These Air Fryer Mashed Potato Balls are golden brown and crispy on the outside and pillowy soft in the middle! They're filled with leftover mashed potatoes, crumbled bacon and cheddar cheese, and best of all, there's no deep frying involved. We love to serve them as an appetizer with my fresh tomato marinara sauce or chipotle dip.
If you have plenty of mashed potatoes left over, I also recommend you make these air fryer potato cakes!
Quick Look: Air Fryer Mashed Potato Balls
- ⏱ Prep Time: 10 minutes
- 👩🏻🍳 Air Frying Time: 15 minutes
- ⏳ Total Time: 25 minutes
- 🍽 Servings: 16 potato balls
- ⚡ Calories: 91 per potato ball
- 🔥 Flavor/texture: creamy, fluffy and pillowy soft in the middle; golden and crispy on the outside.
- 👌 Difficulty: easy
- ❤️ Why you'll love: no deep frying; only minimal oil is required; great way to repurpose leftover mashed potatoes; crowd pleasing appetizer.
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Why you'll love these crispy potato balls
- Crispy without deep frying: You get the satisfying, golden crunch of a traditional deep fried potato ball without all the oil. You just need a spritz of oil on the tops before air frying.
- Great way to rescue leftover mashed potatoes: Instead of letting leftovers take up space in your fridge, this recipe helps you transform them into an easy appetizer for parties or game day.
- Texture contrast: The crispy breading on the outside gives way to a soft and fluffy potato center with melty cheese and savory bacon.
- Customizable: You can easily add different spices and herbs, add some fresh chives or green onion, or swap out the cheddar for mozzarella, parmesan or monterey jack.
Table of Contents
Ingredient notes
- Mashed potatoes - You'll need 2 cups of mashed potatoes for this recipe. Make sure they're cold as chilled mashed potatoes hold their shape better compared to warm potatoes. This air fryer mashed potatoes recipe is the one I use to make my potato balls.
- Bacon - Crispy, crumbled bacon adds texture and umami flavor. The recipe calls for ¾ cup crumbled bacon, or about 7-8 cooked slices.
- Cheese - We usually go with medium or sharp cheddar. Just make sure it isn't light cheddar or packaged shreds, as they don't melt as well as full fat cheese that you shred yourself.
- Flour - All-purpose flour acts as a binder.
- Egg - Also acts as a binder but helps keep the potato balls fluffy.
- Seasonings - Just a simple combination of salt, garlic powder, onion powder, Italian seasoning and paprika.
- Breadcrumbs - I normally use panko crumbs to make crispy breading, like for my air fryer pork schnitzel or air fry breaded salmon bites. But, since these potato balls are so soft and fluffy, I wanted a lighter breading to coat them. So, I used regular breadcrumbs that have a finer, sandy texture.
How to make mashed potato balls in the air fryer
Step 1: Add the cold mashed potatoes and the rest of the ingredients, except the breadcrumbs and paprika, to a large bowl.
Step 2: Use a fork to mix together until well combined.
Step 3: In a small bowl, whisk together the breadcrumbs and paprika.
Step 4: Use a 1.5 inch scoop to portion out the potato mixture and roll into balls. Roll each ball in the breadcrumb mixture.
Step 5: Coat the bottom of the air fryer basket with spray oil. Place the potato balls in the air fryer basket in a single layer. Spritz the tops with spray oil.
Step 6: Air fry at 400F for 14-16 minutes, or until puffed up and golden on the outside.
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Storage and reheating
Store any leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge and enjoy within 3-4 days. The crispy breading will soften in the fridge. To reheat, air fry at 400F for 3-4 minutes, or in the oven at 400F for 5-7 minutes. You don't want to microwave them as the breading will not crisp up.
Expert tips
- Grease the basket. You'll want to spray the bottom of the air fryer basket with some oil to prevent the bottoms of the potato balls from sticking.
- Thin potatoes. If your mashed potatoes are really thin, just add a bit more flour until the mixture holds together.
- Dry potatoes. If your mashed potatoes are dry, just add a splash of milk or cream.
- Seasoning. If your mashed potatoes are heavily seasoned, you may wish to cut back on the added seasoning for the potato balls.
- Sticky hands. Your hands will get sticky as you roll the potato balls. Wetting your hands helps, but I like to wear cooking gloves.
Air fryer mashed potato balls FAQs
I don't recommend it. In my experience, instant mashed potatoes can be thin and overly salty.
I tested this, and while it will work in a pinch, I prefer breadcrumbs. As breadcrumbs have a fine texture, they stick better to the potato balls and give more even coverage. Save your panko crumbs to make my air fryer chicken schnitzel!
The seasoned breadcrumbs will crisp up best if you give the potato balls a light spritz of oil before air frying.
Unlike deep fried potato balls, this air fried version will not keep a perfectly round shape. They will spread and puff up a little. If they spread too much, it might be because your potato mixture was too thin, needed more flour or wasn't cold enough.
More air fryer potato recipes
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📖 Recipe
Air Fryer Mashed Potato Balls
Ingredients
- 2 cups (400 g) cold mashed potatoes
- ¾ cup (60 g) cooked, crumbled bacon, about 7-8 slices
- ¾ cup (65 g) shredded cheddar cheese
- ½ cup (70 g) all purpose flour
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
- ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
- ¼ teaspoon onion powder
- ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
- ¼ cup (35 g) plain breadcrumbs
- ½ teaspoon paprika
- spray oil
Instructions
- In a large bowl, add the mashed potatoes, bacon, cheese, flour, egg, Italian seasoning, garlic powder, onion powder and salt. Use a fork to mix together until well combined.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the breadcrumbs and paprika.
- Use a 1.5 inch scoop to portion out the potato mixture and roll into balls. (You should get about 16 balls). Roll each ball in the breadcrumb mixture.
- Coat the bottom of the air fryer basket with spray oil. Place the potato balls in the air fryer basket in a single layer. Spritz the tops with spray oil.
- Air fry at 400F for 14-16 minutes, or until puffed up and golden on the outside.
Notes
- Grease the basket. You'll want to spray the bottom of the air fryer basket with some oil to prevent the bottoms of the potato balls from sticking.
- Thin potatoes. If your mashed potatoes are really thin, just add a bit more flour until the mixture holds together.
- Dry potatoes. If your mashed potatoes are dry, just add a splash of milk or cream.
- Seasoning. If your mashed potatoes are heavily seasoned, you may wish to cut back on the added seasoning for the potato balls.
- Sticky hands. Your hands will get sticky as you roll the potato balls. Wetting your hands helps, but I like to wear cooking gloves.
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Enter your email address and I'll send it straight to your inbox. You'll also receive new recipes from me regularly!
Nutrition Facts per Serving
Disclaimer
Nutrition information is an estimate only and will vary depending on the substitutions made and the brands used.
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