How to Make Amazing Air Fryer Turkey Meatloaf
If you’re here for the recipe to make the juiciest, most delicious, classic air fryer turkey meatloaf, then I’m sure you don’t need a lot of blog in the way. I’ll keep it short and sweet.
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Using an Air Fryer for Meatloaf
First things first, you need an air fryer. Yes, this is actually important to have. Otherwise, it’s just another meatloaf that you made in your oven. Trust me there is a huge difference.
This is why I’ll never make another oven meatloaf:
- No oven! This means no preheating time, no overheated kitchen, and using less energy to cook.
- Shorter cook time! Instead of the 1 1/2 hours that my recipe card said this would take, it took 20 minutes. Keep in mind that I’m also not waiting for an oven to preheat!
- No mushy bottom! Sure, you can bake your loaf of a rack in your oven, but it somehow doesn’t turn out quite this good.
- Perfectly even crust, perfectly moist interior! (Two of these words make my sister cringe… haha!) The crust is even and flavorful with no char. Then, the interior is evenly cooked and moist, not one dry spot.
Here’s the air fryer I have. I love love love it. It has a home in the pantry, but it’s nearly always out and being used. Primarily, we use it for frozen fried foods like pizza bites, spinach bites, fries, chicken nuggets, and fish sticks.
Turkey Meatloaf You’ll Love!
The meatloaf part of this recipe is super easy, and fairly classic. The key, though, is using ground turkey. Classic meatloaf uses beef, which is fine, but it is fattier so you’ll be wiping beef fat out of your fryer later.
Anyway, so, in a bowl, I combined the spices with the breadcrumbs first. I feel like this helps to make sure the spices get distributed correctly.
Then, add in your ground turkey and an egg. Mush it all together with your hand until it’s pretty evenly mixed with no streaks of bread crumbs. Then, pour in the milk and give it a last hand mix to smooth it out.
From here, form it into a loaf shape of even thickness, with a smooth exterior. Plop it into the basket of your air fryer. We prefer ours shaped like an oversized hamburger, about 3-4 inches thick. This helps it cook evenly and quickly.
Then set your air fryer to 375ºF for 20 to 25 minutes. Use a meat thermometer to make sure the inside registers 165ºF. You can optionally flip it over and brush the whole surface with ketchup. Flip it back so the whole thing gets a thin coat of ketchup. Run the air fryer at 375ºF for an additional five minutes for a sweet crust.
Serving Up Air Fryer Turkey Meatloaf
To serve the meatloaf, I like to slice it into 1/2 inch slices. This makes a serving two slices, which feels like a feast. Personally, I think it’s silly not to have mashed potatoes with meatloaf, and of course, you need a vegetable.
Create a puffy pillow of potatoes on your plate for the meatloaf to rest on. Scoop some green beans onto the plate, and set out a bottle of ketchup in case anyone wants more!
It’s super easy! And now that you’re not spending over two hours making meatloaf, you can make classic comfort food for dinner on any old weeknight!
I hope you’ll enjoy this Air Fryer Turkey Meatloaf, but I also hope you’ll come back and comment about how yours turned out! Don’t forget to subscribe for weekly blog updates, too!
This post was updated on October 21, 2020 to adjust the cook time and temperature and add in new pictures.
Air Fryer Turkey Meatloaf
Equipment
- Air Fryer
- Medium Bowl
Ingredients
- 1 lb ground turkey
- 1 large egg
- ½ cup milk
- ½ cup breadcrumbs
- ½ tsp garlic powder
- ½ tsp onion powder
- ½ tsp dry mustard
- ½ tsp celery salt
- ½ tsp black pepper
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 Tbsp worchestershire sauce
- ¼ cup ketchup optional
Instructions
- Mix the spices into the breadcrumbs. Then hand mix the ground turkey into the crumbs and spices.
- Beat the egg with the Worcestershire sauce, and hand mix that into the meat mixture.
- Add in the milk to smooth the texture out.
- Form an even loaf with a smooth surface.
- Place the loaf in the basket of your air fryer.
- Cook at 375ºF for 20 to 25 minutes.
- Optionally, brush ketchup over the whole loaf, top, sides, and bottom! Cook at 350ºF for an additional 5 minutes.
- Slice and serve with mashed potatoes and cooked green beans.
