air fry them for.
- My meatballs pictured are the size of golf balls. If your meatballs are larger meatballs, then you may want to cut them in half to fit properly and to warm in the time allowed.
- Spoon some sauce over them to cover the top. If the sauce is on the thicker side, add in a few tablespoons of water to help re-hydrate the sauce.
- With another piece of foil or parchment paper of the same size, place it on top. Crimp the edges, or roll the edges so it seals the meatballs in. If using parchment paper, make sure to roll the bottom piece up on top of the upper piece to prevent sauce leaking. If using aluminum foil, fold in the same direction pressing to seal as you fold, like this.
- Air fry at 360 degrees F for 10 minutes. Remove the tray or basket from the air fryer. Slowly unroll three sides of your packet, leaving one side rolled, making sure to pull away from yourself as the steam may burn you. Sprinkle the meatballs with some shredded mozzarella or parmesan.
- Put it back into air fryer at 360F for an additional 3 minutes.
- The safe internal temperature for reheated meatballs is 165°F (74°C) with a meat thermometer. If they haven't reached this temperature yet, continue reheating in 2-minute intervals until they do.
- It's not recommended that you save any meatballs that have been reheated as the quality would not be good.
Notes
- The size of the meatballs will determine how much extra time you may need to get the internal temperature of the meatballs up to the proper temperature. Try starting with meatballs that have been out of the fridge at room temperature for 10 minutes so they reheat faster.
- You can use regular tomato sauce instead of spaghetti sauce if you want to keep them plain without herbs.
- If you have meatballs that were previously frozen with sauce, let the freezer bag sit in the fridge overnight to thaw properly. If you want to air fry them from frozen, simply run under warm water to loosen them and press out of the bag onto the packet. You will need to add an additional 5-10 minutes to the initial cooking time before adding the cheese.
- If you have a cast iron skillet that fits in your brand of air fryer, just grease the skillet and use it as your "packet" from the instructions. Make sure to cover it with an oven safe lid or foil at the initial reheating step.