Air Fryer Meatballs - perfectly juicy! - The Recipe Rebel (2024)

FAQs

How do you add moisture to meatballs? ›

Milk: Adds moisture and tenderizes the meat, making our meatballs juicy and tender once cooked. Egg: Adds more moisture and helps the mixture firm up once cooked.

A higher fat content ensures that your meatballs stay juicy.

If you've ever had a sad, dry meatball, a lean fat content is most likely one of the reasons why.

Recipes with notably more or less binding ingredients than others can be problematic. One of the best techniques for moist, tender meatballs is to work ice water into the meat before adding the other ingredients. A pound of lean beef can absorb more than a half-cup of water, added a tablespoon at a time.

Baking will result in meatballs with a crunchy exterior, though the caramelisation achieved from frying will be superior. Baked meatballs take the least amount of effort, as you'll only need to turn them once or twice throughout the cook and you can make a larger batch at once.

Marinades – Oil-based marinades help tenderize the meat, layers flavor and add moisture. 3. Dry and Wet Brines – Brines not only boost the moisture, but also brines increase the meat's cellular ability to retain fluid.

Eggs are an important ingredient in any bowl of meatballs. They serve as a binder, which is like the glue that holds the actual ball and all of its ingredients together, and they provide moisture to the final product.

Egg is used as a binding agent, and some type of bread crumb or cracker is added to give meatballs a bit more depth. When it comes to adding liquid to meatball mixtures, milk is often used for its versatility, depth of flavor, and richness. Without the use of milk, you may be faced with a plate of dry meatballs.

Overcooked meatballs will always come out tough and dry, so to combat this, cook meatballs up to right below the desired temperature since there will be carryover cooking (i.e., the meatballs will continue to cook after they're removed from their heat source).

The Key to Tender Meatballs

Here, we're soaking fresh or dried breadcrumbs in a little milk until the bread becomes soggy, then mixing that right into the meat. This binder (aka panade) helps add moisture to the meatballs and also prevents the meat proteins from shrinking and becoming tough.

Do meatballs get softer the longer you cook them? ›

Tenderizing the Meat:

As the collagen in the meat dissolves over time, it transforms into gelatin, which not only adds a silky texture to the sauce but also contributes to the overall richness and depth of flavor. The longer the simmer, the more tender and succulent the meatballs become.

If, for example, you're working with fattier ground beef, like 80/20 (20% fat), using a liquid without added fat, such as water or broth, can prevent the meatballs from becoming too heavy. The panade will make the meatballs tender, but it won't make them overly rich.

In an oven preheated to 350 degrees F, these meatballs should be fully cooked through and evenly browned in about 30 minutes. An instant-read thermometer inserted into the middle of the meatball should read at least 165 degrees F.

Roll the finished meatballs in plain flour before frying. This is, hands down, one of the easiest ways I've discovered to prevent meatballs from falling apart when cooking.

You can brown the uncooked meatballs in a sauté pan before adding them to the sauce. You can brown them in the oven. Or you can skip browning altogether and put the raw meatballs straight into the sauce to cook.

Baking soda acts as a tenderizer for ground beef, keeps it moist during cooking, and encourages deep browning by raising the acidity level of the surface of the meat. Simply add 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda to 1 pound of ground beef for more tender meat with better browning.

Water: Slowly add water to the mixture before you roll the meatballs. It'll keep the meatballs nice and moist. Some reviewers prefer to use milk.

Milk, definitely. Water doesn't add flavor or fat, so it detracts from the finished meatballs. If I don't have milk, or I'm making them for people who don't eat milk with meat (a significant portion of my family keeps kosher) I use beef or chicken stock. It adds moisture and flavor, which is what you want.