Air Fryer Bacon-Wrapped Meatloaf

Meatloaf in the air fryer is the perfect solution when you want Bacon-Wrapped Meatloaf for dinner but don’t feel like turning on the oven. Cooking it in an air fryer (we love this one) is quick and convenient.

I used our favorite Best Classic Meatloaf recipe from COOKtheSTORY for this recipe. First, you need to chop and sauté the onion until it’s softened. Doing this ensures the onion is fully cooked when the meatloaf is done baking.

After that, you’ll mix ground beef with the cooked onion, breadcrumbs, ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, Italian seasoning, garlic powder, egg, and salt. It works best if you mix this by hand as it is easier to incorporate all the ingredients without overmixing it. Feel free to use a potato masher or fork if you don’t want to use your hands.

Divide the meatloaf mixture into 4 equal parts and shape meatloaves. Wrap one strip of bacon around the side of each meatloaf. You don’t want to wrap the bacon under the meatloaf as it won’t crisp nicely. If you want, you can use a wooden toothpick to secure the bacon to the meatloaf. This will help keep the bacon in the right place, but is not necessary.

How Do You Keep The Meatloaf From Falling Apart?

The most important ingredients to keep meatloaf from falling apart are breadcrumbs and egg. They work like a binding agent that keeps the meatloaf nicely together. These ingredients will also help keep the meat firm.

Another way to keep the meatloaf from falling apart is to avoid overcooking it. If you overcook meatloaf it will easily crumble.

How To Cook It In The Air Fryer

After shaping the meat into loaves and wrapping them with bacon. place each one in the air fryer basket. Set the temperature for 360°F and start the cook time. About halfway through the cook time, top each loaf with barbecue sauce and cook an additional 10-15 minutes, until the internal temperature is 160°F on an instant read thermometer (like this).

You can see more tips for air frying the perfect meatloaf in our Air Fryer Meatloaf post.

How Long Should Meatloaf Rest?

You should let your mini meatloaves rest for about 5-10minutes before slicing. This allows the temperature and juices to distribute evenly in the meatloaf.