Check out this fun way to get your pasta fix with these Air Fryer Spaghetti and Meatball Muffins. Small nests made of spaghetti with a mini meatball set right in the center and, plenty of ooey gooey cheese, all in the perfect finger food! Great for a game day appetizer, back to school lunchbox treat, or a quick and easy dinner. Regular oven options are given too.
This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Make it Italian at Publix. The opinions and text are mine.
Pasta Muffins
Summer is coming to an end and I'm starting to think of easy lunches for kids, quick dinners, and lots of comfort food. These Spaghetti and Meatball Muffins check all the boxes.
They're quick to make, have all the flavors of your favorite pasta meal and work great for an appetizer, after-school snack lunchboxes, or even dinner. Believe me, the kids will love devouring these!
It was perfect timing since my favorite grocery store, Publix, was holding their "Make It Italian" promotion. So many tasty products with great savings that I actually bought enough to make more of my favorite Italian dinners. You know, like Homemade Meat Lasagna and Homemade Pepperoni Pizza and my football favorite, Pizza Dip. Check out all the savings HERE starting August 3, 2019.
Today's Muffin Tin Spaghetti and Meatballs was the perfect recipe to use some of the delicious new products they had on special, like Ronzoni Homestyle Pasta and Bertolli® Rustic Cut Pasta Sauce. You won't believe how easy and fun these are to make, just in time for football games and holiday parties.
Some Great Benefits to Making Pasta Muffins
- A great way to use up leftover pasta. These work with both long-strand spaghetti, elbows, and ziti.
- Hide hidden vegetables in the sauce or meatballs. No one will know they're getting their veggies too!
- Perfect meal prep item for lunch boxes and easy dinners.
- I love these as leftovers. Whoever thought of spaghetti and meatballs as finger food!!
- Change up the beef meatballs with turkey or chicken versions or even vegetarian versions.
Easy Steps to Make Spaghetti and Meatball Muffins
- Place cooked pasta in a large bowl. (photo 1)
- Pour sauce over pasta and mix well. (photo 2)
- Add beaten egg and stir. (photo 3)
- Sprinkle in shredded mozzarella cheese. (photo 4)
- Add grated Parmesan cheese. (photo 5)
- Stir well. Ready to fill muffin cups. (photo 6)
- Stuff muffin cups with pasta mixture, pressing down to make them compact. (photo 7)
- Fill all muffin cups. (photo 8)
- Place as many muffin cups as will comfortably fit in your air fryer. (photo 9)
- Cook for 4-5 minutes or until pasta is a little brown and cheese has melted. (photo 10)
- Carefully take out of air fryer with tongs and place one cooked meatball in the center of each spaghetti nest. (photo 11)
- Spoon a little pasta sauce over the meatball. (photo 12)
- Sprinkle more mozzarella cheese on top of the sauce. (photo 13)
- Place back in the fryer for 2 more minutes. (photo 14)
Let them cool slightly then squeeze the silicone muffin cup lightly and take out the pasta muffin and plate. Serve with additional marinara on the side.
Dinners are so much fun when we have these Spaghetti and Meatball Muffins! And the cleanup is as easy as the prep. I like to serve these Pasta Muffins with a side of French bread, deliciously made fresh at my Publix Bakery, or a fresh salad. If having for a tailgating or cocktail party, I pair it up with a cheese and fruit board plus some Vanity Fair Extra Absorbent Napkins. Enjoy!
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Spaghetti and Meatball Muffins
Ingredients
- 8.8 oz Ronzoni Homestyle Pasta
- 2 cups Bertolli® Rustic Cut Pasta Sauce
- 1 egg slightly beaten
- 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
- ½ cup grated Parmesan cheese
- 24 meatballs cooked
Instructions
- Cook pasta according to package directions.
- Place pasta in large bowl and mix in 1-½ cups marinara.
- Stir in beaten egg.
- Add 1 cup mozzarella and ½ cup Parmesan to pasta mixture and stir well.
- Spray silicone baking cups with nonstick spray.
- Fill each cup with pasta mixture, pressing down to make more compact.
- Place the baking cups in your air fryer. Make sure there is enough room for air to flow freely around them. Don’t overcrowd. These can be done in stages until all are cooked.
- Cook for 4-5 minutes at 390 degrees Fahrenheit. Carefully remove from air fryer with large tongs.
- Push a meatball into the center of each muffin cup. Top with a little more sauce and a sprinkling of mozzarella.
- Return to air fryer and cook an additional 2 minutes at 390 degrees F.
- Remove with tongs and set aside to cool slightly.
- Repeat with remaining Spaghetti and Meatball Muffins.
- Once cooled, they can be taken out of the silicone cups and placed on a serving platter. Serve with additional pasta sauce on the side.
- These muffins can be wrapped singly for lunchboxes, snacks or freeze for future use.
- To reheat from frozen, place in microwave and cook for 1 minute. If still a little cold, add more time in 30 second increments.
Notes
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Spray a nonstick muffin tin with nonstick spray.
- Proceed to pack in pasta mixture as described above. Bake for 15-20 minutes.
- Remove and add meatball to center, top with sauce and a sprinkling of cheese.
- Place under broiler until cheese melts and browns.
- Carefully remove muffin from muffin tin and serve with additional marinara on side.
Some Great Benefits to making Pasta Muffins
- A great way to use up leftover pasta. These work with both long strand spaghetti, elbows and ziti.
- Hide hidden vegetables in the sauce or meatballs. No one will know they're getting their veggies too!
- Perfect meal prep item for lunch boxes and easy dinners.
- I love these as leftovers. Whoever thought of spaghetti and meatballs as a finger food!!
- Change up the beef meatballs with turkey or chicken versions or even vegetarian versions.
Nutrition
This post has been updated and was first published on August 3, 2019.
Love this idea! Such a great dinner dish everyone will love!
Christina! I had no idea you also had a food blog! From one blogger to another, bravo! And this recipe looks amazing!
This is totally genius! Kids will go crazy for these :-).
they really are fun and delicious. Even the big kids went crazy. lol
That is so cool that you can make these in the air fryer! I am new to that type of cooking so it is awesome to see that you can do such versatile recipes in there. YUM!!
The air fryer is now my new favorite appliance. It's great for making quick dinners as well as appetizers.
What a fun dish! I know this will be a hit with my family.