Air Fryer Chicken Meatballs Provencal-Style
Add a sunny Provençal twist to these air-fried chicken meatballs with dried tomatoes, capers, and fresh parsley. Perfect for quick weeknight dinners, lunchboxes, or spontaneous picnics!
These Air-Fried Chicken Meatballs are infused with Provençal sunshine, thanks to sun-dried tomatoes, capers, parsley, thyme, olive oil, shallots, and garlic—no sauce needed, the flavour is built right in! They’re perfect for on-the-go lunches, tossed on a salad for extra protein, tucked into sandwiches, or meal-prepped and frozen for later. Light yet satisfying, they are versatile for any busy family’s table.
Flavour Boost Tip
Try blending cashews and nutritional yeast for a savoury, cheesy edge without using dairy. This clever combo adds a rich umami punch and helps create golden, crispy edges with parmesan taste without the actual cheese. Inspired by the beloved Green Goddess dressing, it’s a game-changer!
What is Provencal Style?
Provence is a region in the South of France; many great dishes originate there, like Ratatouille, Nicoise Salad, Rouille, Bouillabaise, etc. By the Mediterranean, this is a more arid and sunny place. Usually, olives would be part of the mix, which would work wonders in this recipe, too, but since we already had the capers, I chose one of the two to prevent over-salty meatballs. But if you dig olives, switch the capers for olives.
Provençal dishes often feature thyme, garlic, olive oil, and flat-leaf parsley. In this recipe, I utilize the aromatic oil from sun-dried tomatoes, ensuring none of that flavorful infusion goes to waste.
Last but not least, the dried tomatoes bring the hot sun to the meatballs—a lot of them to make sure we taste them! Be careful; there is no turning back; you’ll never return to beef meatballs after this.
The Secret Touch
Here is a little secret to making something taste like parmesan without cheese. A popular trick with the vegan community is nutritional yeast and cashews! The first can be found in stores or online in flakes or powder form. This combo will give the meatballs an irresistible, cheesy touch.
Use it Everywhere
These Air Fryer Chicken Meatballs are great in many places! You can add them to a simple mashed potato and broccoli dish for the kiddos; parents can elevate their lovely Green Goddess Salad with a few meatballs(check the recipe here). Pop in the lunch box, sandwich, wrap, salad, pasta, etc. They go everywhere!
Air Fryer Chicken Meatballs Provencal
Equipment
- Air Fryer
- Food Processor
Ingredients
- 2 chicken breast
- 10 dried tomatoes in oil
- 1 shallot or 1/4 of an onion
- 1 garlic clove
- 1 tbsp cashews *optional
- 1 tbsp nutritional yeast (*optional) could be replaced by parmesan.
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tsp capers or olives
- chives about 20 stalks
- parsley a handful
- ½ tsp thyme
- salt and pepper
Instructions
- Add all the ingredients to a food processor and blend until smooth.
- Cover the Air Fryer with spotted parchment paper or make your own with regular parchment and poke holes to let the air pass through.
- Add small balls of the chicken mixture directly to the parchment using a spoon or scoop.
- Air-Fryer: at 180°C (350°F) for 10 minutes.Oven: 180°C (350°F) for 15 minutes.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
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Did You Make This Recipe?
Share your thoughts on it! Leave a comment or share a picture and tag me @littlenomadsrecipes on Instagram.
I never thought of making chicken meatballs, let alone airfrying them. But from the looks of your pictures and the ingredients, they look tender and flavorful. Thanks for sharing your recipe.
Super juicy too if you don’t overcook them!
This is a great idea ! Thanks so much for sharing !
Taste sunny! You’ll see!
Thanks for this easy and freezer friendly recipe! My kid loves these meatballs that I just throw in the air fryer and forget!
Easy to pop them on salads, pasta, rice, etc. Plus they bring in a bit of Mediterranean sun in every dish!
These looks so delicious! Pinning to make later — this will be one of my first air fryer recipes and I can’t wait!
Air Fryer are great fun, you’ll see!
These chicken meatballs turn out so perfect in the air fryer. I love the addition of capers and sundried tomatoes. So flavorful!
Sunny bite right?
Such a versatile recipe and I love that they can be made in the air fryer!
Easy breezy Air fryer!
These chicken meatballs were quick and easy to make. They tasted great in a cream sauce with pasta.
Quick, easy and yummy!
Why haven’t I thought about making meatballs in my air fryer before?! I believe they call this an ‘aha!’ moment. I love how anyone can use an air fryer to make almost any recipe…. and I much prefer using it over my oven when I can. The next batch of meatballs will be air fryer meatballs!
Time to experiment! meatballs made of chicken is not too smoky but when I do beef meatballs or pork I usually add bread at the bottom of the Air fryer to pick up the grease otherwise it’s a smoke show!
My kids absolutely LOVE these, and I love anything that makes meal times easier. Thanks for sharing .
My kids as well! Big fans!
They look delicious! I love your idea of adding sun dried tomatoes and capers to the chicken meat balls. It must be a different taste and flavour. Definitely going to try it. Thanks for sharing Marie.
So simple to kick it up a notch!