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The Best Way to Make Ground Beef in the Air Fryer

Name: The Best Way to Make Ground Beef in the Air Fryer
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 8 min
Total time: 13 min
Ingredients: 1 pound Ground beef (thawed); Seasonings to your taste

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Air fryer ground beef is healthier, quicker, and an easy air fryer recipe If you are an air fryer beginner or pro, you will love this one!

Oct 23, 2023 The links in the post below may be affiliate links. Read the full disclosure

air fryer ground beef

The Easiest Way to Make Ground Beef

Did you know that you can make ground beef in the air fryer? This is something I recently discovered myself! I already knew how to make hamburger patties in the air fryer for this amazing hamburger recipe. But let me tell you, ground beef in the air fryer is so simple! You can cook it in half the time than if you were to cook it on your stove top!

Ingredients and Supplies You’ll Need to Make Authentic Rio Rancho Taco Meat Recipe:

air fryer ground beef ingredients

Ingredients:

The Basics

Ground beef thawed
Seasonings to your taste (see Taco Meat Recipe)
Favorite toppings (lettuce, tomatoes, cheese, salsa, sour cream)

Taco Meat Recipe (per 1 lb ground beef)

Onion diced
Salsa mild or medium
Taco seasoning
Ranch dressing and seasoning mix
Brown sugar
Diced green chilies or less if you don’t care for spicy
Garlic powder or fresh minced garlic
Salt
Black pepper
Red pepper ground (or flakes, or even a little hot sauce)
Water

Supplies

Spatula
Air fryer (preferable with a basket like Cosori Pro II)

Ground Beef in the Air Fryer

Like I mentioned before, this is probably one of the simplest, underrated air fryer recipes. All you need for this recipe is ground beef of course! Depending on what you are using your beef for, you will also want some seasoning. Like this amazing homemade taco seasoning.

First, preheat your air fryer. If your air fryer doesn’t have a preheat button, set the temperature to 400°F and let it run with nothing in it for 5 minutes.

air fryer ground beef

Once your air fryer is preheated, place your meat inside and break it up. Make sure to not cover the air fryer basket completely, this will restrict air flow. But do break it up enough so that the meat can get thoroughly cooked through.

Cook the meat for 4 minutes at 380 degrees F or 193 degrees C After this, stir the beef around a little bit. If you need to break up the meat more, go ahead and do this now. Then cook the meat for an additional 3 minutes at 380 degrees F or 193 degrees C.

At this point, your beef should be cooked through. If not, cook for an extra minute or two, until it reaches your liking. Once your meat is cooked, season it to your taste and enjoy!

How to make this Air Fryer Ground beef — the Basics:

Step 1: Preheat air fryer

Preheat the air fryer to 400 degrees F or 200 degrees C for 5 minutes.

Step 2: Brown the meat

Place ground beef in the air fryer and break it up. (We recommend using an air fryer basket or tray insert so grease drips to the bottom of the basket).

Cook the meat in air fryer at 380 degrees F or 193 degrees C for 4 minutes.

Step 3: Stop, stir, season

After the 4 minutes, stir ground beef and try and break it apart if necessary. Season to taste.

Air fry at 380 degrees F or 193 degrees C for another 3-4 minutes.

Remove the beef from the air fryer and build your tacos.

How to make this Air Fryer Ground beef — Authentic Rio Rancho Taco Meat Recipe:

Step 1: Preheat air fryer

Preheat the air fryer to 400 degrees F or 200 degrees C for 5 minutes.

Step 2: Brown the meat

Place ground beef in the air fryer and break it up. (We recommend using an air fryer basket or tray insert so grease drips to the bottom of the basket).

Cook the meat in the air fryer at 380 degrees F or 193 degrees C for 5-6 minutes. You want the ground beef to be pretty much almost cooked through.

Step 3: Stop, stir, season

After the 5-6 minutes, stir ground beef and try and break it apart if necessary.

Add salsa, taco seasoning, ranch seasoning, brown sugar, green chiles, garlic, salt, pepper, and red pepper and water. Stir to mix well.

Air fry for an additional 4-6 minutes at 380 degrees F or 193 degrees C, or until everything is warmed through and cooked to your liking.

If the meat mixture is too thick, you can always add more water and adjust the seasonings.

Enjoy Air Fryer Beef in These Recipes

There is so much you can do with your beef that you just cooked in your air fryer. Here are a few of my favorite ground beef recipes that I know you will love!

air fryer ground beef tacos

Final Thoughts

Air fryer ground beef is just one example of how cooking in the air fryer has changed the way I cook. This recipe is one where you can place it in the air fryer and just walk away. However, it’s so quick, that you won’t really have time to walk away! But what I love most about this recipe is that all the grease drains to the bottom of the air fryer, which makes cleaning up so easy!

Check out more of my favorite, hands-free air fryer recipes!

Have questions about your air fryer? Check these guides out

ground beef in the air fryer

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