Air Fryer Thai Red Curry Inspired Pork Meatballs

I love trying out different recipes in the air fryer – I’ve already made classic meatballs in my air fryer (many times) and as they were so easy to make I decided to experiment with some different flavours.

These Thai red curry inspired meatballs are made from simple ingredients that are easy to find in the supermarket. Read on to see how easy they are to make!

What You Need

For more concise instructions or to print out the recipe please head to the card at the bottom of this post.

These ingredients were enough to make 24 meatballs, the amount may vary depending on how large or small you make the meatballs.

For The Meatballs

• Pork mince – I used 500g of pork mince. You could substitute with chicken, beef or lamb
• Egg – I used 1 egg, beaten
• Breadcrumbs – I used 50g of Panko breadcrumbs, you could also use plain breadcrumbs
• Garlic – I used 2 cloves, crushed
• Ginger – I used 1 tablespoon of ginger puree, you could substitute with fresh or ground ginger
• Thai red curry paste – I used 2 tablespoons from a premade jar
• Fish sauce – I used 1 tablespoon, you could use soy sauce instead
• Birdseye chilli – I couldn’t get any fresh so I used 1 tsp of dried birdseye chilli flakes

For The Sauce

If you want to add a sauce you can make your own while the meatballs are air frying, or, grab a jar of premade sauce.

• Peppers – I used half a red pepper, you can use any colour
• Ginger – I used 1 tablespoon of ginger paste
• Thai red curry paste – I used 2 tablespoons
• Fish sauce – I used 1 tablespoon
• Lime – I used the juice of half a lime
• Coconut milk – I used a 400ml can of coconut milk
• Brown sugar – I used 1 tablespoon

Making It

To prepare the meatballs I started by adding all the ingredients for the meatballs to a mixing bowl: pork, egg, breadcrumbs, crushed garlic, ginger puree, Thai red curry paste, fish (or soy) sauce, 1 tsp dried chilli flakes (or 1 fresh chilli finely chopped).

Next, I stirred everything together until it was well combined.

I then used a scoop to portion the mixture up. You can also use a spoon or your hands.

Once the meatballs had been scooped out I used my hands to roll them into more firm balls with smooth exteriors.

I managed to make 18 meatballs – I could have made around 24 but I decided to use the remaining amount of pork mince to see what a Thai red curry pork burger would taste like! The result? Very tasty, I will create a seperate recipe for that soon.

Right, back to the meatballs! Carefully transfer them to your air fryer basket. I cooked them in the Ninja Dual air fryer but you can use any air fryer. I cooked mine directly in the air fryer basket and they didn’t stick, but you can put them on some baking paper, an air fryer liner or you could lightly oil the basket.

Set the air fryer off at 180°C and cook for 10 minutes – check on them at 5 minutes and turn them over.

At the end of the cooking time the meatballs should be lightly browned on the outside and hot all the way through.

If you are making some sauce to go with the meatballs you can prepare and cook that while the meatballs are air frying.

Heat some oil in a pan and fry the red peppers until they begin to soften. Add the curry paste, ginger paste and cook for a few minutes until the peppers are covered. Add the fish sauce, coconut milk and brown sugar, stirring everything together. Leave the sauce to cook for a further 5 minutes.

Serve the meatballs with noodles or rice and the sauce poured over the top.

I hope you enjoy this Thai red curry inspired air fryer meatball recipe! Let me know in the comments if you end up making it.

More Air Fryer Recipes

• Pork ribs in the air fryer
• Air Fryer Roast Pork Joint (With Crackling)
• Pork Chops In The Air Fryer
• Air Fryer Pork Belly