Chitosan is getting growing attention to increase the bioavailability of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) and achieve controlled drug delivery. Through the nasal epithelium, the API absorption is rapid, which is beneficial in relieving acute pain, so intranasally administered meloxicam (MEL) could attain a rapid analgesic effect. The aims of our work were to develop spray-dried cross-linked and non-cross-linked chitosan-based drug delivery systems administrated for the intranasal route, and to optimize the spray-drying process parameters and the composition. The appropriate process parameters (inlet air temperature, pump rate) were determined based on the particle size distribution and morphology of drug-free chitosan particles. MEL-containing samples were prepared using different amounts of sodium tripolyphosphate (TPP). The micrometric properties, structural characterization and in vitro drug release were studied. Spray drying resulted in micronized chitosan particles regardless of the process parameters. The particle size of API-containing samples suited the requirements of intranasal powders, showed nearly spherical habit and MEL was present in a molecularly dispersed state in them. The highest MEL amount dissolved from the non-cross-linked MEL-containing sample. Our results indicate that spray-dried MEL-containing chitosan microparticles may be recommended for the development of a novel drug delivery system to decrease acute pain or enhance analgesia.